Roommates and Romance

(I apologize for the long delay in continuing this story. My classes and work schedule have been a bit crazy. While there is no sex in this chapter, all notions of sex are between characters of a legal age to be participating in sexual activities.

If you are unfamiliar with the story so far, I invite you to read chapters 1-3, as parts of these chapters are referenced in this one. However, it is not imperative that you read them and you will still be able to understand this chapter in its entirety.

As always, I welcome any and all feedback.)

***

As I came to my senses, I noticed a dull pain at the back of my skull. I tried to lift my head and the pain sharpened immediately and intensely, causing me to moan in pain and abandon that effort. At my moan, I heard someone stir, sounding close by. The noise of motion quickly changed location and I could tell that whoever was next to me was moving. Before I could even open my eyes, the person had left the room. The sudden burst of bright light from the room I was in aggravated the nagging pain I was feeling and I let my eyelids fall back into place, blocking out the light, but not before getting enough of a glimpse of the room I was in to know that it was not my dorm room, nor my bedroom at home. The lights were brighter than I was used to and the walls a slightly gray-white color. I also caught quick looks at some equipment made of metal, but could not discern what these instruments were.

As I lay on what I assumed was a bed, I took stock of the rest of my body. I could feel something on my left index finger. It was fairly large, and was applying just enough pressure to where I could tell it was there, but not so much to where it hurt. Also on my left side, I could feel something sticking out of my lower arm. The covers had been pulled over my lower body and I felt almost naked, realizing that the familiar feel of my boxers was non-existent. In addition, my upper body was elevated slightly and at an angle to my lower body. Putting the pieces together, I realized I was in a hospital, but I knew not how I got there.

Just as I figured this out, I heard movement again, then someone speaking. "Wade, are you awake?" said a kind, female voice that I assumed was of my nurse.

I raised my right hand, giving a thumb-up as a muttered a weak "Yes."

The person who the voice belonged to began to move about the room and I assumed she was checking the various monitors, IV drips and anything else that I may have been attached to. "Can you open your eyes, hun?" the voice asked, this time closer to me. "No" I replied "it hurts my head too much." This caused some more movement around the room, including a change in the lighting that I could sense even with my eyes closed. "I'll be back in a bit to check on you and bring you some water. There's a remote next to your right hand that has a big button in the center of it. Just press that if you need me sooner." She left the room and I was again all alone.

I started thinking about Matt. I could not remember how I ended up hurt enough to be in a hospital with my head throbbing as hard as it was. However, I did remember the sexual escapades I had had with my hunk of a roommate, including him being dumped by his girlfriend and asking me out. I began to wonder how much of this, if any, had actually happened and how much of these "memories" were just elaborate dreams that I had constructed while unconscious. I resigned that all of what I thought has happened was merely wishful thinking that had played out in my dreams while in an unconscious state and that Matt and I were only friends and roommates. This made me depressed and started to think about other thoughts as my mind dimmed.

*****

I must have drifted back to sleep because I was woken by someone touching my arm. I moaned in protest and raised my arm to try to shoo the hand away. The voice from before spoke up, "I brought you some water" and I soon felt a straw touching my lips, which I wrapped around the straw and sucked in a little of the water that I was offered. The cool liquid felt good to my dry mouth and I realized just how thirsty I was. After a couple more sips, I released the straw and the cup was pulled away. The faint sound of it being set down was barely audible and had the room not been so quiet, I may not have heard it. "Can you try opening your eyes again for me, hun? I've turned off the lights, so they won't aggravate your head as much." To this, I opened my eyes again, much slower this time than the last. When I realized that the lights were really low enough and my head wasn't brought into instant pain, I opened my eyes to full, before my lids fell back to about half. "There you go" came the reassurance from my nurse. She was dressed in the typical nursing garb, which for this hospital was a set of green scrubs. I could also tell that she had on a pair of glasses and had her blonde hair tied up into a pony-tail, but wasn't able to determine much else. "Head doing better I see" she said, almost as a question, so I uttered a quick and soft yes. She seemed pleased by this as she pulled the tray beside my bed so it was over my body. Resting on that tray was the cup of water with a straw leaning against the inside of the cup. She then asked if I was in a state to allow visitors, to which I also replied yes.

A couple minutes later, I could hear footsteps coming down the hall to my room. I expected it to be my parents and was happy, but not surprised, when they walked in. However, they were not the only figures that entered my room. A third followed them right in and I recognized him right away, my roommate, Matt. This shocked me and brought my feelings for him to the front of my mind. I quickly sequestered these feelings back into some of the deeper recesses as my parents began to talk.

"How you feelin'?" my dad asked. I saw my mom hit his arm, slightly aggravated by him asking a question to which he very well knew the answer to. I pretended not to notice.

"About as good as someone with a throbbing headache and no idea how he got it or ended up in the hospital could."

This time, my mom spoke "You really have no idea how you ended up here?"

"No, I really don't. I don't even remember doing anything that I could have possibly gotten so hurt from." At this, I saw Matt smile, that gorgeous smile he liked to give that always made me knees weak. I could tell that he knew more about how I ended up here than I did.

"Well" my mom began "Matt was the one that found you and called the ambulance for you to make sure you were ok. He was even as worried for you as we were." At this statement, I started thinking that maybe my supposed dreams weren't entirely of my own creation, that maybe something had happened between us, whether it was one of the things I vividly "remember" or something much more subtle that I exaggerated on in my dreams.

The room was silent for a moment, as I think we were all waiting for Matt to tell me how I ended up in my current situation, but he didn't seem to want to say anything. He just kept smiling at me. "Matt..." I said, trying to get his attention and imply for him to inform me of what I had done.

"What?" came his response, all while keeping that killer smile and eyes trained right to mine. I could tell that he wanted me to specifically ask for the information and that he was not going to give it as easily as I had hoped.

"Would you please tell me why it is that I am currently lying in a hospital bed, attached to an IV and with a dull, throbbing pain at the back of my skull?"

"Well, the day it happened, I was coming back from lunch with Zane. As we reached our room, Zane pushed me into the door, playfully, but still with some force. I hit the door pretty hard and heard a thump from inside. When I had left to go to lunch, you were still asleep, so I figured I had just woken you up and you hit the wall or your desk. But, when I got into the room, you were face down on the floor with a poster on top of you. You were, I'm assuming, on your desk putting up the poster you had bought earlier in the week when I hit the door. That made you jump and you fell backwards of your desk, hitting your head on the bed post on the way down, which caused your body to turn around. There was blood on the back of your head, so I knew it was a hard it. I immediately called Zane into the room to help out and called 911."The entire time he gave his explanation, his smile never left his face. This, to me, meant that this was not the entire story and that there was either more to it or it was a flat out lie that he constructed as a plausible story that my parents would believe.

The four of us continued to talk and I learned more about my situation. I had initially been taken to one of the local hospitals and they were able to get everything stabilized enough to transfer me to one of the bigger, better hospitals in the nearest city, Rochester, where I currently was. As for my school work, I had been excused from all finals and any work that was due within the last couple weeks and because I had worked so hard during the semester, all of my professors were confident that I would have done well on my finals and I received an A in every one of my classes. On a more interesting note, I learned that my parents, while they had come up to the hospital daily for the first week after my injury, they had lessened the frequency of this two hour trip, as Matt had offered to keep an eye on me for them and alert them to any major changes in my status. Matt lived only fifteen minutes from the city and it took only twenty minutes in total to get to the hospital from his house. Also, as his family was pretty well off, he did not have to work over breaks and had plenty of free time. My parents really appreciated this kind gesture from my roommate and it saved them quite a bit of time and gas money from not having to make the trip every single day. Matt was actually the one that was sitting in the chair by my bed when I first awoke earlier that afternoon and had rushed out of the room to contact my parents to let them know that I was conscious again. He was then not allowed back in by the nurse who wanted to make sure I would be able to withstand interactions without too much pain or discomfort.

My parents and Matt stayed for quite a while and we all chatted about anything we could think of. The nurse, who I found out was named Dolores, often came in to check up on me and make sure I was doing well. I was brought food around 5:00, while I still had visitors. The food, of course, was not that good, but I was really hungry so I ate it with little complaint. At about 6:00, my head began to hurt more and I asked that they leave so I could try to get some rest. We said our goodbyes and Matt told me that he would be in to check on me the next day. My parents also would be in at some point, as they had planned on doing some shopping in the city. They left my room and could have sworn I saw Matt wink at me on the way out. I struggled to get back to sleep due to the pain from my head. I hit the button to get Dolores' attention and had her bring me some medicine to dull the pain. She came back with a couple of pills, which I took. Once they kicked in, I was able to drift off into a deep sleep.

*****

I awoke the next morning to the sound of the nurse bringing in my breakfast. I opened my eyes and saw that this nurse was different from the one the evening before. Most notably, he was a young male, and quite handsome at that. He had dull orange hair that he kept just long enough so he could spike his bangs up in the front. His eyes were a deep green, almost emerald in color and he had a perfect smile, although it wasn't as cute as Matt's. Big broad shoulders, a slim body and a frame that looked to me to be about 6'6" made him look strikingly similar to some of the professional volleyball players I loved to watch. His voice was deep when he spoke. "Good morning. Feeling any better today?"

"Right now, quite a bit better. The throbbing from the back of my head is barely there right now, but I just woke up and haven't tried moving my head at all." I replied as he set my breakfast tray on my table and began to check all of the equipment. I lifted my head up and leaned a little closer to my food. Surprisingly, the pain did increase a little, but was still at a very manageable level and I didn't have to recoil to what had become my normal position. Before I touched my food, I took a quick look at the clock and saw that it was just shy of 8:30. I also saw a white board with the names of the staff that would be taking care of me and took note that my current nurse was Derryl.

I continued to look around the room until my eyes met Derryl's, causing him to smile at me again. "Don't overdo it, man. You had a pretty bad concussion. You don't want to push yourself too much too quick, or you will just be staying here longer." I blushed and turned back to my food, head and back still off the bed. "You know you can tilt the bed up more, right?" With that, he came back around to my right side, grabbed the remote that was there, and pushed a button, causing the top half of the bed to tilt up more. When it was up against my back, he released the button and turned the remote to me to show me where the buttons were. He also explained that this remote not only worked the bed, but called the nursing staff if needed and even controlled the television mounted on the far wall. I proceeded to turn on the television and go back to eating my food as Derryl went to continue his rounds.

*****

At about 10:00, Derryl came back to my room. "Someone is here to see you. Is it ok if I let them come in?" I replied in the affirmative and he went back out into the hall. A few minutes later, Matt came walking in, carrying a bag in his right hand.

"How ya doin' today?" he asked, quite loudly, as he made his way to the chair on the right side of my bed.

"A lot better than yesterday, but your volume may have brought back a little extra pain." I replied, mostly joking, but there was some truth to my statement; with how loud he asked, my head did throb a little extra for a moment.

"Good to hear" he said, in a much more appropriate tone. "I brought you some gifts: things to pass the time for however long you still have to be in here. I know that you aren't a huge TV watcher, so I figured I would bring you some puzzle books." With that, he handed me the bag, which I took and placed on my lap and started pulling out the contents. There were several books with different kinds of puzzles, some a random mix of various puzzles and others of one puzzle time, such as Su-do-ku. Also in the bag was a set of mechanical pencils. If there were two things Matt had learned from living with me for a semester, they were that I hated sharpening pencils and that I absolutely loved number puzzles. Once I had finished emptying the contents of the bag and had done a quick flip through of all the books, I thanked my roommate and set everything off to the side and out of the way for right now while someone was in my room to talk with.

"Matt," I started, "How long was I out for and what day is it now?"

Matt had to think a moment about the first part of my question. I could see him doing some quick math before responding. "You were out for just under two weeks. We knew you had a pretty bad concussion and the doctors said that it may have even taken longer for you to come back to. We were all very happy when you woke up yesterday. As for the date, it is December 17."

"So I wasn't comatose for Christmas. I'm sure that was a huge relief to my family."

"Me too."

We continued with some more general conversation, covering how the end of the semester went for Matt, thanking him for being in constant contact with all of my professors through this and also for being willing to be at the hospital to look after me, which made life much easier for my parents. After we covered all of the basics, there was a slight awkward pause, as I tried to formulate the question that I wanted to ask him. "Matt, about how I ended up here, the story you gave yesterday wasn't the truth was it?"

This caused Matt to grin slightly, as well as turn a little red. He got up quick and checked down the hallway to make sure no one was headed for my room before he was willing to say anything about it. "No" he finally said. What is the last thing you remember?"

"Matt, to be honest, I'm not sure if some of the things I think I remember actually happened or if they were just vivid dreams while I was out cold."

Matt's face grew to a darker shade of red as he began to ask me a few questions. "Do you remember having been tied up on your bed?" I thought for a moment, then nodded, with the realization that at least part of what I remembered had actually happened. "How about when I fucked you with your dildo then with my hard cock?" Again, I nodded. I could also feel my own cock starting to stir and become aroused by Matt's words and my memories of that morning. "When you and I showered together and you fucked me in return? When Zane caught us as we were coming out of the shower?" To each question, I again nodded. By this time I was fully had and was doing all I was very thankful for the metal table/tray thing that was currently above my waist.

"As we were leaving the bathroom, Zane made another smart ass comment to us while I opened the door. You turned around and went to walk back towards him, but slipped on a puddle that was on the floor and you feet flew out from underneath you. Before I could react, your head flew back in hit the door that I was holding open for us. When your body hit the ground, you weren't moving and blood started trickling from the back of your head. Zane rushed over to keep an eye on you while I ran back to our room to grab my phone and call 911."

"So, you and I really did have sex." I said, more as a statement than a question, but Matt still responded with "We didn't just have sex; it was some of the best sex I've ever had." This really made me blush. Matt saw this and got up to leave. Before he left, he reached into his pocket and produced my cell phone. "The docs are letting you have this back, so long as you promise to not be on it all the time. It won't be good for your head. However, if you need me to come back, just text me. I won't be too far away." With that, he ruffled my hair and left my room.

*****

I spent the next several hours engrossed in the puzzles Matt brought for me. I did my best to not think about what Matt had confirmed for me, as I did not want to be getting hard again while still in the hospital. It worked, for the most part, but a couple times my thoughts drifted back to that Saturday and the fun that we had together. That lead me to think about how we stood right now. From what Matt said about when I hit my head, the memory I had about his girlfriend breaking up with him was only a dream, but he was being very friendly to me, so I knew not what to make of the situation and also didn't want to assume anything. I made up my mind, I would ask him the next time we were alone.

My parents came into my room slightly after 3:00. They were up in the city today to do some shopping for Christmas and stopped in to see me before actually going to any of the stores. Knowing my parents, my mom especially, once they went into the stores, it wouldn't be until much later in the evening, 8:00 at the very earliest, that they would get out. As such, they wanted to make sure they stopped in at a decent hour so as not to potentially disturb me when I was trying to sleep. My mom saw all the books that I had and asked who brought them. When I told them that Matt had brought them to me, she gave me a quizzical look, but said that it was nice of him to do that, and then changed topic. We did manage to discuss when I would be getting out of the hospital. My dad said that the doctors wanted to keep me there for a couple more nights, just to make sure everything is doing fine. Tomorrow, I would be getting another MRI, just to see if there was any permanent brain damage that resulted from the concussion. If everything went smoothly, I would be out and back home on Sunday the 19th, just in time for the first Christmas gathering that my family has. After about another half hour of talking, they headed out to make sure they could get all of their shopping done.