Before long, he was in the hospital, being wheeled into some room. Somebody was yelling about x-rays and scans, and then somebody else was talking to him. It was all suddenly a little too much, and right there and then, he wanted Bella more than anything. But then he was being whisked away for scans and tests and x-rays and he didn't know what else- but Bella wasn't there.
The woman nodded. "I guessed- as soon as he came around, he wanted to call you. Come on, then, Bella. Let's not make either of you wait any longer." She headed over to her car and climbed in. She got the impression that "best friend" was putting it lightly. This strange, tattooed, incredibly skinny girl seemed worried about her friend, and it wasn't right to let her drive. Not when she had been drinking and was also probably emotionally fragile.
She laughed at his comments, wrapping her arms around herself. "Nate, honey, I've already seen everything you've got," she said, lowering her voice so that there was no risk of the others hearing. "And I was going to ask for a hug before you handed me what looks like an entire double duvet set, covers and all," she said teasingly, grinning at him. But she still needed to tell him why she'd reacted like that, and she couldn't just keep it all in any longer.
"Real talk, though, Nate, I might... There's a chance that I could turn on you like that again. You know that I do have destructive tendencies from time to time, and..." She sighed, clutching the bag of pillows. "When you treat me like a porcelain doll, you make me feel weak. And I've gone through a lot of shit that's made me feel weak, so when you do that, I just have to lash out. I hate feeling weak more than anything, Nate, and I think that's what fuels my destructive tendencies. So if I start acting like that again, just... I dunno, let me beat you in an arm-wrestle or something," she said, shrugging and forcing a bit of a grin. "Just don't let me cut everyone I care about off again, okay?"
He raised an eyebrow as she told him what he was studying. "A model studying physics? Just shows you don't always have to choose between brains and beauty, doesn't it?" He said, grinning at her. "Still, that's really awesome. I hope you get there- imagine if you became a famous physicist! You could be all like "Oh yeah, I paid for my university degree by modelling. Talk about busting stereotypes!" He said, taking a mouthful out of his drink and glancing at Ellie and Nate. They both already looked a lot happier, and it wasn't hard to tell that they really were good friends. He believed Nate when he said that there wasn't anything romantic between them- it seemed purely platonic, and he was happy to see them getting along again. It was better than the awful tension there had been for a while there.