Love Scene, Take Two

by Alex Evansley

  His mouth this close to her ear isn’t helping, either.

  “Yeah,” she says, but it probably won’t be the case much longer. “Did you ask the restaurant if they’ve got an EpiPen?”

  “No. We’re going to the hospital.”

  The abrupt change in temperature is the only way Bennett knows they aren’t inside the restaurant anymore, reminding her that her jacket and bag are still on the back of her chair.

  “Shit—I left my stuff inside,” she says. She hears a car door open and Teddy starts shoving her into the passenger’s seat. Then, after he buckles her seat belt for her, she feels her bag slide into her lap.

  “No, you didn’t.”

  * * *

  Bennett tries to tell Teddy it’s unnecessary to take her to the hospital—that all they need to do is find a drugstore that stockpiles Benadryl.

  Teddy doesn’t listen to her.

  And as it turns out, it’s probably a good thing he doesn’t, regardless of the three wrecks they almost get into on the way there. The ER doctor says Bennett had been well on her way to anaphylactic shock, and had they arrived a few minutes later, it might have been a lot worse. He also tells her, after hooking her up to an IV, that he’d like her to stay at the hospital overnight to monitor her reaction as a precaution.

  Bennett tells him there’s no way in hell that’s happening.

  “Seriously—I’m fine now,” she argues. “The swelling and the hives are almost gone, and it’s not like y’all haven’t pumped me full of antihistamines and epinephrine and shit to last me into next year.”

  “It’s just a precaution,” he repeats for the third time.

  “But this is ridiculous. I’ve never had to stay in the hospital because of a reaction!”

  “Based on the severity of your reaction, you’ll probably be asleep in a few minutes anyway, now that the adrenaline is wearing off,” the doctor says, undeterred by her hostility. Which only agitates Bennett more. She isn’t about to admit it, but she can already feel her eyelids drooping.

  “Fuck that,” she says. “Actually—fuck this. I’m leaving.”

  Teddy slides a hand over her shoulder to keep her from getting up. “Bennett … it’s already late. You need to stay and get some sleep.”

  Bennett still isn’t sure how Buzz Lightyear over here sweet-talked his way into the family-only area of the ER, but it’s infuriating.

  “How the hell are you in here, anyway?” she snaps.

  “Irritability is a side effect of adrenaline wearing off,” the doctor comments, and Bennett wants to tell him it’s also a side effect of being surrounded by assholes. Lying back on the hospital bed and shutting her eyes for a second seems like a better plan, though.

  “Whatever. I’ll sleep for an hour and then I’m going home.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Bennett told Teddy multiple times to wake her up after an hour, so she’s more than a little irritated when she wakes up on her own and he’s asleep in the armchair next to her bed. She does a sweep of the hospital room before finding her phone on the bedside table.

  She has thirteen missed calls and twenty-three new text messages.

  “Holy—” She looks back at Teddy curled up in the corner, his mouth hanging slightly open, and the window behind him catches her attention. The curtains are half closed, but daylight is streaming in through the slits in the blinds. Panicked, she checks her phone again.

  9:23

  Tuesday, January 22

  Teddy and Bennett had definitely gone to dinner on a Monday. Bennett had definitely had an allergic reaction on a Monday. She had definitely fallen asleep in a hospital bed on a Monday. And they were definitely supposed to be on set two hours ago.

  “Are you kidding me?” she hisses, ripping the covers back and jumping out of bed.

  This turns out to be a horrible idea.

  Bennett is standing for about two seconds before dizziness pours over her, making the edges of her vision go black. She reaches out to grab the first thing she can find to steady herself—which ends up being the IV pole stand. Another horrible idea. It wheels forward as soon as she puts her weight into it, and she’s caught so off-balance she can do nothing but look on helplessly as she stumbles forward. She smacks into something hard and there’s a pinch in the crease of her elbow. She squeezes her eyes shut as the IV pole crashes to the floor.

  Everything is quiet then, and despite not knowing how she ended up on the ground, Bennett is pleasantly surprised to find that whatever she ran into didn’t hurt as much as it should have. The downside is the scene she made attracts some unwanted attention from across the room. She doesn’t understand how Teddy got over to her so fast, and she definitely doesn’t understand why he’s shaking her and yelling her name so much. It isn’t helping how sick she’s starting to feel.

  “Holy shit, Bennett! Are you okay?”

  He says something else but it’s too muffled by the ringing in her ears to hear. Bennett groans and rolls over onto her stomach, pressing her cheek into the floor. The tile is cold enough to keep the waves of nausea somewhat under control. Now if she could just get Teddy to leave her alone.

  “Bennett? Bennett, look at me!”

  He sounds so frantic. Why does he sound so frantic?

  A hand slides over Bennett’s forehead—a gesture that probably would be nice under different circumstances. But everything is too warm. And Bennett is way too close to puking.

  “No,” she breathes, cringing away from him. “Go away.”

  “Oh, shit, you’re blee—hey, excuse me!” Teddy calls out and pushes away from Bennett. Not having his body heat pressed to her back ultimately keeps her from throwing up. “Yeah, my girlfriend needs help—we need a nurse in here!”

  Girlfriend … wait a minute.

  What.

  Bennett doesn’t have time to start freaking the hell out over that; the sound of footsteps hurrying into the room is too distracting.

  “Oh my—sweetheart, are you okay? Did you hit your head?” a new voice asks.

  “I’m fine,” Bennett says, her voice cracking as she tries again to push away the closest person. Two sets of hands are now trying to get her to roll back over and sit up, and Bennett is not cool with that. “But I’m gonna be sick if you guys don’t stop touching me.”

  The hands disappear, but Bennett can still feel them hovering.

  “Sweetie, what happened?”

  “Got up too fast.”

  “Why were you getting out of bed? Did you need to use the restroom?”

  “Jesus,” Bennett mutters, finally opening her eyes and shifting onto her back. Some nurse and Teddy are looking down at her—one with a little too much sympathy, the other with a little too much concern. “No. I got up because this dude”—she points a thumb at Teddy—“didn’t wake me up, and we’re two hours late to set.”

  “You needed to sleep, you almost went into anaphylactic shock last night!” Teddy says, just as pieces of the conversation the night before with the ER doctor start coming back.… Including the colorful strain of profanity she used when told she had to stay overnight.

  “Yikes. I was a delight to be around last night,” she mumbles.

  “You’re okay,” the nurse assures her. “You’re not the first person to get like that when the adrenaline starts to wear off, and you certainly weren’t the worst we’ve seen.”

  The nurse and Teddy give Bennett some space as she sits up, and they both stay quiet while she tries to gauge if she’s going to be sick.

  “Feeling okay?” the nurse asks. “Think you can stand and get back into bed?”

  Bennett nods, and the nurse and Teddy take her by the elbows to keep her steady. That’s when she realizes how sweaty she is.

  “What the—ew, sorry,” she grumbles, trying to pull away. They both tighten their grips.

  “Not your fault. Just your body’s natural reaction to passing out.”

  Bennett sits down on the edge of the bed. That’s not right—she l
ost her balance and fell. Afraid they might keep her in the ER longer because of it, Bennett explains to the nurse what happened as the nurse digs into one of the bedside table drawers.

  “Um. Bennett?” Teddy says, looking at her like she’d spoken a different language. “Bennett, you were out cold for at least ten seconds.”

  “What?”

  He nods. “Yeah. Scared the absolute shit out of me, too.”

  “There’s no way—” Bennett starts, only to be interrupted by the nurse coming in close with a piece of gauze in her hand. She dabs at a spot above Bennett’s eyebrow and a bolt of pain shoots across the crown of her head. Bennett curses so loudly the entire hospital probably hears her.

  “Sorry, sweetie,” the nurse says. “Looks like you’ve got quite the spot there. Do you know what you hit your head on?”

  “Not sure,” Bennett says, gripping the back of her neck.

  After the nurse is done with the gauze, she shines a flashlight in both of Bennett’s eyes and checks the rest of her vitals. Teddy hovers nervously in the background, his eyes searching Bennett’s. She isn’t exactly sure what he’s looking for, but it’s getting a little too intense for her.

  Bennett points at him and smirks. “This is your fault.”

  Teddy stays unnervingly still. Like, he doesn’t even blink.

  “I know,” he says.

  Teddy can’t stay still to save his life.

  “I was kidding,” Bennett backpedals.

  He digs a hand into his pocket and halfway turns toward the window as he checks his phone, hiding whatever look is on his face. Bennett can’t decide if she’s annoyed or worried by how he’s acting, and the nurse caps off the awkwardness by smoothing a ginormous bandage over the spot above Bennett’s eyebrow. She goes on to explain the check-out procedures, mentioning that Bennett needs to wait for clearance from the ER doctor before she will get her release paperwork.

  “I do hope you feel better, sweetie,” the nurse says; then she turns to Teddy and smiles fondly at him. “That was so sweet of you to stay here with your girlfriend all night. Good luck with the rest of shooting your movie—I know my girls can’t wait to see it.”

  Teddy blushes heroically and thanks her.

  Bennett watches him, waiting for the nurse to leave them alone with all the awkwardness building up between them. As soon as she’s out of the room, Bennett opens her mouth to ask Teddy what’s wrong, but he beats her to the punch.

  “So, I, uh—I called Emmy after you fell asleep last night,” he says, standing over by the armchair again. Eyes on the floor. “She called your parents and then your parents called me and—yeah. That’s why you probably have a million messages on your phone. I told them you were fine but that you’re in the ER. And your mom wanted to know if you had your insurance card, so I had to go through your wallet…” He trails off with a nervous shrug, scrubbing a hand at the back of his head. His go-to tell.

  “What’s wrong,” Bennett says.

  “What?”

  “You’re acting weird.”

  “I’m good,” he says, starting for the door. “But, yeah. Last time I talked to your parents was at, like, eleven o’clock last night, and they asked me to tell you to call them as soon as you woke up. So, yeah. I’m gonna go find some coffee while you talk to the ER doctor.” He keeps his eyes down as he all but speed walks out of the room, stuffing his hands into his pockets along the way.

  Bennett spends the next hour and a half stressed the hell out about what is going on.

  After reassuring phone calls to her parents and Emmy, follow-up procedures and a crazy amount of paperwork, Bennett rides shotgun as Teddy drives them back to the hotel.

  In dead silence.

  Like, the radio isn’t even on.

  Something must have happened last night. Bennett has no idea what … but it had to have been last night. Teddy had been so sweet, though—grabbing Bennett’s jacket and bag for her and buckling her seat belt … Constantly asking about her breathing … Promising not to crack any jokes about how swollen her face got. (He did make one about a scene from the movie Hitch, but swore he was done after that.) And once they’d gotten to the hospital, he somehow convinced the staff that he was her boyfriend so he could stay with her overnight … Wait a second.

  Is that why he’s being weird? Bennett stares out the window at a line of palm trees whizzing by, anxiety rolling through her stomach. She didn’t ask him to do that—to pretend to be her boyfriend so he could go back in the ER with her (which doesn’t even make sense, since it’s supposed to be family only). Maybe he’s worried about how she’d react? Because that’d totally be something Teddy Sharpe would worry about. He’s a subclass of boy so atypical National Geographic should give him a cover story.

  By the time they pull up to the hotel, Bennett’s worked herself up so much she doesn’t immediately register Teddy bypassing the parking lot for the portico. He drives under the awning and pulls to the curb, keeping the car in drive. They sit in silence for a moment, with Bennett waiting to see if he has anything he wants to share with the class.

  He doesn’t.

  “Are you heading to set now?” Bennett asks—which is dumb, considering he’s still in his clothes from last night and probably hasn’t eaten anything since.

  “No, I’m gonna shower first. Thought I’d drop you off before I parked so you’d have less of a walk.”

  Bennett narrows her eyes at him and considers the two possibilities here: He’s either being overly considerate, or he’s hiding something behind being overly considerate. Bennett’s heart wants to believe the former. Her gut’s telling her she’s being an idiot.

  “Yeah. That would’ve been an awful fifty extra feet to walk,” she says, prodding for some kind of reaction. He keeps his face straight and his gaze through the windshield, which only pisses her off more. “Welp, thanks for the ride, Buzz,” she says as she wrenches the car door open. Against her better judgment, she turns around and leans back through the doorframe, adding, “And for pretending to be my boyfriend all night.”

  “Anytime,” he says to the windshield, biting his knuckle. “I’m, uh—” He clears his throat. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  There’s a tiny moment, a little window of opportunity that follows when their eyes meet, and it’s the perfect time for one of them to say something. It’d be so easy. Bennett could gently say, Hey, Teddy, for real. What’s going on? You’re freaking me out a little. And then Teddy would respond with a truthful and detailed explanation for why he’s been acting like a zombie all morning. And then they’d have a mature, adult conversation that eases the frustrated knot that’s currently in the place of Bennett’s heart.

  But instead the moment passes.

  Teddy pulls away, and Bennett somehow manages to make it through the lobby, on the elevator, off the elevator, and down the hall to Emmy’s room before she can process how she’s feeling about this.

  “Holy balls, Emmy. I’m about to go out of my freaking mind,” she says the second she keys in. “I—”

  Olivia Katsaros is sitting at Emmy’s desk in the far corner, stopping Bennett halfway through the doorframe.

  “Oh my God, Bennett!” Emmy comes running out of the bathroom to hug her. When she pulls away, she takes Bennett’s face in her hands and turns her head from side to side. “Are you okay? What happened? What’s this?” Emmy pokes at the bandage over her eyebrow.

  “Ow—Jesus, Emmy.” Bennett winces. She has to smack her hand away to keep from smacking her assistant instead.

  “Sorry!” Emmy takes a step back. “What happened there?”

  “Long story,” Bennett says, not wanting to get into it in front of Olivia. The less people who know about all this, the better. “Hey, Olivia.”

  “Oh, Bennett! So glad you’re okay,” Olivia says, crossing the room and pulling Bennett into an exceptionally unexpected hug. Olivia towers over her, so Bennett ends up being yanked face-first into her cleavage.

  “Thanks.” Ben
nett pulls back, trying to keep her smile sincere.

  “Emmy told me what happened—I can’t believe you had to spend the night in the hospital!”

  “Yeah. It’s not as bad as it sounds, though.”

  Emmy snorts. “Bennett, they don’t keep you in the hospital overnight for the hell of it. Good thing Teddy was there to make sure you stayed.…” She trails off when Bennett shoots her a warning glance.

  “So true—Teddy is such a sweetheart,” Olivia says, plopping down on the bed.

  Bennett ignores her and asks Emmy, “Why aren’t y’all on set right now?”

  “Burt gave us a long lunch today. I took your car to set this morning and Olivia needed a ride back, so here we are,” she says, going to sit at her desk.

  Meanwhile, Olivia is still going on about Teddy.

  “—so talented. And such a cutie, too. You two are precious together.”

  “That’s not like Burt at all,” Bennett says suspiciously, trying to get Emmy to elaborate. Then Olivia’s comment registers and Bennett turns toward her, adding, “Teddy and I are not together.”

  “Wait, really?” Olivia pouts. “That was the rumor floating around set today—must have heard wrong, then. Still, you guys would be so cute together.”

  “I’m sorry—what?”

  Olivia’s eyes go wide, and Bennett realizes her question came out harsher than she intended. But when Olivia doesn’t say anything, Bennett turns to Emmy so fast her assistant actually flinches.

  “A rumor?” Bennett repeats. “Floating around set?”

  Emmy cuts right to the chase and starts talking ninety miles an hour. “Burt was irritated that you didn’t show on set today without telling him, so I had to tell him the truth—which, you know, ultimately led to why Teddy wasn’t on set, either … and I, I told him he was with you at the hospital.”

  “So?”

  “So … there were a lot of people around.” Her gaze drops to the floor again. “And, well, to the people who aren’t familiar with the situation, the context of the conversation kind of hinted at you two, sort of—I don’t know—being involved, somehow?”

  Oh, God.

  This situation is going to give Bennett heart problems before she makes it to her twenties. Emmy starts to apologize, but Bennett’s not here for that.