There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate

There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate (44)

Sitting in the waiting room at the hospital was torturous. I didn't know how long it had been, but I knew that it had been a few hours. Not knowing what was wrong with Jesse was just killing me... They didn't tell me if he was dead or alive. I had no idea whether to be happy or to be sad. I just had no clue anymore.

And I hated being clueless.

"Stop freaking out," Erica ordered flatly from my right, not even looking up from the magazine that she was flipping through. "You're freaking out everyone else here. Just stop fidgeting and calm down."

"How am I supposed to calm down when Jesse's probably dead?" I demanded, my eyebrows furrowing at her in anger. "I can't just calm down when the love of my life just got shot because of me!"

"It wasn't your fault," she continued flatly, still not looking up at me. "Jesse was the one that dragged you into everything with Hunter, right? So it's his fault. Or it's just Hunter's fault. It isn't yours."

I pulled my knees up to my chin, not wanting to talk about it any longer. Erica didn't know what she was saying. She was filling me with false hope, saying that Jesse was alive. There was no way Jesse could have been alive...

"Dios mío... You really don't listen," Erica sighed when I started sobbing into my knees. She tossed the magazine back onto the table, turning toward me now. "You've gotta stop crying. It's not that big of a deal. I'm telling you, Jesse's probably gonna be fine."

I sniffed, wiping at my eyes to stop myself from crying any longer. I could tell it was annoying Erica, and I guessed that that wasn't something that I wanted to do.

"Do you still love him?" I found myself asking her quietly, my eyes widening when I realized what I had said. She had beaten me up over Jesse before! But I just had to open my big fat mouth...

I bit my tongue as I waited for her to answer me. She didn't seem angry, but then again she didn't seem to have any kind of emotion at all. She sat there almost like a statue, and that probably scared me even more.

"No."

I blinked, not expecting this to come from her mouth. I thought that she would say yes, and then she would start beating me up again right in the middle of the hospital waiting room in front of all these people. But she actually said that she didn't love Jesse anymore...

"You don't?" I had to ask now, still completely shocked. She didn't seem like the type of girl that just gave up on something... There had to be a good reason she didn't love Jesse anymore, right?

"I like someone else," she shrugged, as if it was absolutely no big deal at all. But it definitely was. Erica liked someone else? Did she mean that she loved someone else? As if reading my mind, she continued with, "And it's just like, not love."

"Who?" I questioned now, leaning closer to her. If she liked someone else, that meant she wasn't going to get in between Jesse and me anymore... If Jesse even survived. God, now I hoped he survived even more.

Erica let out an impatient sigh. "Dallas Berg."

I blinked at her. "Dallas? Cabin B's counselor?"

She nodded.

If I had found out that someone had liked Dallas four years ago, I would have been angry and jealous. But now, I couldn't help but smile as I pictured the two of them together. They really were a good match. They were both the same age, and they had the same job. They were perfect for each other!

I was going to speak, but Erica held up a hand to stop me. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking," she told me flatly. "You don't need to be all mushy about it. He still has feelings for you though, so I guess I'm out of luck."