Never left me

Chapter 13

When I woke up that morning, the feeling of guilt and regret over took my system. The wishy washy feeling in my stomach and not wanting to eat began. I quickly showered and drove to Maddie's house unexpectedly and knocked on the front door, observing Sheryl's flowers as I waited for someone to open the door for me.

"Hey my other daughter!" Sheryl answered, in her work attire and grin painted on her face. "Maddie's up in her room, I'm going to work, you two don't have too much fun!"

I smiled at the enjoyment in her voice, It had been a long time since she had been excited about anything. She was just as happy about Maddie waking up as I was, and I still couldn't believe she woke up. "We won't at least not without you here!"

We both laughed then she left for work as I climbed the stairs up to Maddie's room, looking at the childhood photos on the wall of Maddie when she was 3.

"Wakey wakey." I grinned as I entered.

"That was a lame excuse as a wake up call." She laughed as she sat up in her bed. "Booo!!!"

I sat next to her and kept the smile on my face. "I know, I know."

"So, how was the party last night?" She laughed as she gently nudged me.

"Hm? Oh, it was, it was good." I felt the smile leave my face.

"He was there wasn't he?" She looked at me as the sad thoughts began to come back in my mind.

"Yup." I shook my head. "I feel so stupid."

"Everyone makes mistakes Gabriella, you learn from them, it's life." She said as she began patting my back.

"I wonder if that's why Steven wouldn't tell me the reason he fought Jay." I wrinkled my forehead as I thought.

"Tell me about this Steven guy." She said as she looked at me.

"Steven is hard to describe." I felt a grin take over my face as I began talking about him. "I met him at the hospital one night and we kind of just hit it off as like friends, he has dark brown really curly hair like the curliest you'll ever see, and it typically stands up on his head." I began laughing. "And it fits his personality so much because he's such a goof. He's also a good friend, he put up with my rants about Jay not being there for me and even let me stay at his house when I got extremely drunk, twice!"

"So, you like this Steven?"

I looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?" Why would she think I like Steven?

"Everything you just said about him, the way you described him.." She said as she looked at me.

"I, no, Steven, he's just, he's just a friend." At that moment, all the memories him and I shared together seamlessly came back into my head.

"Gab, you like Steven."

"No, I don't, I only like the way I feel around him, he makes me feel as if I'm the only important thing in the world to him, I get this feeling as if everything will always be okay, especially when he hugs me and tells me so." I stayed silent for a second, thinking exclusively on how I was actually feeling, then continued. "Dancing around his kitchen, making jokes with him, holding his hand before the party, the kisses he'd give me on my forehead before we left the hospital... Oh my god." I sat silent for a while, I couldn't admit it, he was my best friend. And I had ruined everything.

"You like Steven."

"I-I like Steven."

She grinned when I finally admitted it. "Go get your man, girl!"

"I ruined it." I shook my head. "I haven't talked to him since the night he fought Jay."

"Try." She said giving me a hopeful smile. "Text him."

I took out my phone, anxiously went to my messages and sent him: Hey, I know we haven't talked in a while and I'm sorry.

"What did you type?" Maddie asked then looked over at my phone. "Delete the last part, we want him to want to see you in person." She looked at me. "This is something he needs to hear in person."

I quickly deleted everything except: Hey

I pressed send.

"Wanna get something to eat?" I don't know about you but I'm starving." She said as she got up out of her bed.

"Sure." I said as I desperately looked at my phone screen, waiting for a reply from Steven.

"He's probably still asleep Gab. It's 9 in the morning, most people our age are still asleep" She walked out of her bedroom door and I nodded, getting up to follow her.

Luckily, from her overdose she didn't lose the ability to do anything physical wise; she was still a little shaky on stairs though. We walked into the kitchen and made ourselves eggs for breakfast. Every 5 minutes I checked my phone.

******

As hours progressed on, I became more and more disappointed, regretting letting Steven out of my life for someone as stupid as Jay. Maddie kept giving me reasons why Steven wasn't replying.

"Maybe his phone broke, maybe he's with his grandma, maybe he's at a movie theater!"

"All day?"

"I never mentioned he only wanted to see one movie."

I finally decided to give up hope around 1 o'clock, If he was going to text me, he would've by now. As the dark thoughts began to come back to my head, I said my goodbyes to Maddie and left back for my house, turning off my phone.