Chapter 12

-Scarlett-

The harsh, sickening and almost suffocating scent of chemicals assaulted my nose. Sitting up too quickly, I felt a rush of blood go to my head and I immediately became dizzy. Unable to recognise where I was, I began to panic and tried to swing my legs over the edge of the bed before I was stopped by someone pushing them back onto it.

"Hey, try to relax okay?" I heard James instruct from beside me. I felt his large hand clasp mine and the other rested on my arm. He gently ran his thumb over the back of my hand, calming me down. As my vision slowly came back, I focused on James and tried to force a smile. Once I could see clearly, I gasped at the sight of his bruised face.

He looked horrible. Now probably wasn’t the time to be a fashion critique, but this is James Franco. He’s endorsed by Gucci, for goodness sake. His hair was pointing in all sorts of directions and he looked like he hasn’t showered in days, or changed his clothes for that matter.

"James?" I barely managed to speak. He looks up and races over to you, grabbing your hand so tightly, as though he were afraid to let go.

"You look horrible," I said, breaking the silence.

Instead of replying with something witty, sarcastic or self-centered, he lets out a cry of joy.

"Oh god, you’re okay!" He grins, waving his hands in the air.

“Your face…”

"It’s beautiful, isn’t it?" He laughs.

"What happened?" I asked, frowning at him. His gorgeous face was now covered in a few small cuts. His right eye was bruised and swollen, almost as if he’d been in a…

"Fight," James nodded, as though he had just read your mind. "Don’t worry about me though, let’s worry about you. Unlike you I can get makeup artists that can fix this up," He grinned cockily, gesturing towards his face.

 I rolled my eyes, "So can I. My band just doesn’t want that."

"Well okay then Scar," He chortles, "Whatever you say."

It took me a while to process his words but once I had I felt like my dizziness had worn off. My mind was catapulted back by two years. Did he really just call me Scar? Before I could pick on him for it, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a doctor making his way over to me. Groaning, I realised where I was.

A fucking hospital.

"Hi Scarlett. I’m Doctor Schultz. It’s good to see you’re awake," He smiles. "Your fiancé over there hasn’t left you since you arrived here two days ago."

Alarm bells started ringing in my head. 

I’ve been in hospital, unconscious, for two days and somehow became engaged to James Franco in the process. I’m pretty sure in any state, no matter how messed up I was I’d be pretty sure whether or not I’d agree to marrying him. I shot a glance over at a now very sheepish looking James, who mouthed, “Later” to me before pointing towards the doctor.

"What happened?"

"Well, we can only assume until you’re able to remember. But, from the tests we ran we found traces of alcohol and GHB in your body. Were you out drinking?"

Frowning, I nodded, “Yeah, I was. I hate alcohol though, so I only had about two drinks.”

“That’s all it takes,” Dr Schulz said as he wrote down some notes on his clipboard, “We found a fair amount of concentration of GHB in your system. GHB is a common type of spiking depressant and when mixed with alcohol it can have some devastating side effects. You started having seizures on your way over to the hospital, we were lucky enough to stabilize you. I must say, you’re very lucky your fiancé knew something was wrong with you.”

Glancing at James I gave him a small smile as I realised his hand hadn’t let go of mine.

"So why is my fiancé’s  face all busted up?" I asked with a frown. "He wouldn’t tell me."

"Ah," Dr Schulz chuckles, "I’ve seen this a lot throughout my career.”

“I want her to worry about herself, not me,” James said.

“Well, Scarlett. According to James he thought he heard a loud noise on your end of the line. When he got there a man was trying to break through your door and well, as you can tell by his face they had a pretty rough brawl."

I gasped and James squeezed my hand reassuringly.

"I’ve dealt with a lot of drink spiking cases, and the scary reality is that the man trying to break in to your room was most likely who spiked your drink, though I can’t say for certain. Everyone reacts differently to drugs and luckily for you, you were able to get yourself back to your hotel room before your body was affected," Dr Schulz pauses, before continuing in a lower voice, "All I can say is you’re a very lucky woman, and I don’t want to think about what could have happened if you hadn’t gotten back to your suite and James hadn’t shown up in time.

II’ll leave you two alone for a while. You need more rest; I wasn’t expecting you up so soon.”

Once he left the room, I tugged at James to try pulling him towards me. Understanding my request, he moved closer to me so I could wrap my arms around him. The warmth from his body was comforting, and it made me feel safe now I was close to him again.

“I can’t even begin to thank you enough, James. Thank you so much for not leaving me.”

"I couldn’t ever leave you," He says quietly.

Breaking apart from each other, I grinned at him, "Fiancé? Really?"

Wincing, he turned to face me looking slightly embarrassed, “It was the only way they were going to let me stay overnight.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Yeah sure.”

"Okay so I might have pulled the ‘don’t you know who I am?’ card…" He explained.

 I shook my head and punched him gently in the arm, "You know I’m never letting you live that down right?"

"Shut up," He grins, placing his hand over my mouth. I tenderly moved to pull his hand away, and my actions were slow because of the searing pain in my side which caused me to cry out. Panicking, James lifted my arms and placed them beside me, "You shouldn’t be moving around so much, you need some rest."

"I want to leave," I huffed. “Take me out of here.”

“I know, but do you really think you’re in a good enough condition to leave?” He laughed.

He was right though. I could barely move, let alone think, and my head was hurting like crazy.

Feeling drowsing I turned my head to look at him and I tugged his shirt gently, "James?"

"Yes?"

"Are you staying?"

He smiled, “I’ll be right here if you need me.”

-James-

Under my instructions, I made Scarlett move in with me in my apartment for the duration of her trip. She didn’t protest one bit. I could tell she wasn’t letting anyone see how shaken up she was about the whole incident, but it wasn’t hard to miss how jumpy she got at night.

Originally I was sleeping on the couch, but that soon was ruled out when she refused to let me leave her side. Each night Scarlett would be huddled close to me in bed. A single noise at night was enough to freak her out. She’d wake up and grab at my shirt or pull me even closer to her, to the point where I could feel her heart beating away rapidly in her chest.

The worst part was during some nights where I’d wake up and hear her softly crying beside me. Helping her pull through and return to her normal self was no easy task. I didn’t mind though because ever since that night, all I want to do is protect her.

Even though she constantly insists on being independent, she knows very well that she needs me. She just doesn’t want to admit it because the one thing that can’t be changed about her no matter what the circumstances are is her stubborn attitude towards me. She will never lose the compulsive need to prove to me that she’s better than me, and that she doesn’t need me for support.

I didn’t want to seem too overbearing either, so I let her have her own space and do things by herself. There was only one thing that bothered me and that was letting her out of my sight. She’d hate me if she knew that I hired a P.I just to ensure her safety. So many things could have gone wrong and I’d never be able to live with myself if something happened to her that I could have easily prevented.

Pushing those dark thoughts out of my mind, I joined Scarlett on the couch.

"What are you reading?" I asked, scooting towards her and trying to sneak a look at the cover.

Looking up at me she grinned, “Palo Alto Stories. I’m trying to work out which things are your own personal anecdotes.”

Throwing my hands in the air I smirked, “Definitely the hit and run one. I’m a psycho.”

"So, that’s why you’ve kept me prisoner here? Get away from me you creep!" She laughs, playfully whacking me in the head with my book.

My own book.

I offer her the best hospitality and she has the audacity to repay me through hitting me over the head with my own book.

"You shouldn’t have done that," I warned her as I wrestled her down.

Reaching up to her stomach, I began tickling her, fully knowing that that was her weak spot. Scarlett was cackling and begging me to stop whilst flailing about in a desperate attempt to escape. Grabbing her wrists, I locked them beside her as I shifted so my full weight wasn’t crushing her. Staring down at her, my heart rate began to increase when her soft hazel eyes caught mine. The urge to kiss her was getting harder to fight off the more we stared at each other.

"You really shouldn’t have done that," I repeated, slowly shaking my head.

"You know…my flight leaves in ten hours," Scarlett says.

Knowing exactly what she was hinting at, I couldn’t help but grin. When she pressed her lips to mine, I swear, she ignited a fire within me. That was when I realized the desire to be closer to her right now was greater than it had ever been in previous times.  I knew there was a reason why things with Scarlett are so different.  

Before I was too stubborn to admit it, and now I’m too afraid to say it.