“No plans with the movie star today, Char?” He knew I hated it. He knew it made me shake and made my insides turn upside down when he called me that, but he did it anyway. Sprawled on out the sofa in my living room, he propped his feet up on the coffee table, which was currently littered with empty beer bottles, and flipped through channels on the TV. I stood in the kitchen, making dinner for the two of us and biting down on my tongue. “It’s been ages since school started, and I still can’t get anywhere around this campus without someone talking about him.”

“You know I would never spend time with someone without your permission.” Despite his thick skull, there was no way he could miss the sarcasm. My temples were already throbbing from the volume of the television, and his continued inability to do anything useful.

Flicking the pot holder off of my hand, I shut the oven door and reached for the boiling pot on top of the flame. “Fuck you, Charley!” His outburst caught me off guard, and I stupidly jerked in reaction. My hand slammed against the handle of the pot, flipping it downward. I jerked out of the way, hitting the white hot burner head, then once again striking the pot, effectively shoving it toward me. It slid, slipped, and landed with echoing clatter against the tile floor.

The spilled food, however, was the last thing on my mind. “Piece of… fffuck!” I tucked my right hand against my chest, as if trying to shield it from the pain. As quickly as my brain could process, I stepped over to the sink and flipped on the cold water, sticking my hand underneath.

The force of the water was enough to send another wave of pain up my arm. I pulled away quickly, looking at my hand for the first time. “Sam!”

“What the fuck did you do?” No playfulness existed in his tone, simply anger and annoyance. “Oh, great,” He stepped into the kitchen, “now double the wait for dinner. You better not expect me to help you clean that up.”

I wanted to smack him. If only my hand didn’t feel like it was on fire. “Would you just stop being an ass for two seconds? I burned my hand.”

Holding it up, I tried to show it to him, but he didn’t even bother to look at me. “If you’re looking for someone to kiss it and make it better, you might want to go find your mother; I’m sure not doing it.” All air shot out of my chest, as if I’d just had the wind knocked out of me. Instantly, thoughts of slapping him turned significantly more violent. He turned and looked at me, a smug smile on his face, and as much as I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, all I could do was stare, cold and hateful. “Something wrong, darling?”

One… two… three shaky, slow breaths before I trusted myself to speak. Even then, it was through gritted teeth. “I just burned my hand, you ass hole. It hurts, and it’s already starting to blister.” There were two solid lines across the back of my hand, one almost directly on top of my wrist. Both had started to bubble up, turning a slight shade of yellow despite the red radiating around it. The pain continually brought a scream to the back of my throat, but I did all I could to hold that it.

His lips slid into a condescending smile. “And what am I supposed to do about that?”

“You piece of shit! I burned my hand. Look at it! I know you’re not exactly a knight in shining armor, but a ride to the E.R. would be much appreciated.” The pain was starting to make me dizzy. I wanted to vomit, but I reminded myself to keep breathing. Slow and steady.

“It’s only like a mile away. You can walk.” He turned and started out of the kitchen. Even for him, this was utterly heartless. Tears swam around my eyes, still from the pain, not yet from the frustration. “Besides, I’m too fucked.”

“Then ask one of your friends to take us.”

“Or you can ask your movie star friend to give you a ride. He sees you more often than I do, anyway.”

I was seconds away from jumping up and down to take my focus off the pain. “You go with me to the E.R. because Matt and I have classes together? Because he was cast in the show I’m working on? I can’t even begin to understand how disgustingly arrogant you’ve become.” He only gave an indifferent shrug before exiting the room. The second he was gone, I doubled over and let out a guttural groan. My heart was racing.

Again moving to the sink, I grabbed the nearest towel and ran it under cold water, keeping my burned hand a safe distance away. Stopping the water, I rang the towel out as best I could before gently setting it over my hand. I couldn’t tell if the sensation was good or bad. I stood in the middle of my kitchen, staring at the blank white wall and playing through the conversation that had just happened. There was no doubt in my mind that Matt would pick me up if I called, but I didn’t want to call. Sam would never let it go, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask him to go out of his way after all the times I’d turned down invitations to grab lunch or just hang out. Walking was going to be my only option.
Not wanting to waste another minute, and resigning to the fact that Sam was truly going to be the heartless excuse for a human being he had just presented himself to be, I slipped through the living room, grabbed my keys and phone from the corner of my dresser and stepped back into the living room.

The way he was sprawled comfortably on the couch made me want to hit him even more. It made me want to call him every vile name I could think of. Instead, I barely even looked at him as I walked out the door. “You better be gone before I get back. And I mean that.” I slammed the door shut behind me before he could say a word.

He was right; the hospital was only about a mile away. It being mid-September, the sun had only just begun to turn orange, but I still only made it a couple blocks before the pain really did start to blind me. I tucked the towel a little more tightly and tried to keep walking.

Another block and I was almost sure I was going to vomit. Deep breaths stole my focus away for very brief spouts of time, but there was no ignoring the pain entirely. A few more steps and I dropped myself to the ground. The world was spinning around me as a surge of pain burned bile to my throat.

I slipped my phone from my pocket.

He answered on the second ring, sounding surprised. “Matt… do you think you might be able to give me a ride…?” His agreement came without asking for any more details other than where I was. As soon as the phone was back in my pocket, I cradled my hand tightly against my chest and dropped my head to my knees.

Something touched my shoulder, sending a jolt through me. “Charley? I called your name like three times.” There was no mistaking who the deep voice belonged to. I lifted my head and looked at him, trying to take in his face despite the dark spots in my vision. His head cocked, eyes steady on my own face. “Are you okay? You look terrible.” Not knowing what might come out if I opened my mouth, I only nodded. Within a second, I knew he didn’t believe me. His eyes dropped to my hand. “What’s that?”

This time I just shook my head, trying to tell him that it was nothing. If only his eyes didn’t soften with that bit of disappointment, the kind that said he knew he was being lied to. “Did you get hurt?” I swallowed hard and tried to focus on anything other than the pain. Tears were growing in my eyes. “Your face is really pale, Charley.” I said nothing, but could feel that I was starting to blink more rapidly, trying to clear my vision. “What happened? Seriously?”

No longer able to think through the pain, I pulled the towel aside. “I burned it. I need the E.R.” Still not trusting what would come out, I kept my teeth clamped as tightly as I could when I spoke.

Matt slipped his hand gently beneath mine and lifted it against the light to see. “Were you going to walk there? Where’s Sam? He has a car, doesn’t he?”

“Sam’s…” my vision was losing focus, “…he’s busy. He wasn’t able to…”

He cut me off. “You know what, it doesn’t matter right now. Let’s just get you to the hospital so they can look at that. I can’t even imagine how much it hurts.” He shifted position, arranging himself to help me to my feet, before guiding me toward his car.

In less time than it had taken me to walk to few blocks that I had managed, we were pulling into the emergency parking lot, quickly whipping into a parking spot. Before I even had time to reach for my door, he was outside, opening it. Rather than offering me his hand, he took me by the arm and helped me from the seat. Walking behind me, his hands on my waist were about the only thing keeping me up. I stumbled, doubled over, all the way to automatic glass doors. The slightest movement against the still-wet towel left me gagging.

“Excuse me?” Matt addressed the man sitting behind the reception desk. “She has a…”

“Holy shit! Are you… damn…” The nurse stared at him, wide-eyed, looking more than happy to have been interrupted from the textbook he was reading.

Matt sighed heavily. “Yes, and we can address that later, if you don’t mind. She burned her hand. It looks really bad.” He freed my hand of the towel and held it up for the man to see. If the pain weren’t indication enough to how bad it was, the man’s reaction confirmed it.

Within minutes, I had been rolled into a plain white room and helped into a bed. By the time we got there, my stomach was churning with each breath. Once I was lying down, a bit of pressure seemed to give way; I was about to get help, meaning the pain would soon stop. The man who had greeted us at the door was the one to lead us into the room, though his focus obviously wasn’t on me, despite the fact that he was checking my vitals. “You look different in person than what I would have expected.”

“Camera adds ten pounds.” He responded shortly. “What do we need to be doing for her?” There was a small scraping sound, and I looked to my left to see Matt dragging a chair up next to the bed. With a reassuring smile, he reached out and patted my arm.

The nurse didn’t answer the question, but did hang an IV from the stand beside me and started to unwrap a fresh needle. “My sister is obsessed with you, man. She has a couple posters of you in her room, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she had some crazy fantasies in that head of hers the way she looks at them.”

Matt ignored him, instead keeping his eyes on me. Very gently, his fingers wrapped around the palm of my undamaged hand, enveloping it entirely. “Squeeze if you need.” That smile did not falter in the slightest, relaxing me even more than being in the hospital did.

Shots had never been much of a bother, so when the IV needle slid into my arm, it was nothing. Even so, I found no reason to release my hand from his. Our contact did not go unnoticed. “So, uh… girlfriend or something?” There was a smug tone in his voice, giving the feeling that the question wasn’t exactly innocent. “I bet you have a lot of girlfriends.”

Matt sucked in a deep breath and pushed it out with a bit of force. His hand tensed in mine. In all the time we’d spent together, Matt had never talked about girls or past relationships, and he certainly didn’t seem interested in any of the girls around the department. Not that there was a lack of girls, and guys for that matter, showing an interest in him. “So, does Charley get something to dull the excruciating pain in her hand?” Though I had no idea how it was possible, given the circumstances, there was no sarcasm or bitterness in his voice. In fact, the calm of his words was almost unnerving, though the nurse seemed un-phased.

Instead, he chuckled and went to one of the drawers, pulling out a small vile of clear liquid. In no time at all, he had it attached to my IV. “So, are you on a date?”

“You bring a lot of your dates to the ER, James?” Matt looked at the name tag on the guy’s chest, speaking it as if it tasted foul in his mouth. “Was there anything else you needed, or are you free to leave the room now and maybe get a doctor in here?”

Still un-phased, James did not stop smiling. “My sister is not going to believe I met you, let alone talked to you.” Had I been able to speak properly yet, I might have mentioned confidentiality laws, but it wouldn’t matter. The man didn’t seem to care about anything other than the stars in his eyes. “She’s going to be disappointed that you came in with a girl, though. Cute one at that.” Honestly, that was about the first time he acknowledged my existence.

“Anything else you need here, or can you get a doctor?” A bit of the calm was lost from his voice.

“I have some paperwork she needs to fill out.”

“I’ll take it. It’s rather doubtful she’ll be able to write anything at the moment. Now, would you please go grab the doctor?” The nurse handed him the clipboard before backing slowly out of the room, his movements saying that he was leaving quite reluctantly. “You’re not as sweaty anymore.” Matt had set the papers down, running the thumb of his free hand against my forehead as if rubbing something off. My face suddenly felt thick and sticky, reiterating that I had been sweating earlier. “I mean, it’s not like you were drenched or anything before, but you had a layer of shine. Even more of a plus, though, is that it seems like I stand less of a chance of being vomited on.” I was laughing before I knew it, happier than I was willing to admit that Matt was there with me.

But I wasn’t supposed to be so glad that he was there. He wasn’t even supposed to be there. “You can go if you want, Matt. I don’t know how long this’ll take, and…”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not going to leave you lying in a hospital bed by yourself.” He cupped the side of my face in his hand, just at the border of my jaw. The contact lasted for only a brief flash, but it made my heart leap just the same. “Besides,” he straightened up a bit, putting an extra inch of distance between us. “I’m guessing you’ll need a ride home when it’s all done. Staying here saves me a trip.” He gave me a smile, one that said he was teasing and didn’t mind being there.

Adjusting himself even more, he balanced the clipboard against his knee, still not having let go of my hand. The pen scratched in a few short bursts before stopping. “Diana, right?” Even with my middle name fresh off his lips, I couldn’t remember ever having told it to him. Whatever random time it must have happened, he had remembered it. My heart leaped again.

Lucky for me, the doctor walked in at that exact moment. He introduced himself and began to look at my hand, asking about how I had burned it. Matt seemed to be half listening, as I hadn’t gotten around to telling him the story behind what had happened. I left out the part regarding Sam being a good chunk of the reason why I’d gotten distracted, but that didn’t seem important in context. Not once did I look down at the red blistering mess he was examining.

Most of the time I kept my head turned in the opposite direction, only glancing over to give polite eye contact to the doctor who was examining me. However, when he slid his finger over the burn, I squeezed Matt’s hand as if my life depended on it. His grip firmed, bracing against the sudden increase in pressure. While he had been working on filling out the forms, he dropped the pen and shifted his attention to me. His eyes were dangerous, capturing me slowly, but stole the focus from my pain. Finally, I was told that I would need to stay until the entire dose of painkillers in the vile entered my system, at which time I would have my vitals checked again before being cleaned, bandaged, handed a prescription and sent on my way.

The good news was the drugs did seem to be kicking in. The pain had greatly subsided, and all my nerves seemed to have disappeared.

“How’re you feeling?” Once again, Matt ran his fingers across my face, this time brushing stray hairs out of the way.

“Like you have less of a chance of being vomited on.” He laughed out a smile before bopping his finger playfully against my nose. A few seconds later, I realized we had been staring at each other, both smiling, and looked away, glad that my face did not grow flush.

“So um…” he cleared his throat. “I think I have most of this filled out for you. You’ll probably want to double check that everything’s right and all that. And obviously, I don’t have your social security number.” Matt released my hand for the first time since grabbing it, and gave me the sheets to look over.

Even more than my middle name, I saw a slot he had filled out that surprised me. “Wow. You got my one allergy. How in the crazy world of professional stalkers did you know that?”

“In rehearsal last week, you told me that you had a bit of a headache, so I offered you something for it and you checked the ingredients before taking one. I’ve never known anyone with a drug allergy before; it kind of stuck with me.” I nodded, attempting to keep the smile that was creeping up to my lips at bay. However, the amount of drugs currently coursing through my system made it quite difficult to do. All I could do was hope that the resulting expression wasn’t as stupid as it felt.

A little over an hour after I had almost crawled my way into the hospital with Matt following closely behind, I was being wheeled back out. Just before we reached the door, James made a final appearance, calling Matt “my man” and asking him for a picture and an autograph. He was given a brief refusal followed by an even briefer apology. As the automatic doors slid open and we crossed the threshold, Matt leaned down to me and whispered just one word. “Inconvenience.”

The sun was down by the time he pulled in front of my apartment complex. My hand, heavily wrapped in a bandage, hung just outside the open window. A prescription for antibiotics and painkillers sat folded in my back pocket, waiting to be dropped off at the pharmacy first thing in the morning. I turned to look at the person sitting beside me as he shifted the car into park. “Thank you, Matt. For going out of your way and waiting for me and everything… thank you. I really appreciate it.”

He smiled genuinely, softly. “I’m happy to help, really. Despite owing you big time for all the help you’ve given me, I wouldn’t leave a friend with second degree burn to walk to the emergency room by herself.” My stomach started to flip, but I convinced it to stop halfway through.

“Well, I should get inside. The whole thing kind of…drained me.”

Matt quickly undid his seatbelt. “I’ll walk you in. And yes, I will. No arguing.” His playfully smug grin and tone that said he knew exactly what I was going to say made me laugh despite myself. I nodded, showing my acceptance of his offer with a smile.

Once again, he opened the door for me, after I proved to have trouble pushing it open with a disabled hand without dumping myself out of the car. “Easy there, killer.” He half caught me and swung the door open the rest of the way. “And you were about to say that you could walk to the door all by your lonesome.” I stuck my tongue out at him, the best response I could think of at the moment.

“Can you believe how that nurse was acting? I get being excited, but there really is a time and a place for such things.” We walked down a small flight of stairs to the outdoor entrance of the apartment.

I was rewarded with a head shake. “You would not believe some of the antics I’ve seen people pull. Seriously, human beings are absolutely ridiculous creatures.”’

It was only slightly difficult to pull my keys out of my right pocket with my left hand, but once I did, I slide the lone gold one into the lock on my door. “We should put them all in a petting zoo or something. Honestly, it’d…” The door swung open quickly without my influence, knocking me off balance. Had I not bumped into the person behind it, I would have fallen. Granted, if it weren’t for the person behind it, I never would have stumbled. All fun left me as I stared at him.

“Well, well well.”

“I told you to leave. I told you to be gone by the time I got back.”

“He was here?” Matt took a step toward me, putting himself in my view. “Charley, he was here the whole time and you were going to walk to the E.R.?” There was something close to anger in Matt’s eyes, and it made me angry myself.

Even Sam was angry. Angry that I’d shown up with the last person he wanted to see me standing next to. “Just who I thought you’d call. The one guy I don’t want you to be hanging around. Isn’t he exactly who I’d said you’d call?”

“I told you to leave.” I repeated.

“Why? So you can invite your new movie star friend inside for some one on one time?”

Matt took a sharp breath, but I stepped forward before he could say anything. “Sam, I am not in the mood for this right now. I told you to leave, and I meant it. Now go.” The sternness behind my voice surprised even me, and the way Sam’s eyes widened told me I wasn’t alone. “And don’t even think about giving me any more shit about calling Matt to give me a ride, because if you would have just gotten up and walked the ten yards out my front door to your car, I wouldn’t have needed to call him.”

“Oh, I see how it is. I justify something as not getting what I want from you, so I go to someone else and that’s not okay, but you use the same justification…”

“You stuck your dick in another girl because I wasn’t ready to sleep with you. Don’t you dare try to equate that with me getting a ride to the hospital because you wouldn’t get off the couch!” Maybe it was the drugs they had pumped into me, maybe it was the sheer exhaustion of the ordeal, or maybe it was me finally reaching the end of my tolerance. I did not care that Matt was standing only a few feet away or that I was out in public. I also magically didn’t care that I had just announced my virginity and Sam’s infidelity for everyone to hear. It wasn’t important.

Sam stared at me, jaw tense. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“Fine,” was all I gave him before he walked away. His car door slammed, hard enough the rock the frame. It came to life on the first turn of the ignition, and he barely got it into gear before peeling out into the street faster than anyone should do safely.

Matt’s warm hand fell on my shoulder, turning me toward him. “You okay?” Jaw set heavily, I nodded. My eyes burned. “You sure. You look like you’re going to cry.” His words came out slowly, tentatively.

“I’m fine, really. Frustrated and possibly too full of drugs, but fine.” I tried to laugh it off, but his half smile told me he didn’t buy it but would take it.

“I would offer to stay and keep you company, but I’m guessing…” The change of expression was all he needed to know what my response would be.

“It really meant a lot to me that you came and picked me up and… stayed with me and everything. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate it.” He smiled, putting some of the life back in his eyes. Instantly, I was pulled into the blue, almost making me forget how angry I was.

Before I knew it, he hugged me. Pulled me into him and wrapped his arms around me, tightly. For a second, I stood there, not sure what to do, until my body took over and I put my arms around him in return, careful to keep my right hand out of the mix. “Good night, Charley.” My head pressed against his chest, I felt the rumble of his words as he spoke. “Try to not hurt yourself anymore until morning, okay?” I nodded against him before reluctantly pulling away.

“And you try to not let anymore nurses fall for you. It could be dangerous.” He gave me a final chuckle before walking back to his car, stopping once with a glance over his shoulder.

---