Promises (Jack Gilinsky)

Chapter 60

Charlotte's POV:

I wake up to someone shaking me on the shoulder. At first, I just groan and turn away, not thinking of where I am. But, when I remember what all happened in the past 24 hours, I open my eyes instantly. I look to see Nash standing in front of me with a Taco Bell bag in his hand and a small smile on his face.

"Well good morning." He says,turning to Johnson and trying to wake him up as well. I don't know what time we fell asleep last night, but I do know that I spent the whole night with my head on Johnson's shoulder and leaning into him.

"What time is it?" I ask as I rub my eyes.

"About six thirty." Nash says. When he finally succeeds in waking up the boy beside me, he sits in the chair across from us and hands us the bag with the food. Johnson wastes no time in taking out whatever his hand landed on first, but I, on the other hand, don't.

"So, why exactly did you come here at six thirty in the morning?" I question Nash.

"Well I wanted to stop by before school to see if there was any news on Jack and I figured that you guys probably hadn't eaten so... here I am."

"Well," Johnson begins, still chewing on his food, "we haven't heard anything from Jack's parents, so there probably hasn't been much change."

Nash nods his head a little bit, and looks back at me.

"So, how do you feel, Charlotte?" He asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Like how are you feeling about all of this?" I swear he sounds like a therapist when he says it.

"Okay, I guess." I mumble as I shrug my shoulders.

He doesn't say anything, but looks at me like he knows that I'm lying. He knows that I'm not alright. He knows it, Johnson knows it, the guys know it. This whole damn hospital knows it. It's not exactly difficult to tell when I'm lying. Or upset.

"I guess I should get going." Nash says as he stands up. "Are either of you coming to school today?"

The question is more directed towards Johnson considering that Nash probably already knows my answer. So I look over at him to see his answer.

"No, I think I'm gonna stay here with Charlotte."

"Okay, then I'll see you both later. We're all gonna come back after school, so enjoy the quiet while it lasts." Nash says as he exits the room.

I glance over at Johsnon as he finishes the last of his food. When he sees me looking at him, he speaks up. "Aren't you gonna eat?"

"No, I'm not hungry."

He sighs and shakes his head a little. "You know you have to eat, Charlotte. You can't starve yourself until this is all over."

"I'm not starving myself. I'm just not hungry. There's a difference, you know." I say, a little annoyed. It's not like I haven't eaten in days. I just ate last night. And besides, it's not really anybody's business but mine.

"I'm just saying..." he says more to himself than to me.

"Yeah, you're trying to butt into my business, and it's kinda pissing me off." I snap.

"Charlotte, clam down. I'm just saying that you should eat. I'm not trying to run your life. I just don't want you to get into any bad habits. Believe it or not, I actually do care about you."

I don't say anything. I just sit back into my chair and get out my phone. I see that I have a few texts from the guys. I only look at the first ones I see, which happen to be from Sam.

Sam: Hey, just wanted to see how you're doing. We're coming by after school, so I'll see you later.

I don't respond to the message. It's nice to see that people do actually care, especially since it's been so hard to believe lately. But, I'm just not in the mood to talk to anyone. Last night, all I wanted was to be around people so that I felt better, but now, all I want is to be left alone. The only person that I actually want to see is the one that I can't.

"Hey, um, I'm gonna go walk around for a little." I tell Johnson as I stand up from my chair.

"Uh, ok, just be careful." he says with a kind of worried expression. I just nod and start to walk down the hallway.

I look at my phone and see that it's only seven thirty. I have a lot of time to kill.

I go straight towards the elevator and wait for it to open. Once it does, I'm happy to see that there's nobody in there. So, I walk in, close my eyes, and press a random button, letting it take me wherever. I wait for the doors to open, and when they do, I see that I've stumbled right into the floor where all of the pregnant women give birth.

I take slow steps, not wanting to disturb anything. It's not that it's quiet or anything. There's screaming all over the place. But, I just feel like my presence is in such a delicate place, and I'm afraid to disturb it.

I walk past a few rooms where there are women obviously in labor. It's the things like these that make me scared to have kids.

As I keep walking, I come to huge glass window showing into another room. I look into it and see that it's the room where they take the newborn babies before they go home.

I examine the tiny faces, wondering what their futures will bring them. Then, I can't help but feel just guilty and upset thinking that these innocent souls will have to go through the same kind of shit I went through. It just doesn't seem fair.

I continue walking, and eventually find myself going back to the elevator. Looking at the clock, I see that I've killed an hour walking around this floor alone. I decide that I could waste a lot mor time if I keep doing this.

So, I do what I did before. I press a random floor number and wait to see where it takes me.