Claim My Heart

Chapter 3

They both nodded and we walked towards the chairs and sat down. I decided to spit out the thing that's been bugging me in the back of my mind. "I'm sorry for the way I acted the other day, I...whatever I said was total bullshit and you guys didn't deserve it. I'm sorry." 

"It's fine." Ash smiled. "It wasn't entirely wrong though, we are all messed up in our own ways. I have a lot of things I need to reflect upon too." 

"It's true." Avi nodded. 

"Yeah, but still, the way I said it...it wasn't cool..." I trailed off, sheepishly. "It was mean." 

"Agreed." Avi gave me a small smile, and I found myself smiling too, probably for the first time in days. "I shouldn't have pushed you into talking to us, I knew you were having a hard time already, and you didn't need me preaching you on top of that." 

"So...are we good?" 

"Yeah, of course," Avi said, and Ash nodded. "We're good." 

Suddenly, Ash sat up straight and looked at me with wide eyes. "Have you called Sam?" 

Shit.

"No." I groaned. "Please call her, I can't do it."

Ash gave me a quick nod and got up, taking out her cellphone and hurried away from us. "I'll be back." 

Ten minutes later, she walked back into the waiting room with a scowl on her face. "She is the worst." 

I nodded in agreement, but Avi looked confused. "She is?" 

"Long story short, we hate her now, " Ash told him and he shook his head, rolling his eyes. "She was more concerned about why we were so late in informing her than her boyfriend being in a horrific accident."

We fell silent after a while, all of us lost in our own thoughts. I was exhausted and even though my eyelids felt like lead, I knew I couldn't fall asleep. The silence gave me time to get lost in my own head, time for my fears to overwhelm me and it was driving me crazy. "Please, keep talking. Don't be silent. I'm freaking out." 

"I'm just...I can't believe we are here, you know?  Facing this. How did all of this happen?" Avi muttered to himself.

"Life is unpredictable…" Ash mumbled. 

"Not helping, you guys." I groaned. 

Avi took a deep breath and said, "I'm making a promise to you guys. Once Neil is out of this hellhole, I'm going to go and tell my parents the truth. I'll tell them I'm not interested in studying medicine, and that I want to pursue a career in Art." 

"Seriously?" I looked at him, surprised and he nodded. 

"That's amazing!" Ash squeezed his hand. "We're proud of you." 

"Definitely, " I added, smiling. 

"You know what? I have a promise to make too." Ash shot up from her seat and looked at us. "When Neil gets better, I'm going to go see Ian and give him a piece of my mind. I promise to work on myself and grow a fucking backbone. I will love myself more and will always put myself first. I will not bend or compromise for any guy. Because I deserve the fucking best!" 

I let out a surprised chuckle and Avi gave Ash a high five. "Hell yeah!"

They both turned to look at me, expectantly, and surprisingly there was one thing that did actually pop up in my head. Something I've been trying to put off for a long time.

 "Okay." I took a deep breath. "When Neil gets out of here...I'm going to get some help to deal with all my shit...maybe I'll go see a therapist. And I'll tell my parents the truth about what happened last year."