I'm being pulled out of the car. My head kills, I try to move around but my body aches. I open my eyes and look up to the paramedic. I try to say something to her, " no honey don't talk. We're gonna make sure you're alright."

"all of her vitals are present. She looks like she hit her head pretty hard." no wonder my head is pounding. II touch my forehead, it comes back with a dark liquid: blood. They lift me onto the stretcher and into the back of the ambulance. Then again, I black out.

---

"Ok," I say to myself, "Just open your eyes. That shouldn't be hard." But it is. I move my fingers and toes a little. Then I move my arms and legs a little to shift a little in the bed. Am I dead? I pinch my right thigh. "Oh," I say out loud. I hear gasps in the room.

" Thank God she's up," I hear a male voice say. I know who that is and my heart beats faster. Even more, embarrassing it shows on the monitor. " Sera, babe, can you open your eyes?" The voice asks. I open them very slowly, then squint at the light. I look up and see the bed surrounded by my friends and my boyfriend. Instead of saying hi I say, " Where's my stuff? I need my papers I have shit to do, I need to get out of here." The nurses laugh.

" I'm not kidding," I say. I'm a little irritated now,actually. "What the hell happened anyway? Why am I in the hospital?" Sid looks at me and gives me a small smile then says, "You were in a car accident. Head on collision with another car. You hit your head so you might have a concussion we're still waiting for the results. How are you feeling?" The nurses continue to jab at my arm, adjusting needles, taking my pulse.

"Like shit. My head kills and my whole body hurts. Kinda want to throw up." I touch my forehead again. Instead of blood, there's a rough, jagged line at the crown of my hairline. His hand covers mine on my head.

"Yeah, you had a nasty gash, there's gonna be a scar." Great, more scars. " You never told me where my stuff is." I give him a weak smile. My face hurts when I smile so I opt to not make too many facial expressions.

" Lucky for you, all your stuff is fine since they were in your bag," Sid says. He's sitting in the chair next to me, he looks so tired. He grabs my right hand in his, thumb stroking over the top of my hand.

" How long have I been here?" I ask. I don't remember much after getting in the cab; the only thing I remember was talking to the driver then everything went black.

"You got in the accident around 9:30 in the morning and it's 12:30."

"At NIGHT?!" I scream. He nods slowly. "Ugh, my life. What happened to the driver?"

"I have no clue baby. Uh, some other people came to visit you by the way."

"Who?" I ask. Just then my parents and my brothers enter the room. " Seraphina!" my brothers scream.

"Hey guys!" I say as the come to hug me. It's been over a year since I moved to New York City. My relationship with my siblings is more than great, they're like my kids too. The only problem is that I live so far away while they live in Atlanta. In the summers they live in New York also, I just don't visit. "How are you two? Not causing trouble I hope?" I raise my arms out for an awkward embrace. Oh my gosh, they wear cologne now, I really am getting old.

"We're fine," says Cj. Cj is the oldest of the two boys; four years younger than me. He has aspergers but he functions just fine. I'm fiercely protective over him ever since he was born. He's grown so much from the last time I saw him. He rocks a beard now, his black hair cut short, dressed like a total hipster. I taught him well. " We just came with mom and dad as soon as they told us what happened. How are you feeling?"

" My head kills man and my whole body aches." I groan as I shift in the bed to get more comfortable. Sidney presses a button on the side to raise my head. I give him a grateful glance.

"That sucks." Chris says. He's is the baby of the family, eight years younger than me. Chris and I haven't always gotten along, mostly because of the age difference and his disregard for his elders. As he got older, I think he grew to appreciate me more and I him. He texts me nonstop about everything under the sun—video games, anime, movies, books. You name it, we talk about it. I adore him.

"How are you Chris? High school fun?" Chris just started high school last school year, causing me to have a heart attack. It feels like it was just yesterday he was running around in his diapers. I'll never get over the fact that as I get older, my brothers get older too.

"It's alright so far. Too much homework though." Chris whines as he sits on the side of my bed. Cj takes the other side, watching my face intently. "Uh, what's Sidney Crosby doing in your room?" Chris has had to listen to me babble on about Sid so of course he would be curious.

"It doesn't get any better so get used to it. And I'll get to that." My parents walk over to my left. They don't look any different from when I was a teen...They still scare me. The two look at Sidney in surprise then confusement, bit don't say anything. My father is tall, not crazy tall but tall. His grey hairs have proliferated since I was a teen. His eyes are still nerdy and intense behind his glasses.

"Hi Seraphina. How are you?" My mom asks.She shoos my brothers off the bed to take a seat, stroking my head. I think this is the most touchy my mother has been with me in a long time. My mother is still petite, her hair dyed a dark auburn to hide her greys. She looks down disapprovingly at the tattoos on my arms.

" In pain." I thought I established that I feel like a piece of shit by now.

"No, I mean in your life, how are things going?"

"Oh. Good, everything's good. Job is awesome just having fun. I actually have news for you two."

"What is it? Your not pregnant right?" My mother's face is horrified as is the rest of my families'.

" No! No, I'm not. I'm in a relationship now." They all look at each other. "I assume it's you Sidney," My dad says looking at him. "Yes sir," he says standing up and reaching out to shake his hand. My dad shakes it. " I'm Dr. Maye. You're Sidney Crosby right?" My dad was never into hockey but he knew about my love for Sid.

"Yes, how do you know about me?"

"My daughter talks about you all the time ever since you started playing." My dad looks at me grinning.

" Dad! Stop it," I say embarrassed. More reasons why I don't talk to my parents.

"No it's cool," Sid says. "That's adorable actually, you'll have to tell me what she said."

" We can talk later, Sidney. I need to make sure that you're good for my only daughter." Sid laughs, " Alright that sounds good. I hope I am." He says looking at me. I smile like an idiot.

"Ugh," Chris groans, "she's in love. Didn't know someone would like you."

"There are so many words I would say to you but I'm gonna keep it G Rated; shut up."

" Oh, good one," Chris rolls his eyes.

"Hey, knock it off guys," my dad's voice is stern. There is a knock at the door; my doctor invites himself in.

"Hello everyone," he makes his way to my bed. He's an older man, with greying hair with some wrinkles. Still looks good for his age but very tired as being a doctor would make you.

" How ya feeling kid?" he asks. Fuck you I'm not a kid. Not in the mood for bullshit. " I've been better," I say instead.

"I have good and bad news.Which do you want the first?"

" I don't care to be honest." I sigh. Sid whispers in my ear, "Feisty now aren't we?"

"Well, the good news," the doctor says, "Is that you don't have any broken bones. Just cuts and bruises. The bad news is that you hit your head hard."

" I'd say. The room is literally spinning," I say.

"That's because you have vertigo. You may also have some trouble hearing, abnormal eye movements and feeling unbalanced. You'll be fine in a few weeks just make sure you take it easy and rest a lot. I'm gonna put you on something to help with the nausea. Just try to take it easy and rest."

" I'll see what I can do about the resting," I say.

"Oh no, you're resting whether you like it or not," Morgan says. " oh hey Morgan! Didn't see you there, you're too short."

"Just because you're hurt doesn't mean I won't beat you.We can extend your stay here."

"Whatever, bring it." Morgan comes to my side and kisses my forehead.

"When can I leave, doc?"

"Tomorrow morning you should be good to go. Feel free to call if you start feeling worse. Take it easy, ok?" He says as he leaves.

" I'll try."

"We'll see in the morning before we go back to Atlanta," says my mom.

"Alright cool. Bye guys," I say. I hug my parents and my friends as they leave. Sid is the only one left. He's sits next to me on my right, staring at me.

"How are you babe?" I ask him.

He sighs, " I'm alright. You gave me quite the scare when they called me," he says. I hold his left hand in both my hands.

" I'm ok as you can tell. Just in pain. What pain killers are the giving me?"

" Vicodin I think."

"Sweet. Can they give me more cuz the pain is slowly going away and it feels amazing."

"Only you would say that, druggie," he says laughing. I give a happy sigh. " No, I'm sure a lot of people would say that. It's nice to hear you laugh, makes me happy."

"Anything for you babe. Today it really hit me how much I love you."

"Really?"

"Well, I didn't know how badly hurt you were. What if you were," he pauses and looks at the ground. I know what he was going to say. I move my hands to cradle his face and turn it towards me. We don't say anything for a bit, just soaking in each others facial features.

" I'm fine. Don't ever think about that again, you hear me?! I'll always be here as long as you want me. I love you very much Sidney."

" I love you very much too, I just... I don't know. Too many emotions flooded my head when I heard what happened."

"Come here," I say patting the bed. I move over a little bit and lift up the white sheets so he can hop in. He removes his shoes and lays next to me. I lay my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat beating faster.

"Your heartbeat just got faster when I laid my head on your chest," I whisper exclaim.

" uh, yea I kinda like you so..." His voice trails off as he turns away in embarrassment.

" Good. Mine does that too. Speeds up when I see you." Sidney admits blushing. "You never told me your parents were here..." I grunt at the statement.

"Me and my parents don't see eye to eye. I just stay out of their way and they do the same for me." The relationship I have with my parents has always been tumultuous since I was a teen. I'm tired of it so I just got as far away from them as I could for the sake of my own mental health.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nope."

"Okay... Do you think you'll be ok to travel? If not we can always go later."

" I'll be fine. I won't complain I promise if I'm in pain." We can ask the doctor tomorrow." Sidney grabs my left hand and turns it palm side up. He starts tracing the lines on my palm, which gives me a tingly feeling I can't explain.

"Of course you will. You're a hard-ass at times. We'll leave Friday then, like we planned."

" I'm so tired, getting into a car accident is hard work ya know." he chuckles which causes a vibration through his chest that feels familiar.

"Come on, really? Car accident jokes?" Sidney's voice his horrified by my humor.

" You know it, anything to lighten the mood. " I say. I bury my face in his neck and take a deep breath, smelling his familiar cologne. "I'm going to sleep, night hon," I say. He mumbles something, I look up and he's already sleeping. I kiss his cheek and do the same.

Notes