The continuous slow beeping on the monitors had caused me to go to sleep. I had carried her for three miles, never taking a break. My arms felt like they were going to fall off by the time they reached the bottom of the hill, but we were finally able to drive her to the hospital. Ethan hadn't talked to me of course the entire way here. He still hasn't as he sits across her room in another plastic chair, sending me a look that could kill when her parents finally get here.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Her mother gasps when she sees Maddie's ankle. Thankfully when she got here the doctors had given her some good medicine to dope her up, so she was currently passed out.

I go into a long description of todays events, leaving out the part of course where Ethan found out I fucked his sister. That probably wouldn't go over well with her parents.

"It was so scary." Maya adds. "I'm just so glad she's okay."

"And you carried her all that way?" Mary blinks away tears as she stares at me, finally pulling me into a long hug. "Thank you." She mutters into my bare chest. I'm still not wearing a shirt from the hike.

"What else did you do, Cam?" Ethan leans back into his chair and folds his arms behind his head before Maya elbows him in the rib cage. "What?" He asks. "I'm just wanting the truth to be let out. That's all."

He's being a complete dick. Not that he doesn't have reason to be, but still.

His parents are looking at me for some sort of explanation, and I eye his fathers huge arms covered in tattoos. If he reacts in the slightest way that Ethan did I'll have more than a busted up mouth.

"Uh..." I close my eyes and let out a sigh. It's now or never. "Maddie and I are... dating."

I hold my breath, and I'm expecting shouting, or another punch to my face, but instead I see her mom clasp her hands together, both of them grinning widely.

"Am I missing something?" I ask.

"I knew it!" She says. "I just knew it."

Ethan looks like he's about to blow up even more, his face getting redder as his fists clench at his sides.

"You aren't mad?" I furrow my eyebrows together in confusion as I try to process it. "I thought you guys would hate me. You guys consider me as your second son... I thought..."

"Oh, honey." Her mom stands up and comes to wrap me in another one of her warm embraces, and it reminds me of my moms. "You thought we wouldn't still consider you our son? What better way than for you to be our potential son in law? We love you, Cameron. We are overjoyed that you and Maddie are together."

"You have to be joking." Ethan scoffs. "You're going to let this happen. Dad?"

"What?" Richard tells him. "He's a good kid, Ethan. He's your best friend. I would think that you'd be happy about this. At least she's not dating some dick bag like Mark that we don't even know."

"He's sleeping with Maddie!" He rises up from the chair and throws his hands up, getting completely irate. "He lied to all of our faces for months! Why am I the only one freaking out about this?"

"I'm..." I pause, trying to think of how to properly say this. "Yes, Maddie and I have..." I trail off, stopping again when her father cringes. "What I'm trying to say is that it's more than that with us. She's not just a fling or anything. I genuinely care about her."

"Oh, I know." Mary laughs. "Honey, it was more than obvious. I could see you holding hands in the back seat on the way home from that game."

"Is that why you asked about the dance?" I ask.

She shrugs, a sly grin forming onto her face. "I had to do some investigating to see if it was true, and it was."

Richard goes over to Maddie's bed side and kisses her on the forehead before he looks at me again. "I'm happy for you both." He reiterates. "But Cameron, so help me god if you break my little girls heart I'm going to have to break your face. You hear me?"

I gulp.

Loudly.

"Yes, sir." I quip, and Ethan's chair goes flying back for the second time tonight.

"I'm fucking leaving." He says, throwing the curtain open and disappearing behind it.

Maya stands up gently from her chair and puts Ethan's back in place, sending us all an apologetic glance. "I'm so sorry." She says on his behalf. "I'll go see if I can get him to come back."

"Are they...?" Mary trails off when Maya leaves, and I nod my head.

"Since last night." I say.

"Well." She huffs, crossing her arms over her chest proudly. "A lot can happen when one has food poisoning, can't it?"

"I guess so." I smile and then look at Maddie again sleeping soundly. There's an ice pack wrapped around her ankle, but even still you can see that it's huge.

"Thank you for everything." Mary says. "Ethan will come around, just give him time. Do you want to go grab something to eat? We haven't had dinner yet."

"Oh, you guys go." I tell them. "I don't want to leave her alone. If she wakes up I want to be here. At least until we know some results. I'll call if I hear anything."

"Are you certain?" She asks, and I nod again. "Okay. We'll bring you something back then."

Leaving us alone, the gentle beeping of the monitors surround me again, and I relax back more into the chair, wrapping the thin hospital blanket around me.

I can't think about Ethan and I's friendship crumbling, because if I do then I'll probably start to panic. Maddie needs me right now, and the last thing I need to do is worry about whether or not I've lost my best friend.

My arms are throbbing. I need an ice bath, but that's a problem for a different day.

Just when I think I'm about to fall asleep again I see Maddie stir and blink her eyes open. It seems as if everything finally hits her about what happened when she looks around the room, letting out a groan when she tries to move her ankle.

I bring my chair closer to her bed so that I can sit beside her now that her parents know, grabbing onto her hand to interlace our fingers together. "How are you feeling?" I whisper.

"Shitty." She responds groggily. "Where is everyone?"

Oh boy.

Letting out a deep breath, I tell her the truth.

"Well, I told your parents and they aren't mad. They're actually happy about us. They went to go get something to eat."

"Are you serious?" She asks. "Even my dad?"

I nod.

"But, that made Ethan even more upset, so he left, and Maya went to go see if she can console him enough to bring him back."

Maddie groans again, closing her eyes and letting out a tiny sigh. "I don't know if he's ever going to accept it."

A tear falls onto her cheek, but I quickly wipe it away and send her a smile. "He will." I reassure her.

"And if he doesn't?" She says.

I haven't thought about it because that is the worst case scenario, but I shrug and tuck a curl behind her ear.

"Then he doesn't." I shrug.

"But he's your best friend, Cam. He should come before me."

"Eh, I hate that saying." I tell her. "You're what makes me happy. If Ethan can't accept something that makes me happy then he wasn't really my friend to begin with like I thought he was. Hopefully he'll come around. I'm just going to give it time."

She's quiet after she hears me, and I rest my head on her shoulder, starting to fall asleep until finally the doctor opens the curtain and steps inside.

"Good evening Ms. Davis." He smiles, pushing his black glasses further up his nose. "Would you like the good or bad news first?"

"Um, bad." She replies.

"Okay, well, the bad news is you broke your ankle. Good news is that we get to give you a wickedly cool cast today."

Maddie groans. "That's not good news either."

He laughs and shrugs his shoulders. "Can't blame a guy for trying. We'll be back in a few minutes to put that cast on you."

He disappears again and Maddie curses under her breath. "Honestly, why?" She asks. "Right before my PSAT's too."

"You think a cast is going to interfere with your studying?"

"Well, no..." she heaves out another sigh and rolls her eyes. "I'm just upset, okay? This is the last thing that I wanted to happen."

Grabbing onto her hand, I trace tiny circles on it and lean over to kiss her forehead. "At least you're okay." I tell her. "It could have been a lot worse today."

"You sure?" She laughs as we both reminisce about all that's happened. "It was pretty shitty."

"Yeah, you're right." I chuckle. "But as least we're here, together, and you're okay. That's all that matters to me."

The doctor comes back in, and about ten minutes later her ankle is securely in a cast. She seems miserable as she twists it from side to side, and to try and make her feel better I grab a sharpie that's sitting on the desk and move my chair to sit at her feet.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

I take the cap off the marker and begin to write on her cast. She's got a tiny smile on her face as she watches me, and when I'm all done, I lean back to admire my work as she reads it.

To my strong, bad ass woman... I wrote. I love you. — Your forever.

"And just like that, my mood is suddenly much better." She smiles and instructs me to come closer. "I'm sorry I'm so miserable. I should be thanking you for all that you did for me today. You carried me three miles for crying out loud."

"And I'd do it all again." I remind her. "You have every right to be miserable today, but as your boyfriend it's my job to cheer you up."

"Well, you're doing a great job." She admits and tugs on my arm so that I can lean down over her. She grabs onto my face and gently presses her lips to mine before she pulls away and scans my eyes. "I love you." She pants, her finger running over my busted lip from Ethan. "Are you okay?"

I nod and close my eyes, resting my forehead against hers, and I'm about to kiss her again until the curtain opens once more, Ethan stumbling in.

"Christ." He mutters when he sees the two of us. "Maya, I can't. I physically can't."

And just like that they disappear for the second time, causing Maddie to let out her fifteenth sigh of the night.

"He will get over it." I tell her, but as I say it I can't help but wonder if I'm trying to convince her or myself of that. "I'm going to go call your parents. I told them I'd keep them updated."

I give her hand one final squeeze, stepping out into the hallway to dial their number.