Parker's POV:

When we got back to my hospital room, I noticed the doctor standing outside my door talking to a nurse while writing something down on his clipboard. I took Blaze's arm and put it around my shoulder, ignoring the feeling that grew in my stomach.

"Act like you just helped me to the bathroom," I whispered to her. That was how we walked up to the doctor. Me, limping and acting like I'm in a lot of pain (which is sort of true), and Blaze, helping me walk while trying not to smile.

I'm glad this is so amusing to you, I thought. I was hoping and praying the doctor hadn't seen us outside, or else we were screwed. Luckily, though, I don't think he did, because the first thing he asked when he saw us approaching was "Where were you? I was just about to come in and give you your medicine."

"Oh, uhm, I had to go to the bathroom and my mother was in mine so I had to go to a different one. Blaze over here happened to be in the room and offered to help me."

He looked between us suspiciously. "And this couldn't wait 2 minutes for your mother to get out."

"Nope," I replied, smiling in what I hope made me look completely innocent. "She actually had to leave right after she got out, so if you have any questions for her, I can call her."

"No that's fine," the doctor shrugged. "I don't need to see her at the moment."

We walked back into my room and Blaze helped me into the bed as we shared a knowing look with each other. My eyes never left hers as she sat down next to me and watched as I took the  pills the doctor gave me and swallowed them.

I think the doctor didn't 100% believe us about where we went, but he didn't question it. Meanwhile, I was doing my best to not smile or laugh. Every time I look at Blaze, it reminds me of what we were doing earlier.

There's just something about a shared secret that makes everything 100x funnier.

I could see that Blaze was trying not to laugh as well. I got that feeling again in the pit of my stomach. That loopy, I feel like I'm high on drugs feeling. Just looking at her made me feel better.

God, I sound like such a cheesy, cliché guy, but it's true. Whenever she smiles at me, it's like my whole world gets brighter. I really don't know how I didn't notice it until this year.

The way her eyes sparkle when she is focusing on something she loves. Every time I get upset about something, all I have to do is think about her and I feel better. She makes me happier than I have the words to explain.

I wish I could hug her right at this moment and declare my love for her for the whole world to hear, but I can't.

I can't because she's dating my best friend. I know I shouldn't have feelings for her, and trust me I've tried not to, but feelings can not be controlled.

I thought I would have a chance at first. I mean, I knew she liked Scottie, but I thought that since he didn't like her back she might change her mind and fall for me, but boy was I wrong.

Turns out, Scottie has had a crush on her this entire time too.

His reasoning for not telling me was that he knew I hated her and didn't want me to hate him too for liking her. And the thing is, he's not wrong. I probably would've gotten very mad at him and not talked to him for at least 2 weeks if he had told me.

But on the other hand, I wished I could've reversed time and made him tell me at the beginning of the year. It would've saved me from all the pain, and I probably wouldn't have gotten in the car crash.

But time can't be reversed and now I have to deal with the consequences of what I've done. Scottie needs to know sooner or later.

I'm just hoping I can tell him later.

---

The next few days were very uneventful. Blaze hadn't been in to visit me since that day and I'm praying to Buddha that she isn't bothered by what happened in the garden. I regretted doing that.

We didn't kiss, but we may as well have. I would've done it too, if she hadn't stopped me. I just hope I didn't ruin our friendship. If I can't be the one she loves, then I'm content just being by her side for the rest of her life and making sure she is always happy.

"Enough of this depressing, sappy love talk, let's get a move on. You got places to be, things to do, people to see."

I turned off the movie that I had been watching and looked over at the man next to me.

Soon after Blaze left, the doctor introduced him to me as Jared Winston, my physical therapist (well, physical therapist in training). He was still in med school, but was interning at the hospital and would sit in and help me sometimes while I was at therapy.

This man felt like the older brother I never had. He talks with me about how school is going, the football game that aired last night, whatever comes to his mind really.

He also has not stopped teasing me about Blaze. Somehow in the three days we've known each other, he got me to open up and talk about her. At first I was hesitant, but Jared is a really nice guy.

"Ugh!" I groaned. I did not want to get out of bed right now. I was very comfortable in my pajamas that my mother brought from home. "Do I have to? Can't I just lie in bed for, oh  I don't know, the rest of the week?"

"Nah, dude. You got to go so you can get stronger for your little girlfriend. Wouldn't want her to do all the work for you, would you?" I threw a pillow at him and my cheeks tinged pink slightly at what he was hinting at.

"But seriously though, you need to go so you can get out of here and recover sooner. Can't have a future Olympic gold medalist becoming broken, now can we?"

Reluctantly, I got out of bed and put on some grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt before sitting down in the wheelchair Jared brought for me.

I've told the doctors that I'm perfectly fine to walk, but they don't believe me so they make Jared roll me around in this stupid wheelchair whenever I need to go somewhere.

They say once I leave the hospital (which is hopefully in the next week or so) that I will not have to use the wheelchair anymore.

But that's beside the point.

Right now, Jared is rolling me into the therapy room. I saw him throw a wink at some nurse that was holding open the door for us. I had to restrain myself from laughing when I saw her roll her eyes so hard they almost got stuck in that position.

"Nice game, Winston," I reached over and punched him in the arm. Jared glared at me and continued to do his job.

For the next hour and a half, My limbs were stretched and moved in ways that weren't very comfortable.

"What's the first thing you're going to do when you get out of here?" Jared asked me. He handed me a rubber band and instructed me to use both my arms to stretch it out as far as I could, hold it for a few seconds before repeating the process.

"I'm going to eat a big, juicy steak and then take the longest nap ever."

He rolled his eyes at me. "I already know that dipshit, I mean what are you going to do about school? Your friends? Blaze?"

I stretched the rubber band across my chest. "You already know how I feel. I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to go back to my normal life and pretend like none of this is happening." I shrugged it off like it's no big deal.

"I don't think that's going to be possible," he said. I looked at him like he grew a second head. "What do you mean it's not going to be possible?"

"I mean, it's not going to be possible, because I've heard the way you talk about her."

Suddenly, the rubber band I was stretching snapped and hit me in my face. "FUCK!" I yelled, gaining the attention of everyone around me.

"Shit," Jared mumbled under his breath. "Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Do I look okay? I got hit in the eye with a fucking rubber band."

The same nurse who rolled her eyes at Jared's pathetic attempt at flirting only a couple minutes ago came running over with a first aid kit in her hand. Slowly, she removed my hand that was cupping my eye and inspected the wound. Something wet started to drip onto my cheek.

Great, now I'm bleeding.

The nurse grabbed a cotton swab from the first aid kit, dipped it into some sort of liquid and pressed it against my wound. "OW!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry," she replied in a monotone voice. "It looks like the rubber band hit you right below your eyebrow and the force of the hit caused your skin to split open. It may or may not leave a scar. There will definitely be a bruise, though. I suggest you take good care of it if you don't want to end up with another scar."

She finished bandaging my wound and left without saying another word.

"So, I guess no more girl talk during physical therapy, eh?" Jared chuckled.

I gave him the meanest look I could muster.

Physical therapy is supposed to be helping my wounds get better, not creating more.

My therapy ended shortly after that little rubber band incident and I was wheeled back to my room where I sat for the next hour trying to catch up on all my missing homework.

Just when I was about to finish up an essay for AP Lit., Scottie strolled in carrying two bags of  Freddy's. The smell of French fries wafted over to me and my stomach started grumbling. He set the bag down in front of me, along with a bottle of water.

"Thought you could use a little pick me up," Scottie explained as he got out the food and started arranging it on the tray in front of me.

"Thanks man. I was getting tired of the shit they call food here. I mean honestly, you would think with all the money this hospital has they could spring for better food, but no. The food here is still ass."

"Any day."

We ate the food while we talked about some rumor that was going around school. So we gossiped about people from our school in our free time, sue us. It's free entertainment from us.

Sometimes we even make a game out of who can either hear the craziest rumor, or who can create the craziest rumor that people will believe.

"Yeah, apparently the girl went batshit crazy and yelled at the teacher and everything. Apparently, she even threatened to track down his wife and kids and slit their throats."

My eyes almost bulged out of their sockets and I started coughing on my food. Scottie patted me on the back to help the food go down. I'm sure I was red-faced from all the choking I was doing. "Thanks. Did she really say that? I hope the cops arrested her ass. I'm not trying to accidently come across her and get everyone I know killed."

"Nah, you'll be fine. Someone called the cops when it started to get out of hand, so they showed up just in time. I doubt she'll be getting out of jail anytime soon."

I shook my head in disbelief. The shit that happens in public school.

Our conversation dwindled and a thought slipped into my mind.

Maybe this would be a good time to tell him about my feelings for Blaze.

There's never a right or wrong time to actually tell someone something, but if I tell him now, while he's happy and I'm still recovery from my injuries, maybe he won't be so mad.

"Hey Scottie, I got to-"

Just then Jared busted into my room with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Yo, Parker. I just made this really hilarious edit of you and Blaze. It has hearts around you guys and even Mr. and Mrs. Knight-WOAH. What's wrong dude?"

The moment he opened his big fat mouth, I had glared at him and did my best to warn him to shut up before he did something he would regret, but it's too late. The damage is done.

Scottie heard what he said loud and clear.

Only then did Jared notice the other guy in the room. "Hey, man. I'm Jared, Parker's physical therapist, well, therapist-in-training, because I'm still in med school," he rambled.

Scottie stood up, not even bothering to shake the hand Jared had stuck out.

"I'm Scottie," is all he said. Jared's faced morphed from one of mischief to one of horror. "Oh shit," he mumbled.

Slowly, he started backing out of my room.

"So, yeah. I think I'm going to go now. You boys have a nice little chat, and I'll come back when things have cooled down."

As soon as he left, Scottie turned and walked over to me, anger written all over his face.

"Why would he be making a picture of Blaze, who's MY girlfriend by the way, and you with Mr. and Mrs. Knight written on it?"

I sighed. I guess I had to tell him now.

"Listen, Scottie just know that whatever I'm about to tell you, I did not mean for it to happen and I swear to Buddha that I won't doing anything about it."

"Just spit it out." Scottie wasn't making eye contact with me. This wasn't a good sign.

"I have feelings for Blaze." I cringed backwards waiting for the punch that would surely come flying my way, but nothing happened.

"When did it start?" he whispered.

"A couple weeks into senior year," I replied, not wanting to meet his eye.

"Well, as long as it's only a crush it's fine. Plus, that's too short a period for you to fall for someone. You'll get over this. It's just like every other crush you've had." He patted my back like I was a child who just found out his mom has cancer.

This made me get angry. How does he know what my feelings are or how long they'll last? He does not have the right to label my feelings and then toss them to the side like they mean nothing.

Yes, I'm painfully aware that Blaze is his girlfriend, but no matter how deep my feelings may run for her, I'll never act on them. I'm not that horrible of a person. I may have almost kissed her today, but that's as far as I'll ever go. Not that I'm going to be almost-kissing her again.

I got up from my bed and went to the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face. I was trying to calm my anger, but it was not working. I let out a scream and punched the wall next to the sink.

"What's wrong Parker?" Scottie asked, rushing in to check if I was alright.

"You wouldn't understand," I mumbled.

"Wouldn't understand what?" he asked.

"It's not just a stupid fucking crush, okay!" I shouted. "I'm in love with her, I've been in love with her and nothing is going to change that. But I can't do anything about it because she is your girlfriend, and I would never do that to my best friend. I never acted on them because I knew how she felt about you and how you felt about her."

Scottie's eyes went wide.

"You have no idea how much pain I'm in every time I see her smiling with you, laughing with you; it breaks my heart a million times over because I know she'll never look at me like that."

Scottie was silent for an agonizing 5 minutes.

"Parker," he trailed.

"Don't. I know what you're going to say and just don't. I may not be able to promise to get rid of my feelings for her, but I can promise that I will never ruin your relationship with her. Now, will you please leave me alone? I need some time by myself to think."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

Scottie walked out of the room, leaving me standing there with water and tears dripping down my face.

-----

I hoped you guys liked this chapter! The next chapter is going to be a lot shorter than usual, because I want to do this scene again, but from Scottie's perspective.

The one after that though, will deal with the aftermath of their confrontation.

Sidenote: This story will be ending soon. I'm hoping to have it wrapped up somewhere between 40-45 chapters, so stay tuned for the last chapter!

(Next time I upload, I will try and have a finalized number of chapters for you guys)

Don't forget to vote and comment!