About You

CHAPTER NINE

"It's not broken. And it'll stop bleeding soon." The doctor explains. "You should be fine to go home."

"Thanks, doc." James replies, sliding down off the table. His sneakers scuff the floor, making a squeak.

"But you will have a black eye unfortunately." The doctor adds with a frown. He quickly leaves the room, assumingly to tend to other patients, and we follow soon after.

"Want to go back to the change rooms now?" I ask, almost running into his back when he stops dead in his tracks in front of me.

"No. I'd rather go back to my room now. I can get my stuff tomorrow."

"Oh. Okay." I agree although disheartened. I take a small hopeful step towards him.

"No, you can go back and get your stuff. Don't worry about me. I'll call you later." With that, he turns and walks back towards the dorms.

I stand by myself for a full minute, watching him go, before turning around and heading to the gym.

I push through the doors to find the game had already ended, and there was no sign of the other team. My team however, was waiting for me.

"Hey, Tara. How's the captain feeling?" Questions come flooding in.

"He's okay. He just needs some rest." I reassure them. I don't know what else to say.

"I'm glad he's okay." The all murmur in response, pressing for more.

"Nothing's broken." I tell them with what I hope is a reassuring smile before pushing back out the doors. I head to the woman's locker room and take my time changing back into my street clothes. When I come out, there are only the two guys that I had met earlier left in the hallway. They both looked sad.

"Hey, Tara listen. Do you think James wants us to take him his stuff? We know his locker combo." They both looked like kicked puppies.

"Sure, I guess. You'd better text him and tell him you're coming." I shrugged. "He might want to be alone."

"Okay, thanks. He's lucky to have you." The guy with the blue tank top tells me, and they both disappear into the men's change room.

Was I his? Did he have me? Because I'm pretty sure that if I was actually his girlfriend, I'd be taking care of him right now and not walking around the gym by myself late at night. I take the steps two at a time and race back to the dorms with this thought leading me.

When I open the door to my room, I could tell Alex was in her room but there was no sign of Nate. I quickly throw my stuff in my room, and begin my plan in the kitchen.

When I finish cooking the ramen noodles soup, I pour all of it into my best bowl with my favourite pattern on it. It was still too hot to hold onto, so I wrap a towel around it and hold onto it.

Wow, I must really like this guy if I'm bringing him soup. Carefully, I open the door with my foot and take off down the hallway. It sloshes close to the edges of the bowl, but I'm careful. When I make it in front of his door, I force one last shaky breath before I lightly knock with my foot. I hope he doesn't just send me away. Maybe this would finally take us to the next level.

James opens the door and I could tell he immediately regretted it. He tried to mask the surprise on his face by wedgeing the door closed a little more.

"Hey," was all he said.

"Hey. I brought you some soup. How are you feeling?" I ask slowly, feeling really awkward all of a sudden. It was always so easy with him, why is he being so weird all of a sudden?