*A few hours later*
I woke up to a soft knock on the door.
I groaned quietly, making the door slowly open.
Propping myself up on my left arm, I looked to the smiling woman standing in the doorway.
"Hello Mrs. Adeline," The happy looking woman said, "I'm sorry for waking you, but your father is hosting a last-minute gathering, and he has told me to make sure you are ready."
Last-minute gathering?
"I'm sorry, what is it?" I asked groggily.
"Your father is hosting a last-minute dinner party tonight." The woman smiled brightly.
I sighed and laid on my back again, rubbing my eyes.
Once I was a little more awake, I followed Carry, the woman, to a huge closet full of beautiful dresses.
She let me choose which one I wanted to wear and made sure I was ok by myself before leaving me to change.
I chose a simple black off the shoulder, A-line dress with a slit on the left side.
Carry and I looked at a few pairs of shoes before we decided on the same, black strappy heels as last time.
They worked with almost every outfit, though, like the last two dresses I wore, I was too short, and the dress dragged across the floor a little.
It didn't bother me; I just didn't want to ruin the bottom of it.
Then she did my make-up, making sure to cover the dark circles under my eyes, and straightening my naturally very curly hair.
Once she was done, I slowly made my way to the stairs, thankful that we found a cute cardigan that went with my outfit and also covered my still very swollen, sore, and gauze wrapped arm.
"What are you doing?" Dad asked as he saw me coming down the stairs.
"Carry told me you were having a party." I said, still trying to wake myself up more.
"You didn't have to come down," He said, using his business-y tone like always, "You were meant to rest."
"I didn't want to be rude." I mumbled, snapping the hair tie against my wrist.
"It wouldn't be rude," He said, "All the people coming tonight know what happened, some even saw it. There are just going to be some people from the courthouse and a few of the boys' friends coming."
"No mafia people?" I asked.
"No mafia people." He confirmed, "I am sorry I couldn't postpone this; everybody wanted to get together as soon as possible after what happened the other night to talk about it and this is the only day for a few months that everyone is free. If anybody asks you questions, answer with what you are comfortable with."
I gave a small nod with a smile, turning to go to the kitchen before I was stopped by dads' voice.
"You look beautiful by the way." He said, making me turn around again with a small smile.
"Thank you," I said, "You do too."
He had his fancy suit on that he had worn the last two times people came over.
I went to the kitchen, seeing Chef Ricci by the stove, cooking something in a pot.
"Ah, my little chef, you are back!" He said with his strong Italian accent.
"Hi." I said with a small smile.
We talked for a while until people started showing up and I had to leave the kitchen.
I took the back way out of the kitchen, knowing there were people in the dining room, and I really didn't feel like talking to anyone yet.
So, I went to the sitting room where Noah and Daxton were chilling on the couches with their friends.
Now I had to decide if it was better to walk into a room full of adults I didn't know, go upstairs and hope everyone forgets I'm here, try to find Charlie who is more than likely in the dining room with Ace and Hunter, or sit and talk with Daxton, Noah, and their friends.
I decided to sit with Daxton and Noah.
"Oh, Adeline," Noah said when he saw me, "There were some people who wanted to see you in the dining room."
Wonderful.
That's just great.
"Ok."
I slowly made my way to the dining room, trying to stall as much as possible.
My arm was starting to hurt more considering I hadn't had pain killers since early that morning, and I forgot to ice it when we got home.
Oh, well.
When I got to the huge oak doors which lead to the dining room, I could hear a lot of voices.
I didn't want to go in there.
The thought of being in that room with people I didn't know scared me.
It scared me a lot.
After standing at the doors with my hand on the handle for a good minute, trying to get the courage to open it, I took a deep breath and pushed the heavy wooden door open.
As soon as I opened it, all conversation stopped, and everyone's head turned to me.
Well, hello to you too.
"Uh, wrong room, sorry." I said quickly before turning and almost running out of the room.
"That wasn't awkward." I mumbled to myself sarcastically, walking back to the front room.
Once I was alone, I paced back and forth, trying to stop myself from thinking about how embarrassing that was.
"Adeline," Charlie said, "What are you doing?"
"Contemplating all my life choices."
"Sounds fun," He said, "Do you want to go eat dinner and continue that later, or..."
He trailed off, giving me a smile, trying to make this not as awkward.
"After what just happened?" I asked with a smile, "I think I'm good here, thanks though."
"They just didn't expect you to be here," He said, "Remember, half those people watched you get shot less than 48 hours ago and then they watched you walk in there with so much confidence, not even seeming affected by what happened. Nobody recovers from being shot that quickly and usually for the first week the person looks like a zombie, but you look completely normal and healthy."
"Come on." He said with a small laugh, noticing my hesitation, "They won't bother you. Everyone is supper nice; I promise."
He grabbed my left hand and brought me back to the dining room where everyone was now sitting around the table.
Again, when we walked in, everyone stopped talking and looked at us.
I've never understood why people do that.
It just makes everything weird.
Dad cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.
"Everyone, this is my daughter, Adeline." He said, almost sounding proud.
I cannot explain how awkward and anxious I felt.
It was like being yelled at by your parents in front of your friends then being put in a room full of strangers but one thousand times worse.
For someone with social anxiety, that is the worst thing that could possibly happen.
Charlie and I sat at the table, me on the left side of dad and Charlie across from me.
The same place I was sitting last time.
Hunter, who was next to me, gave me a small smile and gently grabbed my hand, giving it a small squeeze.
"How does your arm feel?" He whispered, making me shrug lightly.
He seemed to have understood and nodded.
"After dinner, I'll give you some medicine; do you think you can wait?" He asked quietly, making me nod.
While everybody ate and talked about business stuff, I sat quietly not touching my food, trying to get my mind off of what happened two nights ago.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by a gentle hand on my knee under the table.
I looked at dad, giving him a small smile to which he raised his eyebrows slightly.
Somehow, I knew what he was trying to say.
It was his silent way of asking if I was ok.
I nodded lightly, watching him nod once before turning his attention back to the conversation.
"Adeline," A woman who was next to Charlie said, "How have you been liking it here with your father?"
Cue the awkwardness again.
"It's nice." I said with a small smile, trying not to act weird.
"How's your arm?" A man at the other end of the table asked.
I glanced at my right arm that I kept close to my stomach, not wanting to answer that question in front of more than 50 strangers.
"Damaged." I said awkwardly.
Thankfully they took it as a joke, and everyone let out a low laugh, turning back to whatever conversation they were having with the person next to them.
The longer I sat there, the more anxious and uncomfortable I got along with the pain that was slowly intensifying in my very sore arm.
After about 2 hours of sitting at the table quietly while everyone talked, Noah, Daxton, Charlie, and all their friends got up and went to play video games.
Once I got the ok from dad, I also got up and left the room.
I didn't really know where to go, so I went to the kitchen, seeing Chef Ricci at the island, looking through a cookbook.
"What is mini chef doing in here at this hour?" He asked in his strong Italian accent.
He always called me 'mini chef' or 'little chef' because, according to him, I was the only kid in the house that could cook food that was actually edible.
"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to play a board game or something?" I asked unsurely.
"Ah, yes," He said enthusiastically, closing the cookbook, "Let us go play."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chef Ricci and I played Monopoly, Jenga, Clue, and Sorry over and over until the people left.
By the time they left, my arm was killing me.
Every time I moved it, it felt like I was being stabbed with a hot knife and a million little daggers were being twisted deeper into my arm.
To say the least, I needed pain medicine, and I needed it soon.
"Hey princess," Hunter said with a smile, leaning against the frame of my open bedroom door, "How are you feeling?"
I shrugged lightly, continuing to slowly brush my still straightened hair.
The only time I could brush it was when it was straightened, or else it would get very frizzy.
"How does your arm feel?" He asked, pushing himself off the doorframe and sitting next to me.
"It hurts." I said quietly, glancing at the clock on my nightstand which read 2:43 a.m.
"I'm sorry, princess," He said sympathetically, "You went a long time without any medicine though; usually people are on very high doses of pain killers for the first week. It usually keeps them knocked out or very loopy for most of the time they're in the hospital, and I don't know if it's because you have a ridiculously high pain tolerance or because you don't want me to know when it hurts, but you haven't said anything about the pain unless someone asks."
I smiled a little at his last sentence which made him smile more.
"If your arm starts hurting, I want you to tell me," He said softly, ruffling my neatly brushed hair, messing it up again, "I'm going to give you a little stronger medication tonight because you did go so long without it, and I want to make sure you sleep good."
He handed me two white pills, making me thank him before quickly swallowing them with a little water.
"Anything you want to talk about?" He asked softly as I rested my head on his shoulder.
"I'm ok," I said quietly, "Do you want to talk about anything?"
"I'm ok." He said with a smile.
We sat there for a few minutes, silently, both of us obviously very tired.
"If you need anything, come get me ok?" He said, kissing my head gently.
"Ok, thank you." I said quietly with a small smile.
"Sleep good, princess."
Once he left, I crawled under the covers on the bed, closed my eyes and let the exhaustion take over.
At exactly 4:30 in the morning I woke up feeling sick.
I felt like I was going to throw up, so I quickly jumped off the bed and quietly went to the bathroom that was connected to my room.
I barely made it to the toilet before I started throwing up.
After about 3 minutes straight of throwing up, the pain in my stomach dulled, allowing me to flush the toilet, and sit up a little.
I felt weak.
Maybe I should have listened to dad and rested more.
I slowly stood up, washed my hands and brushed my teeth before I felt sick again.
So, I sat on the ground next to the toilet, trying to get rid of the nauseous feeling in my stomach.
"What's wrong?"
I turned to the bathroom door, seeing Charlie standing in the doorway looking concerned.
"I just don't feel good-" "Oh my god, are you pregnant?" He asked quickly, eyes widening.
It took me a second to process what he said.
Why in the world was that the first thing he thought?
"Am I pregna- no, I'm not pregnant." I said quietly, "Why in the world would I be pregnant?"
"I don't know- do you think you are?" He asked quickly, seeming to be panicked.
"Charlie, I'm not pregnant-" "I'm going to get Hunter." He said quickly, leaving before I could protest which made me groan quietly.
In the time he was gone, I threw up one more time, not being able to suppress the nausea anymore.
"I don't know, Hunter," Charlie's quiet, panicked voice spoke from my bedroom, "She said she felt sick, and I asked her, but she said no, and I didn't know what to do."
"Just stay here." Hunter said quietly before walking into the bathroom.
"Hey, sweetheart," He said calmly, kneeling next to me, "Charlie said you aren't feeling very good; do you mind if I check your temperature?"
I shrugged lightly, resting my head against the sink cabinet and closed my eyes as he put the thermometer in my ear.
As we waited in silence for the thing to beep, Hunter gently ran his hand through my messy hair while I kept my eyes closed, just wanting to sleep.
I jumped a little when I heard the beep, Hunter taking it out of my ear and looking at the numbers.
"95.6" He read, "What else are you feeling?"
"I just feel sick." I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.
"Did you just wake up feeling like this or did you feel like this last night?" He asked softly, continuing to run his hand through my hair.
"I woke up feeling like this." I said quietly, not wanting to wake anyone else up.
"I think it's just from the medicine," Hunter whispered, "It was a higher dose than what you've been taking and sometimes it makes people feel sick. You just need to take it easy for the next couple of days and give yourself time to heal, ok?"
"Ok, sorry for waking you up." I said quietly.
"Never apologize for that." He said quietly with a small smile, standing up from the cold ground that felt good against my warm body.
"Ready to go back to bed?" He asked, extending his hand to me.
*That morning*
I woke up feeling very off.
You know that feeling you have when you're sick and everything is kind of spacy?
Like you can't focus correctly, and you don't have energy to do anything?
That's how I felt.
I laid there for a while, not having any desire to get out of the extremely comfortable bed.
That was until Ace slowly opened the door, smiling lightly.
"I didn't think you would be awake." He smiled, sitting by my knees on the bed, "How are you feeling?"
"Like a human." I said sarcastically with a small smile.
"Even when you're hurt you find a way to be sarcastic." He laughed lightly.
"It's second nature by now." I said, making him laugh a little more.
"How are you actually feeling?" He asked, smiling lightly as he brushed some hair out of my face.
"I'm ok, how are you?" I asked, making him smile a little more.
"I'm ok too." He said as I moved to the other side of the bed, hoping he would lay with me.
Thankfully he laid next to me, wrapping me in his arms protectively and gently stroking my hair.
"How does your arm feel?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.
"It's starting to hurt a little." I mumbled, closing my eyes as I rested my head on his shoulder.
"Hunter is at work right now, but he told me to give you medicine at 11:30," He said, glancing at the clock on the nightstand, "So, in 30 minutes."
Wait, what?
I looked at the clock which read 11:00 a.m. precisely.
I quickly sat up, catching Ace off guard as he also sat up.
"What's wrong?" He asked quickly.
"I need to get up." I said, about to jump off the bed but I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.
"Adeline, you need to rest," Ace said softly, "I know Hunter told you last night and dad told you the other day, but if you don't rest, you're not going to get better."
I reluctantly laid down again, nuzzling myself into the comfortable plush mattress.
Ace and I ended up watching Heartstopper together, him insisting that I would love it.
We ended up watching the whole first season in one sitting, both of us very invested in the show.
Halfway through the last episode, I fell asleep.