latch :: calum hood (rewriting)

xxiv.

I was never a huge fan of hospitals, or doctors for that matter. They would prick and pry me with weird things, check my blood pressure which was always rather low, and stick that thing in my mouth and told me to say "Ahh". Children were always crying in the waiting room and the magazines were outdated and had faded water stains. The lady in the front always had an attitude and wanted to go home to her bratty kids, and the doctors never failed to ask me if I was sexually active in front of my parents.

That is how my parents found out I was with Calum by the way.

But this time I wasn't going for a daily check-up, or because I was in a car that swerved off the road. I was here simply to see someone, to get the closure I felt I deserved.

"Hi," I greeted the lady with a smile, only to receive an eye-roll, due to her annoyance that she had to take out her headphones. "Do you know what room Jenni- I mean, Jennifer, Wilde is in?"

The woman groaned, pressing away on keys. "Shes in the NICU, third floor, sixth door on your left. A nurse will prep you before you enter." Her voice was raspy, the typical chain smoker rasp, but I thank her with a nod and continue to walk. It quite ironic, working in the medical field and being a smoker, even though they are well aware of the risks.

I got to the third floor, sixth door to the left and I saw a similar cascade of brown hair over a pink fluffy suit.

"Are you going to go into the NICU?" A lady asked me. I turned to her, nodding.  "Please put this on. It's for protection of the baby. Babies born prematurely are susceptible to practically any infection, so its better to be safe than sorry." She smiled widely at me, her blonde hair high in a pony tail. I thanked her, quickly shoving my phone in my jacket pocket and putting on what she had given me.

I left three soft knocks on the door, catching Jenni's attention, causing her to turn back to me. She rolled her eyes, sighing and adverting her attention back to something that was obviously much more important.

"Is there a reason why you are here?" She asked, I sensed some bitterness but I didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"I wanted to actually talked to you." I inched closer to her, my fingers hesitantly tracing a chair nearby, contemplating whether to pull it up to her.

"Thats a first." She commented back, causing us to both chuckle. She licked her dry lips and never took her eyes of her child. It was girl, like previously mentioned. You could barely even see her, over all the wires and contraptions that were essentially keeping her alive. Jenni had her hand, particularly her pinky, in the machine.

"I am waiting for her to wake up and latch onto my pinky" Jenni told me, her face slouchy. Her eyes were the same shade of my name and underneath them were shades of blue that didn't complement her eyes in the slightest. "I haven't had much sleep since they kinda took her out of me." She tried to add a forced chuckle, in attempt to lighten up the situation, but you can infer it didn't really help.

"I'm sorry." were the only words I could muster up. My mind raced and was still incapable of finding the right words to say in this situation, but how could anyone have the right words to say — what even are "the right words"?

"You don't have to be." She mentioned, exhaling deeply. "I'm surprised you're not out celebrating my downfall."

"Yeah bartender, can I have one shot of whiskey? I am celebrating the fact that my boyfriends fake baby mama almost lost her baby and got exposed. In fact, make that two shots." I joked, a combination of being light hearted and sarcastic.

"Okay that's not what I meant." A small smile appeared on her face. A moment of silence passed, the only thing making noise were the whirling of the machines.