Never left me

Chapter 11

As the days continued to go by Sheryl and I began questioning when Maddie would wake up. We had gotten to the point where we were worried that she wouldn't. The entire week, Steven and I had texted 24/7, even though he didn't know Maddie like I did he still cared about her and how she was doing. I had turned Jay down a good 3 times, I needed to stop drinking as much since Maddie's doctor said she wasn't to drink anymore. I wanted to be there for my best friend, not ditching her for some guy I had a thing for. As texting Steven became more often, Sheryl began asking exactly what was going on between me and him, which was nothing at all. He even began bringing me home after visiting hours were over. He'd come at get me at Maddie's room around 8pm.

"Back to the Walter's room day 5! Any progress?" Sheryl laughed as he walked in the proceeded to get out of her chair and give him a hug. She had grown to love Steven about as much as I had. He hugged her gently then walked over to my chair, wrapping his arms around me, putting his chin on the top of my head. "How are you short stuff?" He said as he pulled me back into his grip more.

"Worried" I looked back at Maddie asleep in her bed. "Extremely worried."

He leaned down a bit and laid a gentle kiss on my forehead as he had done every night since he knew about Maddie's condition. "She's going to be okay, you know she will."

I nodded then stood up grabbing my purse then walked over to her bedside and whispered to her. "I love you, please wake up soon." Then walked over to Sheryl and gave her a big hug. "Okay, I'm ready now Steven."

He walked over to me with a grin on his face and walked with me out of the door into the hallway. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head. "I want a drink."

He looked over at me and shrugged "I could use one too. Ask Jay where there's a party tonight, we could go" He kept walking and didn't look at me then stuttered for a moment. "I meant like, carpool not together, together."

I shook my head. "I know what you meant." I looked over at him, questioning why he was acting weird. "I'll ask him."

We continued to walk to Steven's car as I sent the text to Jay. The two of us got into his dark blue hard cover jeep and buckled our seat belts.

"Tell me when he replies okay?" He started up his car and looked over at me. "Oh, and you better call your mom and ask if you can go to Mikayla's house or something, we'll probably be out most the night."

"Yeah, if the party is on your street again could I stay over?" I asked as he began to drive out of the hospital parking garage.

"Of course" He smiled to himself and paid for the parking fee and began down the street.

"Do you think Maddie will wake up anytime soon?" I asked.

"Sadly, only time can tell." He said as he stopped at a green light. "But either way I'm going to be here for you."

I smiled at his comment then felt a buzz in my pocket. I took out my phone to find a text from Jay saying the party was at Nicole's house, along with the typical 'I can't make it tonight, sorry love' which at this point I was used to. "Nicole's house." I said as Steven hit the accelerator, grinning.

"Call your parents, you can stay over with me tonight." He continued to grin as he sped into his neighborhood.

I called my mom and of course got the okay to spend the night at Mikayla's house. If only she knew what I was about to do. As we arrived at Steven's house, we quickly ran upstairs, he changed into a different outfit and I washed my face in his sink, proceeding to the two of us later meeting in his living room.

"Shall we go my dear?" He asked and extended his hand to take mine. We held hands for a little bit then walked out of his front door to Nicole's house across the street. As we entered the music and lights were on full blast, drink counter filled and beer pong already being played. I said goodbye to Steven until 10pm when we planned to meet up to go back to his house, it was 8:30pm now. I went directly to the drink table and got my usual, vodka with orange juice then went to dance the night away.

******

By 9pm, I was smashed, the party was spinning around me, people seemed to have get closer and closer. My mind wasn't as cluttered with how I felt about Maddie and Jay and my parents, god. My parents, how disappointed they would be if they knew I was at this party. I quickly headed to the drink table and took another shot then didn't drink the rest of the night. I wanted to be able to walk straight when Steven and I were walking back to his house. I went back to the dance floor, dancing along with some other girls until I heard the sound of breaking glass and the beginning of chanting. "Fight, Fight, Fight!!" I heard as I got pushed and shoved. Everyone wanted a piece of the action. I had no idea what was happening or who was even fighting. I took out my phone and noticed the time, 9:50pm, fuck I needed to find Steven. I began pushing through the crowd yelling for him to try to find him but he was nowhere to be found. As the fight died down I was able to push my way to the front, only for Steven to walk right into me.

"Hey!" I said as he pushed again. "Steven!"

He looked at me with a bloody nose, some bruises on his face and an angry look on his face. "Hi Gab, can we get going?"

I nodded and we walked back to his house in silence. I opened the door for him then rushed to the bathroom to get towels for his nose. "What happened in there?" I asked as I held the towel on his nose.

He began shaking his head slightly. "You don't want to know"