The choice was mine I didn't think enough.
I'm too depressed, to go on, you'll be sorry when I'm gone.
I never conquered, rarely came,
Sixteen just held such better days
It was two weeks after Quinn's accident and the doctors still hadn't seen much improvement.
Maria and Greg were sitting on a plastic love seat in the ICU hallway, sharing a pair of headphones and blasting Blink-182.
Some people who walked past them looked at them, silently scolding them for their loud music.
You could see the wear and tear that this whole predicament took on Maria. The bags under her eyes were dark, her hair constantly in a ponytail or a messy bun, always with a sweatshirt or tshirt on. She wore moccasins instead of Vans or Converse and she wore the same pair of skinny jeans at least three times before she washed them.
Maria had gone to school, people hearing of Quinn's accident. They tried to comfort her, cheer her up, but the only person who could make her remotely happy was Greg or Liz.
Liz would help her get through the psychological phase and Greg the emotional.
She wasn't too sure they were aware of it, but that's what they seemed to be doing.
The oddest part of this whole thing was that Maria still refused to see Quinn.
She sat outside her room, every day, doing homework, but she never went in.
Maria ended up picking up Quinn's hours at the local record store too. Maria worked there every summer, trying to make a few extra dollars so she knew the routine.
When the owner of the shop asked why she wanted to take Quinn's hours, Maria replied saying that she didn't want anyone else taking it, she wanted to make sure Quinn's job would still be there when she got back.
"Out of all the songs I have on my phone, you picked 'Adam's Song'?" Greg asked.
Maria shrugged, "It's currently very relatable."
Greg shook his head, "Listen to something a little bit more uplifting Maria, come on."
"Hey it's your phone," she replied smirking.
With that Greg picked up his phone and searched until he found the song he was looking for.
"I love this song!" Maria squealed, as 'If I'm Lucky,' by State Champs came on.
"Thought you would," Greg replied.
Soon enough, Liz came walking down the hallway. "Hey Maria, Greg. How's she doing?"
"Wouldn't know, I haven't been in there," Maria replied, turning back to her Trig homework that was in her lap.
Liz sighed, sitting on the arm of the love seat, "Maria. Think of it this way. You know my daughter better than anyone. And how mad would she be if she woke up and you weren't there?"
Maria didn't move, she just stared blankly at her homework.
"Maybe the reason she hasn't woken up yet is because she's being the little shit she is and is waiting for you to visit her."
Greg saw a tear fall from Maria's eye and onto her homework before she could catch it.
Maria lent on Liz, "I miss her so much!"
"Then go see her."
"I-I can't! I know that when I see her, all the guilt I've been feeling is just going to wash over me and hit me like a ton of bricks. And I can't handle it," Maria explained.
"Do you wanna know what I know? I know that you can handle anything life throws at you. How do I know? You're Maria Parker. My daughter's best friend, my second child and one of the strongest people I've ever met."
Maria gave Liz an awkward side hug, "Thank you Liz, I love you."
"I love you too, now go see her," Liz said lightly.
Maria nodded, wiping her eyes before removing the earbud that was playing 'Holding Onto You,' by twenty-one pilots.
Greg gave her a smile and nodded his head, urging her to go on.
Maria carefully stood; she felt as if she made one wrong step the building would crumble around her.
She stepped cautiously towards the door that had been haunting her for the two weeks prior.
The door was ajar as it always was unless the nurses closed it.
The room was white except for one wall that was as Maria thought to be 'old lady pink.'
Quinn lied in a bed, eyes closed.
She had on a hospital gown, her hands resting above the blankets along with her torso.
'She looks dead,' Maria thought.
If Quinn were awake she would probably be laughing and making some witty comment, agreeing, the proceeded to see if the person in the bed was actually alive.
Next to the bed there were different monitors, checking different things, from her heart rate to brain activity to her blood pressure.
There was a bulge near the foot of the bed, presumably from Quinn's cast on her ankle.
Her brown hair was down, probably Liz's doing. The normally, curly and unruly hair, was lifeless. Instead of being frizzy and all over the place, it was tamed, and shaped Quinn's face.
"Hey Bud. This is weird. It's like I'm talking to a dead person. I feel like I'm going even crazier. I miss you... That's a good song... You know, the Rangers won the other day. Their moving onto round two in the playoffs. You'd be proud and wearing your Lundqvist jersey or Zuccarllo t-shirt just to boast. We're just gonna have to watch the games when you wake up," Maria sat down in the plastic chair beside the bed, "I just...I just miss you a lot Quinn. And I'm sorry. I should've let you stay. Everyone keeps telling me it's not my fault, and I'm trying to believe them, but it's hard because none of what they say matters unless you agree with them. I guess that's why this is extra hard. Is because I have no idea whether or not you're going to hate me or not. And I'm already having a hard enough time taking in all of this, and not knowing if you're mad at me just adds to the unrest that's been living in my chest for the past two weeks. I just need you back."
Maria looked at her best friend.
She picked up her hand and let it go, seemingly testing gravity, but really it was too see if this whole thing were a joke. Quinn hated being, "manhandled."
Once upon a time, Quinn had been the tallest person in her class. Her elementary school class that is. When she got into middle school, Quinn grew to five foot three, and then stopped, while everyone else kept growing to the point where they towered over her. Quinn eventually had one final growth spurt right before freshman year to get her just shy of five foot five, but she still hated being called short. It was kind of a burn when once you were considered tall.
Maria was tall. She stood at five foot nine and three quarters. Even being as tall as she was, she couldn't help but think of Greg. Greg, being a basketball player, was easily six foot three. It was refreshing to Maria, to know that people were still taller than her.
"Please," Maria whispered, as the tears started to flow.
Her head rested on Quinn's bed, wetting the sheets with her tears.
Eventually Liz stepped in, her hand rubbing Maria's back softly.
"Maria? Why don't you and Greg go get some dinner? It's almost 8," Liz suggested.
"Alright, I'll be back, I'm not too sure about Greg," she replied.
Maria cautiously stood, taking in Quinn's appearance again before making her way out the door.
All of her things were put away in her bag and Greg was in the middle of putting his away as well.
"Where do you wanna go? My treat," Greg asked a small smile on his face.
"Chilli's sounds fantastic right about now," Maria replied with a small smile.
"Sounds perfect."
The pair grabbed their things and made their way out of the hospital, towards Greg's car which the pair had taken there.
Once they were on their way, Maria blindly reached behind her to find a CD to put in.
When she looked at the CD she had grabbed, it turned out to be the newest album from The Maine.
Maria happily put it in then started to bang her head as 'Miles Away,' started to play.
"I love this album!" Maria said.
Greg had to fight to keep his eyes on the road.
There was a beautiful in the passenger seat of his car that was singing along to one of his favorite bands.
He wouldn't admit it to her, but Greg liked Maria. She was real, unlike a lot of the girls at school. She didn't cover up a snort when she laughed, she ignored people when they pissed her off. She was beautiful inside and out. He really wished he could get to know her on different circumstances, but he was grateful that she trusted him enough to let him stay.
When they parked at Chilli's Maria hopped out of the car quickly.
"Let's go," Greg said smiling at her.
As they walked across the parking lot, his arm went behind her back and rested sweetly on small of it.
This brought a small smile to Maria's face. She couldn't help it.
They spoke over dinner, about bands, school, their interests, everything.
"So how did you and Quinn meet exactly?" Greg asked eventually.
Maria laughed at the memory, "In elementary school, Quinn and I didn't have a class together until third grade but I had known who she was and stuff. I was the girl who played kickball with all the boys, you know to try and show them all up. But the first day of third grade I wasn't the only girl all of a sudden. Quinn started to play. And she always had to be on my team. One day I asked her why and she said because she thought I was cool. I thought that was weird cause I was that girl everyone avoided because I played with the boys. From there we became best friends. We did everything together after that. It just worked, us two."
"I wish I had a friendship like you and Quinn. It's nice to see real best friends, people sometimes bullshit people saying that they have a best friend when in reality they don't hang out," Greg replied.
"It's not easy; you have to work at it. You have to find time for each other. That's what Quinn and I did," Maria explained.
"Do. That's what you do. You're still making time for her Maria, because you care," Greg said.
Maria smiled and nodded, "Yeah I guess I do."
Greg cautiously reached across the table and picked up Maria's hand.
She stared at her hand; Greg's playing with her fingers. She smiled at it.
"I'm really happy I took the time to get to know you Maria Parker."
"Me too Greg Jackson," she replied looking up at him.
____________
HEYYO!
GUESS WHO MET ALL TIME FUCKING LOW?!
Me, and my friends. They played a show up at SPAC in Saratoga and my friends and I got really, really good seats. While we were waiting for ATL's set (after Walk the Moon), I spotted this guy who I had seen earlier, but I didn't recognize him until I saw him later; it was Tyler from the band State Champs (I love them very much) (they also just toured with ATL so no wonder he was there). But yeah I got a picture with him and he was cool. All Time Low played great, my friends and I actually held up signs that said, "Put us on Full Frontal." So we have to wait until tomorrow to see if they mention us, they probably won't but hey a girl can dream. THEN my friends and I got on line after their set to go to a signing. We waited like 45 minutes but it was totally worth it. Jack held my hand and told me that we were twining (I had on a 5sos shirt and so did he). Rian was super sweet and so was Zack. But Alex man. So Alex was looking down while signing my album and then when he looked up he said "Hey I like your shirt," so I said thanks then he just reached across the table and singed my shirt and drew a moustache and beard on Calum Hood's face.
So there's my All Time Low adventure.
If you wanna see pictures/ videos they're on my twitter (@TaraSalvati) and Instagram (@tsalvati). On twitter I posted a lot of edited photos so they look extra good (I hope).
Also keep Michael Clifford in your prayers, I hope he's okay.
"Ice Cream dates are the best!" –Alex Gaskarth
~BasketballGirl124
PS I'm posting a new Alex fic called Pen Pal Project. Check it out.