by Rachel Burns
Was she saying she wanted to be alone with him? He had enjoyed their date at the coffeehouse so much.
“I don’t even want to go to college,”Brianna confessed.
“What do you want to do?”
“Something where I wouldn’t be boxed in anymore. I liked working in the garden. Maybe I could have studied that. I could have planned people’s gardens for them, and workers could have taken care of the heavy work.”
“You can plan our garden.” Scott was so lost in thought that he didn’t realize what he had said until it was out.
“Fine, I’ll talk to your mom and see what she wants done and where. Did they want a quiet corner just for the two of them or were they thinking about a play area for the grandchildren?”
Scott exhaled, relieved. He was so thankful that she was so naïve. “I don’t know. I just heard them talking.”
“I’d be glad to help. It would give me something to do over summer vacation. Besides, it would get me out of that golden cage, that my parents have stuck me in.”
“Don’t be so hard on them. If you were mine, I would be even worse than they are.”
“I guess I got lucky then,” she joked.
He didn’t say anything. She looked up at him and saw him swallow hard. “I’m sorry. I was just kidding. Are you having problems with your girlfriend? Is that the problem?”
“What girlfriend?” He looked down into her worried face.
“You know the one we’re not supposed to know about.” He still looked confused so she continued. “The one from back home. The one you told Hannah about.”
“Oh, her.” The lightbulb went on in his head. Brianna was talking about herself, and she didn’t even know it.
“Well, the truth is that Hannah asked me out so I made up a girl back home to let her down easy.”
“Oh, that makes sense. I was already thinking that you were the world’s worst boyfriend because I never saw the two of you together.” She laughed a little.
“No, if I had a girlfriend, I would want to spend a lot of time with her, and just her. I would be there when she needed me. I’d be whoever she needed me to be.”
“Now you sound like a pushover.” She smiled up at him. He was still holding her in his arms.
“Why is it so easy to talk to you?” he asked her.
“I don’t know,” she sighed. Why was it that she was always telling him her deepest and darkest secrets? “Maybe, I’m just a blabbermouth.”
“No, that’s not it. It’s something else. You don’t have to avoid me, Brianna. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Then why this whole action in the lounge?”
“What if something happened to you, and I wasn’t here? I would have suffered the terrible guilt of that for the rest of my life. This way I feel safer. Hey, you are the only one who really talks to me too. I can’t afford to lose you either.”
“You talk to the other floor disciplinarians at meals.”
“It’s not the same. I can’t put my finger on it, but when I can, I’ll tell you.” Scott was dreaming about the day that he could tell her the truth.
“Same with me.”
“What is the same with you?” Scott asked confused.
“If I figure it out, I’ll tell you.”
He smiled at her. This summer she could be his, but not sooner. He wanted to hold her and kiss her, and he already wanted so much more than that. Making love to her was something that wouldn’t happen for a long time, but he really wanted to. Maybe then she would feel better about herself, more attractive, if she knew how much he wanted her.
He cuddled with her knowing that she wasn’t ready yet. He would wait for her. She was worth it.
“What I want you to do is to march out there and tell the new girls that it was you who I saved. They probably have heard it already so let’s just make it official.”
“No, Scott, please, no.”
He reached for her desk chair. “I think they would take it a lot more seriously if you told them. It could mean life or death. Yours.” He sat down and pulled her to his side. “What will it be? Out to the lounge, or do you want to make a pit stop over my knees?”
She stood by his right side and bit her lower lip. She was thinking about a way to get out of this altogether. His hand was pressing on her back, pushing her down.
“No, Scott, stop. I’m still thinking.”
“What is there to think about? Do you want a spanking before you go out or not? But you are going out.”
“There has to be a way out of all of this?”
She sounded scared, but she was still coming to him with her problems, and she was still telling him what she was thinking. He was trying so hard not to laugh that he had to take deep breaths
He had her over his knees when she called out, “I got it.”
He couldn’t hide his laughter anymore. “What is ‘it’?”
“I plead the fifth – amendment – to the Constitution.” She sounded more and more unsure as she went on.
His chest hurt from laughing and trying to suppress it. “The fifth amendment can’t help you. You aren’t testifying; you are getting a spanking. There is a difference.”
“Scott, please, no.”
“No, what? No, don’t spank you or no, don’t make you be an adult and admit that you have a weak spot.”
“No, to everything really won’t work?”
“No, it really won’t.” He had stopped laughing.
“But Cathy goes with me wherever I go, and she took the lesson really seriously.”
Smack! “You should have taken it more seriously too. Will you be good and go back or not? It’s getting late, and the other girls will want to go to bed soon. They are just waiting for you.” He gave her smacks while he lectured.
“Stop hitting, stop hitting.”
“Tell me why I should stop.” His hand was high over his ear just waiting.
“Because you are a big bully, and you win.”
He laughed again and pulled her so she was sitting on his lap. “The big bully will be there to make sure they are all nice to you.” He gave her a hug and set her on her feet. He had to wonder if she thought that he held and hugged all the other girls too. That was just for her. He wished she knew how special she was to him.
Scott stood, and they went back out into the hallway. He called all the girls together again. Brianna stood behind a chair. Lots of the others figured that she had been properly spanked and couldn’t sit, but in truth, it had only been a few smacks over her fully clothed bottom.
Scott gave her a meaningful look.
Brianna cleared her throat. “I was – am – the girl who Scott brought back to life.” She looked at him, and he rolled his hand, wanting her to continue. “I was born with a faulty heart. My heart had holes in it, and it wasn’t very strong. It was the wrong size and the such. I had my first operation when I was two days old. I have a way of surprising people and living. I have had to have a couple more operations since then. I never got to play with other children or run and have fun. I spent a lot of time in hospitals. When I was seventeen, I was accepted to be the first person to undergo an operation that had never been done before. I would have died within the month if I hadn’t been accepted.” She paused and shrugged. She was doing well at holding back her tears.
“The operation promised that I could have a normal life but one with lots of limitations. I have to take medication every day, and I still can’t play sports or eat most foods, but I’m here.
“Last year, a mistake with my medicine almost killed me, but Scott knew what to do, and he had the nerve to do it. He saved my life.” She looked at him for a second and then away again.
“Scott wants all of you to learn CPR so you could be able to save my life.” She dropped her eyes. Her face was so red with shame.
Scott went to stand next to her. “I think Brianna was very brave, telling us all about herself.”
“I’m more than just a bad heart.”
“That’s not what I meant. I worded it badly, and I’m sorry, Brianna. I’m not trying to offend you. I want all of you to know that it could happen, and Brianna may need your help.”
“That was a pharmaceutical mistake. It won’t happen again.”
“Really, something like that couldn’t happen again? Tell us when was the last time you were in the hospital.”
“Scott, that isn’t fair.”
“We’re waiting, Brianna.”
“Fine, you win.” She looked around at the other girls seriously. “I could drop dead at any second. Are you happy now, Scott? Can I go to bed now?”
“Of course, I’ll bring you.” His tone was clear, but she was still mad, so she scowled at him. “Off to bed all of you.” The lounge cleared, and Brianna looked at Scott. He looked back just as mean.
Cathy went over to Scott and socked him in the arm as hard as she could. “You are so tactless. I can’t believe you bullied her into doing that. And if you lay a hand on her, I’m telling mom and dad.” She stomped off.
“Brianna.” He didn’t know what to say anymore.
“Do you remember when you asked me who hurt me, back when I thought that I was going to die? You are in that category too.” She went to her room and cried until she fell asleep.
Scott didn’t sleep at all. Her father had warned him that stress was especially hard on her. He checked on her several times in the night.
He didn’t touch her other than to take her pulse.
Chapter 2 – I Need You
Brianna was mad at Scott and avoided him like the plague. She put up with the Friday visits, but he could tell she hated them.
Scott was waiting for her to slip up so he could have an excuse to talk to her for a longer period of time. That didn’t seem to be happening, straight A’s and she was always at home on time.
He was completely surprised when the nurse gave him a call. He had to pick her up because she had been kicked out of class because she was too sick to attend.
Scott raced over and heard her coughing. The nurse explained how hard coughing was on her body. He was mad. He’d had no idea that she wasn’t feeling well. The nurse discussed the option of sending her to the hospital. Brianna just laid there sobbing as they discussed over her head.
He hung her bag over his shoulder and picked her up.
“I can walk.”
“Whining is working just fine too.” He set her down on her feet, and she swayed a bit. He rolled his eyes and tried to pick her up again. She backed away from him. “You really are a bad patient.”
“No, I’m not. I always get praised for being so good.” She was walking very slowly back to their dorm.
“Well, back then your father made sure that you were.” Scott still had her bag, and he was watching her very closely. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, she just stood still and looked up. She bowed her head and stepped up. Scott was ready to catch her. On the fifth step, she started in coughing again.
“Turn your head to the side and cough as slowly as you can.” Scott was eager to show her that he wasn’t bitter, and that he would take care of her.
“I know how to cough,” she snapped at him. “And besides, I was right there when she said that. I’m not deaf.”
“You may not be deaf, but you are being very rude. I’ve had it, Brianna. It’s like you are begging me for it.”
“I am not. And it states very clearly in the handbook that you can’t spank me when I’m sick. I even have a fever.” She smiled at him feeling that she had bested him.
“I’ll be waiting.” He picked her up again and carried her to her room. She wanted to protest, but she had another coughing fit.
“Scott, I need water,” she said between coughs.
He got her some water, and then he pulled out her pajamas.
“Change quickly, and then come to my room. I’ll be waiting for you.”
“But. Why?” She had tears in her eyes.
“Because I said.” He took her pillow and a bottle of water and left.
Brianna changed into her pajamas and wrapped her robe around herself before she went to his room. Her coughing alerted him that she was coming.
She stood in his open door and fidgeted with the belt that closed her robe.
He jumped up and walked her in. “I have work to do that can only be done on my computer, but I want to keep an eye on you too. So I think that you should sleep in my bed.”
“Umm no. My father would flip out if he heard about that.”
Scott held up his finger and picked up the phone. He spoke to her father. He had just dialed the number without looking it up. Did he do that often, she wondered? She listened to him tattle that she was sick and being sassy to him.
He held the phone out to her. Her hand shook a little as she took it. Scott knew that this trick would only work with her. The other girls would whine to their parents.
“Daddy?”
“What is that I’m hearing? You didn’t tell him that you were sick, and you go off to class anyway, and he has to come get you. You know what the punishment for that is at home, but then to hear that you sassed him. Brianna, he has work to do, and if he says you can sleep in his bed so he can make sure you are okay, you say thank you and nothing else. Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then go to sleep and get well soon. We love you, sweetheart.”
“I love you too. Goodbye.” She handed Scott the phone back. That had been a low move on his part. She eyed his bed still unsure what to do.
Scott had changed the sheets for her. He had even had time to throw his things in the floor’s washing machine. He shook his head. “The thing you do is take off the robe and get in. Then all you have to do is sleep.”
“Now who’s being sassy,” she whispered.
She slowly and shyly opened her robe and laid it at the foot of his bed. He lifted the covers and guided her in. She grabbed her pillow and turned away from him. This was so embarrassing. He turned off the lights, and she could hear him typing away. She nodded off.
Scott stopped working to watch her sleep. He liked the idea of having her in his bed. He envisioned her and him falling asleep next to each other every night. It took a lot to pull his attention away from her so he could go back to writing an essay that he hoped it would be good enough to get him into law school.
He needed the best education so he would be one of the young lawyers that got employed right out of school. He wanted his life with her to begin as quickly as possible. Scott had to make that happen.
He finished the essay then proofread it, again and again. He would ask Dan, another floor disciplinarian, to read through it too.
Brianna rolled over. He turned and stared at her. She sure could be feisty. He liked that. Her eyes lighted up when she did that. She was his everything. He leaned in a gave her a kiss on her forehead. He was turning back to his computer when he heard her.
“Why do you always do that?” She wasn’t really awake, but the question scared him. It gave him so much information. She knew he had done it before.
“Because I’m so happy that you lived.”
“Oh.” She fell back to sleep. His bed smelt like he did, even if he had put fresh sheets on the bed for her, she thought.
It had been an ‘oh, an I understand oh’, but still Scott’s heart was beating so fast that it hurt. She knew that he had been in her room at night, kissing her. This could cost him his job. If the school had to fire him, then she wouldn’t want him. He had to be very respectable for her.
He worried until he heard the other girls coming back from lunch. That was his cue to call over to the cafeteria for Brianna’s tray.
Scott heard a door slam. His dander was up. He looked to see if it had woken Brianna. She was peacefully sleeping.
He grabbed his hairbrush out of the drawer and went to find the evil doer. That took awhile again, but it wasn’t as dramatic as it was last year. He left a very sorry young lady who wo
uld probably never in all of her life ever slam a door again.
Scott went back into his room shaking his head. He sat down, and then he looked at the bed. Brianna was gone.
“Scott,” he heard her whispering. She was in his bathroom, having another coughing fit. She called to him in between coughs.
He went in and found her kneeling over his toilet.
“Scott, – Coughing up – blood. Hospital, please.” She spoke in between coughs.
“I’ll call an ambulance.”
“Car is – okay.”
He grabbed his keys and her robe. He wrapped her up in it. The whole floor could hear her coughing. Scott gave her a towel to cough blood into. It wasn’t much, but he didn’t want her to ruin her things. He swooped her into his arms and carried her out. She passed out again.
The girls all stood in the hallway. “Cathy, go in my room and call her parents. Tell them she is on the way to the hospital. She is coughing up blood.”
Scott raced to his car and gently sat her down. He sped to the hospital. He carried her into the emergency room.
“I need help,” he called out. A doctor came and took her out of his arms. Scott explained what had happened. The doctor wheeled her away very quickly.
A nurse asked about insurance. He told her what he knew.
They sent him away, and he drove back to the dorms to get her purse and her medication. He drove back after warning the girls that anyone taking advantage of his absence would be severely punished.
He went back to Brianna. The doctor had her all hooked up to machines again. They let him in to see her. He held her hand. She still hadn’t woken up, but her body rocked with coughs now and then. Scott didn’t want her to be alone.
He called the Dean, who was also her godfather.
Martin was rushing over to Brianna, so Scott could go back to his floor then.
When Scott returned to the floor, he was greeted with loud music. He went right to Jessica’s room after stopping off in his room to get the paddle. Each year there was a girl who stuck out from the others in a bad way.
