A groan coming from the other side of my room tore my eyes from the english paper I was writing.
Ryan stretched, covering his eyes with his arm.
"Hey sleeping Beauty."
He grunted in response, shifting to a sitting position. He blinked, adjusting his eyes to the light. Then he frowned.
"How did I get here?"
My eyebrows shot up. "You don't remember?"
He shook his head no.
"Huh, well you were pretty out of it I guess. You fell asleep in like every class today so I drove you home." I explained.
"Thanks...but why am I here, in your house?"
"Oh that. Yeah, you flat out refused to go to your house. I don't know why."
His frown melted in what I could only assume was realisation. Then he repositioned himself so that his body weight was supported by the wall, his head hitting it with a soft thump.
I abandoned the pen I still had in my hand, turning my chair so I was fully facing him.
"You are okay though, right?" I bit into my cheek as I said this. Something was definitely wrong and I knew it wasn't my place to ask. I also knew that he wasn't okay, but he was too stubborn to ask for help.
He waved a hand dismissively. "I'm fine."
"If you say so," I responded lightly.
He stared straight ahead for a while. I'm not particularly sure what was going on in his head, but the vacant look in his eyes told its own story. He blinked several times, shaking his head before glancing in my direction.
"So how long was I out for?" He asked.
"Six hours and forty two minutes."
"I slept for six hours?" He asked in disbelief.
"Almost seven," I corrected.
"Woah, I swear I only closed my eyes a few minutes ago."
"Time flies when you're having fun."
"Fun?"
"Yeah, sleeping. Fun."
He shrugged. "I don't really like sleeping."
"What? Why?"
"Wastes time," Ryan said, yawning. "You can sleep when you're six foot under." He looked down when he said the last part, like he was ashamed of himself for saying it.
~*~*~*~
"So what was wrong with him?" Tara asked as she shoved a spoonful of mint chocolate chip ice cream into her mouth. No, she didn't just have a break up, but any excuse for eating ice cream was good enough for her.
"He was just tired." I replied, avoiding eye contact with her. It wasn't that I was lying, because it was true, but I didn't want her to get involved.
She shrugged, a grin surfacing. "So you two slept together, huh?" She wriggled her eyebrows. She was obviously referring to what Ryan had said the day before. He hadn't been at school today, and I contemplated calling him but figured he probably needed some space.
"Yes, we slept together. In every sense of the word," I replied rolling my eyes.
"Ugh, boring." She complained. "How did you sneak him past your dad?"
"I didn't."
Her eyes widened and she slapped my arm excitedly. "You mean to say that you slept with him in his bed?!"
I frowned, rubbing my arm. "Uh, yeah."
"You lucky bitch! Why am I only hearing about this now?"
I shrugged. "I guess it just never came up."
She hit me again.
"Ow! What was that for?" I exclaimed.
"I'll get back to you on that." She said, meaning that she hit me for the sake of it.
"So when did all this start?"
"You remember that party we went to a while ago?"
"Not really, its a little foggy."
"Right well, that night."
"Really? That long ago?" I nodded. "Wait, but I woke up at Ryan's and you guys weren't there."
"We fell asleep on a field in the middle of nowhere."
She snorted. "Wow, that's romantic."
I shrugged again. It was actually.
"So?" She said suddenly.
"So what?"
"Does he like to cuddle?"
I rolled my eyes. "That's an understatement. He's like a boa constrictor, there is literally no way you can get up, or move for the matter."
She sighed longingly, shoving another loaded spoonful in her mouth, then tightly shutting her eyes as she got a brain freeze. "You're so lucky, not that I'm complaining because I like Kyle, I really do. He is just the worst sleeper I have ever come across. We do the dirty right, and then you expect to cuddle and be all romantic, but no, he moves around so much that I fear for my life like I'll get smacked or something. Then most of the time he falls off the bed and sleeps on the floor anyway."
I couldn't help but laugh at that. "I guess everyone has their flaws."
"Really? I swear Ryan doesn't have any." She challenged.
I hesitated. Well that sounded bitter. "He dated Erika for two years, I'm pretty sure that counts."
"Yeah you got me, I forgot about her. I haven't seen her for ages."
"She's probably scheming."
"Wouldn't surprise me."
"Yeah, well she is kinda predictable. Anyway, I should go."
"Go? where?" She asked with interest.
"To visit Caleb, wanna join?"
"Ha no, sorry."
I raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, saw him yesterday actually, but he's good in small doses." She grinned. "Kind of like Taylor Swift."
~*~*~*~
I knocked lightly on the door of room 104, not waiting for an answer before I strolled in. "Hey brother, I thought I should probably..."
The words died on my lips. A teenage girl sat in my brothers place. She stared at me with a snarky look on her makeup coated face, noisily chewing on a wad of pink gum. Yes, I could see the gum in her mouth.
Wha..?
Is my brother a shapeshifter? I mean, that would be kind of cool, gross, but cool.
"What are you looking at?" The girl asked sassily, her long brown hair moving as she talked.
"The guy who was in this room last, you wouldn't have any idea where they took him?"
"He's probably dead," she said, not batting an eyelid.
"Well aren't you a glass half full," I muttered to myself.
"What?" She demanded.
"I said thank you," I turned around and walked out the door. "What a bitch," I said once she was out of earshot.
I found a reception desk not far from the gum chewers room.
The lady at the desk looked very...disinterested with her job.
"Hi, I was just wondering if you could help me find my brother," I said in my best 'polite' voice.
She looked up at me dully. "Look kid, this is not the place where you file a missing persons report. I suggest you go find mommy."
I glared at her. "And I suggest you do your job or I'll maybe you'll be the one who they file the missing persons report for."
Okay maybe that was a little extreme, but she was just downright rude.
She rolled her eyes. "What's his name?"
"Caleb Harper," I replied, tapping my fingers impatiently on the wooden desk.
She tapped the keyboard a few times, her eyes scanning the screen.
"Room eighty three, downstairs, same wing," she reported gruffly.
I left without thanking her as I headed for the stairs, narrowly avoiding a man with a clipboard tucked under his arm who was pushing a small boy in a wheelchair. He looked like he was having the time of his very short life.
I smiled as I descended the stairs. The smallest things can make a kid happy. Like a balloon, well, those still make me happy. A rubber capsule of air and spit, what's not to love?
I walked slowly down the sterile corridor, checking each door for the number eighty three. I didn't find it until I had almost reached the end. Room eighty three was the second last door on the right. I could hear Caleb talking to someone before I even opened the door. I inched the door open, surprised to find that this room was very different to his last one. For starters, this room was a lot bigger, at least twice the size. It had larger windows which let more light in, making the space seem less clinical, and he had a roommate.
"No, that is unacceptable. If you're going to have pizza you can't just order cheese. That's like going to a restaurant, ordering a big juicy steak, then only eating the salad on the side. Who does that? Let me think. No, I don't even need to think because nobody does that."
Caleb didn't even notice me as I entered the room. He was too engrossed in the argument he was having with the battered looking kid in the bed next to him.
The kid snorted at Caleb's rant. "I wouldn't order a steak because I don't eat meat."
Caleb turned his head in disgust. "He doesn't eat meat," he muttered disbelievingly to himself. He turned back to the boy. "I can't believe it. I almost started liking you."
I chuckled, causing both of them to look in my direction.
"Thank god you're here H, I need backup on this one. Please tell this poor herbivorous boy that meat is an essential part of life."
I walked over to his bed, taking a seat next to it. I shrugged. "It's an opinion I guess."
He groaned. "H, you're supposed to take my side."
I grinned. "Sorry."
"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled.
"Oh, by the way, why'd you get a room upgrade?"
"Uh, well apparently there was a bus crash a few hours ago. A bunch of middle schoolers got admitted and they didn't have enough room so they had to switch a few of us around."
I nodded, feeling sorry for the kid. Partly because he was sharing a room with Caleb, but also because his family wasn't there.
"What's your name?" I asked the boy on the bed next to Caleb's. He looked pretty beat up.
"Tom," he replied. "Who are you?"
"Hazel, this dorks sister," I said, patting Caleb on the head.
Tom nodded, yawning as his eyelids drooped. Caleb's eyes widened and he reached over to shake the poor kids shoulder.
"Hey buddy, wake up."
Toms eyes peeled open.
I frowned at Caleb. "What did you do that for."
"Tommy here was on the bus that crashed. Hit his head pretty hard on the window. He's got a concussion so he isn't allowed to go to sleep, that's why they put me in here with him. Because I'm loud. The doctor basically told me to talk his ear off."
"Huh, so they trusted you in here with a kid?"
"Hey, I'm just as surprised as you are."
Suddenly the door burst open and in came a whirlwind of a woman, her crazy blonde hair flying all over the place as she rushed to Toms side.
He scrunched up his face as she fussed over him, but deep down I knew he probably liked it.
Caleb watched on with interest, craning his neck to get a better view if you get what I'm saying.
I smacked him upside the head and he glared at me. "That was uncalled for," he said grumpily.
"Then don't stare, it's rude," I responded.
"Don't stare, it's rude," he said in a high pitched voice, obviously trying to imitate me.
I rolled my eyes at his childishness as the woman looked up as if she suddenly realised there were two other people in the room. She seemed too young to be Toms mom, but then again I couldn't really be sure. She self-consciously tidied her hair, her cheeks turning a light shade of red.
"Hi," she grinned sheepishly. "I'm Lila, Toms sister."
I returned her smile. "I'm Hazel, and this is Caleb."
She eyed Caleb, then me. "So you guys are a couple?"
Caleb and I looked at each other then cracked up laughing. She looked so confused by our reactions.
"No, we're siblings," I explained once my laughter had subsided.
"Oh right, my bad." She ruffled Toms hair and he complained, batting her hand away.
"Oh, I forgot to ask," I said to Caleb, pulling his attention away from Lila. "How was physical therapy?"
A sour look crossed his face. "It was a pain in the shoulder and the leg. I mean they say all this stuff like 'we're going to get the flexibility back in your shoulder', and I'm all like 'well my shoulder was never all that flexible before it got shot anyway'. But they don't listen to me because apparently they know my body better than I do," he paused. "Did that sound really wrong or is my mind just in the gutter?"
"Your mind is always in the gutter."
"True that. Good news though, they're actually letting me walk around now, not by myself because they did that the first time and I hid from the nurse and then almost shut her in the elevator door." He chuckled at the memory. "I don't think she likes me very much anymore."
"Well you aren't exactly the easiest patient to deal with."
"What are you talking about? I'm awesome."
"I wasn't denying that, oh and speaking of awesome I bought movies because you said it was getting boring in here."
He leaned closer. "What kind of movies?"
"Disney movies, obviously."
He grinned, throwing his arms around me in a sloppy hug. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you?"
I grinned, reaching into my bag and pulling out the stack of movies which included Pinocchio, Dumbo, Peter Pan, One Hundred And One Dalmatians, Mary Poppins, The Lion King, The Jungle Book, and Pocahontas.
He gasped. "You got Pocahontas?! You are officially my favourite sister."
"I thought I was always your favourite sister."
"Well now you're my favouritist sister."
I chuckled at his enthusiasm for cartoons. Caleb's favourite Disney movie had always been Pocahontas, even since we were little kids, and he'd seen it so many times that he knew the words to every song. Lets just say he wasn't afraid to belt out the lyrics.
I left the hospital in a good mood. Caleb was happy, I was on top of my school work, Dad seemed a lot more relaxed because he didn't have to worry about treading carefully around mom anymore, hell even Erika hadn't bothered me since prom. It all seemed a little too good to be true, and to be perfectly honest I was on edge. Why? I don't know, everything just seemed to be falling into place. Nothing in my life ever did that.
~*~*~*~
Holy crap, writing that was exhausting.
You guys asked for Caleb and here he is. By the way, my favourite Disney movie is also Pocahontas. Coincidence? I think not.
Anyways, remember to vote, comment and follow if you liked this chapter.
Until next time.