A literary academic can no more pass a bookstore than an alcoholic can pass a bar.
-Amanda Cross 

Deciding to go book shopping with the fifty bucks Link gave me, along with the credit card Dad gave me was a great idea.

My mom is a lawyer so we're well off, not to mention my dad is her assistant so that's even better. 

I don't feel guilty about using the card for things like this, maybe if it was make-up or heels or buying things I shouldn't. 

But Mom tells me to treat myself, since I don't do it often and usually only buy books, clothes I need or occasionally McDonalds or Victoria's Secret. 

Well it was a good idea, until the two friends let me venture off on my own and I splurged a good amount on fiction books alone, not to mention the thrillers or romance.

"You told me not to let you out of my sight in the book store!" Asher exclaims, giving me a sharp look -which doesn't work well because with his wide mint green arms he looks more cute than threatening. "Then you left." 

"You're the one who was supposed to control me," I grumble, nearly falling over due to the large stack of 17 books in my arms. "Lots of good, you are." 

"Oh my god..." Link says slowly, finally having caught up to us. "I think she's weakening." 

"I am not Weasley...just help me." Of course, it's the nice guy who fluently picks up over half the stack, and carries them in one arm like it's nothing. I huff at this but decide not to tease them in case he feels like giving them back. 

"Your crazy is showing again Eliza, might want to put it back, or yourself, where it came from." Link teases me, making me glare. 

"I will..." I huff. "Stab you."

God why do I feel so weak?

"Hey," Asher puts a hand on my shoulder, making me tip in his direction from the six heavy books I still have in my grip. "No hitting."

"I never said I was going to hit him...I said I was going to stab him."

Link snorts at this, "Much better."

"Isn't it?" I reply sarcastically, not understanding why I suddenly feel light headed. "Please tell me the room's spinning for everyone else too."

I'm surprised when, instead of cold hands or the floor, Link's arms wrap around me so I don't hit the floor.

I'm not surprised that I just clutched onto my books instead of trying to catch myself, even my body has priorities that are a bit twisted.

"You have horrible self preservation instincts." Lincoln mutters, slowly lowering me to the ground.

"I know that," I snap. "I just have no idea what happened."

Asher continues to stare at me frozen, mouth agape before he speaks. "Blue you're b-bleeding." He motions to my face.

One of my hand flies to my nose, surprised when a good amount of blood suddenly came out. I can feel the warm pressure in my sinuses and it drops down my chin and lips.

I growl loudly, internally panicking.

Fuck that, its not only internal.

"Take the rest of my books," I shove them in Gold's hands, using Link- -who doesn't seem too happy about the contact- -to help myself up. "One of you like, punch me or something."

They both stare at me like I'm crazy.

Fucking hell I need to know if what I think is happening is actually happening.

"Lincoln Loser Lewis I swear to god if you don't punch me in the next ten seconds there will be fucking hell to pay."

This gets him to shut up and actually punch me, relatively hard on the upper arm.

For once I'm actually thankful that he went easy on me as I pulled down the collar of my shirt, showing off a dark bruise already blooming on my olive skin.

"Now," I take a deep breath, the ground swaying under my feet as I look to mint green eyes. "Which one of you is driving me to the hospital?"

"The fuck you do this time?" Dr. Tate barks the second he walks in my room.

I jump, clutching my chart to me in a protective way. "Nothing you need to worry your soggy cheeks about, Anderson. I'm not done yet."

Ever since we arrived I've been avoiding eye contact with the two friends, and even gone as far as flipping Link off and growling at Asher.

It worked, and now they've resorted to sitting quietly in the corner, and though I asked neither will leave.

I told my dad where I was, but made him promise not to come home or tell Mom unless it was serious.

This could just be a weird problem my medicine caused and the doctors didn't see coming.

"Oh, well then feel free to take your time, Wolf." Dr. Tate says sardonically but leans against wall in a slightly unprofessional way that made the two males narrow their eyes at him.

"How's the kid?" I ask, looking back down to my chart. All my symptoms seem familiar, I'm just failing to remember what from.

Which means I was probably really stressed when it happened or around trauma because usually my memory is perfect.

Dr. Tate grins slightly while loosening his tie, knowing who I'm asking about. "Skylar's fine, the advice you gave him worked better than I thought. But he is scared of Henry now and takes advantage of Nancy's late night cake distributions."

I snicker into my fist, raising a eyebrow as I smirk at Dr. Tate. "He should be, creepy Henry is well, creepy. And it's Ms. Nancy's fault if she over supplies someone with cake. He's a teenage boy, he won't turn that shit down. It's like drugs."

"You would know, and are you done yet?"

"I mean..." I bite my lip. "I've read it all, twice. I just can't figure out why it's so familiar, I was thinking maybe it was something that happened before. My memory sucks ass when it comes to that time frame."

Mint green eyes sadden at this, probably guessing what I mean by that.

"Hmm, well it seems to me you're done." A growl is my only reaction as the doctor yanks my chart from me. "Who are those two, they were with you last time. I just figured they were your brothers friends he made watch you out of pity or something."

Lincoln snickers at this, but quickly covers with a cough -I ignore this.

"That blond one is my boyfriend, Asher. Which he wasn't last time I was here, just so you know. That red one is a Weasley waiting for his letter, I'll be thankful when we can finally ship him off."

"Real name?" He asks, it takes Link a second to realize Dr. Tate was talking to him before responding.

"Lincoln Lewis."

"Okay, I'm putting the boyfriend down as your fiance," Dr. Tate tells us, making Asher's cheeks turn red. "And the other down as a cousin so they can stay. How'd you like to be related to Miss Wolf here, strawberry?"

The redhead adresses us with flat glares and a blank voice. "Honestly, I'd rather die."

"Then you came to the right place." Is the resident asshole's blunt response, turning to me again. "Do you remember Travis's final court day?"

Everyone's eyes traveled to my monitor when it started beeping like crazy, picking up my own pounding heart's beats.

His name still does that to me.

And at this point there's no way Asher could have missed his name carved into me.

Dr. Tate rushes to it, turning the machine off and ripping the grippy from my finger. "Well, do you?"

"Uh...sort of?" I chuckle nervously, my eyes dancing around the room.

I really don't want them to see me like this, but admitting that would hurt my pride too.

Then again, this was never a matter of pride.

"And sort of means...? You ended up here after wards, even though it was a good result."

"Sort of means...I guess, oh um...we had to take a break when I was on the stand. Because of, um, b-because of my ribs and shit. Somehow h-his lawyers let him smoke right out side the court room. I don't um, I don't really remember what happened because um...because you know, seeing him was already hard. And um, I guess he just got too close o-or blew the smoke in my face or something. Next thing I know I'm at home with bloody hands, my nose clogged with blood, two hand shaped bruises on my waist and a killer migraine. That's all I remember, then I woke up here seeing your ugly face."

"Imagine my surprise when I walk in and have to see yours," Dr. Tate responds evenly, but a blind person could see how tense and angry what I said made him.

Asher was deadly silent, a hurt look in his eyes as he faced the floor, hands under his armpits. Link did nothing to hide the anger in his eyes, and strode past his best friend and the doctor before stopping at my bed.

I raise a eyebrow at him, confused.

"This will never, ever, happen again. Got that Elle?" Lincoln says, I barely have time to nod before I'm being hugged.

Though he's a good hugger, and I hugged him back, and we're friends, I can just tell we will never be the type that give hugs or any physical affection.

We both pull away, a blank look only disrupted by slight shock and regret on both ends.

"Mutually disgusted by one another but still friends?" I ask, holding out a hand.

He shakes it with a relieved look and tense shoulders. "Yep."

"How long has he been your doctor? And fiance. Won't anyone find that a eighteen year old being engaged weird?" Asher blurts. "Is Travis who I think he is and why does your doctor let you insult him. Why does he insult you?"

"Nobody here familiar with Wolf will question anything, trust me. I insult her because, well, she's her." I let Dr. Tate explain before I lock eyes with mint green ones.

A stoic look replaces my smirk. "And he is exactly who you think he is."

Subconsciously my thumb runs over the crook of my elbow, over his name carved in.

Travis'.

It says.

And I absolutely hate it.

He didn't even use proper grammar, must have failed english.

English.

Tsk.

"Well, that was when your heart nearly failed. So busy freaking out it bled any time something happened. Did you test yourself?"

It's then my memory came back to me, how my heart seemed to be the loudest thing in the room.

"Yeah..." I cough slightly, pulling down the long sleeve's collar to show off the bruise. "Weasely punched me."

At this point I'm not asked to wear the weird dress by Dr. Tate, I'm just asked to wear stretchy, cuttable fabrics.

Which is most of my wardrobe anyway.

"What a bad cousin." Dr. Tate mutters, which is what causes Link to make a face.

I start smirking, about to comment something shitty about how family should warn one another when my wrist is grabbed and something sharp is suddenly being shoved into the soft skin.

"Fuck!" I yelp, trying and failing at pulling my arm away from the now evil doctor. "What the hell Anderson?"

"Look at how much it's bleeding," He says, I noticed the needle syringe with my blood smeared on it. "I want to do a ultrasound of your heart, make sure all thats happening is hyperextension of the muscles. Then we'll figure out why it happened."

I hear him clearly, my brain just processes it a lot later -being too stuck on the pool of blood under my wrist on the towel he laid out.

Asshole had that planned.

The throbbing place the needle jabbed me pulses out blood rapidly, and though it's honestly not that  much compared to what I've seen it's enough to make me remember.

To trigger me, Xander would say.

At first I tense when arms slide around my hips, but when I recognize the cold I let Asher move me around until he did what he came to do.

I'm placed on his lap, my legs over his as I'm forced to lean back in his chest.

The nice guy silently takes the other towel from Dr. Tate and presses it against my wound.

When it's out of sight I'm relaxed but confused.

"Gold-"

"Munchkin please just let the doctor talk, all you've done so far is make me super anxious and I'm trying not to freak out for your sake. Please." Asher practically begs me.

"Um...okay. You heard him Anderson, get a move on."

"Well this shouldn't take long, you could be home tonight with just a couple imstructions. Anyway, here's what needs to happen..."