Confiding in You ϟ a.i.

Chapter 65

The cup of hot chocolate is already empty and on the floor. In the place of it is his phone, pointed at me. I eye it but don't say anything about it.

"Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I tried to," he rolls his eyes, "But you wouldn't listen to me for more than two seconds."

I look back at the door, waiting for someone to come out any moment. Cooper starts picking at an invisible stain on his hoodie.

He looks up, feeling us staring at him, "Why should I believe you? There's still that shit about the bet."

"Mills is my best friend, asshole. Even when she doesn't tell me, I know what she's doing," he says, "Luke was helping Lily be sure that this dumbf*ck and Maddie wouldn't get back together."

I stare at him. This explanation would have been great a week ago. It would have been even better if he explained it to Maddie and, y'know, fixed things before they got this bad.

"Why would Luke do that?"

"He hates me," I say, "Because of Hannah."

"Right," Cooper sits back again, playing with the strings on his hoodie. "I just don't get why Lily would lie to me."

"Lily didn't want to just break up with you, she wanted to break them up," Michael says matter-of-factly.

Cooper squeezes his eyes shut, "Whatever. I don't know what to think."

We're all deeply exhausted and on edge. Michael hates Cooper, and Cooper hates the both of us. I don't think this is a very good time to be having this discussion in the first place.

"How about you stop holding your girlfriend on such a pedestal and accept that Ashton loves Maddie more than anything?"

Cooper scowls, looking up at me as if to say 'who is this guy?' and I shrug. I don't want to argue about this right now. There are more important things to worry about.

"Can you guys just make up and cry together? That's all I'm saying," Michael grunts, "It's annoying as hell to see you so tense with each other when Maddie could be dead."

"Don't f*cking say that," Cooper and I say at once. I glance at Cooper, but as soon as we make eye contact, I look away.

I have the urge to kick the nearest trash can. In a sense, that would be Michael at the moment.

"Is this how you handle grief?" I squeak, "Emotionless and shit?"

He shrugs, picking up his cup and going to throw it out. I look over at Cooper weakly, but he's staring down at his shoes. He looks like he's about to start crying again.

Lily is screwing with his head, I screwed her, and now this. It's all running through his thoughts at once.

"It doesn't feel real right now," Michael says, sitting back down, "None of it does."

"Well, I saw it," I snap. I've been trying to get the image out of my mind for the past three hours. "It's very--"

A door opens and all three of us look up. The doctor walks out somberly with his clipboard and everything, and I think I might vomit. He knows he's the bearer of bad news and it shows in his face.

"Real," I whisper, pursing my lips and swallowing the lump in my throat. I can't look at this guy without imagining the worst that is about to come out of his mouth.

"Can I speak with a legal guardian of," he checks the paperwork and my heart skips a beat, "Madeline Arkwright?"

Cooper and I both look at each other, holding our breaths. Neither of her parents are here yet -- we took her mom's car and her dad has yet to arrive in Ohio. If we have to wait any longer to hear how she is, I'm going to scream.