"Are you really going to ignore me?"Alex asks while I continue to avoid engaging in a conversation with him.
I keep my gaze locked on a book I kept by my bed table.I flip the pages of the book pretending I was reading it but in all honestly I couldn't concentrate on the words written but was to busy struggling not to focus on the boy who had sneaked into my room.
"Kyliiiiiiiiiiiie"He whines shaking my arm gently like a four year old asking for his toy truck.
"Did you just call me Kylie?"I ask my eyebrows furrowed and my voice almost to serious for me to recognize as me own.
"Finally!"He sighs throwing his had back and dramatizing."If you avoided me any longer I would have lost it."He exclaims.
"You avoided me for a good two years."I fire at me rolling my eyes.
"I thought we were over this!"He throws his hand up in the air.Pushing himself off my bed and starts walking around my bed room floor.
"All you said was you wanted to make sure I didn't end up getting involved."I recall.I watch him turn around. And start walking backwards.
"That because I needed you as far away from the situation as possible."He says his eyes meeting mine.
"You don't get to decide if I get involved in something or not."I tell him putting my book down."You didn't even give me a proper explanation."I go on.
I catch the white wire on the floor my vision locking in the cord that connected my laptop to the outlet.
"Well I have a say in who I let get hurt,Katie."He starts stepping closer to the wire without noticing."And I won't let that be-"
"Watch out!"I call out just as he tumbled onto my floor.His foot getting caught in the wire.
A thud goes off as his body connects with my floorboards and I nearly cringe at the sound.
"Are you alright?"I ask him getting up from my bed and making my way over to him.He just lays there on my floor staring up at my ceiling.
"Lay with me."He says softly ignoring my concern and instead pretending he'd done all this on purpose.
"What?"I ask my eyebrows furrowing in confusion as I looked down at him.
"Lay with me."He repeats again moving over to make more room as if there wasn't already enough room on my floor.I sit next to him on my floor feeling so much smaller now that I was only a head taller then my bed.I let out a sigh before letting my head fall back gently on the hard wood.
"Now what?"I ask letting the feeling of the cold tiles on my skin soak in.
"There was this guy,"He begins."After my father passed."A pause settles in.I turn to look at Alex to see him staring at my ceiling almost as if he was reliving what had happened in his head."he-"
"You don't need to do this."I cut him off knowing how much admitting what had happened was killing him.
"Katie."He turns to look at me.
"We can take our time."I smile at him out stretching my hand until my fingers rested on top of his own fingers.
I watch the soft smile on his face feeling his fingers shift till they rest on top of mine before his fingers start to entwine with mine.
I can't stop myself from smiling harder letting my teeth peek out.
"Why did I ever leave?"He asks more himself then mine,his hands holding me tighter.
"That's what I wanna know."I say turning my head to stare back at my ceiling.
"What time is it?"Alex asks sitting up quickly our hands slip away from each other's hold and it's almost like reality dumped an ice cold bucket of water over him.
"Nearly two."I specify sitting up and looking at the clock that rested on my desk.
"I should get going."He says standing quickly before stretching out his arm for me to take after.
After we're both standing he starts heading towards the window.
"Alex."I call.
"Hm"He replied turning back to me his hands opening the window at just a crack before he pauses.
"Take the front door."I laugh not wanting him to do any more physical damage then he'd probably already done.
"Good idea."
I walk behind him as he makes his way down the stairs and down the hallway.
"I'll see you soon."He says turning to look at me before he leaves through my door.
"See you."I murmur my voice softer before he turns and takes his leave.
🌊
"I told you already my red sneakers are ruined!"I speak into my phone.
"what about the black ones?"Emily asks desperation clear in her voice.
"What if I give you the white ones?"I ask her feeling bad for her.
"Those look like nurse shoes."She nags.
"Their tennis shoes"I nearly yell into the floor before going on a manhunt in my closet for a pair of leggings.
"I'll be by your house in five minutes."Emily finally says.
"The keys under the mat."I tell her before ending the call and resting my phone on my desk as I continue searching for the black tights.
I hear the door open and shut down stairs before hearing soft patters on the hallway tiles before the sound of my kitchen pantry being opened and shut.
I roll my eyes at just the sound knowing what it meant.Emily was here.I find my tights lying next to an old box in the back of my closet and am nearly tempted to go through the contents of it before stopping myself and quickly pulling on my pants and rushing downstairs.
"we have a good thirty minutes to get to the hospital before we're late for our shifts."Emily immediately starts just as I enter through the kitchen.
"Then let's go."I tell her grabbing an apple from the fruit basket resting on my dining table.
"Are you seriously going to wear that?"She asks giving me a look over.
"Yeah,what's wrong with it?"I ask looking down at my clothing of choice to see if there was a stain on it or something.
"You look like Gothic teddy bear."She alerts me as I take a bite from my apple.I roll my eyes at her before replying.
"I always dress like this."I tell her,I was wearing a plain black sweatshirt with black leggings and my black sneakers.
"Dakota's gonna think of you as a slob."Emily says walking towards my fridge and pouring herself a glass of orange juice."You think he can take you to the gala?"She asks before taking a sip from her mug.
"I don't think the hospital will let a patient out to go to a high school dance."I retort.
"Isn't he in high school though?"She asks me as if I have the whole 101 on Dakota.
"He's nineteen,"I tell her letting her figure out the rest.
"So if you date it'll be legal."She shimmies her shoulders while she speaks as if hinting on the idea.
"Why are you trying to set me up with everyone?"I ask her"I just got out a relationship."I groan thieving my head back.
"Your last relation ended a week ago."She tries to fire back.
"It's only been a week."I tell her again.
"We're gonna be late lets go!"She switches the conversation before heading towards my door.I follow her lead and head into my car and pretty soon we're on our way down the hospital.
🏯
"Dakota Flonase had a visitor this week."May the lady who normally worked behind the desk brags."He was a tall boy with dark hair,he looked around your age."She describes as I work my I get through the file cabinet searching for Dakotas file.
"That's kinda odd."I let her know."He hasn't had a visitor since the night after his accident."I remember from last week when I last held the file.
"That's what I was thinking."May agreed before typing things up in her computer."It's like after you visited him,he's had nothing but luck"
"Having a friend visit you isn't luck."I say finally locating his file and pulling out the folder.
"But he only had that visitor after you saw him."
"It was a coincidence."I nod my head skimming over his files once more.
"You should go see him."May says the wheels on her chair moving as she rolled around her desk and started shuffling through paper works.
"I will,"I murmur to focused on the information at hand to give a proper response.
The phone rings and May answers the call sounding like a completely different person when she started speaking into the phone.
I send her a wave as I leave to which she returns with a smile and mouths the words 'good luck'.
I make my way to the elevator my hands embracing the files tightly as people pass me by on their way.
After landing on the thirteenth floor I start walking towards his room.Feeling my hands begin to sweat from nervousness.What if he doesn't like me anymore?What if he realized talking to me was an error?
Swallowing my dignity and hoping to keep from embarrassment I step into the room only to see a lab coat towering over Dakotas bed and a nurse in blue holding a needle against Dakotas skin.His eyes were on the wall as if he didn't feel the price of the needle or had no concern about the doctor being there.
As the door closes all eyes are on me.
""Katie."I hear first my name spilling from his mouth a small smile on his face before I smile back giving a small wave.
"Hi."I squeak out still standing by the door."is this a bad time?"I ask knowing fully well about boundaries and privacy."I could come back later."I offer.
"Ms.Serrora"Dr.Davis smiles at me."Are you working with Mr.Flonase?"He asks quickly.
I nod my head and muster a yes before he speaks again.
"What's going on?"I ask finally.
"I'm dying."Dakota immediately says his voice with no emotion or humor.My eyes go wide in shock.He was totally kidding.Right?
Dr.Davis begins laughing as if he found humor in Dakotas words.
"We need to run tests on Dakota to make make sure he is fully stable."Dr.Davis ushers before the nurse pulls the last test tube out and connects it with the tube that connected the needle inside of him.
I move my eye sight from the blood traveling from Dakotas veins to the test tube.I felt goosebumps arise in my arms at the thought of instead of him it was me giving my blood.
After they're done with what they needed they take there leave,leaving me and Dakota on our own.
"How many tubes did they take?"I ask him edging my way closer to him.
"Every time someone walks in with that file I feel like they'll find something about me they shouldn't."He murmurs his eyes on the file I'd kept on my side.
"What could be in this file you don't like?"I ask him staring at how his face looked ready to grab the file and tear it apart.
"Nothing."He says."how was your week?"He asks turning to look at me with a smile.
"Tiresome."I reply before asking him"How was yours?"
"Like it always is."He replies.
"I heard you had a visitor."I wiggle my eyebrows at him as a gesture for him to tell me about it.
"He was a distant friend."He starts."I hadn't seen him for a while."He chuckles a little at the end like it were funny.
"How long did he stay?"I ask turning my head to the side.
"Not as long as he should have."Dakota speaks and I could almost hear the sorrow in his voice."He had things to say to me."He goes in."Things he felt important."He starts and the tightening of his jaws gives me the impression he's angered by whatever happened that day.
"What happened?"I ask him my voice soft and just a bit above a whisper.His eyes lock on me.
"Had your hair always been that red?"He asks switching the subject.
"My hairs brown."I reply confused.
"It looks more red right now."He defends.
"I'm pretty sure it's brown."I laugh. A silence settles itself into the room m.
"I was driving."He starts,I throw his a confused look but he wasn't looking at me. Instead at his favorite wall. He only continues."I'd gotten in a fight that night it was nearly three am."He begins again.
"A black eye and nine broken ribs.It felt like I was on fire."He explains." I should of seen them coming. I should've known how it would end."
"Who were you fighting?"I ask him setting the file down on the table near his bed and sitting on the chair.
"At first there was three but after that they kept coming one after another. Pretty soon it was just a giant mass of men all aiming in different directions."His voice shake bring to like how real what happened to him was."I thought it was over.My brother- he was with me."He lets out a soft chuckle at the end when he mentions his brother like it were funny."It was his fight honestly."He admits."But he needed me there."He defends. "He had a habit of calling me in abnormal times, he also had a habit of getting involved with people he shouldn't."
I stay silent listening to everything he was saying, holding onto every word.
"When we'd finally managed to get away from the men I grabbed his car keys."I hold my breath knowing what was coming."It was like a small part of me.In back of my head I knew it wasn't over."He closes his eyes letting out a breath before taking in a deep breathe again.
"I knew they weren't done."He admits."So I took his car and threw my keys at him and left him."He goes on."I knew he'd get home safe. I knew he'd find his way. I knew it would be better for me to take the hit rather then risking the chance of losing him."
He'd done this on purpose.He knew.I think to myself.
"I was going through a tunnel,I remember the yellow lights as I drove,I was going way over the speed limit."He lets or another chuckle know. "I remember how tight I'd gripped the steering wheel, I was planning for the worst. Worse then this."He says gesturing to being in a hospital.
"You don't need to tell me."I offer noticing how much his voice was shaking when he was talking now, in my head I was remembering how much pain it brought Alex last night when he was trying to tell me what had happened and all I could think of was how similar the pain Dakota must be feeling while he struggles to tell me.
"But I need too."He says."I need to tell someone."and then he starts again."I remember seeing a car,heading straight towards me."He admits."I knew this was it,I remember seeing my mothers face when I closed my eyes and let the impact happen.I k didn't swerve my car,I didn't even slow down.I didn't try to prevent it.I let it happen."His voice cracks when he speaks of his mother.
"I remember how my mother promised me she'd come back for me when she left me alone years ago."He says before looking at me.His eyes were water and his voice shaky."It a funny when you think about it really."He laughs and I offer a sad smile at him.
"I was preparing myself for death,preparing myself for the worst and all I-"he pauses taking a shaky breathe before starting again"all I can think of was about the women who left me,the women who gave up on me."The angst in his voice gave me an insight of all the emotions he was going through.
"Dakota,please."I murmur leaving my chair and sitting on his bed my instincts take over and I wrap my arms around him without thinking.He leans into me his head resting above my chest as he breaks down.
"She was the only one I could think off."He cries into my shoulders as I rub my hand on his back trying to calm him down."She didn't have to go."the sound of his voice sent my heart to my stomach.Hid voice sounding like how an open wound must feel like.The sobbing that came along with it.
"it's going to be okay " I whisper feeling his hair brush against my jaw bones,it was the only thing I could think to say.
Dakota mumbles things he's to broken to say out loud feel his tears stain my shirt and wonder how long he's kept all this to himself.
Here was the man-boy who everyone knew to isolate.Here was the body of a person who was hurt and damaged and alone through most of it.Here was Dakota Flonase the person who had finally cracked in front of me.And all I could Offer was the vague and over used statement.
It's going to be okay.
🚗
Who's good at giving a bomb ass update?!
Cause it sure as hell ain't me.
In this chapter you realize I have no clue how much or how little to put in a chapter.
The beginning or the end was not at all planned before hand.Honestly the previous chapter was supposed to end completely differently.And this chapter was to start differently and the ending was supposed to be some thing else.But over all I am happy wit the outcome and couldn't have had it any better.
I imagine Avan Jogia playing the role of Dakota Flonase when I wrote out this scene so WALLAH!
Anyways:
they will be more updates coming super soon,probably not next week but the week after that keep your eyes open for new chapters.I have mid-winter break coming up and plan on having two to three new chapters updated and ready to be read so YIPPEEE!
Hope you all have a rest full weekend and best wishes.
(I am literally 20 words away from. Reaching 3000 so excuse this part while I struggle to reach my goal,three more words.)
-Anj