3

A rather cute nurse finishes giving me an X-ray. In other circumstances, I would have pulled out all the stops for her until she accepted a date. Preferably a date in my bed or anywhere she would have liked for that matter, but right now, I'm clearly not in the mood for that.

I remain lost in thought as I'm escorted back to the cubicle I've been assigned, shamefully thinking back to how I behaved in front of Camille two hours earlier. Clearly, she couldn't have seen me in worse shape. I was completely vulnerable. Something that never happens.

If she decides to leak it to college, I'm going to be bullied until the end of my schooling. A rugby player who cries like a little girl, lying on the side of a road, begging an almost unknown person not to leave him alone, it is unfortunately not very glorious.

-Camille? I wondered when a male nurse pulled the curtain of my cubicle, and I found him there.

The guy gives me an infusion to calm the pain under the attentive and almost worried gaze, I think, of Camille, then tells me that a doctor will come by later to give me the results of the X-ray.

A long awkward silence ensues, which she decides to break first as I stare at the ceiling.

-You feel better ?

-It's okay, I mumbled, stopping to count the plates above me. Why are you still here?

-I came with your car and I don't have my cell phone so...

I feel her shrug, then silence falls. I stupidly cleared my throat a few times, until she again decided to speak first. What I didn't feel ready to do.

- You really scared me.

Great, I wish she had chosen another topic of conversation.

-When you lost consciousness, I...

I look down at her as she shakes her head as if to dismiss a bad memory, then sighs, burying her chin in her hand. She genuinely cared about me, I can see that. Which I have a little trouble understanding since we don't even know each other.

"The pain was too much to bear," I explained, making him raise his blue eyes to me. That's what the doctors told me. Nothing serious, everything is fine.

She forces a little reassured smile, surely not believing me and she is right because in truth, nothing rolls at all, it's even downright shit. If they put me in a splint or a cast, I can say goodbye to the season and without rugby to maintain my average, I'm going to be in total free fall. As a result, my school year will be completely ruined.

"I'm sorry you missed the party because of me," I said, feeling way too nervous.

-Oh no, I don't care, I didn't even want to go anyway. Besides, I wasn't going to leave you there when you...

She casts an explanatory look at my general condition, rather disastrous between my shoulder, my swollen cheekbone and my chin still numb from a nasty blow. Which makes me think back to Rabbit and rage even more.

What a bastard, I still can't believe he did such a thing to me!

-Good, Camille breathes suddenly, getting up. I think we're stuck here for quite a while, so I'll see if I can find a coffee machine, or a vending machine. You want something ?

- No, that's nice.

We exchange a faint smile before she disappears. I take this opportunity to think about what I'm going to be able to do once I get out of here, but it seems that the meds they give me are a little stronger than I thought because I end up dying. fall asleep.

I wake up I don't know how long later, finding Camille sitting back in the same place, on the little white scrap metal chair near the curtain. Two plastic cups and a bag of madeleines at his feet.

"Hey..." she says softly.

-What time is it ?

-3 hours past. The doctor came while you were sleeping, he said he would come back later to do your cast.

-A cast?

She nods as I clench my fist and teeth, stopping myself from punching or whatever.

"Holy shit," I fumed, trying to channel my anger.

I watch her nervously crush the little skin around her nails, seeming to be a little cold if I believe the goosebumps that interfere on her thighs bare by her evening dress.

I uncover and hand her the white sheet that covered me, making her frown.

-Here, I insisted. You will catch cold.

-And you ?

-Unless you want to come snuggle up to me, you're going to have to do joint custody, I tried to joke.

She laughs as she snatches the blanket from my hands.

-Good try Kyle, but no thank you, she smiled at me, wrapping herself underneath.

I understand that she thought it was a tactic to try to get her into my bed, in a way, but it wasn't at all. I just wanted to be nice and caring. However, I prefer to let her believe her version, just to endorse my image of inveterate flirty rather than that of wimp that she must now have of me.

I straighten up slightly, holding my shoulder with one hand, in a grimace that I struggle to hide and she imitates when she sees me. Too bad for my ego, it's getting worse and worse.

-Say... I resumed, coughing. Would you mind avoiding... Hmm, well, not telling all this to whoever...?

- "All that" what?

-Well, that I cried like a baby, for example... I argued, stammering my words between my lips.

-Your reputation would take a hit, she retorts with a teasing grin that forces me to nod shamefully. I won't tell anyone Kylian. There is nothing to say.

-Kyle, I corrected. And thank you... I breathed, relieved. For that and for everything else.

She exchanges me, this time, a real knowing smile.

-But I didn't really cry either, I inquired, hoping to save the rest of my honor. Finally, it hurt so I may have a little... Whined, but I didn't cry either, don't overdo it.

His blue pupils, strangely more captivating than I had noticed before, riveted to mine. Her lips purse to hold back her laughter, but she finally releases it when my pout begs her not to tease me.

"Okay," I sighed, looking away. I may have cried a little, I admit. But don't really tell anyone please, I'm serious.

-I promise, your reputation will be saved, she laughs again. Aren't you supposed to be used to pain as a rugby player?

It's not the pain that put me in this state, but that, there is no question that I explain it to him. The most painful thing is the betrayal of the person you care about the most in the world, and the growing anguish of having lost him and finding himself again alone in front of the world. Beside, a broken bone, it's painless.

I swallow my disappointment when the doctor joins us. He explains to me that my shoulder is dislocated and my elbow is broken. They put me in a cast, put on a sling, and handed me a prescription and a six-week sports exemption.

The coach is going to be mad, I'm a dead man.

- Talk about a best friend! I cursed, sitting back in the passenger seat, leaving Camille to drive us out of obligation.

-He hit first?

-Whatever ? I was indignant, glaring at her, while she defends herself with a shrug before driving off. He hit my girlfriend on my back, I think I have the right to hit first, don't I?

- I thought it wasn't your girlfriend?

-Because you would fuck the guy with whom fucks one of your best friends perhaps?

-Because you would fuck the guy with whom fucks one of your best friends perhaps?

She grimaces, nodding.

-We agree, I hissed angrily, sinking into the seat.

Camille finally resigns herself to silence for the rest of the long road, until we pass the sign for our town.

-Where am I actually dropping you off?

-I don't know... I only think about it now. Rabbit will surely come back to the room tonight, no way to see his face.

- Shall I take you home then?

-No, I refused immediately, probably a little too abruptly since she turns towards me. It's too far, forget it, I lied, making her nod without knowing it for a second. Park in the campus parking lot, I'll sleep in my crate.

-You laugh ? Anything !

-There is no question that I see him again! I replied harder than I wanted to. In any case, not before having calmed my nerves, otherwise it will end very badly for both of us.

"Okay..." she sighs. Well in that case, you just have to sleep at my place at least for this night.

I arch an eyebrow that makes hers frown.

-Your house ? I'm in no condition to make you climb the curtains tonight honey, let it go.

She bursts out laughing loudly, without my understanding.

-In the cretin kind, you're really not the last Etienne, she mutters. A girl can propose to a boy to sleep at her place without ulterior motives. In my world, it's just called kindness or altruism. But fuck off, since you take it like that.

-I see, we're playing the touchy now, I giggled, making her raise her pretty blue eyes to the sky. If it's just out of kindness, then I accept the proposal.

- My proposal no longer holds, get over it, I'm serious!

She tries to look serious by pushing her brown hair down her back, but it only makes her look cuter than she already is. Which she obviously doesn't seem to realize.

-Come on, a poor defenseless boy forced to sleep alone in his car... I tried, batting my eyelashes in an infallible smile, which she studied quickly out of the corner of her eye. I will pay my debt when I am well, princess, I promise. As many ways and positions as you want.

She growls, surely refraining from insulting me, which makes me burst out laughing in my turn. She ends up imitating me when she realizes that my proposal wasn't really serious, even if I clearly wouldn't say no if she asked me to, when my cell phone interrupts us by vibrating against the door. I retrieve it, finding a message from Rabbit in it, making me want to laugh.

“I heard you went to the hospital... Is it serious? I barely pushed you man, I'm sorry. Please call me back »

I throw my phone on the dashboard without answering it. Camille questions me silently with her eyes, but I shake my head, without answering her either. To hell with him. Tonight, I no longer have a brother.