The Saddest Song - By Susie Kaye Lopez Page 0,46

Colin and in a flash he and Ethan were there.

“Help.” I whispered. They looked at Max lying on the bed and both went over to talk to him and get him up and down the stairs. He didn’t even seem to remember what had just happened, and I was never telling. We watched movies for the rest of the night . Everyone took turns keeping him awake, which was tougher than it sounded. Finally around two in the morning we all went up to bed and I set an alarm to wake Max up each hour until morning.

I decided to leave both of our doors open in case he woke up and needed me. Just as I tiptoed towards the door, sure he was asleep, he spoke.

“Rainey, stay. Please.”

I didn’t have the heart to say no, and I was sure I wouldn’t sleep being away from him anyway. I crawled into the bed and he reached for me. We held each other, my head pressed to his chest, the sound of his heartbeat steady and strong beneath my ear. The next thing I knew, my cell phone alarm sounded. I shook Max’s arm. “Max, wake up. Max? I need you to wake up.”

“ Rainey?” His voice was alarmed.

.”You have to wake up once every hour because of your concussion.”

“Concussion?”

“Oh Max, it’s okay. I’m here. Go back to sleep.” He didn’t reply just pulled me to his chest and I felt the lightest kiss on the top of my head before his breathing told me he was out again.

Max

“Max, wake up.” I heard a woman’s voice repeating her words over and over again, but I didn’t want to open my eyes. My head ached and I reached for my throbbing forehead. A bandage covered it. Slowly, I opened my eyes.

“Good Morning! How are you feeling?” I stared at the woman hovering over me, and tried to place her.

“I need to check your eyes Max. Can you look here for a moment? Hold still.”

I did as I was told and she smiled, kindly. “Your eyes are a lovely color, and your pupils are not dilated. I’d say that is good news.”

Sophie’s Grandmother, I remembered. The cobwebs in my head began to clear a bit, but I was definitely not feeling like myself.

“Hi! How’s the patient?” I recognized Rainey’s voice and watched her smile at me as she came into the room.

Gran said, “I will leave you in Rainey’s capable hands Max. I need to start lunch, you need to eat something.”

“Ever notice that everyone wants to feed us?” Rainey sat down beside me and took my hand in hers.

“What time is it?” I asked, trying to hold still so my head wouldn’t spin.

“Almost noon. I woke you up every hour until seven this morning, then I let you stay asleep. Does it hurt?” She pushed my hair off my forehead gently, I winced.

“I feel strange. Foggy, and confused.”

“You have a nasty concussion. Remember when Garrett got one last year?”

“Yeah, I do. I don’t remember what happened.”

“The guys can tell you about it later. The paramedics assured them you would be fine. I guess you passed their test.” She smiled.

“Did you have to keep getting up to come in here all night? I’m sorry.”

“You don’t remember at all? I slept with you.”

“You what?”

She blushed. “I slept with you. You wanted me to, and it made sense. I wouldn’t have gotten a good night sleep anyway, I was worried. I needed to see that you were alright.”

I had vague dream like memories of holding her, but it was foggy . I needed to get up. I made an attempt to but the room began to spin.

”What’s happening? Do you feel sick?”

“Just dizzy. Got up too quick, I guess. You didn’t call my mom and dad, did you?”

“They would have been here by now if I had. I didn’t want to frighten them, and you know it would have. I could see them flying up the snowy mountain roads in the middle of the night.” She shivered, imagining how dangerous it would have been.

“Thanks.” I tried sitting up very slowly, Rainey holding my arm.

“Oh, he’s up!” Rylee came through the door, followed by Sophie carrying a tray.

“Time to change your bandage, and we brought you Hot Chocolate and Cookies, to put something in your stomach.” Rylee said, putting a steaming mug in my hands.

I took a few sips and held still while Sophie gently pulled off my bandage. Rainey stood next to her holding some