Sugar // Marliza

15

- Eliza -

Miscarriage complications. That's what Maria passed out from, and what the doctors are trying to fix.

Alex and I were pretty much shoved out of the room, left to wait in the uncomfortable chairs in the lobby, since sitting in the hallway took up too much space.

"Eliza, are you sure you're okay?" He asked me for probably the fourth time in half an hour. I've just been staring off into space. I don't even remember what my previous answers were to the question.

"I'm fine." I mumbled after a moment, not really knowing what else to say. What would I tell him? Oh, I'm absolutely amazing because the girl that I'm in love with just lost the baby we planned on raising together, and then passed out in an unimaginable amount of pain?

"Hey, wanna hear another story from when I was young?" He asked me, trying to distract me the way he did with Maria earlier. I nodded and he hugged me, letting me lean against his shoulder as he spoke. His voice was oddly soothing, and his accent always stuck out a little more when he told stories from his childhood, as if he was living it again in Nevis and not New York.

"When I was a little kid, my mama used to sing to me when I was sad or hurt or upset. I remember one time, I had this stuffed animal and some kid stole it from me while I was with my dad, before he left. I went home crying, since I was probably 4 or so, and I told my mama. And she wrapped me up in her arms and held me, and she sang whatever song popped in her head first. She was a beautiful singer, and it always made me forget whatever I was upset about. That night, after I fell asleep, she went out and bought that lion stuffed animal and put it next to me, so it was there when I woke up." He said. I couldn't see his face, but I knew from all the other times we'd talked about his past what it looked like.

He probably has a small smile on his face, but his eyes are sad and glistening with unshed tears. I guarantee it. He always gets emotional when he talks about his past, especially his mom. But I can see why, they clearly had a very special bond and he had said more than once that he viewed her as his hero, so losing her must've been absolutely devastating.

I hugged him for a moment, letting him pull himself together. He had said numerous times before that he hated when people saw him crying, so everytime he got like this, I purposely made sure to give him a little bit of time to calm down.

"She sounds amazing, Alex. I know I've said it before but every story you tell me just makes me believe it more. I really wish that I could've had the chance to meet her. After all, she made you, and you're obviously the best friend anyone could ever have, so she must've been just as amazing as you are." I said, rubbing his back. He rubbed at his face a little, resting his head in his hands.

"She was." He whispered, still keeping his head down. I didn't tell him that I saw the tears running down his cheeks, just hugged him again.

After that, we sort of just sat there and waited, until a doctor rolled Maria out of the room in a wheelchair, much to my surprise.

"What's going on?" I asked, shocked that my girlfriend (I can't believe I can finally call her that) had passed out less than three hours ago and now they were just letting us leave.

"Well, we figured out that nothing was really wrong. Miscarriages can lead to much more painful cramps, which is probably why she passed out. We wrote her a prescription for some pain meds but other than that, she's ready to go. Do you have a car?" The doctor said.

"Oh! Yeah, I have a car. Alex, do you wanna meet us at the dorms?" I asked him. He shrugged a bit, eyes still red.

"I'll let you two be together for a bit. I think I'm just gonna go back to my dorm and hang out." He said. I nodded and hugged him tightly.

"Don't hesitate to call if you need anything, ok?I know how you can get stuck in your head after talking about your past." I whispered. He nodded against my shoulder before awkwardly trying to hug Maria in her wheelchair, then waving and leaving.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked her. She nodded, looking exhausted. She had all of Alex gifts resting on her lap and held onto them tightly as the doctor wheeled her out to the car.

We loaded up the gifts in the backseat before having Maria get into the passengers side. Soon enough, we were back at my dorm. Angelica luckily wasn't home, and I locked the door to make sure she wouldn't just walk in. She had a tendency of ranting very loudly about her day as soon as she got home, and that's not what I needed right now.

Maria and I sat in my bed together, laying on the giant teddy bears, eating the chocolates Alex had brought. Every once in a while, Maria would grab her stomach and curl into a little ball, groaning in pain.

"Baby, do you want me to go get that prescription?" I would ask her every time. But she always just shook her head and pushed through it.

We cuddled for hours on end, talking and trying to cheer each other up since we were both still devastated with the loss of the baby.

We ended up falling asleep in each other's arms, at peace for just a moment until Maria woke up sobbing at 2am.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? I'm right here, it's okay." I said, pulling her close to me and kissing her forehead gently.

"I had a nightmare... about the b-baby and James a-and losing you t-too, and it hurts." She hiccuped.

"Oh, love. I'm not going to leave you, I promise. And James is in jail, and you have nothing to worry about. I'm right here, alright? Just say the word and I'll do anything for you. I promise." I said, stroking her hair.

"I just want it to stop..." she mumbled.

"Want what to stop, honey?"

"The pain and the sadness and the fear that something's gonna go wrong." She said. I pulled her close to me and kissed her, so softly that it was almost like we weren't even kissing.

"I'll get the meds and the heating pad and I'll stay up all night talking to you and making you smile and convincing you that everything is going to turn out okay. I know that James didn't do that for you, but I'm not him. I truly do care about you and I love you and I'm not afraid to help you." I said. Suddenly, she sat up and looked at me.

"What did you say?" She said.

"Did I say something wrong?" I said, internally panicking.

"No! You said I love you..." she smiled, looking at me with an unreadable expression in her eyes.

"Oh! Um... I mean it. It might be way too soon, but over the past few months I've fallen for you hard, and I'm so happy that you're finally my girlfriend. I love you." I said.

"I love you too." She whispered, suddenly throwing her arms around me and kissing me over and over, giggling.

a/n: ive missed this book omg