"Mom, why are you here?" I spit.

The fact that she even showed up makes me feel sick to my stomach. She's going to try and make everyone here think that she's genuinely concerned and that she's going to be there for me. They definitely don't know who she really is.

"I wanted to see if you were okay. Can't I do that for my daughter?" Mom asks, putting a smile on her face.

To everybody else, that smile would seem sincere. But in my eyes, that was the most fake smile I've ever seen. That's the smile before she completely snaps and goes absolutely ballistic. It's the smile that I briefly saw at my father's funeral, just before his casket was lowered into the ground.

"No, you can't do that for me! I don't need you to, I can support myself and plus I have Xiu and Savannah. They've been there for me more times than I can count, and you haven't!" I shout.

"I—, I'll be outside." Dr. Rian Peterson says awkwardly and speed walks out of the room.

I'm all alone with the demon that is my mother, and I look away from her devilish eyes. Behind that fake smile is still the same person, and I'm not going to let my guards down because she's supposedly worried about my condition.

I'm smarter than that.

"I've been thinking about it lately, and I can't stand myself because of how I treated you. You're my child, and I love you. I miss you." She admits, and I roll my eyes.

"You miss me? What do you mean, you stupid bitch?" I vociferate.

I'm tired of being weak and not defending myself, and after all of these years, I deserve to go off on her.

"Alexandrianna! Quit it! And when I say that I miss you, I say I miss how you and I were before your father passed."

If you're going to lie to me, at least sound believable.

"You know what you can miss me with? Miss me with that bullshit! Don't say that you miss the way that we were, you deliberately destroyed our bond! Don't put this shit on me. Don't." I yell, and a slight growl leaves my mouth towards the end of my statement.

She cannot say that she misses the bond we used to have when she's the one who voluntarily obliterated our relationship. She was the one who completely ruined whatever love that I had left for her.

"Alex, no matter what, I'm your mother. I love you, you love me." She says calmly, and I taste bile.

Love? Hitting your own daughter in the face is considered love?

"No the fuck you don't. I'm not stupid, mom. You don't love me, and I don't love you. If you did, you wouldn't have been abusing me for all of these years. Don't ever speak to me again. I hate you!" I yell.

"Alex, please." She comes over, and wraps her arms around me.

"Get off me!" I scream, and I start crying again.

The way her arms feel around me is foreign, if it were my father, it'd feel like the best thing in the world. Every time she places her hands on me, it always escalates into more, and then I end up shaking on the ground, already feeling the bruises forming. That's why I cannot help but start screaming when she touches me.

"Alex, listen to me!" She shouts.

"No, leave me alone!" I scream, and my throat is sore.

I start coughing, and my crying is loud. I'm thrashing around, and I feel something press against my bad knee, and I cry out in pain. I'm still defenseless no matter how hard I try to escape from her grasp, because I cannot get up to run away and get help. I'm stuck in my bed, just desperately trying to get her away with just my hands.

Dr. Rian Peterson rushes in, and he looks panicked. Relief suddenly washes over me, because I know that he won't allow this to continue happening. His eyes widen as soon as he looks at the current situation. I stop trying to defend myself from my mother because I know Dr. Rian Peterson will end this in a matter of seconds.

Thank God.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" He shouts.

He walks over, and he pulls my mom away from me. I place my hand over my heart, taking deep breaths in and out to calm myself down. My body relaxes almost instantly once she's not near the bed anymore.

"If she doesn't want to see you, you should leave. Or I'll have to call security, ma'am." He says, with a slight edge in his voice.

Ooh, he's hot when he's mad.

"Go away, now." I choke out, trying to swallow the large lump in my throat.

"Alex, please, just listen to me." Mom desperately pleads.

"Stay away from me." I weakly reply, and my voice cracks, and I cover my face with my hands while sobbing.

I hear footsteps getting farther away, and I peak through my fingers. I see Dr. Rian Peterson running a hand through his hair, leaving it unkempt. He looks stressed out and irritated because I just made a huge scene and he had to swoop in here and get her to leave.

I look off to my right, and there's an uneasy silence. I can tell that his eyes are on me because that warmth comes back to my body, making my heart accelerate in a good way.

"I'm sorry about my mom." I mutter.

"Why are you apologizing?" He asks, and he sounds extremely puzzled.

"Because," I say through a sob. "My mom is just a mess, and I didn't even expect her to show up because she never shows up for me for anything! I'm pretty sure I caused a scene too, because I don't like her touching me."

I can't believe I'm spilling this all out to him.

Sometimes it's best to confide in a complete stranger.

"It's fine, it's fine. Is that what you seemed upset about?" He asks, and I furrow my eyebrows.

"What?"

"Well, before she showed up, I asked if everything was okay. I think I know you're not. Xiu, Savannah, must be your closest friends. You don't need your mother because you have them, and that's all that really matters, huh? Am I correct on this assumption?" He asks, quirking his eyebrow at me.

The fact that he's managed to remember all of this in the period of about an hour surprises me. He really retains a lot of trivial information quickly, which I guess, is part of being in the medical field. Information is extremely important, even the seemingly trivial stuff.

"You're pretty perceptive." I say and let out a light laugh.

He laughs too, and the heaviness in my body is gone. It's replaced with jitters. We make eye contact again, and my hands begin to shake. I put my hands underneath the blanket to hide them.

"I guess you could say that about me." He says and runs his fingers along his stubble covered jawline.

How are his fingers not bleeding?

"Well, your assumption is correct. That's actually exactly how I feel. Are you like, telepathic?" I ask, and he smirks.

That smirk makes him look mischievous, like he's that typical sexy bad boy that you read about in books. But he doesn't seem like a bad boy who wreaks havoc and other things like that. He seems gentle and quiet, like a guy who doesn't want to hurt anything.

We laugh simultaneously, and he shakes his head. There's no real trace of him being nervous during this conversation, in fact, he seems so cool, calm, and collected that nothing could shake his confidence.

"I'm no psychic, I just heard most of the argument from outside of the room." He says, and the light atmosphere is gone.

"I just met you, and I'm telling you all of this crazy shit. A.k.a, my life." I say, and I let out a fake laugh.

"I'm glad you chose me to confide in, Alex." He smirks.

Dr. Rian Peterson seems like the type of man who you can talk to about your problems, and he won't judge you no matter what those issues may be. He seems like the type to just stop all the craziness in your life just by his presence.

I like that.

He quirks his eyebrow again, and heat spreads throughout my whole face. There's a certain depth behind his gorgeous blue eyes, and I begin to get lost in them. The color and the shape, just everything about his eyes screams beauty. Those are the type of eyes that you cannot help but fall into. These are the eyes that you cannot help but see in your mind when you close your eyes.

The curtain is drawn, and I see Xiu and Savannah standing there. I begin to cuss them out in my head because they interrupted us.

Damn it, they had to come in right now?

"Alex!" They simultaneously say.

"Hey." I say, and they both walk towards the bed.

"How's your knee?" Xiu asks worriedly.

"Not good, don't touch it. It'll hurt worse than it already does." I chuckle.

"What happened?" Savannah asks.

"Cheer practice, mid air flip, fell directly onto my knee on the hard gym floor. My whole leg is numb, except for when I try to move it, then it's really painful." I explain.

"Damn." Savannah says.

"You guys must be her friends, I'm her doctor." Dr. Rian Peterson kindly says, smiling at the both of them.

Savannah's eyes flash, and she smiles at him. I try to hide my smirk because that look only appears on her face when she sees someone attractive. All teenagers, regardless of their gender, all have that same expression that they share with their friends when someone attractive passes by.

"I'm Savannah, nice to meet you." She says flirtatiously, and I roll my eyes.

"Dr. Rian Peterson."

"And I'm Xiu." Xiu says and waves at him.

"I'll let you all talk, I need to go pick up your medication that you'll use after the reduction." He says, and I nod.

"What medicine?" I ask.

"Basically pain killers if your knee is sore, which it will be. Be right back, you stay put."

Savannah watches him leave, and then turns her head at me. She gapes at me, and her eyes look greener and brighter than usual. Let the gossiping commence.

"He's your doctor?!" She asks in disbelief.

I just smirk and nod my head because I can't believe it either. There's certain people that you cannot believe have crossed your path, and he is one of those people.

"He's hot! If I'm in the hospital, I always get stuck with the old fart fucker who smells like pee and hotdog water."

I laugh so much that my stomach hurts, and so does Xiu. I'm glad that they're here to make me smile and forget all about my mother coming in and trying to apologize. I'm definitely glad that they're my best friends, and I wouldn't have anyone else to be by my side throughout the craziness that my life has.

"What's gonna happen at the game since you won't be there?" Xiu asks.

"Probably just going to be the team, minus me, obviously." I shrug.

Dr. Rian Peterson walks in again, and Savannah automatically turns around. He looks directly at me, flashing that smile, and I feel my stomach become fluttery again. There's no real reason for this feeling to occur, but I can't shake the feeling away.

"Well, we're going to perform the reduction pretty soon, and before we do, we have to take some blood and run tests." He informs me.

"What type of tests?" I ask.

"Pregnancy tests, and to see if you're sick with anything else." He says.

"Why the pregnancy test? You haven't been banged since that Austin motherfucker who I hated." Savannah says, and I give her a cold glare.

I hate when people bring it up.

Austin was a senior, and I was a sophomore when I met him. Things were going pretty good between us, and we had been dating for that whole school year. He asked me to prom, and I couldn't turn that offer down. I mean, I was in love with the guy. There was a party bus with all of his friends, and I just felt out of place. After prom, I didn't know that he had booked a hotel for us to stay in.

We had sex that night, and I only fell in love with him even more. I went to the graduation, and the after party. Things seemed fine, and then one day he just told me that he didn't want to be with me anymore. It felt like he took my heart and ripped it in half right in front of me. He had a scholarship, and went off to University of New Mexico that summer. I had called him a copious amount of times, and sent him a cluster of text messages.

Once I had realized that he'd just used me for a good time, I became extremely depressed. He was my first love, and he just dumped me. Just like that. Like I was an old toy that he didn't want.

How can someone spend a certain amount of time with somebody, and then just leave them?

Leave them wondering what they did wrong, and crying themselves to sleep every night. It was heartless and cruel, something that I couldn't even imagine doing to someone that I love.

You can't fake those type of emotions. The feeling you get is indescribable when you've finally met someone who might be the one. Your whole heart is rushing each time you see the, your entire world begins to revolve around them. Everything seems to fall in place when you're with them, and nothing else seems to matter when you're with them.

I haven't dated anyone ever since then, and I don't know if I'm ready to trust anyone like that again. I'm too afraid to have my heart broken again, and I'm definitely wary of relationships because you're never entirely sure of their true intentions.

Savannah doesn't say anything, but the look on her face is apologetic. Xiu comes over and hugs me, and I hug her back. Savannah just stands awkwardly in the corner, looking at her shoes. Dr. Rian Peterson just nods, like he understands.

How?

We just met, it's not like he knows me or my life story. I'm just another one of his patients that he'll take care of and then never see again once I've fully recovered.

I wonder what he's been through.

You never know how much a person can hide behind a smile.