The hospital lobby was too white, too clean, too quiet. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, a hum that reminded me how real everything was now. Not a nightmare. Not a dream. Just… life, in its rawest, most chaotic form.
Carl and I sat side by side in stiff chairs, waiting. I had barely said a word since we arrived. My hands stayed in my lap, fingers knotted together like I could wring the guilt out of my bones. But beside me, Carl was different.
He was smiling.
And not the "comforting, everything's going to be okay" kind of smile. No, he was smiling like someone caught in a romantic daydream, like I was the most entertaining thing in the entire hospital.
It was unsettling.
He kept stealing glances at me, the corners of his lips tugging up each time I caught him.
I finally turned to him. "Why are you doing this?"
He blinked, trying and failing to wipe the grin off his face. "Doing what?"
"Looking at me and smiling like a schoolboy with a crush. We're in a hospital, Carl."
