Beep. Beep. Beep.

Peeling open my eyes slightly, I was met with a bare room. Everything was white. The floor, the ceiling, the walls, the sheets. The constant beeping of the heart moniter bounced around the room. My eyes were only cracked open, but the brightness of the white made me squint more.

Flowers covered the small side table by the door, and a plaque of some sort sat among them. I couldn't read the writing on it, and I didn't have the motivation to move to see what it said. Where am I? A splitting headache magically appeared as I laid there longer, staring at the white walls.

Everything was stiff. I tried moving my toes first, which took me several moments to actually do. I tried my fingers next.

It was when I finally got them to move that I noticed that a hand was placed in mine. With a lot of pain, I turned my head to my right. I pulled my eyelids open and stared at a very tired looking blonde.

"You scared the living shit out of me," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly. His eyes were bloodshot and small bags were weighing his bottom eyelids down. A soft smile dawned on his face, lighting up his sleepless eyes. He was sitting on the edge of an arm chair that was positioned close to the bed.

What is going on and why is he holding my hand? He hated me, I thought?

I was so confused about what happened, and nothing was making sense, but the dryness of my mouth refused to let me ask why. Instead, I began to freak out a little bit. Tears stung the corners of my eyes.

I thrashed around under the covers but barely did anything helpful because of my slow, aching body.

Miles held tighter to my hand when he realized I was panicing.

"Gloria, Gloria. Relax, relax. I'll explain everything, but you need to relax," Miles reassured me.

My thrashing around came to a cease, and I glanced over at him. He took his thumb and wiped away the tears that had eventually leaked from my eyes. He reached to the bedside table, where a glass of water was waiting.

Letting go of my hand, Miles placed one hand behind my head and one guided the cup to my lips. I took a small sip before taking a breath and taking another sip.

This process repeated a few times until the glass was half empty. My mouth no longer felt like I had been chewing on sawdust. Miles retook my hand in his. I didn't mind in the slightest to be honest.

"Do you remember anything?" he began.

I tried to think back to the last time that I could remember, but it was so blurry.

I just shrugged in response.

"We were in the championship game," Miles prompted.

As soon as he said that, things began to click in my head. The puzzle pieces began to fit in my mind.

"Oh my God, did we win?" I croaked. My mind raced through the images in my mind of the game. Ellie, my mom, warmups, and then... Stephen.

Miles only smiled softly in reply. Instead of saying anything, he got up from the chair and made his way to the table covered in flowers. He reached his hand down to grasp the mysterious plaque in his hand.

He then placed it in my lap to look at. I pulled myself up into a reclining position before surveying the award.

Champions was printed across the top, and I couldn't help but have a huge smile break across my face.

"You guys did it," I whispered, rubbing a hand across the front.

"We did it," Miles corrected. "Do you remember anything about the game?"

I did my best in recounting some of the game. "I was playing short, and you played first."

Miles nodded in encouragement. His thumb traced over the knuckles on my fingers.

"We didn't score at all, but then he was there." My voice dropping off at the last part of the sentence.

Miles's grip tightened on my hand.

"I don't remember much after that," I said honestly.

"That's okay. Do you want me to tell you the rest because it's okay if you don't want me too."

"No, I want to hear it."

"Stephen was walked by Jackson, and he tried to steal second. Eli threw a good ball down and you beat him by several seconds, but he cleated you where you weren't protected. He sliced open your leg pretty bad," he recounted softly.

It was as if when he told me that that an uncomfortable feeling began to radiate in my lower thigh.

Pulling back the blanket, I gazed at the blue stitches that ran a little ways up my thigh.

"You lost a lot of blood in a very short amount of time, so you passed out."

"Oh," was all I could muster to say.

"And you scared the shit out of me," Miles added.

"Sorry," I said softly.

"Don't be sorry. I'm just so thankful that you're alive. I can't imagine you not here with me."

There was a long pause of silence.

"Miles..." I trailed off, but the door slammed open and a flurry of crazy blonde hair came rushing in.

Miles pulled his hand away and placed both of his hands in his lap.

"Oh my God, you're awake," Ellie practically screeched.

"Hi, Elle Bell."

She was on the bed with her arms around me before I could blink.

"I was so worried," she said into my ear. I didn't even have to look at her to know that she was close to tears.

"I'm okay, Elle. I promise."

"I know, I know. I wanted to be right here as soon as you woke up, but I got hungry, so I went down to the- hey wait a minute, you were suppose to text me the minute she woke up," Ellie switched the subject mid-sentence.

"She literally woke up not even three minutes ago," Miles tried to defend.

"Asshole. Trying to take all the time with my best friend."

"Says the one who could not stop staring at my best friend the entire time we were in the waiting room."

"Shut the f-," this time Ellie was cut off by the slamming door of the room.

"Please, do not finish that sentence, Eleanor." And my mom had entered the building.

"Yes, Mrs. Cantrell," Ellie groaned. She made no move to remove herself from me though. I was currently a tree to her koala self.

"And Ellie, I know you were worried about her, but I think you're hurting Gloria," my mom said, noticing the more and more pained expression on my face from the weight laying on me.

"Right." Ellie sprung off me and settled for sitting on the edge of the bed.

"How long have I been out?" I asked to break up the silence that had settled over the four of us.

"Almost 24 hours," my mom answered, moving closer to me and picking up my hand.

"Wow," was all I could muster to say.

I glanced up at my mom's face to see tears begin to well up in her eyes.

"It's okay, Mom. I'm okay," I tried to sooth her. I clutched on to her hand.

"It was so close to one of your arteries," she whispered. Tears sprung to my own eyes at my mom's emotions. "And why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"That boy," my mom said harshly. Her voice still low, but obvious anger lined her tone. "Miles told me."

Stephen. The mere thought of him angered and scared me all at once.

"He didn't do anything."

"Don't give me that. I know exactly what he did."

I wiped away the tears that slipped out of my eyes. She was right. I should have told her. I didn't have any excuse for that.

"I'm sorry. I thought I could handle it," I mumbled, holding back the floodgates.

"I'm just glad you're okay. He's getting his punishment anyway."

"What?" I questioned.

"Well, other than being ejected from the game for obvious targeting, your teammates took a couple good shots at him. The camp is even thinking about fining him because of his endangerment to another player," Ellie cleared up.

I tore my gaze away from my mom to look at Miles in the armchair. His stare was already trained on me when I looked over.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed. He ran a hand through his hair like he always did when he was nervous.

I shrugged my shoulders at him and mouthed a "thank you."

Miles did the right thing to tell my mom what happened. I don't know if I could have done it myself. I was ashamed to tell her that I almost let it happen again. I knew it wasn't my fault or that I should blame myself, but I wish I could have fought for myself a little more.

"Do not blame yourself for that," my mom's voice broke into my thoughts. She knew exactly what I was thinking about 90% of the time.

"I could have prevented it."

"A full grown boy was forcing himself on you. You're a strong girl, but you can't stop everything. It's not your fault for any of it and you know it."

The room fell into a silence after my mom finished speaking. The topic sat heavy in the air.

"Gloria, you good with the guys coming in?" Miles questioned after glancing down at his phone when it vibrated.

"Yeah, sure," I assured, sitting up. I needed something to think about rather than Stephen. I moved my shoulder at the uncomfortable IV stuck into my arm. "Do I really need this?"

"Don't you dare take it out," my mom warned in her don't-test-me voice.

I grumbled at her response, not bothering to test her patience at the moment.

There was suddenly noise outside the door followed by voices.

An older female voice stopped the shuffling of feet outside the door. "Only family and okayed individuals."

"But we just got a text that we are allowed in." It was of course Danny leading the pack.

"Well, I need to verify because I don't know if she wants all fourteen of you in there."

"We won't cause any problems, ma'm," Jackson intervened. Always the polite one.

The door softly clicked open to reveal an elderly woman in shrubs. Her gray hair was tucked into a neat bun and a pair of glasses hung from a bedazzled chain around her neck.

"Ms. Cantrell, did you okay a group of new visitors?" she asked politely.

"Yes, you can let them in. They won't cause too much trouble," I answered, holding back a laugh.

She gave one last look at the group of them, probably sincerely regretting her decision. Poor woman.

The door was opened wider and within seconds, the mass of them poured into the room.

"Hi, G," Jackson greeted me first. His voice was soft and worry was still etched across his face.

I smiled at him, but I knew his attention was not going to be on me very long, since my best friend was lingering in the same area.

Jackson's eyes flickered over to the giddy blonde sitting next to me. I glanced at Ellie's reaction underneath my eyelashes, rolling my eyes at her. She gazed right back at him with big glistening eyes.

I pushed her in the back after a moment. Ellie flipped around to give me a challenging look.

"Go," was the only thing I said.

Ellie grinned widely after understanding what I was referring to. She got up and Jackson and her left the room.

Danny and Nathan were next to approach me with Harrison following close behind him. They circled around the bed. They just stood there. Not a word left any of their mouths. Something that I wasn't used to with the three of them.

"I don't think I've ever been around the three of you without one of you saying something," I said to break the ice.

All three of them let a small smile slip on to their faces.

"We were just really worried about you," Harrison said quietly.

"Seems like the common theme of today," I deadpanned.

Again, another breath of silence, except for the quiet whispering of the other guys.

Nathan scratched the back of his head before asking, "how are you feeling?"

"Alright. Just ready to go already. Plus, I really want this awkward small talk to stop."

"Same old Gloria," Danny commented.

Being the closest to me and on my right side, which did not have the IV in it, Danny received a punch to the lower stomach.

"Yep, definitely same old Gloria," Danny wheezed, bending over and clutching his abdomin.

On the other side, both Harrison and Nathan side stepped to let in a shorter figure, Coach.

"Hi Coach," I greeted him, noticing there was concern laced in his features. I knew he was soft somewhere in there.

"Cantrell," he cleared his voice and nodded his head towards me. It was pretty out of character for him to act so "nice." I was being treated like a glass doll, something I was not used to at all, especially from all of them.

"Are you softening up?" I prodded. I was hoping for a bit of a rise out of him and to shove him back into himself.

Rust gave me a sideways stare, narrowing his eyes. I struck some sort of cord.

"Well, I was slightly concerned with your well-being."

Apparently, I didn't hit it hard enough.

"You're turning into a big Carebear, Coach." Snickering from all the players was heard across the small room.

"If you weren't in that hospital bed, you'd be running laps right now," Rust snapped. There he was.

"I was just making sure you weren't getting all soft in the middle," I explained.

He looked to the ceiling, but a smile snuck on to his face enough so I could see it.

"You're something else, kid. I'm just glad you're okay," Rust said. "Come on, guys. Let's go grab lunch downstairs and give Gloria some time to herself."

All the guys filed out behind him; each of them giving me a wave or smile before exiting.

My mom followed behind them. "I'm going to grab a snack too."

Miles stayed behind, not moving from his initial position in the chair. When the door clicked closed, he moved to sit in Ellie's previous spot on the edge of the bed. Miles did not stop there. One of his hands grasped mine and laced our fingers together.

"What are you doing?" I whispered.

"Holding your hand."

A pang hit my heart at his simple, innocent statement.

"You don't have to do that."

"I want to."

This was the time to ask him. Ask him about it all. It was like all at once that it hit me that this was the end of summer. The championship game was the end of it all. Now that was done and the final days of summer were rolling around. It was now or never.

"Is it just a summer thing for you?" I asked suddenly.

"Is what just a summer thing?"

"You and me."

Miles's eyes glazed over in the slightest and his shoulders sagged. "Is that all you want from this?"

I didn't hesitate to reply to that question, and my answer came out in a rush.

"Not in the slightest. I want this to last for a really long time." A weight was lifted off my shoulders when I finally said it out loud. At this point, I didn't care if he reciprocated the feeling. I needed to get that off my chest. It had been sitting on me for so long.

There was a long pause before Miles replied. As each second passed, I became more and more fearful of what he was going to say.

"I've never been more relieved in my life that you said that."

Before I could react, he leaned down pecked my lips with his own. It was short, but it had been a long time since we kissed. He began to pull away, but I pulled his head down to make it last.

"I missed you," I said softly when he pulled away. Miles kept his face close to mine and watched me. His emerald eyes cut into mine, sending familiar shivers down my spine.

"What happened in the last couple weeks?" Miles questioned.

"I thought you just wanted this to be a summer thing. I heard you and Jackson talking in the hotel-," I began. My voice rose several octaves before Miles cut me off.

"What are you talking about?"

"During playoffs, when I went to shower. I overheard you saying you couldn't tell me something, and Jackson said if you didn't you would hurt me and you."

Miles ducked his head and ran a hand through his hair. His grip tightened on my hand.

"It wasn't because I wanted to end this. You're one of the best things that has happened to me, Gloria. I was scared that you just wanted a short thing."

"What did you want to tell me?"

A soft smile lifted the corner of his lips and a red blush rose in his cheeks. Something I wasn't super used to from him.

"What? Tell me!" I persisted, shaking the hand that was clasped in mine.

Miles stopped my persistent shaking and refocused his attention on me. I held his gaze. Butterflys suddenly erupted in my stomach as our eyes stayed interlocked.

"I love you."

It was quiet, but I heard those words loud and clear. My heart came to a skidding stop in my chest. He said it. He actually said it.

"You what?" The question left my mouth before I could pull it back. I heard him just fine, but I was in such disbelief that he actually said it.

Miles only chuckled. "I love you. A lot."

My heart restarted in my chest but pounded rapidly. I shook my head in bewilderment, which only made Miles laugh louder.

"Gloria Cantrell, I cannot express to you how far I am in love with you. I am head over heels for you. You are my sun and moon and everything in between. Jackson told me to tell you or else I was going to lose you. I was scared out of my mind to tell you how much I cared about you because I desperately wanted you to feel the same way. I almost lost you because I didn't tell you. When I see you or even think of you, my breath catches for a second. Everything is better with you around. Unfortunately, there's only a three word phrase that can be used for this kind of feeling, and it's I love you. If there was a million word monologue I needed to say to express how much I care about you, I would use it," Miles said. His voice got louder and louder with each sentence, and my smile got wider and wider. He used his arms for exaggeration and looked towards the ceiling.

When he was done, he looked back down at me for a reply. My smile was so big that my cheeks hurt. A tear slipped down my cheek at his exclamation. He brushed the tear away, trailing his thumb across my skin.

"I love you too."

"Oh, thank God," Miles breathed before leaning down and kissing me once again. I tangled one of my hands into his hair and grasped his shoulder with the other.

When the door clicked open behind us, Miles was slow to unlatch himself from me.

A very stunned Danny was standing in the door frame with a smirking Nathan behind him.

"What?" Miles snapped, clearly bothered that we were being interrupted.

"I-uh-wha-," Danny stuttered along, his eyes flicked between us.

"Spit it out, Dan."

"When did this happen?" he finally spit out, still looking astonished.

"A while ago, buddy," Nathan answered for us.

"You knew?" Danny asked, stunned.

"Everyone knew, Sherlock."

"How did I-," Danny began.