“Men that you handpicked for me, without my consent. Do you understand how humiliating that was to be in a ro-. Woah.” I mutter as I sway to the side suddenly dizzy.
“What’s wrong?” Mia says shifting towards me.
I look at her and suddenly there are two of her.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to breathe.
“I-I don’t know” I break off as a sharp pain moves through my abdomen.
I try to take a deep breath, but it gets stuck. I wheeze as panic starts to set in.
Something is wrong. Like really really wrong.
“Oh my God! Somebody calls 911!” I hear Mya yell.
“What’s happening?” my mother says.
“Mia, look at me” my dad says crouching down in front of me. I look up at him as pain clutches my insides.
“I-I…” I can’t get any words out.
I can’t breathe.
It feels like all my airways have been blocked and an elephant is sitting on my chest.
“I’ve got you. Focus on me,” he says. His voice is calm, but I see the pure panic in his eyes.
“Try to stay calm, sweetie. An ambulance is on its way.”
It feels like the walls are closing in on me.
The pain in my stomach is so excruciating that I wish for anything to take it away.
I wish for Levi, because I’m pretty sure I’m dying or at least that’s what it feels like.
The last thing I see is a stretcher over my dad’s shoulder before everything goes black.
***
The insistent beeping of a monitor rouses me from my sleep.
The first thing I notice is something or somebody holding my right hand as I lay flat on my back. The next thing I notice is something under my nose. I peel my eyes open and go to yank whatever it is away.
“Oh no you don’t” a hand catches mine before I can yank the thing away from my nose. I look to my right and find Levi sitting in a chair next to my bed.
“Levi?” I say and my throat sounds scratchy to my own ears. A cough escapes me.
The relief in his eyes is palpable.
“Thank God you’re awake. Here let me get you some water before I call the nurse” he says pressing a kiss to the hand he’s still holding.
He gets up and walks over to a table that has cups and a pitcher of water.
After filling the cup and helping me sit up I take a few sips. The water feels good going down my throat.
I frown as I look around trying to figure out why I’m lying in a hospital bed.
“What….” And then it all slams back into me. The brunch, the argument with my mother and then nothing.
“I passed out?” I ask shifting my eyes back to Levi. It’s then that I get a good look at his appearance. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days. His clothes are rumpled, his hair is sticking up all over the place and there are bags under his eyes.
I’ve never seen him look like this.
“Are you okay?” I rasp.
He looks at me incredulously. “You’re the one lying in the hospital bed and you’re asking me if I’m okay.” He shakes his head.
I don’t take my eyes off him and he doesn’t take his off me.
“I’ve never seen you look like this.”
“Don’t worry about me. How are you feeling?”
I take stock of my body. “I feel…okay.”
“What happened? Wait,” I say remembering something else. “Weren’t you in LA?”
Levi blows out a breath before recapturing my hand and sitting down beside me.
“Yeah. I was in LA and then Mya called me in a panic saying you were in the hospital. I dropped everything and flew back.”
“What day is it?”
“It’s Tuesday, you were out for almost twenty-four hours. The longest damn hours of my life. You scared the shit out me baby girl.”
My chest squeezes at the pain in his voice and the look in his eyes.
“What happened? The last thing I remember is arguing with mom and then nothing.”
Anger flares to life in his eyes. “Mya filled me in on the argument and I wish I’d been there, so you didn’t have to defend our relationship against those bullshit accusations.” He blows out a breath as though calming himself down. “Anyway, apparently the chef used some chamomile oil in the mashed potatoes and you had an allergic reaction to it.”
“Ah,” that makes sense. The one and only time I’ve ever had chamomile was when I was a child. I had an allergic reaction to it then, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as this one.
“That’s it. It felt bigger than an allergic reaction. It felt like…” I trail off.
“Like what?” he asks.
I don’t want to tell him that it felt like I was dying. He already looks stressed enough.
“It just felt worse.”
“That’s what- “
“Oh, thank God you’re awake!” Levi’s words are cut off by Mya bursting into the room. Imani, my father and Levi’s brother are close on her heels. Soon my room is filled to the brim with people and I belatedly wonder how they got past the nurses.
Imani and Mya rushes over to the bed and throws their arms around me.
“We were worried sick!” Mya says.
“Yes, you scared the crap out of me!” Imani says and I see the tears glistening in her eyes which makes my own glisten.
Dad steps up to my bed laying a hand on my cheek. He’s dressed in his white lab coat.
“How do you feel baby?” he asks.
“Fine Daddy.
