I'll Be: Sequel to Briles

Chapter Fourteen

"Miss?" I wake up on a park bench with a cop standing next to me. "Miss I'm going to need you to move." I look around. Where am I again? Oh yeah, I'm wandering through the city. "Are you okay? You have blood all over you."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Did last night really happen? It all seems like a blur. Is Miles back at the house waiting for me? Is he out with Shai?

"Looks like you probably need stitches. Let me drive you to the hospital."

"I'm fine." I say, sitting up and trying to walk away. The second I stand up I nearly fall over. The cop catches me and pulls my arm over his shoulders.

"No, this is serious. I'm bringing you to the hospital" I'm too weak to argue so I just let him help me into his police car. I sit in silence while he drives me to the hospital. "You look like you had a crazy night last night."

"That's one word for it." I reply, staring out the window.

"I don't want to be putting my nose in places where it doesn't belong, but how exactly did you cut yourself?"

"I dropped some glasses and cut myself cleaning them up." He doesn't ask me anymore questions. We both just sit in silence until we arrive. He helps me walk inside and checks me in. I thank him and start filling out the paperwork. When I'm finished I sit in the waiting room for what seems like forever until they finally whisk me off into a vacant room.

I watch the clock ticking on the wall as I wait for the doctors to come in to stitch me up. Meanwhile the nurses inspect my cuts and give me an anesthetic. I close my eyes and make sure to take deep breaths.  When they're done I have to sit and wait for them to let me walk around.

"Okay, Miss Loveless, you can go." I get off the bed and walk back out to the waiting room where my eyes meet a very familiar set of eyes, eyes I didn't really want to see.

Miles doesn't say anything. He just gets up, car keys in hand. He's never been this mad at me. What happened to us? One day we're going to be getting married and the next we won't even talk to each other.

I sit in the passenger seat, staring out the window in an attempt to make this less awkward. It isn't working.

"How'd you?" I ask quietly.

"The hospital called me." I nod and we go back to silence. God, I hate this.

"You were gone all night." Miles says in a monotone voice.

"I fell asleep."

"At his house?" I roll my eyes and shake my head.

"Actually, on a park bench if you must know." I reply. We don't talk for the rest of the car ride home.

The house is a mess. The glass from the cups is still all over the kitchen floor and there's a trail of my blood leading from the kitchen to the bathroom. How did Miles not notice this when he got home?

"What happened? Are you okay?" Annika and Ansel ask as we walk through the door. I shake them off and get the broom to start cleaning up the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I reply. "I just fell last night."

"Here, let me get that." Miles says, taking the broom from me. The guilt kicks in again as he starts sweeping up my mess. He doesn't even look at me.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Annika asks. I don't reply, instead I find myself walking away.

I close the bathroom door behind me and lock it, sliding down and sitting in front of the door. I curl my knees up to my chest. I don't know what to do. We can't just act like last night never happened but it would be so much easier if we could. Time flies by and I'm still sitting there, on the bathroom floor. It's been an hour or two now.

I stand back up, preparing for the fight I'm about to have, or rather the fight I'm about to continue. I look in the mirror. I look like crap, but what else should I expect? I have dark rings under my eyes from the lack of sleep, my face is pale due to my horrible hangover, and not to mention the dried blood covering my legs and hands. Topped off with the fresh stitches in my legs I look like a zombie. I give up on trying to tame my wild looks so I just splash some water in my face and dry off, walking out to face the others. When I step outside of the bathroom Annika and Ansel are standing at the front door with their suitcases. 

"We have to go." Annika says. I walk over to them to give them each a hug. "Stay strong." Annika whispers in my ear when she hugs me. I nod to acknowledge that I heard her. "Well thanks for letting us stay here."

"Thank you for coming. Your visit has been great." I say with a fake smile that even the stupidest person on earth could see right through. "And congratulations on the new addition."

"Thanks," Annika says and we hug once more before they leave and Miles and I are left sitting awkwardly in a silent room. I stare at the door, maybe if I stay still long enough everything will go back to the way it was. When I turn around to see Miles he still has that look of quiet anger he's had on his face all day. I guess you really can't change the past. 

"Miles...." I begin, taking a deep breath. 

"Don't. I don't want to fight anymore. I'm too tired to fight." He answers. I know how he feels. It seems like that's all we've been doing lately.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry." I reply, my eyes watering. God dammit Loveless, keep your emotions in check! 

"If you were truly sorry you wouldn't have done it in the first place." There's no yelling. Yelling would be a relief. Instead we're just talking in our regular voices, and that makes it so much worse. 

"It's not like I'm the only one who cheated. You did too, way before I did." 

"It doesn't matter who did what. It happened. You can't go back and fix it, neither can I. We made mistakes. Now we have to live with them." He walks away from me and into our bedroom, closing the door behind him. I stand in the same spot watching the closed door. 

When did I become my parents? Was it when I slept with Zack? Maybe it was when I found out Miles slept with Shai. Or maybe, I've always been like them, and I'm just now noticing it. Whatever it is I don't like it. I always swore to myself I wouldn't be like them. I wouldn't let their failed marriage effect my love life, and now here I am, ruining a perfect relationship. I guess young love never lasts right? 

Sure it's only mid-day but I'm exhausted so I decide to lay down on the couch, which will probably be my new bed at least for the next few weeks. I turn on Netflix and fall asleep watching FRIENDS.