Heartstrings

Chapter Three

"-Jada said that he sustained a collapsed lung. Head trauma."

"Why didn't you tell us straight away?" Cleo said, putting an arm around me. 

I was numb to my very bones. I felt the mass of emotions that I'd barred for the meantime, but I knew it would crash down on me soon. I couldn't hold on forever, without Reid.

"We got caught up in the situation. I'm sorry." Nina said.

"What about Reid?" I demanded, still focusing on keeping any tears at bay. "How is he?"

Nina's eyes were pleading as she spoke, wringing her hands. "Talk to Jada after you see Reid. We'll take you to Ormond right now."

Cleo held my hand as she helped me into Nick's car, stroking her thumb reassuringly over my skin. Her hand was smaller than I remembered, but her fingers were long and elegant.

Nina cursed and hit the steering wheel in frustration. "I don't know the way. Help me with navigating, Cleo?"

Cleo sighed, like it was hard work to deal with Nina. I knew she didn't like Nina, but I didn't know why. "Okay."

So I was alone with Nick in the backseat. We sat in silence while Nina and Cleo talked. I watched cars overtake us on the highway. The quiet suited me fine, because I was still processing that Reid was alone and dying in a helicopter somewhere, while being airlifted to Ormond.

The first tears seeped out of my eyes, trailing down my cheeks. Reid was injured and I was sitting safely in Nina's car, with no idea of what was happening. His parents would know, but I didn't want to talk to them. Talking to Reid's parents would make everything too real.

I felt someone's fingers brush over my hand tentatively. I looked at Nick, who withdrew from me immediately, looking awkward.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, aware that Nina and Cleo were busy arguing in the front. "I know it's difficult, right now. Is there any way I can help?"

I sniffed. "If you could tell me where Reid is, that would be great."

"I'll try my best to become a human GPS for you." Nick said seriously. His eyes glinted with a sober humour, and he actually brought a laugh out of me. He smiled, pleased. "There you go. Even if I can't tell you anything useful, at least I can make you laugh."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I decided on, "Thank you."

He shook his head. "It's not a favour or anything. I just want to see you smile."

Nick seemed to have a knack for saying things that I just couldn't reply to. So this time, I decided not to settle for a generic, awkward response, opting for a comfortable silence. Nick and I were slowly bridging the gap between us.

Nick seemed like the kind of person that would comfort you when no one else would. He appeared reserved; the stereotypical strong and silent type. But he possessed an undeniable compassion and honesty that rivalled Reid's own.

"For the record," Nick said, making me look back at him, "I told Nina that you deserved to know about Reid. Who cared for him more than you?"

///

I never thought that I'd spend my night rushing to my boyfriend's hospital room, who was bedridden with life-threatening injuries.

Time was slipping through my fingers, like sand in an hourglass. I watched the pale cream walls of the hospital rush by, as we walked. Once we reached Reid's hallway, Cleo put a hand on my shoulder.

"We'll go after you." Cleo said. "Unless you want us there."

"We're here if you need us." Nick said.

I didn't want to waste time, so I nodded and stood by Reid's door. They had already fitted a sign with his name to the door. I stared at the nameplate, then took the door handle and pulled it open.

I couldn't breathe once Reid came into sight. He was sitting in the hospital bed, looking to his side at something. There was no visible difference other than the gauze on his head and the padded area on his chest area.

Reid turned to look at the door. For the first time since the accident, our eyes connected. I know he felt something. Some emotion flickered across his face, and then it was gone. And he was smiling at me, the warmth in his eyes inviting and familiar. It destroyed me. Because I knew that smile, and it was never given to me. Reid was charming enough that he could smile at anyone, and make it look like it was specially theirs. But I knew that it wasn't genuine.

Once you really get to know a person, every slight discrepancy in their expression becomes as familiar as your own name. I could read my boyfriend better than most people. The smile he gave me wasn't the one that I kept in my heart.

There was a complete lack of recognition in his eyes. Starch boundaries of unfamiliarity enveloped us instead. In my periphery, I saw Jada, looking conflicted by her need to stay with Reid, clashing with a desire to comfort me. But I already knew. 

My heart broke free of its final, binding splinters. Piece by shattered piece, it crashed onto the unrelenting floor in front of me.

///