She's Bad News

Chapter 20

When it started to rain, I barely even noticed because I was so focused on not focusing on Flynn and when I got to the edge of the school parking lot, I simply stopped and stared at the building in front of me, soaked to the bone but not ready to go inside.

He was always there for me, wasn’t he? When I’d gotten that concussion, he’d been the one to bring me to the hospital and he’d stayed up all night for me. He’d wasted countless hours tutoring me and now he was in the hospital, alone?

When the bell rang signalling the beginning of school, it settled the issue. I was already late for homeroom anyway so I might as well stop at the hospital for a while.

So I kept walking. The hospital was only a few blocks from the school and it didn’t take me long to get there. When I stepped inside the sliding doors of the emergency room, I shivered slightly, feeling a chill from being drenched but my eyes were scanning the seats, looking for Flynn.

He was sitting near the back of the room, his shoulders hunched forward, his arms crossed over his chest as he slumped, looking exhausted.

Suddenly, I stiffened, realizing that I was acting like a complete idiot. Had I not spent the morning contemplating how I was going to avoid him after all that stuff he said the night before? After that kiss?

So what the hell was I doing there?

I took a step back just as Flynn’s eyes slid closed and frown lines marred his forehead, halting me in my tracks. Something was wrong.

The voice in my head was telling me I was being dumb, that if I wanted to leave unscathed, I needed to cut myself off from everyone here, including Flynn.

But my feet weren’t listening to the voice because I was walking towards him, my sneakers squeaking on the tile flooring, my jeans dripping water, leaving a trail behind me until I came to a stop in front of him.

He must have heard my approach because he opened his eyes and turned his head slightly to look at me. “Cory?” he asked, his voice rough, like he’d just woken up. He blinked a couple times like he thought maybe I wasn’t real.

“Hey,” I said, feeling awkward, wishing I’d come up with a good excuse to be there that had nothing to do with the odd sense that he needed someone with him, that maybe he shouldn’t be alone because being alone...

It sucked.

“I was in the neighbourhood,” I said lamely, giving him a half-ass smile and a shrug.

His eyes widened and he straightened from his seat, standing slowly, not once taking his eyes off me.

I pushed a strand of sodden hair off my face, barely resisting the urge to shift from foot to foot as he rose to his full height

“I─”

“C’mon,” he grumbled, cutting me off as he gripped my wrist and dragged me from the emergency room, down a hallway until I was completely lost.

“Flynn, what─”

“Here,” he said, pointing to the woman’s washroom we were standing in front of.

“But I don’t have to go,” I said, raising my eyebrows at him.

Then he took off his shirt.

“Um,” I said, my voice escaping me on a breath.

“Take it.” He held out his sweater to me, pulling down the t-shirt he was still wearing covering up the span of skin that had been exposed when he’d tugged off the grey hoodie he’d had on top.