Star-crossed - Episode 11

 

Comfort:

"Who says I don't need it?"
"Raymond how__ what are you doing here?" I chew on my lips to stop myself from showing how much seeing him awake and up affects me but when he pulls off the doorway and starts to stalk towards me, I release my tortured lips and look everywhere for an escape. Too late . Joyce just steps back to let him get to me and he's breathing down my neck in seconds.
"Does your neck hurt?" He asks and I frown. That wasn't the question I was expecting.
"Um no. It's just sore but nothing I can't handle." I say slowly.
"Good." He says and with that, his big hand clamps down on my arm.
"What are you doing?!" I squeal and lean back away from him.
"We need to talk." He says as he tries to pull me off the bed.
"No! I don't want to leave with you." I use my other hand to hold on to the side of my bed.
"Comfort__ let go of the bed." He growls but I shake my head.
"Okay, have it your way."
"What? Oh no! Stop!" The miscreant put a hand under my knees and tries to haul me up.
"Sh*t" I hear him mutter then he lets go of me to grab his head.
"Oh my God. Are you okay?" I ask, my hand over my mouth in worry.
"Yeah

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/star-crossed

. I___"
"You stubborn man! How were you going to carry me out with a cast on and after waking up from an induced coma!" I yell at him.
"Oh boy, she's got a loud mouth on her." I hear Joyce mutter but when I pin her with a hard look, she acts like she's studying the ceiling. I bring my frown back to Raymond.
"You won't talk to me otherwise." Raymond says and my frown falters. How can such a tough guy say things that pull on my heartstrings this much?
"You can just say what you want here." I try to convince him.
"I want us alone." Oh boy. The words alone has my heart racing.
"I don't think it's a good idea." I say weakly.
"Maybe you should go with the man, Comfort. You can take your advice to me earlier to just ask him about___"
"Joyce!" I scream to shut my cousin up before she rats my jealousy out to Raymond. She smiles sheepishly at me and shrugs.
"Ask me what?" Raymond looks from Joyce to me.
"Huh____why don't we go have that talk away from prying ears." I say quickly and start to stand without prompting.
"Really?!" He actually sounds happy that I'm giving in. I eye Joyce as I walk pass her but she just feign an innocent look. I shake my head at her. Who has a loud me after all!
"Don't take too long out there, okay? It's dark outside." She calls out to us as we walk out of the room.

****

Raymond:

"You okay?" I ask silently when Comfort doesn't speak minutes after we stop to sit on the bench at the back of the hospital's laboratory. She's just been staring at her hands without looking up at me.
"Comfort__" I place a hand on her entwined hands when she doesn't answer and her head snaps up to stare at me. My eyes take in her beautiful face at such close proximity and excitement bubbles inside me. It's a strange and heady feeling.
"I'm so happy you got out of this alive." I tell her sincerely.
"Yeah about that__ She slowly pull her hands from beneath mine and scoots a few feet away from me on the bench till she's at the edge.
"Thank you Raymond, for everything." She says without looking up at me.
"I really didn't do anything. I took you there to begin with. It's actually my fault you almost got killed. I__"
"No. Really, thank you for taking me there. I wouldn't have known about the real cause of mother's death otherwise." She looks up into my eyes and I see the tears in them. My fingers tingle to brush her cheeks but I push my good hand into my pocket.
"I almost got you killed in the process." I mutter to her. She shakes her head slowly.
"No. You gave me life. You don't really know what you've given me, Raymond."
"Why don't you tell me." I scoot a little to cover the space between us. She stares at my lap before looking up at my face. My eyes do everything to tell her she can trust me. I want to know what's going on in that head of hers.
"I was diagnosed with cancer when I was nineteen years old. I think that was when the will to live slowly got sucked out of me." I see her visibly shudder as she says this.
"Comfort__"
"No, let me get this out. Back then, I was scared for my life. The pain, the chemotherapy treatment, everything just left me more sick than the day before. I mean there was some good days. But the bad days left me wondering if the treatment was worth it. I just wanted to die and be rid of the pain. My life was also put on hold. No school. No friends. And then father left. Mom fell into severe depression. Finally, I went into remission. I was free! My life was supposed to go back to normal. I deserved that!"
"Babe__"
" Imagine how I felt when I woke up to find my mother bleeding out on our bed just days after finally being discharged from the hospital. I couldn't save her. I thought I'd finally driven her to death. I thought I killed her." She suddenly bursts into hard sobs as she bury her face in her hands. I really want to hug her so bad but I fear that I'll only scare her.
"I can't say I can comprehend what you went through back then but I feel like I can help you move on." I let my hand touch the tip of pinky finger and when she doesn't move her hand, I cover the whole hand with mine and pull her hands from her face. She sniffs back tears as she blinks at me.
"I don't know if I know how to live anymore." She says through her tears.
"Then let me teach you. I'm the perfect teacher for the job. I know a thing or two about how to live life to the fullest." I wink at her to lighten the mood and she actually smiles.
"I don't think I want your idea of living. Smoking isn't something I think I want to do." Her lips tip up slightly at her jibe at me.
"Okay, fine. We'll focus on fun and safe." I say after a few seconds.
"Safe and fun. Why do I have a feeling, I'm going to get in trouble if I let you turn me into your student."
"Ah! You wound me with your words. I saved you after all. So it's safe to say you can trust me with your life right?" I smirk at her.
"If you put it like that___"
"Sometimes you just have to let go. What are you so scared of, Comfort?"
"Getting high on weed." She bursts into laughter and I grin at her.
"I said no weed, smarty pants."
"Yeah. I guess I'll give this living thing a chance then. My mom will want me to move on right?" She stares at me seriously and I nod.
"Why don't we start with a smile."
"What's there to smile about now?" She asks and I shrug.
"I'm your teacher so no questions. Come on, give me a smile. I'll tickle you if you don't do this voluntarily. I'm a bad ass teacher." This gets a laugh out of her as expected.
"You're so extra!" She says through giggling fits while I just stare at her beautiful face. Her head is thrown back with her dimples out to play and it's messing with my focus.
"God, you're so beautiful." I say before I can stop myself. Comfort stops giggling at this and her soft gaze clicks on mine. I slowly move closer till we're just a metre apart. She eyes the space between us tentatively as her teeth sink into her bottom lip and my eyes drop to her mouth.
"Raymond__" her voice comes out in a breath of air and my eyes move back to hers. I'm going to kiss her and she knows it.
I tilt my head and slowly bring it closer to hers.

Read " Redemption " by the same author ( Ameh juliet )

. Both our eyes are still wide open and it's like we're speaking to each other with them. Mine begging her not to run from this and hers pleading for me not to hurt her.
"Comfort__" her name is like worship on my lips as her breath fan my face and her eyes flutter close. Dum dum! Dum dum! Dum dum! My heart slam against my chest like I'm in a race.
I let my eyes close and my good hand trails up to flatten at the base of her spine. She leans into my touch and I marvel at how she feels.
  My lips brush against her soft ones lightly but Comfort suddenly jumps back from me. I fear that I've scared her, just before I hear the voice calling out my name.
"Raymond?! Raymond!" The voice is enough to have my eyes snapping wide open. Comfort is now metres away from me, awkwardly looking everywhere but at me and I cuss Breanna for interrupting at the worst time. Trust your sister to not know when to stay away!
"There you are. Raymond__" Breanna comes to a stop in front of Comfort and settles a weird look at her.
"What are you doing out here, Bree?" I ask to get her attention off Comfort. I can tell she's making her uncomfortable.
"You had me worried! It's going to rain for God's sake and you're out here in the cold without a jacket!" She chastises me. Comfort looks more awkward by the second and I just about growl at Breanna.
"Just because you've been taking care of me for days doesn't mean I'm now the younger sibling!" I throw at her.
"Sibling?" Comfort suddenly says and both mine and Breanna's heads snap to face her. She's just staring at the both of us gaping and that's when it hits me what's really going on here and why she's been acting awkward since Breanna interrupted us.
"You can't possibly think Breanna is my girlfriend!" I scream in repulsion.
"Well...." Comfort draws out.
"Ewwww!" Breanna gags just in front of us and I actually burst out laughing at both our reaction to Comfort's assumption.