Lesson Learned {Student Teacher Romance}

Chapter 28

Will glances over at me, his eyes seeking answers.

"She's at Auburn Community Hospital," I tell him.

He hits the gas without another word.

Will drops me at the hospital entrance and goes to park the car while I sprint inside. 

The waiting room is a zoo of bodies. I zip up to the front desk where a young woman in scrubs is answering an ever-ringing phone.

"Can I help you?" She eyes me warily from behind a plastic partition.

"I'm looking for Nancy Stavros, please," I beg her. 

"Are you family?" She looks at the flatscreen monitor in front of her. 

"Yes," I sigh. "I'm her daughter." 

The woman's brown eyes grow wide as Will's heady cologne alerts me to his arrival. He's slightly out of breath and his adorably mussed hair has the nurse practically drooling. 

"You can go on back to room forty-three," the woman says before turning to Will. "Your friend will have to stay out here for now."

Will is studying my features as if he's afraid I might break.

"You can go," I assure him.  "I can take it from here."

Will pulls me into a silent hug. He smells so good that I just want to stay here, protected in his arms.

"Call me if you need anything," his warm breath stirs my hair and my emotions.

After navigating the maze of eerily similar cream-colored hallways, I found my mom's room. 

It's not a private room, so there are three beds with plastic shower curtains drawn down the center to divide each impersonal space. 

My mom's matted hair is propped up with pillows but she's fast asleep and she's hooked up to an intervenous device.

"Hello," a new person greets me. 

I spin and find a lanky gentleman dressed in a lab coat with a professionally detached smile.

"I'm Nancy's daughter," I whisper and point at my mom.

"Nancy is recovering," he checks the tablet in his hands. "But she's going to be ok. Her body temperature was dangerously low and she was unresponsive when they brought her in, but we pumped her stomach. She should wake up in the next couple of hours." 

"Thank you," I sigh.

"Does your mother have a history of suicidal behavior?" The doctor asks as I move closer to the bed.

"Not that I know of," I can't hide the shock reverberating through me. 

"Your mother had a lot of pills in her system," his tone is clinical, which doesn't match the severity of the word he's using.

I hug my ribs and sort through all the years of addiction my mom has struggled through. 

I've taken care of my mom since I was a child. How could I miss something like this? 

The room is spinning and my hearing is fuzzy as I try and reconcile what the doctor is telling me. 

I collapse into the only plastic chair in the room to watch my mom sleep until a different doctor came in to let me know that visiting hours were over. 

So, I drug myself back to the waiting room to call my grandparents. 

When I emerge through the double doors, Will is sitting in one of the low-carpeted chairs and chatting on his cell phone. He's possibly the only human on earth that can look good in fluorescent lighting. 

"Can I call you back?" Our eyes lock as I approach him. "Yes, of course, I'll call as soon as I can. Love you too."

"How is she?" He asks me. 

"She's stable," I'm barely even able to say the words without crying now. "They asked if she was suicidal." 

"Jesus," Will stands up to hug me to his muscled chest. "How are you?" 

"I need to call my grandparents," I mumble into his sweater to taste the tears streaming down my face.

Will stays by my side while I call Agnes and Otis to give them a brief update. They're rightfully worried about what's going to happen to my mom, but I can't give them answers that I don't have. 

Visiting hours are over and I don't want to go. I don't want to leave my mom alone in the hospital, and even though I don't want to say it out loud, I don't want to be alone either. 

"Um, thanks for sticking around, Will," I wrap my arms around my middle again to ease my aching insides. "Could you give me a ride to my friend's house?" 

"It's almost nine o'clock at night," he remarks.

"It is? Oh, Will, I'm so sorry!" My shoulders slump as I glance at the big 'ole digital clock on the wall. "Oh my goodness it's so late. I feel awful! Um, it's too late to go to Keri's, so could you take me home?"

"I'm not sure you should be alone right now," Will frowns.

"Well, it's too late to go to Keri's," I fret. "And my grandparents are in bed by six, so they're out."

"I could stay at your house tonight?" Will scowls at his own suggestion. "On the couch, mind you." 

"No!" I cry out as a few people in the waiting room turn to give us curious looks. "I mean, not, no way you can't come over because that would be a double negative. I mean, our house isn't fit for guests."  

The idea of Will staying in our dank little trailer is too much. I think he's seen enough of my depressingly awful life for now.

"Sorry, did you want some time alone?" Will's expression clouds over. 

"No," I sniffle and hug my ribs even tighter. "I really don't want to be alone with my thoughts right now."

"Then stay with me," Will breathes.