My Dream Girl - Good Ending

The world starts to spin and my legs feel weak. I have to brace myself against the wall beside me before I can talk again. "I'm fine. It's just a headache," I finally manage to hiss out.

My legs give out, but I'm able to catch myself on one knee and prop myself against the wall, still clutching at my head and trying to keep my balance in the rapidly spinning room.

"Jack?" I can barely hear Beth's concerned voice; she sounds so far away.

***********************************************************

I only catch glimpses of what's going on.

There's a beautiful woman leaning over me, cradling me in her lap. She looks concerned. Why is she so concerned? Did something happen?

There's a man and a woman wearing shirts with an odd logo on the chest, lifting me onto a... table? No, that's not right; it has wheels.

We're in a small room that feels like it is moving. The man is putting electronic things on my fingers and bicep, looking intently at some numbers on the box beside me. The woman is here, holding my other hand. Where did this blanket come from?

The table I'm on is being wheeled into a building. The sign outside says... Mercy Hospital? Why am I going to a hospital? I don't need a hospital.

***********************************************************

It feels like my eyelids are dragged down by anchors; opening them is so hard. When the weight is finally overcome, I can look around and try to digest my surroundings. I'm in a hospital room.

The pain in my head has gone down considerably, now no more than a dull ache compared to the raging jackhammer that I remember.

"There you are," I hear a feminine voice. I realize that someone is holding my hand when I feel their grip tighten momentarily.

Turning my head towards the voice, I see a beautiful woman sitting beside my bed. Beth. I can't help the smile I feel on my face.

I guess this answers the question of if anyone would come visit me in the hospital.

"What happened?" I ask.

"You were walking me out of your apartment building to my car and something happened. I don't really know everything for sure, but you looked like your head was seriously hurting, then you fell on the ground in the hallway and didn't get up, so I called 911 and they sent an ambulance. You woke up before the ambulance got there but you didn't seem to understand what was going on and-"

It was at this moment, a doctor walked into the room.

"Good morning, Mr. Livingstone. I'm Dr. Ronald Williams. I hope I'm not interrupting?" the man says.

"Beth was just telling me about what is going on," I answer.

"I hadn't gotten to the medical mumbo jumbo yet if you want to explain that?" Beth continues, addressing the doctor.

"I most certainly can, but if you'll give me a moment..." Dr. Williams says, leaning over the side of the bed holding a pen light.

"Please look straight ahead," he says as he moves the light back and forth in front of my eyes. Apparently satisfied with what he is looking at, he turns off the pen light and stands up straight again.

"The short version is that you had a blood clot in your brain, Jack. This clot caused you to have a rapid-onset migraine followed by a mini-stroke. Thankfully, there shouldn't be any lasting damage; any remaining symptoms of the stroke should go away within 24 hours. As for the clot, we were able to remove it with a minimally invasive operation, but you'll still need to take some medication for a short while to keep more clots from springing back up. We'll keep you overnight for observation, but you'll most likely get to go home tomorrow." Dr. Williams finished with a smile.

"Alright then," I say, not really sure how else to respond. "That sounds like it could've been worse."

"It could've, but this was a mild case," the doctor responded. "Though, it is a little odd to see this in someone so young, but not unheard of."

After a moment of silence, Dr. Williams continues. "Well, if there aren't any questions..." I respond by shaking my head. "I'll get out of your hair then. Let us know if you experience any pain, dizziness, or anything else out of the ordinary. Other than that, I'll speak to you tomorrow about discharge."

"Alright, thank you, Dr. Williams," I say, offering my hand for a handshake. The doctor smiles and returns the gesture before leaving the room.

Now that Beth and I are alone again, I let the silence hang for just a moment before I decide to break it.

"So, what time is it? How long has it been?" I ask.

Beth picks up her phone to look. "Nearly 9:30. It's only been a little over an hour since your episode."

"Oh. Wow, this hospital works fast," I remark. "You know, Beth, I really appreciate you coming with me, but you don't have to stay. Dr. Williams seems pretty confident that I'll be fine, I'm only here for observation. You can leave to go to work if you need to."

"You're sure?" Beth asks. "I can stay if it would make you feel better."

"I'm sure, Beth," I answer with a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine, but I don't want your boss to get angry at you for being late or something."

"I'm not concerned about that. They'd probably give me the day off if I told them about this. But work has been really busy lately and they need all the help they can get right now. You're really sure you'll be fine?"

I can't help but chuckle at how protective she seems to be getting. "I'm sure. I'm in good hands. If something goes wrong, I can call the nurses or doctor and they'll sort me out. Don't worry about me."

"Well, if you're sure, then I'll go ahead and go. I'll come back after work to check up on you," Beth says before leaning down to give me a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you later."

"See you! Have fun!" I answer with a smile.

"Oh, I doubt it," Beth retorts. "I like my job, but it's still work, even more so when it's as busy as it has been for the past week." She laughs as she walks out, pausing at the door momentarily to wave goodbye before closing it behind her.

***********************************************************

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. I don't know if it was an after effect of the mini-stroke or the meds they put me on, but I was groggy for most of the day. I fell asleep shortly after Beth left, but largely spent my time watching the tv mounted on the wall because there wasn't much else for me to do.

True to her word, Beth showed back up shortly after dinner. The cold clinical feeling of the room instantly warmed back up as Beth's cozy aura filled the space. Once again, I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face when she walked in.

"Hello, beautiful!" I say, my voice only betraying a small fraction of the enthusiasm I suddenly feel. "Have a good day?"

"Hello yourself," Beth smiles in response. "Yeah, the day was okay. Kinda long, but nothing to do about that I guess."

Beth and I talk for the next couple of hours, just happy to shoot the shit with each other. The stress in Beth's shoulders visibly melts away as the evening wears on.

Sometime during our talk, a nurse came in to take a couple of readings, wish me a good night, and remind me that I need to call them if I feel anything wrong. I thought Beth would have to leave at this point because it was getting late, but Beth seemed content to stay longer and I wasn't going to tell her any different.

It's nearing 11PM and Beth has pulled the chair up to the side of my bed and is idly running her fingers up and down my forearm. She looks like she wants to ask me a question but is holding back for some reason.

"What's up?" I ask.

"I want to ask you something, but I don't want to upset you or anything," she says tentatively.

"Alright, shoot."

Beth runs her fingers over the faded scabs where my self-inflicted cuts had been. I realize now that the gown the hospital put me in is short-sleeved, so my cuts are visible. This is the first time Beth has seen me in short sleeves; I didn't want her to see my arms until the cuts were gone or at least scarred.

"Do these have anything to do with the knife you asked me to hold onto this morning?" she asked.

"Uh, they... Wait, how did-?"

"I saw these on your arm this morning when they first put you in the gown to take scans. I thought they looked a little too close together to be separate mistakes, but also too far apart to be accidental. I, uh, I looked in the cloth earlier this afternoon. Why did you do this?" I could see a rising concern on Beth's beautiful face.

There's no point in lying.

I was going to tell her eventually. I guess she forced my hand early.

I sigh and look away before answering. "I was going to tell you later, but I needed the knife out of reach in case I felt the need to use it again before then."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Beth asks quietly.

No reason not to at this point. She already knows what I did.

Now she just wants to know why.

"I, uh, I probably should," I sigh. "I guess the short version is that, before I met you, I was so utterly lonely. I would cry myself to sleep at night wishing I had someone to hold, someone to talk to, someone to matter to. A lot of entertainment media these days is based on love stories, whether it be in music, games, books, TV shows, movies, whatever. The week before we met, it was really bad. I don't know why, but it was so much worse than usual. One night, I remembered hearing somewhere that, if you're in pain, inflicting a tiny amount of pain somewhere else can distribute the brain's response to it and make it all more manageable overall. So I, uh, I took the sharpest knife I had and cut my arm a little bit. It worked, but I told myself I didn't want to do that in the future. But it, um, it happened 3 more times before you ran into me."

As I kept talking, Beth's eyes got more and more teary before the dam finally broke. I finally feel like I can look at Beth again, our gazes meet before I continue.

"Aside from giving it to you, I haven't touched that knife since the night you ran into me. I don't think I'll feel the need to use it again, but I wanted to remove the option just in case. So, I gave it to someone I feel I can trust for safe keeping."

Here comes the 'I need space and you need help' talk.

That was too much too soon.

Rather than back away and rush through excuses to leave, Beth raised her other hand, the one not resting on my arm, to gently stroke my face.

She's... she's not leaving?

Why?

At Beth's tender gesture, I feel tears start to fall from my own eyes. "After everything I've told you and the emotional mess you've seen, why are you still here? Why do you care about me? We've barely known each other for two weeks. I'm not attractive and I can barely hold myself together on a good day."

Beth thinks for a moment before she speaks softly. "Move over."

I comply and she crawls up into my bed with me and hugs me to her chest, stroking my head with one hand and the other wraps around my back and shoulders holding me close.

"To be honest, I only accepted your coffee date to be nice since you helped me with my knee after I hit you. I planned on giving you a nice morning before letting you down gently. I've had a string of, to put it politely, asshole boyfriends in the past. It's been years since the last one, but I still didn't think I wanted to date again. You surprised me. What I thought would be short lived and more than a little awkward turned out to be wonderful. With my exes, I always felt like I was more of an object that they were sweet talking to keep around. That first walk in the park, you made me feel more like a person than any guy has in a very long time, so I decided to let this keep going."

Beth pauses, I suppose trying to figure out how to put her emotions into words.

"Last weekend, at your apartment, I knew something was off during dinner. I chalked it up to you being nervous for the most part. When we were sitting on the couch and I saw you start to cry, I was confused. When you tried to explain why you were crying, I saw more hurt in your eyes than you were letting out in your voice. I recognized the pain I saw. It was the same pain I had in my own eyes before I learned to cover it up. So, I did what I wished I had someone to do for me. I held you. I could see how bottled up you were, and I wanted to help you let it out. After the movie, when we were talking before I left, it was like a switch had been flipped. You were nice and kinda funny before, but you had this new -- I don't know what to call it. Warmth? -- about you. Your eyes were shining a little brighter, you seemed more relaxed."

Another pause.

"At that point, I wasn't sure what to think. I wasn't sure if you just liked me because I was therapeutic or something. When you insisted on being the one to hold me on Saturday, I was curious, but not enough to say anything. When you wrapped around me on the couch that night, I understood why you cried when I held you. I hadn't felt so wanted as a person, rather than an object, in as long as I can remember. If I made you feel half as safe as you made me, then I could understand why it might be too much for someone who had never been held like that before. Then, when you made me feel so good and didn't pressure me to return the favor -- just held me and made sure I was comfortable -- I realized that maybe you actually did like me for me. I really did plan on paying you back that night, but the way you were holding me and the exhaustion from the way you made me feel made it so hard to stay awake."

Beth blushes when she said that last part.

"Then, yesterday, I liked how you made me feel and I liked how I made you feel too. I mean, sure we kept giving each other orgasms, but it didn't seem like you ever did it for the sake of convincing me to give you another, and I certainly didn't either. I've been so used to sex being so one sided: the guy might make me cum, but only because he wants me to make him cum too. I don't feel that way with you. I feel like you make me feel good simply because you want me to feel good."

Beth pauses once more, this time to kiss me on the forehead.

"To answer your question, I'm still here because I realized that I think I need you as much as you seem to need me. I might not have cried, but God knows I felt like it sometimes. I don't know the future or how long this will last, but I want to keep going for as long as possible."

As Beth finishes baring her soul to me, I am stunned.

Here I thought I was the only broken one of us.

I thought she had everything figured out.

Turns out she is just better at hiding it than me.

Still, how could I be so blind?

I slid back a little and pulled Beth down into a hug of my own.

"I don't know the future either. I don't know how long this will last or when I'll do something stupid enough to drive you away. All I know is that I already decided that I am going to enjoy the good times and not worry too much about what happens if this ever stops. In the meantime, I don't want you to ever feel like you need to hide anything from me. If you want to cry, feel free to do it. You've certainly helped me sort through myself a little bit and I want you to be able to feel better, too."

Beth nods into my chest and sighs. We lay like this in silence, holding each other close. I guess Beth's long day at work finally caught up because when I look down to check on her, she appears to be asleep. I carefully pull the blanket out from under Beth so I can cover her up to keep her warm. I don't know if the hospital would approve of me sharing my bed like this, but I don't really give a shit. I will never get tired of the feelings Beth gives me and it is worth whatever scolding I will get because of it.

***********************************************************

A month has passed since my surprise hospital visit. Beth and I have settled into a rhythm for our dating: every Saturday night is date night and we meet up for lunch usually a couple of times during the week. We've gone to a nice restaurant for dinner on our date nights a couple of times, but we both seem to agree that our favorite dates are spent at home on the couch cuddling and, sometimes, getting a little bit frisky. Sometimes Beth stays the night, sometimes not. However tonight, I am sure she is planning on staying the night. She brought a small drawstring bag that appears to contain essential toiletries and an extra set of casual clothes.

We've already finished dinner and I move towards the couch for our usual post-food activity, but Beth stops me.

"I think it's time we took the next step," she says shyly and takes my hand. "How about you?"

I am confused at first but understanding dawns on me and my dick hardens at what I think she means.

"If you're ready, then I'm ready," I answer, hoping my anxiety isn't showing.

Beth leads me by my hand to my bedroom. She pulls me into a hug when we reach my bedside. Standing there in the comforting embrace, we sway together to some muted melody.

Beth brings her hands up to either side of my head and pulls me into a sexy kiss. Her body melds into mine as the emotions roar through us. Her hands leave my head and I feel them reappear at the hem of my shirt. Understanding what she is trying to do, I raise my arms over my head and let Beth remove my shirt for me. I reach down to return the favor and Beth shivers against me as my fingers brush against her bare stomach under the fabric.

Our kiss becomes more passionate as we take turns removing each other's clothes. By the time we are both in our last garments -- me in my boxers and Beth in her panties -- the kiss has become ravenous. We hardly take time to breathe as we collapse onto the bed, still in our underwear. Beth giggles into my mouth as we land and I begin to grope her bare breasts and play with her nipples while she strokes my cock through my boxers. After a minute or two, I stand back up so I can remove my boxers while Beth fixes me with a hungry look.

When I kneel between Beth's legs, she lifts her hips so I can remove her underwear, revealing the most adorable little flower in the world. I've seen her vagina several times before tonight, but it still takes my breath away. I lean down to demonstrate my excitement, but she stops me before I get far.

"There will be time for that later," she says. "I've been thinking about this all day. I'm more than ready for you. I want you to put it in me, Jack."

"Well, it's a tough sell, but you've convinced me," I tease, kissing her inner thigh before I leave it.

Beth giggles and rolls her eyes as I slide up her body to meet her lips once more. I pull away and use one hand to aim my spear, looking into her eyes for a final approval. Beth gives the slightest nod and I slowly push into her warm, velvety tunnel drawing deep groans of pleasure from both of us. The feeling of her soft pussy gripping around me as I slide deeper and deeper is exquisite. In this moment, the rest of the world ceases to exist. In this moment, there is no job, there are no bills, there are no responsibilities.

In this moment, there is only me and my dream girl.

I finally bottom out in Beth's steaming hole. She wraps her legs around my waist and locks her ankles together, keeping me trapped deep inside -- not that this is a bad thing, but I am confused all the same.

Beth responds to my confusion by giving me a naughty smile and grinding her hips in circles on my pelvis.

"Holy shit," I groan as I am forced to endure the sensation of Beth's soft walls rolling around my bobbing erection. Every time I think I am getting used to the feeling, Beth switches directions, clenches her muscles, changes speed, or does something else to make sure that I am kept reeling from her attacks.

After a couple of minutes, Beth releases her ankles and allows me to take control again.