Tethered Hearts | ✓ | Books 1 & 2

Episode 17| Achy Breaky Heart

Sophia's P.O.V.

Hospitals gave me anxiety.

The restless corridors, the waiting room packed with sick people, and the intrusive questions while being examined were the only things I could think of when I recalled my last visit to a hospital. I'd only gone once in my entire life, and that was for Rio. I didn't express my fear of hospitals to Kelsey during our talk though.

Our conversation was short— bitter, but short. Hearing her try to convince me didn't change my mind. I explained to her that it didn't feel appropriate to visit Bryce, given that I was still a stranger to him. I'd feel out of place amongst friends and family members.

Nicolas called me almost a minute after Kelsey and I ended our talk. I reiterated everything Kelsey had said to me about the condition Bryce was in and which hospital he was located in.

"Are you going to visit him?" Nicolas asked immediately after I finished speaking. "It would be awkward if you did go, wouldn't it? You guys aren't close."

"That's what I told her during the call. I've no idea why she'd call me to begin with," I admitted, pacing the tiny space of the laundry room I had snuck into. I hid in there for privacy when Nicolas called. The last problem I needed now was my mom eavesdropping.

I couldn't figure out why Kelsey would call me, of all people. Did she have some kind of hidden agenda that I wasn't aware of?

Bryce and I only recently declared our friendship. Visiting a guy in the hospital after talking to him four or five times didn't seem rational.

Slowing down my speed, I pivoted and hit my back to the wall. "Should I go?"

"I mean, that's up to you if you want to. Kelsey told you to go for a reason I suppose." He gasped. "What if he's muttering your name in his sleep? Oh wait, and what if he wakes up when you arrive!? Aww, that would be adorable."

"That would be creepy. I don't think that would happen if I stopped by though," I doubted, shaking my head. "Kelsey said he was on pain killers all day and he's only now starting to wake up from it."

Nicolas groaned. "You always ruin the romantic imagination going on in my head."

"It's called being logical." I chimed. "You should try it out. I hear it can save lives."

"No thank you. Simply allow me to pretend for a moment that you're not a life-sucking, romance killer and that in this fictional world, Bryce is muttering your name in some hospital as we speak." He bellowed passionately. "So now, the non-romance killer Sophia, what are you going to do next? Are you going to visit him or are you going to stay home?"

"I'm not visiting him." I said warily. I slid my back along the wall and lowered on to the cold tiles. "Let's say you were in my position...Would you go?"

"Sophiaaa," he sang. "You know me better than to ask that. I would be on the freeway, right now, driving like a maniac to get there. I'm a hopeless romantic."

"But you don't know this person very well."

"It's the thought that counts."

"That doesn't change the obvious. We're practically strangers. I'd look like a fool. I'm not anyone important to him. Perhaps if I knew him longer, it would make sense to stop by, but going to see him will make me look like some clingy, possessive girl that I'm definitely not."

"There's nothing wrong with possessiveness. I sorta like it."

"I don't," I said truthfully. "In large or small doses, I don't want possessiveness in a partner. I can't see why you would."