Page 30 of Coping Skills

Chapter Thirteen

Daniel felt sleepy, and the worried looks he kept getting from Elena wrapped him in warmth. If she worried about him, that meant she cared about him. He kept his eyes closed and the seat partly reclined the whole way home. He’d tried to get Elena to take the front, but she’d insisted that his longer legs would be more comfortable there and that she’d take the back. When he’d suggested that he lie down in the back, she’d vetoed that idea, insisting that he had to be in a seat with a seatbelt. She’d grumbled about him reclining the seat, but had let it go when he brought it up some.

A smile played over his lips at her concern. What he really wanted was to get home and get to bed. He needed a shower first, and then he wanted to turn off all the bright lights that kept stabbing at his eyes, making the throbbing in his head worse, and sleep forever, with Elena snuggled against him. That sounded like his own personal version of heaven right now.

Daniel cracked his eyes open when he felt them bump over the familiar entrance to their apartment complex.

Coop slid into his assigned spot and killed the engine. “You gonna be able to make it upstairs on your own, or do you need help?”

Rubbing a hand over his head, Daniel thought about it. “I think I can manage. I’ll let you know if I change my mind.”

Coop flashed a grin and climbed out of the car. Elena’s door opened and closed before his fingers found the door handle and pulled it open. Even though they’d assured him at the hospital that he had no bleeding or swelling, his head felt like it floated somewhere about six inches above his body, and his brain felt too big for his skull. It made his movements as sluggish as his thoughts.

When he pushed the door open and put his feet on the asphalt, his cleats less steady on the smooth surface than they were on turf, Elena stood in front of him, her mouth a tight line, her brows drawn together forming a wrinkle in her forehead.

He reached a hand out to her. “Hey. I’m fine.”

That made her lips compress more, but she nodded, holding out a hand. He took it, because she offered. If it had been Coop he would’ve ignored him. But he couldn’t turn down Elena’s help. Each time she looked worried or stayed close to him, he smiled. He couldn’t help it, and didn’t want to. His smiles only made her look more worried, though, so he tried not to keep grinning like a wacko. No need to make her think he’d lost his mind when he got kicked in the head.

Damn. You’d think a football helmet would do a better job of protecting against that.

“The helmet only helps with the exterior trauma. Without the helmet you’d probably have cleat marks in your forehead or something. But it doesn’t stop concussions.”

He slowly turned his head to look down at Elena, who’d answered his thought. “Did I say that out loud?”

Her face lightened for a split second, a brief smile crossing her lips. “Yeah. You did.”

“How do you know so much about helmets and concussions?”

Her lips pressed together again, and she wrapped her arm through his, tugging him toward the stairs leading to his apartment. “After my dad’s accident this summer, I started reading a lot about traumatic brain injuries. I follow a few different organizations that provide support and research for TBI survivors and their families.”

He nodded, but regretted it as soon as he did so, the floaty feeling now combining with a sickening spinning sensation. He had to stop walking for a second and wait for that to pass before continuing. “Okay. That makes sense. But what does that have to do with concussions?”

A dry, humorless chuckle escaped her lips. “Sweetie, concussions are traumatic brain injuries. Milder than what happened to my dad, sure, but still TBIs. My brother likes to play baseball, and then you and I started spending time together, so I read about sports injuries. I can’t help it. It’s my own form of self-torture, indulging my psychologically masochistic streak by reading about all the ways the people I love can get their heads bashed in and permanently damaged.”

This time when he stopped, halfway up the stairs, it was to get her to look at him and clarify some points. He knew he wasn’t operating at full abilities, but it sounded like she might’ve said she loved him. “Wait, what?”

Tugging on his arm, she shook her head. “Let’s get inside. You need to rest. We’ll talk about all this later when you’re not dopey and concussed.”

He allowed her to get him moving again, but didn’t ignore the fact that she avoided meeting his eyes. At the very least he’d wait to push it until they got inside. Having theI love youconversation on the stairs to his apartment didn’t seem like the best place for it now that his slow brain had time to think about it.

Once inside, Coop closed the door behind them, turning the deadbolt and heading to his room. Elena stopped and looked at the door, which seemed strange to Daniel, but then she led him to his room, and he didn’t care about why she might stare at their front door. Pushing him down on the bed, she bent to untie his shoes. He might be out of it, but not enough that that didn’t seem wrong to him.

“S’okay. I can do it.” They were only tied normally, not double-knotted like they were when he played, since he’d had to take them off at the hospital. Toeing them off once they were untied, he stood, stripping off his jersey and dropping his hands to the lace-up fly on his pants.

“Um, I think I’ll just go.”

Daniel’s eyes focused on Elena, who was backing toward his bedroom door. “What? Why?”

Her eyes ran over his body before settling on his face again. “You’re hurt and you need to rest. You obviously don’t need any help from me. So, I’ll just have Hannah come get me so you can go to bed.”

“Stay.”

Her eyes dropped to his open fly, and tracked him as he pushed his football pants down, revealing the padded compression shorts he wore underneath. But her expression gave nothing away. “I really should go.”

“I need to take a shower. At least stay until I’m out. You can tuck me in.” He tried for a charming smile, but worried it came out goofier than he wanted.

Whatever the case, it seemed to work. The corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly, and she nodded. “Okay. Go take your shower. I’ll stay until you’re done.”

---