The screaming continues. Everyone stares at each other. The music is still playing until someone turns it off. Suddenly everyone is talking.

"What was that?"

"Is someone hurt?"

"There's someone lying on the lawn."

"I don't know. Let's check it out."

Some people rush toward the door. I'm going with them. If someone's hurt I know what to do. But my high heels keep me back and most of the guests are at the scene before me. When I walk out the door I see several people bend over a body. I have to be quick, before their efforts to help make things worse.

There's glass lying on the ground. Where did it come from? I look to the house and on the second floor I see a broken window.

People are bending over the body and I can't see who it is. I wriggle myself between them. It's a guy and I recognize him. It's Alex. His face is so pale, I'm afraid he's dead. He must have fallen through the window.

"Can you all stand back?" I hear myself say.

"Who do you think you are?"

"I'm Elise and I'm his best chance to get through this. Or did you finish just finish medical school as well?"

This seems to work and people give me some space. My mind races and I try to remember everything I learned the past years. I start to check his vital signs. His breathing is shallow, but it's there. The smell of alcohol is overwhelming. His body is covered in minor cut wounds, nothing that needs attention right away. He's lucky they're not bleeding that much, with the amount of alcohol he obviously consumed. But I'm worried what his fall might have caused and I suspect his spine or his neck might be damaged. When he opens his eyes, I notice that his pupils are huge.

"Alex, can you hear me?" I say.

"Wha... What happened?" He tries to lift his head.

"Please, don't move," I say. Alex groans. I turn around, calling out to the people behind me.

"Call an ambulance and give it to me as soon as they have any questions." I surprise myself with my confident tone.

Someone says: "Why would I give my phone to you?"

"Because I can give them the information they need." My mind is clear. This must be the adrenaline rush I always hear about. "Did someone try to move him?"

People start to talk all together at once. This is not going to work. I have to make some clear assignments, that's what they thought me. Time to see if it works.

I look at a girl. "Did someone try to move him?"

She shakes her head. "They just shook his shoulders, to see if he was conscious."

Someone hands me a phone. "They want to talk to you."

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"I think I have someone with possible spine or neck injury. It looks like he fell through a window. He has some cuts, but nothing life-threatening. He breaths, he is conscious." I just go over every detail. "One more thing. I think he has had a lot of alcohol. And his pupils are huge, I'm not sure if he used drugs or if he fell on his head."

"Thanks miss, the ambulance is on its way."

"How long will it take them to get here?"

"Probably for about ten minutes."

"Okay, thank you." I give the phone back to its owner.

During my talk with the operator, Kate appeared. She's sitting next to Alex and she's crying. She's a mess. Dan stands at the door and he looks pale. I slowly walk toward him. "Do you know what happened?"

He shakes his head. "Kate says she tried to talk to him, but he kinda freaked out. Somehow he thought it was a good idea to jump through the window."

"What did she say to him?"

He rubs his head like he has a headache. "I don't know. I think she talked to him about his drinking."

I nod. "He smells like he had a few." I look at Alex. "I have to focus on him. Can you keep your girlfriend at a distance?"

His eyes grow big. He opens his mouth, but before he can say anything I turn around. "Thank you."

Dan talks to Kate, I can't hear what he's telling her, but she moves away. I stay close to Alex, asking him questions. He's confused, but I'm not sure if that's the alcohol or something else. It feels like it takes the ambulance hours to get here, but when I check my phone I see it actually took them only a couple of minutes. The paramedics put him on a stretcher and I know my work here is done. I have to talk to Megan, she has to get me away from here. I feel exhausted. But when I walk away to the house, one of the paramedics stops me.

"Are you the one who helped him?"

I nod.

"Do you want to come with us to the hospital? We might have some questions for you."

I rub my eyes. "Sure." It's weird, I'm all excited, I just helped someone, but on the other hand, I'm sad. Just a few hours ago I was talking to this guy, playing video games, and now he's in an ambulance with an IV and connected to several monitors.

I get into the ambulance and I search my bag for my phone. I'm typing a message to Meg. Just before we leave someone else joins us in the ambulance.

"I have to come with him." It's Kate. I don't want to be with her in the same room, let alone in this tiny space. She looked so lovely earlier this evening, but now she's a mess. Her tears leave black streaks on her face, her eyes are red and swollen.

"Kate?" I say. "I'm really sorry about what happened tonight. I didn't know..."

"It's okay. He's just an ass." She looks devastated. I feel sorry for her and I put my arm around her. She lays her head on my shoulder and she sobs.

When we arrive at the hospital, they take Alex away, leaving me and Kate in a waiting room. A nurse informs us that they're examining him. They're going to take X-rays as soon as possible. Kate keeps sobbing and I really don't know how to comfort her. I'm glad when my phone rings. It's an unknown number.

"Hello?" I say. "Who is this?"

"Elise?" It's a familiar voice. "It's Dan. Can you tell me where you are?"

"They took us to St. John's. We're at the ER, they don't know yet what's wrong with Alex."

"I'm on my way."

Before I can say anything, he disconnects. Kate looks at me. "Who was that?"

"It was Dan," I say. "He's on his way."

"Good," she says. "I really need him here." With her hand, she brushes through her hair. "How did you know what to do?"

"I'm a medical student. I'm almost finished, Wednesday's my last test." I rub my head. My test. I wanted to study tonight and tomorrow. What time is it anyway? I check my phone and I groan when I see it's 2:30. I need to sleep as soon as possible if I want to do something tomorrow, but it looks like I'm stuck here for a while.

"Wow, that's pretty awesome. Do you know what you're going to next?" Kate looks admiringly at me. How can she even stand to look at me? 

"I got an internship, I start in a couple of weeks. Do you go to college?"

Kate sighs. "Well, I was in college, but I messed things up badly. So I got kicked out and now I work as a secretary. It's not that interesting, but it pays the bills. And I'm glad I can live with Dan. It saves a lot of money."

I almost want to scream. They're living together? What kind of idiot is flirting with another girl in the house where he lives together with his girlfriend? But I'm not going to cause a scene. I'm going to stay civilized and I'm certainly not going to say things I will regret. "That's really nice of him," I say, with my best fake smile around my lips.

A nurse appears in the hallway. "Did you come along with the patient who fell through a window?"

I nod.

"Who gave him first aid?"

"That would be me," I say.

"We have some questions for you." The nurse says. "Can you come with me?"

I look at Kate. "Are you okay?"

She nods. "Go ahead. I'll be fine."

The questions are all the same, they just want to know what we did, probably to make sure that we didn't make things worse. After a couple of minutes, they let me go, telling me that they're expecting the X-rays soon. They assume Alex might have a spine injury, but they're still examining him. They tell me nothing new.

When I walk back through the hallway to Kate I hear a familiar voice. Dan. My heart feels heavier as I walk to them. I want to slap myself. I'm not a stupid girl that throws herself at some actor. It's bad enough as it is. I was flirting with him, but he has a girlfriend. I have to focus on my study. Becoming a doctor, that's all I ever wanted, all I ever dreamed of. It's better this way, I can't use any distraction now anyway.

Dan sees me first. "Elise."

I give him a half-hearted smile. "Hey." I turn to Kate. "They just asked me the same questions over and over again. There's no new information about Alex. Maybe I should leave now your boyfriend's here."

"My boyfriend? Dan? Eeew!" Kate's face is a mix of disgust and surprise. "That's never going to happen, Elise. He's my cousin."

"O." I'm all confused now. "Why were you so upset? I thought it was because I was sitting on Dan's lap. I would be upset if someone crawled all over my boyfriend."

A smug smile appears on Dan's face.

Kate sighs. "It's Alex. We've been dating for a couple of months, but he has this problem with alcohol. He was sober the last couple of weeks, but all of a sudden he started to drink again tonight. We had a big fight about it. That's why I was so upset."

"Why didn't you say something?" I look at Dan. He's still grinning.

"I wanted to tell you she's not my girlfriend, but you didn't give me a chance. But don't worry, you can crawl over me anytime you want." Did he just wink at me? "So do you still want to leave, or do you want to stay until Alex's parents are here? I can give you a ride home as soon as they're here."

"I don't know... Maybe I should call Megan, so she can pick me up," I say.

"I don't think she will answer her phone. She was pretty busy with a guy when I left my house."

I know he's right. She didn't text me back. So I sit down next to Dan and Kate.

"Does this mean you stay?" Dan looks at me.

"Yep." I bury my head in my hands. "I'm just really tired." I shiver.

"Here take my hoody." He pulls it off and offers it to me. He's right, I am cold. His hoody is way too big for me, but it's warm and comfortable. It smells slightly of his aftershave.

"Aren't you getting cold?" I ask him. 

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me to his chest. "Not like this."

"That's so cheesy I almost puked." I close my eyes. "But I'm too tired for anything, and this is sort of comfy."

His chest shakes. He's trying to hold back his laughter. "I'm glad you appreciate my chest." 

"Chests are the best parts because that's where our hearts are."

"And you said I was cheesy." 

"Shush, I love cheese."

"Can you two please shut up? Because I will throw up. All. Over. You." Damn, I forgot about Kate.

Dan starts to whisper to her, but he doesn't really have to. I'm too tired to follow their conversation and before I know it, I fall asleep.

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AN: Thanks for reading! If you liked the chapter, please vote for it by pressing the little star :)