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It didn’t quite hurt at first if Diego was being honest. It was kinda daunting as he felt something slam into the back of his head and shatter. It took a couple moments for his body to catch up where his knees buckled and he stumbled sideways, unable to keep himself upright another moment longer. Pieces of glass crunched under his knees, and he felt them beginning to prick against his skin. The countertop in front of him sloped in his line of vision and he staggered sideways until his shoulder collided with the nearest cabinet.
“Oh my gosh, Diego?”
Diego partially turned his head and squinted at the three women he saw in front of his head. Scratch that....four women that were spinning in front of him. Why couldn’t they all just stand still?
“Shit! I thought that you were robbing me. Why didn’t you just use the key instead of picking the lock,” the voice questioned as someone dropped beside him, brushing his short hair back to reveal a lump that was already bleeding impressively. Pieces of glass were caught in his flesh, going so deep that the effort of pulling them out may make things worse before they got better.
Diego blinked his eyes slowly, still unable to focus on the voice that spoke. “Would’ve took too long,” Diego choked out, words feeling obstructed as if cotton balls had been shoved into his mouth.
“Too long? Oh Diego, what am I going to do with you?” Softness edged the voice above him to make the deliberate touches against his head that brushed his hair back, sticking up at award angles.
Even the light pressure proved to be too much. “E-Eudora,” Diego stammered before turning sideways and vomiting harshly, entire body jarred by the force of it. His stomach forcefully clenched with each heave, rattling his intensities and leaving them flattened like roadkill on a busy freeway.
Eudora didn’t react to Diego vomiting, instead reached back behind herself on the counter and pulled a towel down. She reached over and began to dab lightly at the specks of blood on top of his head. She tried to pull a few pieces of glass from his scalp that had him instinctively pulling away from her touch, coughing thanks to the horrible taste that now bathed his tongue.
“Do you still feel nauseous,” Eudora asked after pulling out a rather impressive shard of glass from the back of Diego’s head.
Diego clamped his mouth shut and swallowed thickly. “Ugh, don’t mention it.”
Eudora couldn’t help but chuckle as she reached with her other hand for a box of tissues and set it down beside them, ignoring the bloody handprint that was now on the side of the cardboard.
Diego only made it halfway to reaching out to grab it when he lost his balance and would’ve struck the floor if Eudora hadn’t been there to stop him. Her arm reached around his shoulder, his head coming down like deadweight against her chest.
“Woah, woah, easy.” Eudora readjusted her grip and helped him sit back up, this time being fully supported by the bottom cabinet. “You good?”
Diego opened one eye and fixed Eudora with an almost questionable glance. “What do you think,” he slurred.
Eudora decided not to comment as she tore out a few tissues from the box and pressed them into Diego’s hand, then steering the hand up to his mouth. Diego was able to slowly wipe the corners of his mouth, coughing on the still sour tang in his mouth.
“We’re going to have to monitor you for a concussion,” Eudora explained, mostly to herself as Diego was only half paying attention. “The last thing that we need is you to lose consciousness on me.”
Diego winced when Eudora pressed on the side of his head, attempting to stem the steady flow of blood. He forced his hand up beside hers only to have Eudora gasp in shock and force it away. He brought his hand in front of his face, wriggling his fingers back and forth, spying bright crimson liquid steadily dripping toward his palm.
“What the hell is that,” Diego asked, head giving a short shake.
Eudora lifted both hands on either side of his forehead to keep Diego from moving his head. “It’s blood, Diego. You know, the shit that should be inside your body where it belongs?”
“Hmmm, it doesn’t seem to be.”
“Yeah, that’s the whole issue.”
Diego attempted to close his eyes, feeling more tired than he could ever remember. It tugged on every fiber of his being, lulling him gently into an ocean of calm thoughts. Everything felt numb and far away as though nothing would ever touch him again.
“I don’t think so!” A hand came down hard on his cheek and Diego’s eyes flashed open in shock to see Eudora leaning far too close to his liking. “You’re not going to fall asleep on my watch. Now, we’re going to clean up your head and then you’re going to wait on the couch until I get the kitchen cleaned up and we can watch a movie.”
Diego wrinkled his nose at the mere suggestion of a movie.
“Don’t give me that look,” Eudora huffed, pressing the towel against his head to stem the bleeding as she pulled yet another shard from under his hairline, causing him to wince in pain. “Next time maybe you’ll shoot me a text before you show up like this unannounced and pick the lock to get in. You’re just lucky that bottle was only half full.”
Diego wasn’t exactly counting his blessings even if Eudora thought that he should be. “Next time I’ll ask for you to break a full bottle on my head and see if I can see the difference.”
“Good to know your bitterness wasn’t knocked from you.” Eudora pulled another piece free and set it down on the floor, smoothing back his blood matted hair for a better view. It was becoming more and more difficult to see the smaller pieces when his short, black hair helped it blend in.
“That shit is pressed pretty deeply in. Isn’t going to go away anytime soon.”
Eudora gave a small nod. Her fingers traveled back through his hair to the base of his neck. “At least you’re honest.” She cursed under his breath. “I can’t see anymore glass, but you’re still bleeding like a stuck pig!”
Diego slightly arched his neck upward, breathing heavily out of his mouth in preparation for the slight pain. “Head wounds already bleed more than anywhere else even for relatively minor cuts. You’ve never noticed that when you shave your face?”
Eudora couldn’t decide whether or not to be offended, start laughing, or worry even more than she already had been about Diego. “Uh, no, no, but I’ll take your word for it. I’ll still feel better if we can get this contained without bandages if we can help it.”
Diego didn’t ask quite why she didn’t want to use a bandage. Then again, his thoughts were far from contained at the moment; he was hardly able to focus more than a couple seconds at a time before moving on to something else even less important, yet just as distracting. Focus was certainly not his friend at the moment.
“Which we may not have a choice here in a moment,” Eudora continued, though Diego was certain that he had missed some part of this conversation. “But, I’ll be able to see better if you’re in the living room instead of sprawled out on my kitchen. Let’s get you up.”
Eudora reached over and helped haul Diego to his feet, with Diego becoming more of a hinderance of a help with his heels pummeling against the ground and eyes still misty and wayward. The two finally managed to get Diego to stand and over to the couch where Eudora deposited him harshly. He leaned backwards and sighed to himself, head still feeling woozy.
“Think I can trust you for ten minutes by yourself,” Eudora questioned, eyes dancing around from the pantry in the corner of the kitchen back to Diego.
Diego lifted his hand partially and gave his fingers a tiny flick in a small semblance of a wave. “M’fine.”
“Uh huh. I call bullshit. Just.....wait here and don’t fall asleep.” Eudora reached over to pat his knee before disappearing with an urgent bounce in her step.
Diego would be lying if he saw the seriousness of the situation. He was too tired and uncoordinated for that at the moment, a yawn pulling at the roof of his mouth until he allowed it, eyes watering afterwards. It took too much strength that he didn’t possess to fall asleep now and it was the sound of his own throbbing heartbeat and pulse of the blood running out of his head that finally lulled him into closing his eyes, not wanting to open them until the pain finally ebbed.