Chapter 2
2
‘You’re awake!’
A familiar face looms into view as I peel my eyes open. I smile and try to focus on the details of Kirstie’s face as fragments of my dream evaporate into the stuffy air of the room.
‘Hey,’ I say, but my voice is scratchy and sore.
‘Don’t try and talk,’ she says, and I watch her arm disappear out of sight then return clutching a plastic cup of water with a straw. It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever seen.
‘Let me help you sit up,’ she says, wiggling her hands behind my shoulders and slowly pushing me up to sitting. My head is pounding and my mouth feels like it’s full of cotton wool, but when she places the straw between my lips, the cool liquid feels like nectar on my poor, parched tongue.
Kirstie puts the cup back wherever it came from, then plumps up the pillows behind my head so I can sit more comfortably. Finally, she perches on the bed beside me.
‘You had me worried,’ she says. ‘I shit myself when the hospital rang to tell me you’d been brought in.’
‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t be silly. I’m flattered you thought to ask for me. And relieved you’re okay of course.’ She reaches over and tucks a stray hair behind my ear. It’s so uncharacteristically gentle for Kirstie, it makes me want to cry. ‘So can you remember what happened?’
I nod, but I’m not fully concentrating on what she’s saying. Instead, I’m wondering who the man I was just kissing was, and where on earth he’s gone. I glance over Kirstie’s shoulder.
‘Don’t worry, Soph’s on her way,’ she says, and I don’t have the heart to tell her it wasn’t our other best friend I was looking for. ‘The nurse says you came off your bike and hit your head.’
‘Right,’ I say, nodding.
‘You were wearing your helmet so it’s just a bit of mild concussion, but the doctor – who by the way is hot – wants to keep you in overnight for observation.’ She grins. ‘I might ask for his number.’
‘Kirstie!’
She shrugs. ‘You know me, never one to pass up an opportunity,’ she says, and I can’t help laughing.
‘Was there…’ I stop, unsure how to ask. ‘Was there anyone else here?’
Her forehead creases. ‘When?’
‘Before.’
‘Before?’ She shakes her head. ‘I’ve only seen the doctor and a couple of nurses, and you’ve been asleep the whole time I’ve been here. I guess there might have been someone here before I arrived, but I don’t think you’ve been here very long.’
That’s weird. It had felt so real, and as the details come back to me I feel my face grow hot. God .
Kirstie’s giving me a strange look and I try to look casual, not wanting the third degree. Too late. ‘Who exactly did you think was here, Miranda?’
‘No one,’ I stammer. ‘Honestly, it was nothing.’
I hope she’ll drop it, but I should have known better.
‘Come on, Kennedy. Out with it. You’ve gone bright red; there’s definitely something you’re not telling me.’
I look down at the rumpled bedsheet. I want to make something up, move on from this conversation. But she’s known me so long she always knows when I’m lying so there’s no point.
‘The reason I skidded was because a man stepped out in front of me,’ I start.
‘Riiiiight?’ Kirstie watches me expectantly. I take a deep breath and carry on.
‘The man I almost hit was… well.’ I swallow and meet Kirstie’s eye. ‘I thought he was here. With me.’
‘In the hospital?’
My face burns more. ‘In my bed. Kissing me.’
Kirstie stares at me for a few seconds. Then she roars with laughter and bangs her hand on the bed. ‘You had a saucy dream!’ she says, delighted.
‘Ssshhh,’ I hiss, glancing round to see if anyone has heard us. The man in the bed opposite looks away quickly when I catch his eye.
‘Sorry,’ she says, not sounding sorry at all. ‘But this is brilliant!’
‘I don’t know about that…’ I rub my head and wince. ‘I mean, it really felt like it was more than just a dream. I… I really thought he was here.’
Kirstie looks round and grins. ‘Afraid not, it’s just me.’ She leans in closer. ‘But come on, tell me what he looked like, this man you nearly ran over. Was he handsome?’
‘I’m not sure. I didn’t really see his face.’
She stares at me as if I’ve gone mad. ‘So if you didn’t actually see his face, what makes you so sure it’s him you’re dreaming about?’
‘I—’ I stop, unsure how to explain it, even to myself. ‘Well, they both had Geordie accents.’
‘Right. And?’
‘And dark hair.’
‘And?’
‘Well, and nothing else.’
‘That’s it?’
‘Yeah.’
She frowns. ‘I still don’t understand what makes you so certain you were dreaming about this bloke who stepped out in front of you then?’
I shrug. ‘I just… know.’
‘Okaaaay.’ She grins. ‘But it was hot, right?’
I nod, but say nothing. How can I convey the sheer intensity of the dream? How can I explain how every sense had been on fire, how his voice had given me shivers, how his touch made me burn. It all sounds so clichéd and ridiculous, there’s no way I can say it out loud. Especially not to Kirstie.
Kirstie laughs. ‘Well, I guess a random sexy dream is a pretty positive side effect of a concussion, eh?’
‘Who’s having sexy dreams?’ says a voice, and we both look round to see Sophie drawing the curtain closed behind her. She’s a vision in a bright purple kaftan, her auburn curls piled on top of her head.
‘Bloody hell, you look like a wizard,’ Kirstie says, standing up to give her a hug.
‘Love you too,’ she says, before turning to me and gently encircling me in a waft of flowery perfume. When she pulls away there are tears shining in her eyes. She drags a chair up to the bed and sits.
‘I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get here,’ she says. ‘The traffic was horrendous, some accident on the North Circular and… oh God, never mind. What on earth have you been up to? And what’s all this about a sexy dream?’
‘She dreamed she was snogging the bloke she nearly ran over,’ Kirstie says loudly, and we both shush her.
‘It’s true,’ I say, burying my face in my hands. ‘I did dream that, and I really thought he was here, with me. God, how embarrassing.’
‘Sounds pretty hot to me,’ Kirstie says.
Sophie reaches out to stroke my cheek. ‘Maybe it’s the universe trying to tell you something.’
‘Oh here we go,’ Kirstie says, rolling her eyes. ‘I was waiting for this.’
Sophie gives her a sharp look. ‘I know you think everything I say is complete bollocks?—’
‘Not everything . Just…’ she waves her hand in the air, ‘this.’
Sophie ignores her and takes my hand. My skin is sore and my wrist hurts. ‘It’s true though, M, dreams can be significant, and after a head injury sometimes those dreams are more intense than usual.’
‘But they don’t actually mean anything though, do they? Apart from the fact that Miranda needs a shag so she dreamed about the first sexy man that popped into her head.’
‘Ooh, was he sexy, this guy?’ Sophie says, her eyes wide. ‘In real life, I mean.’
‘Not you too. I mean, I don’t know, I only really saw him for a few seconds, and then I swerved and then… well, then I was on the ground.’
‘And he just buggered off and left you there?’ Kirstie sounds indignant.
‘Actually he didn’t. He stayed to make sure I was all right, and he spoke to the police and that’s when I heard his voice.’ I shiver as I think about the sexy voice with a Geordie twang from my dream. ‘Oh, and that’s the other thing,’ I say, something else coming back to me suddenly.
‘Ooh, what?’ Sophie leans closer, eyes wide.
‘I heard him telling the police his name, and it began with J. Well, J. A. something.’
‘And that’s all you heard?’
‘Yeah.’
‘So James? Jason?’
I shrug. ‘Who knows?’ I sigh. ‘Anyway, after that someone told him he could go and I didn’t see him again.’
‘And then you dreamed about him?’ Sophie says.
‘Yes, just now.’ I rub my head. ‘It was definitely more than a dream though. It felt like… I don’t know. It felt real. Properly intense, like we were the only two people in the whole world.’ I stop and shrug. ‘Except he wasn’t really here, was he, so I don’t suppose it means anything at all.’
We sit in silence for a moment, before Sophie reaches into her bag. ‘I almost forgot, I brought you these,’ she says, pulling out a brown paper bag. I peer inside.
‘Grapes!’ Kirstie says, plucking one from the top of the bunch and popping it in her mouth.
‘You’ve got to bring grapes to hospital, it’s the law,’ Sophie says.
‘Thanks, Soph.’ I shove one in my mouth and chew slowly.
‘Does anything else hurt?’
I take a mental scan of my body. Apart from a dull ache in my head, a dry throat and my sore right wrist, the only other thing I can feel is a bruise on my right knee. I shake my head.
‘I think I might have got off lightly,’ I say.
‘Thank God you were wearing your helmet.’ Kirstie rubs my arm. ‘It could have been a lot worse.’
We’re all distracted by the sound of the curtain being drawn back and a nurse appearing.
‘Afternoon, ladies, do you mind if I just check my patient?’ he says. The look on his face doesn’t invite discussion and Sophie and Kirstie stand abruptly.
‘We’ll be back later,’ Sophie whispers, and they both disappear.
And as the nurse fits a blood pressure cuff round my arm and begins to inflate it, I let my mind drift off, back to the dream world where everything had felt otherworldly and amazing and a handsome man wanted to kiss me…