Falling Helplessly episode 7
🔥 FALLING
HELPLESSLY 👠
( For his brother’s friend …. 😇 )
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Written by:- Williams Kendall____✍🏽
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🏈 CHAPTER SEVEN🏈
“Your house?” I repeated, “Why am I at your house?”
“Uhh, do I need to take you back to the ER already?” Archer questioned. “The doctor said I have to watch you for the next 24 hours?”
“Oh no, I know… I just… I thought…”
“You thought we’d be going to your dorm? Yeah. No thanks. I saw how tiny your couch was and you didn’t even have a tv.” A blush warmed my cheeks at Archer’s misunderstanding. No, I didn’t think we’d be going to my dorm. I thought I’d be going there alone. Did he really mean for me to stay with him?
I quickly flicked through any alternatives in my mind. The only other person around to help me out would be Madeline, but we weren’t close enough for me to burden her like that.
“Look Charlotte,” Archer sounded impatient now, “It goes against every instinct I have not to tell your family about this. f-ck. I mean this is serious shit and I’m keeping it a secret for you. So you either need to let me make sure you are okay, or I am going to have to tell your parents. Cause I’m not dealing with the f-cking guilt of something else happening to you.”
I angled my body towards Archer as I considered his words. His forearm rested on top of the steering wheel as he twisted in my direction. The slight tick of his sharp jaw told me he was irritated. Guilt and fear battled for dominance in my chest as I tried to make a decision.
Archer had done so much for me in the last 12 hours, heck even before that he had helped me. But how could I survive 24 hours alone with him? I was an introvert, I couldn’t spend that long alone with anyone—let alone Archer. In the end, though, guilt won. I didn’t have the energy to argue with him and he was helping me.
“Okay, let’s go then I really need to shower,” I said tentatively.
“Wait there,” Archer demanded as he hopped out of the truck and jogged around to my side. I quirked a brow as he opened the door and grabbed the plastic bag of my belongings. He then stood stiff as a soldier with his hand stretched out for me to grab.
I hesitated briefly before looking down to see the cement a mile away from where I sat. Good Lord. Who needs a truck this lifted? I grasped his hand as I lowered myself onto the running board and then stepped down onto the driveway. Exhaustion overtook my body, as I swayed on my feet. Archer’s hand squeezed tighter as I shook my head to regain some composure.
“Ow! You’re gonna break my hand!” I whined when his grip crushed my knuckles together.
A deep chuckle rumbled out of Archer but he let me go, “I’d call you a drama queen but I’m assuming that is not nice given the current situation?”
“Yes, good guess. I’m pretty sure rule #1 of being a caregiver is not making fun of your patient,” I quipped back.
“I’ll keep that in mind. But no promises,” he said with a smirk. “C’mon let’s go in,side before you pass out on the lawn.” I almost checked the sky for flying pigs as it dawned on me that Archer and I were having a normal conversation. But instead, I turned towards the large house and followed Archer up the porch.
His back muscles rippled as he hunched down to unlock the door. This was going to be h-rder than I imagined… I averted my eyes as he opened the door and turned to let me walk in first.
I stepped over the threshold and quickly took in my surroundings. The main floor of the house was a large, open-living spaced, doused in a mixture of beiges and browns. On the far left wall was a huge tv with multiple gaming systems on a shelf below it. Several couches were angled towards the tv, with a wooden table in the middle. Clutter was scattered across the surfaces but overall, it was cleaner than I would think football players lived.
To the right of the living room was a make-shift dining room, with two large tables, pushed together and surrounded by about 20 chairs. I raised my eyebrows at that.
“How many people live here?” I asked. Looking around I noted that the house was empty and silent. It dawned on me that I had no idea what time it was, but I assumed early from the lack of people.
“Too many people,” Archer deadpanned back. “Some of the guys share rooms so we could pack most of the upperclassmen in here. Well, the first string guys anyways. Then the others show up a lot just to hang out.” The annoyance in his voice was evident. A smile stretched across my face as I saw him roll his eyes. Clearly, some things never change. Archer still didn’t play well with others.
I caught a glimpse of the kitchen tucked in the back corner before Archer placed his hand between my shoulder blades. The gesture made me stiffen but I allowed him to lead me towards a set of stairs. The first landing led to a long hallway with doors on either side, but Archer pushed us up to the third floor.
His large hand dropped lower down my spine, sending a shiver to my toes. Being this close to the huge man—having him touch me… It was intoxicating. It was as though his aura wrapped around me and dominated my senses. I wanted to run away from him while at the same time drift further into the abyss of Archer. Geez, Louise Charlotte… Are you still on drugs? This is what happens when the male population as a wh0le ignores you. Clearly.
Archer’s room was at the end of the third-floor hallway. I don’t know what I expected his room to look like. But I guess maybe just… more? In the center of the room was a huge bed adorned in basic, blue sheets and a black comforter. It was surrounded by bare white walls—except for a large tv opposite the bed—two wooden side tables, a desk, and a matching dresser. There was a large window peeking out from behind blue drapes and a door on the opposite wall. Nothing personal or unique could be seen.
“A king-sized bed at university?” Was all I could think to say as he watched me take in his room.
“Anything smaller and my feet hang off the edge,” He shrugged. “Anyways… So, there is a bathroom through that door. You can shower and then sleep?” My face softened at the thought of taking a hot shower. I needed to scrub the hospital off of myself desperately. The thought of finally being clean made me realize that I didn’t have new clothes to wear.
“Uhm… I don’t suppose,” I began softly, “that I could uhh… borrow something… t-to wear?” I said gesturing to my wrinkled clothes. Archer walked over to the dresser and shuffled through a few drawers before coming back and handing me a pair of sweatp-nts, tall socks, and a soft hoodie. Happiness tinged through me as I felt the hoodie. What was it with boys’ clothes being so much softer than girls? I loved stealing Oliver’s hoodies at home and snuggling up in them. They were just so dang cozy.
“Thanks,” I smiled as he nodded then turned stiffly and walked out of the room. I suppose one positive about spending time with Archer was that he liked talking even less than I did. No unnecessary chatter just for the sake of noise. It took some of the pressure off of me, knowing that he didn’t expect—or care—for me to talk.
I stayed in the shower for ten minutes longer than I needed to. My eyes drifted closed a few times as sleep tried to drag me down, but the water was just so cleansing. The steam smelled of spices and wood from Archer’s body wash while the heat of the spray m-ssaged my aching muscles.
When I physically couldn’t stand any longer, I climbed out and grabbed a towel from the shelf. After I dried myself off, I used the scrunchy on my wrist to gather my curls on top of my head in a messy bun and got dressed.
The sweatp-nts didn’t stay up on their own, even after I rolled the elastic over several times. The hoodie was no better, it swallowed me up and hung down to right above my knees. I look like a tiny child I realized with a grimace. But I also had never been so cozy in all of my life. It was like being swarmed with soft plush blankets and all I could think about was cuddling up in them and sleeping.
As I exited the bathroom, Archer was standing in the middle of the room with his back to me. He must have used another bathroom because his hair was w-t, and he had changed into sweats and a t-shirt. He wore the grey sweatp-nts much better than I did.
I cleared my throat to alert him of my presence and he spun around. His eyes raked over me—down to the pool of excess p-nts around my ankles, then back up to the mess of curls on my head. I could imagine what a sight I was. But the ringing in my ears made it hærd to care when all I wanted to do was collapse.
“Okay well it’s just about 7 in the morning, so why don’t you get some sleep?” He said gesturing to the large bed. “The sheets are clean,” he added unsurely.
It was all I could do to walk across the room and flop onto his bed—I didn’t bother pulling back the blanket since I was essentially wearing one. The second my body relaxed into the soft mattress I was in my own world. Gosh, this feels good. The tension I didn’t know I’d been holding rushed out of me as I starfished on my stomach and let out a big sigh. I wiggled around, lifting and dropping myself back down to find the perfect position. I finally landed on my side, with my knees tucked up and my face smooshed into a pillow. I was about to fall asleep when I remembered that I wasn’t alone.
Archer still stood in the middle of the room. A bemused smirk lit up his face, as he watched me practically molest his bed. As I caught his eye, his face stiffened slightly.
“I’ll uh… leave you to it then. I’ve got some homework to do, but I’ll check on you okay?” All it took was a nod from me and he was gone. Then in seconds, I was fast asleep.
I awoke to the sound of two men whispering. Stretching, I saw the clock on the side table said it was 9:30 a.m. I propped myself up on the pillow just as Archer came around the door with his hands filled with bags.
“What’s this?” I asked as I rubbed my knuckles against my eyelids.
“Uhm…” the insecurity in Archer’s voice made me pay closer attention. “Well, I figured you were probably upset after everything that’s happened. So… here.” He finished lamely as he shoved the bags into my hand.
Looking in,side the first bag, I saw it filled with snacks. My mouth watered at the sour candies which were my favourite. Then there were Red Vines, Sour Cream & Onion ch¡ps, and about 10 different cans of juice. How did Archer know that I liked sugary drinks and snacks when I was upset? I looked up to see him watching me apprehensively.
“I got a rookie to go get it all while you were sleeping,” he averted his gaze as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I think it was last summer, I was with Oliver when you had called him upset about something. I remember him saying that it was his brotherly duty to help you. So we went to the store and he bought you all this shit. So I figured it might help now…” He spoke as though he regretted it. For the second time, his discomfort somehow made me relax. The fact that he could be so unsure of himself made him less intimidating.
“It’s perfect,” I assured him honestly as I peeked into the second bag. I sighed in relief when I saw a toothbrush. My mouth was dry from sleep and staying here all day without cleaning my teeth would have been horrible. For me and Archer since he’d be the one smelling my breath. There were also four large bottles of Smart Water.
I smiled as I sunk further into the mattress and watched Chunk do the Truffle Shuffle. Peaking over at Archer I could see a laugh in his eyes that he refused to let out. I still had so many questions about what happened to me—some of which he could answer. But right now, all I wanted to do was wrap myself in this enormous hoodie, each some sour candies, and pretend everything was okay.
So that is exactly what I did.
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Tbc…