The New Member

I woke up and shot up straight. My breathing was rapid and I had no clue where I was. The lights were bright and the smell was sterile. I looked to my left and saw an IV stuck in the arm. I suddenly felt really sick and scared. Why was I here? I felt a sob raise in my throat and I couldn’t breathe anymore. Tears slowly started crawling down my cheeks.

“Hey, you’re ok.” A voice cooed.

They enveloped me into a hug and I shook my head. I wasn’t ok. And if the person wasn’t going to move now, I would throw up all over them. I pushed them away and slapped the hand that wasn’t connected to the IV over my mouth. The person seemed shocked at first but soon understood what I meant.

“Oh! Umm… here!”, they grabbed a bucket that was strategically placed close to the bed.

I hung over the edge of the bed and did what I had to do. I slowly laid back down properly in the bed and rested my head to the left, away from the person. My eyes slowly closed and I fell asleep. I wasn’t planning on waking up anytime soon.

----

My eyes slowly fluttered open and I was met with a view of a highway. The hospital room was probably at least 6 stories up. I stared down and looked at the cars passing by. Everybody seemed in such a hurry to get somewhere. Everybody was in their own little word, feeling secure in their own tin shell. I felt a squeeze in my hand and looked to the left. I was met with the familiar eyes that I woke up next to everyday.

“Hi.” I softly squeaked out.
“Hi.” Tony said back. He smiled at me and a single tear flowed down his cheek.
I looked at him and tried my best to smile. My eyes were heavy, but I was determined to stay awake this time. Sleep won’t win. Tony stroked his thumb over my hand and didn’t look away from me.
“You scared us, you know?” He mumbled.
“Why?” I was so confused. I still didn’t know why I was here.
“What do you remember?”
“I was on a riser and I jumped off…” I tried my hardest to remember anything else, “I don’t remember anything else after that, just a lot of people.”
Tony nodded and glanced at the floor.
“Wait a second… Tour!” My voice was still barely a whisper.
Tony looked back up at me, “The others continued… It’s been 4 days, Noortje.”
I tried to say something but all I could do was open and close my mouth before nodding and resting my head back on the pillow. I stared up at the ceiling.
“I-I ruined this whole thing. You should be with them. I should never have joined. All the fans are probably really disappointed.” I started rambling.
“No, don’t say that,” He kissed my hand, “We all had a fight about who got to stay with you. Eventually I won after Vic suddenly screamed out ‘Part 2!’. I have no clue what that was about.” He laughed a bit.
I turned my head so I was facing him. He took his other hand and wiped away the tears that had fallen on my cheeks. I tried to sit up in the bed, but he shook his head no and pushed me back down. He picked me up slightly and moved me over and laid down next to me, careful to not disrupt the IV. I curled up against his chest and took in his scent. It was familiar and I felt at home.

I looked up and Tony looked down we slowly started inching closer. I could see the deep drowns in his eyes and could feel his breath against my skin. It was warm and comforting. He slowly put his hand on my cheek and he traced underneath my eyes. I leaned up a bit and his lips brushed mine. He made the last move and captured my lips. It wasn’t anything like the fake kiss we had. It wasn’t hungry, it wasn’t as passionate. But it most definitely was real. We went at a slow pace. He tried his best not to hurt me, he acted like I was fragile, which I probably was. One of his hands moved to my back and he pulled me closer towards him. I placed my hand, that wasn’t stabbed by a needle, on his chest and made the kiss deeper. We slowly pulled away and I rested my head against his chest once again. I quickly dozed out.


Tony’s POV

Why did I kiss her? Why did I kiss her! Why the fuck would I kiss her! Shit! Good fucking job, Tony, you messed up once again. You’re going to lose your bestfriend and now you will live a miserable life. Maybe you can ask her to forget about it?
But… She was- No. Do not think like that. She is your bestfriend, and you don’t feel that way about her. We went over this before. It was probably just the heat of the moment. She was finally fine, and it was the first time she woke up without going all crazy. But, maybe you do have feeling for her?
No. No you don’t. It’s not happening. It’s probably just from not getting any action for a few months. You should fix that.

The internal debate kept going on in my head. I seriously didn’t know what to think and feel anymore. On one hand, she was my best friend, on the other hand I had just kissed her. My thoughts were all over the place and I started to overthink everything. This probably wasn’t good for my health. The kiss was probably just a mistake. She was drugged up and I was over emotional. No feelings here.

Before I could continue with my overthinking, my phone buzzed. I carefully stretched out to get my phone from the table, trying my best not to wake Noortje up.
Vic: How’s everything going?
I smiled. The others have been asking for updates every few hours. They really were concerned. I decided to reply before they would start panicking.
Noortje finally woke up without freaking out. All is well right now. Haven’t seen doctor yet.
This was probably a good time to update the fans. Almost everybody knew about the incident and were concerned. There were no updates given, except for me staying with her at the hospital. Luckily, the fans understood and encouraged me to stay. Apparently they are rooting for Noorny. Fortunately nobody had seen us kiss. That would have made the fandom explode. I didn’t want anybody to get false hope. Noortje and I would stay best friends.

I opened the camera on my phone and switched it to the front camera. I pointed the phone at us. You could think we were a couple. We were wrapped in each other and Noortje had her head buried underneath mine. I kissed the top of her head and took the picture. Noortje looked so cute. I uploaded it to instagram and also posted it on twitter. The caption read:
Guess who finally woke up today!
I didn’t say anything about her waking up so many times before. I don’t think she remembers them. She would sit upright in bed and pant. There was nothing I could do, but tried to calm her down. It was like she was looking around for something. But it wasn’t her, it seemed like something had possessed her. It was so fearful seeing her like that… It was fearful seeing the girl you love- no, sorry, not love. It was fearful seeing your best friend like that.

I laid my head next to hers and tried to get some sleep. I hadn’t slept in days. I was too afraid something was going to happen, and I wouldn’t be there to help her.

Just friends, no feelings.

Notes

So they kissed again! What will happen between them?
Should anything happen between them? You tell me. The story still has an open ending (which probably will not come soon, there's still so much to write!)
Anyway, I realised I spelled riser wrong in the other chapters. I feel so stupid!
Also, I was going to upload this yesterday, but I felt like it wasn't up to standards and was way too short. So, to make up for that, I'm trying to write another chapter today.
Please give me some ideas. I'm slowly running out. Please don't diagnose me with writers-block!

-DSN