Cover to the sideeee! You like it?
-Chapter Thirty Eight-
My palms began to get clammy as I walked into the hospital. The automatic sliding glass doors opened as I approached them. I walked straight to the front desk.
"Hello," the man behind the desk said with a warm smile. He looked to be about in his early-twenties. "How may I help you, miss?"
"Hi," I replied. "I'm here to pick up my friend. He should be visiting a girl named Audrey Burns."
He scanned through a computer, clicked a few times, scrolled a bit, and clicked one more time. "Ah, here it is. Audrey Burns. Second floor, room 234."
"Thank you. Where is the elevator?"
The man, whose name was Anthony—at least that's what his name on his nametag read—told me the way to the elevator. "You know what," he finally said, "it might be easier if I show you myself." He handed me a visitor's pass and stood up.
I gave him a half-hearted smile, nodding. We rounded two corners and walked a bit down a long hallway. We stopped in front of four elevators, and Anthony pressed the 'up' button for me.
"Here you go, m'lady." Anthony gestured to the elevator, doing a little bow.
"Thank you, kind sir." I copied him, giggling and doing a curtsey in thanks.
Anthony laughed. "I gotta get back to work. See you. Oh, and I'm Anthony, by the way."
I smiled. "Alright, thanks for the escort. And I'm Alex."
"Bye, Alex." With one last smile, Anthony walked down the hall and disappeared around a corner.
I smiled and walked into the elevator, pressing the button for the second floor. Once the elevator doors opened again, I walked down the hall in search of room 234. I found it and not wanting to intrude, pulled out my cell phone to text Jake.
"Hey, I'm here outside of Audrey's room. Are you ready to go?"
I sighed and leaned against the wall next to the wooden door of Audrey's room. A few minutes later, the door opened, and I turned my head to see Jake. I knew he didn't want to admit it, but I could see that he had been crying some more.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hi. Are you ready, or do you want to stay a little while longer?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows. "I wouldn't mind..."
"Can you come in for a minute?"
"I don't know if that would be the greatest idea, Jake." Really, I'm not sure if I wanted to see Audrey just yet. She was on a whole other level, and I was surprised that Jake wanted me to go in to see her.
"Just for a second. Please?" he pressed.
I looked into his sad eyes. "Fine." I followed Jake back into the room, and slightly gasped when I -saw her unconscious body lying on the white hospital bed.
Audrey was beautiful. Her golden blonde hair framed her pale face, and her arms lay numbly to her sides. I bet it killed Jake to see her in this state.
I stood by the door as Jake walked over to her and held her hand in his. He said a couple of low-voiced words to her, and I bet he didn't expect me to hear it, but I did, when he said "I love you" to her.
I couldn't help the pang of jealousy that ran through my body at his words. I can't believe that I'm even a little jealous of Audrey. Yeah, I was jealous. Why? Because he still loved her.
Shut up, Alex. Of course he still loves her, you idiot, I scolded myself. Sometimes you just have to suck it up, and deal with it.
Jake kissed Audrey's forehead, said his last goodbyes, and walked back to me. "We can go now," he told me. I nodded. We walked to the front of the hospital where I had entered in silence. As I was passing the front desk, I remembered Anthony.
"Bye, Anthony!" I called over my shoulder, sending him a smile.
He returned my smile. "Bye, Alex."
Jake gave me a questioning look, but didn't comment until about fifteen minutes later when we were in the car on our way home. "Who was that guy? Adam, or something?"
"His name is Anthony, not Adam," I corrected. "And no one. Just a friend." I brushed it off casually, and stopped at a red light. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jake glaring at the road ahead of us.
I wanted to ask him if he was jealous, but I don't need to be messing with his feelings anymore today. Instead, I just asked a quick question. "How did it go with Audrey?"
"Fine," he replied. Then, realizing he probably sounded a little rude, added, "Thanks for taking me."
"Good. You're welcome." I smiled softly. Hopefully he had gotten a lot of things out of his system and left them behind at the hospital. Soon enough, we pulled up into Vicky's driveway.
"Are you coming in, or do you want me to take you home?" I questioned, turning to him.
Shrugging, he replied, "I guess I'll come in for a little while."
I was grateful that Jake wasn't the type of guy to hold a grudge for very long. I think he had dropped the whole thing with Anthony and got over it. "Alright, come on." Taking my keys out of the ignition, I climbed out of the car. Jake faintly smiled as he slipped his hand into mine on our way to the house. I wonder what he is thinking.
We walked into the house after I unlocked the door with my spare key. "Why hello there," Mom greeted us. She was sitting in one of the large chairs that were neatly placed in the front entryway. She stood up to give Jake a friendly hug, and then repeated the gesture with me. "Where have you been all day?"
I looked at Jake, unsure of how to answer. He caught my expression. "We just went out to spend some time together," Jake said smoothly. It wasn't the full truth. After all, we did go out, and we did spend some time together.
"Oh, okay, dear. What did you two do?"
This time, Jake gave me a look, wanting me to explain. I glared at him. He knew I was a bad liar! Here goes nothing. "We, uh, went to the beach, and then went to the mall for a bit."
"Did you buy anything? You don't have any bags with you." Mom gave us a skeptical look. "Were you two... ?"
Jake's eyes widened. Then, I finally caught her drift. "Oh my gosh, Mom! No!" A blush crept up my neck and spread warmly across my cheeks.
"Good," Mom said with a stupid smirk on her face, knowing perfectly well she had embarrassed me. I could tell she was trying to hold back a laugh. She held her hands up defensively. "Whatever you say! Anyways, I am going to head to Britain's house to pick up Peyton."
Britain, another one of my close cousins, was a year older than Peyton. Too embarrassed to say anything to my mother, I nodded silently, and walked past her and entered the living room, tugging Jake along.
I can't believe she said that in front of Jake! Sometimes, I just want to hurt that woman. Why would she come up with that suggestion in the first place? She even knows that I wouldn't dream of losing the Big V until I was married! What is wrong with her? Oh yeah, she just love embarrassing me.
As soon as I heard the front door close behind my mom, Jake burst into a fir of laughter. I glared at him. "Stop laughing! That wasn't funny!" I had to bite my bottom lip to stop me from joining in on his contagious laughter. It was pretty funny, looking back on it.
"Are you kidding?" He sighed, sobering up. "Your mom is a funny lady."
I rolled my eyes at him. "She sure knows how to embarrass her daughter," I murmured.
"So now that we're here, what do you want to do? We could bake another cake, but we both know how that turned out last time."
"Ugh, tell me about it." I laughed. "The kitchen still smells like cleaner from when we had to clean it up! No, we are not baking another cake... Not that we ever did bake one in the first place, but whatever."
"Hey, we tried." Jake smiled down at me. The kitchen literally still smells like cleaner―honest. Jake and I scrubbed that place for hours, determined to make it so clean that you could eat off the floor.
"Yeah, we are never, and I repeat never having another food fight again."
* * *
I only had twenty more minutes left to get ready for the party. It was nine-thirty PM now, and we decided that we were going to be fashionably late. Sophie just put the last curl in my sun-highlighted hair. Of course I, being Alex Turner, was the last of the girls to get ready.
My hair looked perfect and had a nice pomegranate scent to it. My face looked almost flawless with the makeup London did, but not fake. I was dressed to perfection, my black dress was on, and it was just right for a party. Well duh, it was a party dress. I had brushed my teeth for ten minutes straight. Yeah, I might have overdone that part, but oh well.
Danielle, Sophie, Lily, London, and I walked down the stairs in a line, waving with elegance as if we were in some kind of beauty pageant. The boys―Jake, Mason, Sophie's boyfriend, Matt, and London's guy friend, Rick―that were sitting in the living room, chatting and playing video games, turned their attention to us. Jake's eyes immediately locked on mine, and with his mouth slightly open, his eyes widened a fraction. I gave him a small smile, suddenly getting self-conscious.
"Hello, boys," Danielle said in a posh British accent. "The fabulous five have finally arrived."
"And fabulous they are," I heard Matt mutter to Rick. The rest of the girls walked to their dates once we got down the flight of stairs. I blushed when I saw that Jake hadn't moved an inch. He was exactly in the same position he was when we first started down the stairs.
"How do I look?" I asked him.
He closed his mouth, realizing he had been staring this whole time, and opened it again to speak. "I'm not even going to make a comment."
"Why not?" I furrowed my eyebrows. "I don't look good?"
Jake laughed. "No, because words can't even begin to explain how amazing you look tonight."
I blushed for the millionth time today. "No matter how cheesy that was," I started, pulling him up from the couch with my hand and wrapping my arms around his neck. "It still made me blush."
"I told you that I always know how to make you blush," he said. I smiled, and leaned in to kiss him. I briefly placed my lips gently on his then pulled away. Even though the kiss lasted no more than three seconds, it still had the same effect on me as any other kiss.
"Alright, people! Enough kissing. Let's get going so we can start to par-tay!!" London called out for all to hear.
We all chanted, "Party, party!" and were off to get in Rick's van. It seated eight people, and there were just enough seats for everyone to fit comfortably. We piled into the grey van. Rick and London sat in the front. Matt, Danielle, and Mason sat in the back row. Jake, Lily and I sat in the middle section with me sitting in between the two.
Music blasted in the car all the way to the Blake's house. I wasn't paying any attention to the music, though. I was wondering if I was really ready for the party. I haven't really been to one in so long. The last time I went to a party was when Christian and I were still together. I haven't really gone to one after we split up, because I knew that Christian would be there, and I wouldn't exactly want to see him after I caught him.
"Hey, Alex, we're here," Jake said, taking my hand in his.
"Already?" I looked out the window. I still heard blaring music, but then noticed it wasn't from Rick's van, it was from the house half a block down. All the lights of Blake's house were turned on, and cars were parked on the sides of the roads for blocks. I forgot how wild these kinds of parties are.
"Yeah. Are you ready to go?" People already started piling out of the van.
Hesitantly, once everyone else was outside of the vehicle, I told him what was on my mind, "Actually, Jake, I'm kind of nervous about this."
His eyes softened a little, and he gave my hand a squeeze. "Have you been to a party since..." I shook my head. "I haven't been to one either since you know, Audrey. So we're on the same page. Don't worry, Alex, I'll be with you, okay? We're going to have some fun, alright?"
I smiled. "Okay. What are we waiting for, then?" We climbed out of the van, hand in hand, and walked towards the house. The butterflies grew in my stomach as we neared the house. Music got louder, things seemed to get crazier.
'
"What if your friends don't like me?"
"Don't worry about this, Alex. It's going to be fun. Everyone will like you," Jake reassured me. "I mean you are you, why wouldn't they?" He stopped to bend down and gave me a kiss. "And, after all, I fell for you. I think you just need to loosen up some, and not worry. Just be yourself." His breath fanned my lips as he spoke.
I nodded, smiling. "Thanks, Jake. Let's go in." I was more confident with Jake by my side. He was here with me, and he was going to pull me through this mess. I was determined to have fun tonight, and that's a thing I am planning to stick with.
Hey guys! Short-ish chapter. It wasn't the usual length on Word, but I hope you still like it. Nothing really happened too much in this chapter, but oh well. Thanks for the comments and votes on the last chapter! And yeah, this chapter has indentation in it, I just wanted to try it out xD First person to comment gets a dedication!
~Storylover11~