❝ I'm scared, scared I'll go back to being broken now that he isn't here to fix me anymore❞
Before, Florence Clarke was hospitalised for having anorexia, she was put on The List at Phillipson High and named the Fat Girl, at first Oakwood Clinic seem...
Florence walked out of the hospital feeling mixed emotions to say the least, she didn't know what was happening or what she could do about it all she knew was that she needed to escape the hospital, and Cole's confused expression as he regarded her, so to him she was a girl he had briefly met, two paths that had crossed with nothing ever coming from their meeting.
Cold air seeped into her lungs and she breathed it in gratefully, she hadn't realised how confined the walls had been in there, how musty the air had been.
Everything had seemed so simple merely ten minutes ago, she had been happy, happy to know where she stood and what was going on but now all she felt was confused and sick to her stomach, Charlie's words revolved round and round in her mind like clothes in a washing machine and she couldn't get them out no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on the cement or the cars driving up and down the long road they were all she focused on.
She didn't want to go back into the hospital, it seemed to be a place of only unhappiness at this point in time, but she had no choice, it was just one of the many inevitable things about that day.
Charlie was waiting outside the room, her arms crossed resolutely.
"Wow Florence, you might have to think of a different way to deal with your problems, other than running away from them at every opportunity"
She was right, but Florence was desperate.
"And what do I do Charlie, do I just walk in there and introduce myself like we didn't share a flat together?"
Charlie nodded.
"That's exactly what your going to do"
And she gave her a shove.
Cole was sitting upright when she went in, alone.
"Hi..." she said shifting her feet awkwardly, what was she even doing?
"Hello"
His eyes seemed to be drinking in her entire appearance and there was a definite change in his face, it wasn't as hard as it had always been, it was open, trusting and soft.
He looked more like Chase than he had ever had before.
"So we know each other, do we get along?"
She couldn't help but laugh, although this situation really shouldn't have been been funny.
"Well I wouldn't say we get along exactly, yes we live in the same flat but we fight more than anything, but in the end it usually turns out okay, you see we're good at fighting but we're also good at fixing me and you..."
She realised how very true that was, the two of them seemed to only fight when they needed a resolution, that sounded blindingly obvious but they never fought for the sake of fighting and the outcome was always better afterwards.
"And I knew your brother, Charlie told me you still remember him... and what happened he was a nurse at Oakwood Clinic and a really great friend of mine, thats actually how we both ended up sharing a flat, Chase left me his flat in his will and I didn't really want to live alone so somehow we both ended up there"
Okay, so she was bending the facts here just a little bit, but there was no point in mentioning the fact that Chase had basically orchestrated the entire thing, he needed time to adjust after all.
"So I know how I ended up here, the doctors told me I was in an accident but why was I in an accident?"
He was fully examining her now like he wanted to sense her honesty in her response to him.
She didn't want to answer, this was what she had been dreading.
"My family invited you over to dinner.. and then there was an argument and you ran out and there was a car"
She was already shaking as she spoke and she couldn't go on, she just couldn't.
"Hug me again"
Now that was a surprise.
"Um..."
"I don't know how to describe it but I've felt nothing but confused until your burst into this room and hugged me to death, everyone thinks I need to heal and try to remember in peace but I don't want that"
It made sense.
Gingerly, she reached forwards and pulled Cole towards her, arms enveloping him and breathing in the Cole scent that still lingered under the strong chemically hospital smell.
And she felt it too, like they were the same people they had been before, something about holding on with all their might, clinging on to the past and turning their backs to the future made her feel connected to him in a way that she hadn't felt for a long time.
She wouldn't mention the diary, not now, not yet.
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