Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card

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JOSH.

It had been a week since Laura slipped into the coma, and it felt like a lifetime.

The hospital room was quiet except for the steady beep of the monitors and the faint hum of the heater. The world outside these walls didn't seem real anymore. I barely remembered walking off the practice field, driving here, or stepping into her room. But the moment I saw her, all of that faded away.

Laura was still, her body too pale against the stark white of the hospital sheets. The rise and fall of her chest, regulated by the machines, was the only sign of life. But she was alive. That thought was the only thing keeping me sane.

I crossed the room to her bedside and immediately took her hand in mine. It was warm, but it didn't squeeze back. I brought it to my lips and held it there, closing my eyes like she could somehow feel me willing her to wake up. "I need you, Laura," I whispered, my voice hoarse.

The chair next to her bed was still where I'd left it, and I sank into it, exhausted. Jess had been helping with the baby while I went to practice. Our baby. My baby girl.

As if on cue, Jess walked in, carrying her in one arm and a bottle in the other. She handed the baby to me with a small, sad smile, and I took her, cradling her like she was made of glass.

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soon ast the bottle touched her lips. She

at her, marveling at how small she was, and my heart ached. She didn't have a name yet. I couldn't name her without Laura. We were supposed to do that together. "Remember when I

smile as she continued. "You thought no one would find you. Then I walked in on you groping my best friend," she teased, looking at me with a mock grimace. "Uh, I still need to erase that out of

soft but genuine. I did remember.

remember," I said, my

more than that, I remembered every moment without her. And I could say, without a doubt, the ones with her were better. Jess smiled softly. "You know," she said, sitting down in the chair opposite me, "when she spoke about you two kissing,

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paused, her expression

So despite hating you back then, I knew you felt the same way.

longer, her gaze shifting back to Laura. "She's strong, Josh. She's going to wake up. You just

been patient. Laura used to tease me about it. She'd say I couldn't sit still if my life depended on

stood and smoothed her sweater, her movements slow and deliberate. "Okay," she said, turning to me. "You need to go

her face stopped

before leaving the room with Luke. The door clicked shut softly behind

still holding the baby. She had finished the bottle, her eyelids fluttering closed in sleep. I gently set her in the portable bassinet the nurses had let me keep in the room and leaned back in my chair, my eyes drifting to Laura again. "I don't know how to do this without you," I

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