Ash's Darling | ✔

Chapter 66

I kissed her once more before we were interpreted by the doctor rushing in the door, stopping when he saw Mae was awake. "Well that explains why her heart rate went up." He laughed, seeing us pull away from our kiss when we noticed him come in.

I kissed the top of Esther's head after chuckling. "I'll be right back, darling, I need to call everyone."

She nodded and turned her attention to the doctor as he started asking her questions and I walked into the hallway, pulling my phone out of my back pocket. I dialed Seth's number first, knowing there was a high chance Indiana was with him and it would save me from having to call her too. He picked up on the second ring. "Hey, Ash–"

I cut him off, not wanting to waste time since I still had to call our other friends. "She's awake."

"Are you serious?" Indi's voice came from somewhere in the background, letting me know I was right about them being together.

"Yes. The doctor's asking her questions right now to check up on her."

"We'll be there soon." Seth told me before ending the phone call.

I searched through my contacts before stopping at Josie's number and calling it. "Hey." She picked up quickly.

"Hey, Esther's awake, you can come–" I was cut off by the call ending and I shook my head, knowing she had heard that and immediately grabbed her things so she could come see her sister.

I called Kyle to let him and Tim know before calling my mom to let her know too. She didn't pick up so I left a voicemail, telling her Esther was awake and she could come see her when she woke up.

After calling everyone, I made my way back into Esther's room, passing her doctor as he left. She smiled at me and opened her arms as I walked in, making me chuckle. "You look adorable, darling."

I walked over to her bed and climbed in next to her, careful not to hit any wires as I laid down and pulled her into me. I rested my head on her chest as my eyes became heavy. Now that she was awake and well, my body was starting to catch up to me and I realized how tired I was.

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I was woken up some time later by the hospital room door opening and multiple sets of footsteps coming closer to Esther and I. I opened my eyes, seeing Indiana, Josie, and Seth all coming into the room. Indi and Josie rushed towards Esther as she smiled at them, leaning away from me to give them both a hug.

"Finally get enough beauty sleep?" Josie joked as she pulled away from their hug, letting Indi lean in to hug Esther.

Mae smiled and shook her head amusedly as she and Indi pulled away from their hug. "I was tired, sue me."

Indi scoffed jokingly. "Trust me, I think we all want to sue you for emotional damage right now. You scared the shit out of us."

Before anyone else could say anything else Tim and Kyle barged through the door, holding bags of fast food in their hands. "We were just pulling out of the drive thru when you called us, sorry we took so long." Tim spoke breathlessly.

"It's fine, Tim. They just got here too." I told him, nodding my head towards Josie, Indi and Seth.

"How are you feeling?" Kyle asked, turning his attention to Esther who was still wrapped in my arms.

She absentmindedly ran her fingers through my hair as she answered. "I'm good, a little tired but good."

A nurse popped her head in the door, making all of our attention turn to her. "I know she just woke up but the doctor wants Mrs Dalloway to rest." She informed us. "You all can stay for another few minutes but after that I'll have to ask you to leave unless you're family." After seeing us all nod, she left the doorway so we could all talk to Mae for a couple minutes more.

"Mrs Dalloway?" Esther questioned the name as she looked at me.

I smiled sheepishly. "I might've told them you were my wife so I could stay after visiting hours."

She smiled and shook her head as I lifted my head off her chest and reached up, sealing her lips with mine. "I love you." She mumbled against my lips.

"I love you." I mumbled back before continuing our kiss, not caring that our friends were watching. For every second of every day of the past week I had worried I wouldn't get to kiss her again; I worried I would never get to tell her I loved her because I was too much of a pussy to tell her before. I worried so fucking much that now I didn't care who was or wasn't judging us, – as if I ever cared before – our friends could fuck off if they had a problem with it.

"Thank fucking God you two finally admitted it." Seth spoke, making Esther pull away and causing me to let out a groan.

"Yeah yeah, shut up." I groaned. He loved to rub it in when he was right and I was too tired for that shit at the moment.

Seth laughed before turning towards Tim and Kyle. "How much food did you get?"

Tim looked around at all of us before shaking his head. "I got enough for all of us except Esther, I didn't think she would wake up while we were gone."

"That's fine, give my food to Mae." I told them, easily solving the dilemma.

Kyle didn't let it go as easily as I would've wished. "You haven't eaten in days, Ash, you need food too."

Mae's head snapped to me as I glared at Kyle, knowing she would worry about me now. "Fuck you." I mumbled to him before letting Esther grab the side of my face in her hands and make me look at her.

"Why the hell haven't you been eating Ash?" She asked quickly, looking over my face as she now saw the weight I had lost.

"Leave our food on the table and get out." I spoke to our friends while not taking my eyes off of Mae.

I watched Kyle set our food down on the table next to Mae's bed before he followed everyone else out of the room.

Esther watched him leave before turning back to me. "Answer the question, Ash."

I sighed, sitting up as Mae did the same, letting her hands drop from the sides of my face. "I was too worried about you. I didn't care about eating, my only focus was you." I admitted. "You fucking scared me, darling." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before tears could escape my eyes.

Mae bit her bottom lip as her left hand came back up to cup my face once more. "I'm sorry. I need you to take care of yourself though. What would I have done if I woke up and you weren't there because you passed out from lack of food– or even lack of water?"

I shook my head and tried to respond but she stopped me as she continued. "I would've been heartbroken, Ash. I can't live without you. Promise me you'll take care of yourself from now on, no matter what."

I shook my head once more. "Only if you promise me you'll stop coming to the hospital."

Mae smiled. "Deal."

I smiled back at her and leaned over to grab the two cheeseburgers off the small table behind her, setting them in her lap. "Eat."

She raised her eyebrow as she glanced from me to the two burgers in her lap as if to say 'Really?'

I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to win as I took one of the burgers and unwrapped it, seeing her smile and unwrap hers too.

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Author notes:

I know this is kind of a short chapter but the next chapter is 4,000 words long so I feel like that'll make up for this one. 

Also, I have finally planned it out and this book will only have two or three more chapters, I want it to be longer just as much as you guys do but all good things must come to an end. :( I will be writing Seth's Princess after this one though so I hope y'all will give that one a chance just like you gave Ash's Darling, who knows maybe you'll love it just as much as y'all love this one. 

Okay I'm going to go before I start crying, I love y'all.

xoxo ~ Alex