The next morning, I woke up before Ross, so it allowed me some time to think about what happened the night before. I observed his face with the light shining through my white curtains. His eye is completely bruised and his lip is busted a bit.
I lift my hand up to his face, my hand sweeping along his forehead to move his hair from his eyes. I trace my finger along his bottom lip and this causes Ross to stir. I immediately pull my hand back to not wake him up.
"Don't stop," he whispers with a raspy voice that is still thick with sleep.
I smile and lean my head back down against the pillow and continue my actions with the pad of my finger softly dancing against his skin. Minutes later, Ross abruptly grabs my wrists and flips himself so he's on top of me.
I gasp in surprise. "Fuck," I say loudly, my heart pounding. "You scared me."
"Good morning baby," he says softly before leaning down and pushing his lips onto mine.
I close my eyes as his lips move softly along with mine. "Your lip is definitely busted," I say as he continues trying to kiss me.
"Shh, no talking, more kissing," he whispers.
I roll my eyes then he moves his lips from my cheek back to my mouth. I put my arms around his neck to pull him in closer. His hands move to my waist, slowly slipping underneath the thin t-shirt. His mouth continues with the tender kisses.
I grip his hands, my body pushing myself away from him. "Wait, wait, wait. Stop." I say, panicked. My heart is pounding out of my chest and I feel like I can't breathe.
Ross immediately pulls himself away from me, his body scrambling backwards. "I'm sorry, fuck, I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry," I say, my hand moving to cover my face. "I just had a flashback to being pushed against the car and I'm- I don't know why. Holy shit," I say and jump off the bed.
He nods. "You're okay. I shouldn't have tried pushing anything, I'm sorry."
I shake my head and lean against the wall, my hands pressing flat against the hard surface. I close my eyes and begin counting in my head. My breathing is harsh and shallow as if I can't catch my breath properly.
"I'm fine," I whisper to myself.
"I want to help you, but I don't want to touch you. Tell me what to do," Ross softly says as if trying his hardest to not scare me.
I open my eyes as I breath in through my nose and out of my mouth. "Come here."
His face is full of panic and confusion which only makes me feel guilty for my random outburst. He pushes himself off the bed and walks the few steps over to me.
I slide myself down the wall so I'm sitting. Ross immediately joins me, his eyes wide. My breathing has calmed a lot thankfully. I crawl into his lap, my arms going around his neck. I can tell he's hesitant, but he slowly puts his arms around my waist.
"You're safe with me," he whispers softly into my ear.
I nod. "I know."
—2 MONTHS LATER—
It was a normal April day as I'm sitting through my last class of the day. As I'm sitting with my legs crossed and my hand moving vigorously to copy the notes off the projector, my phone begins vibrating in my lap.
I was supposed to meet up with Ross in an hour, why is he calling me?
I ignore the call and text him. I'm still in class babe. You okay?
No. I need you. He replies almost immediately.
I collect my notebook and shove it into my backpack, jumping out of my seat and heading toward the exit. "Miss Atkins?" My professor says loudly as I reach the door.
"I'm going to be sick," I lie and hurry out of the door before he can speak again.
I go to call Ross when I hear his voice from down the hall. "Hayley," he says, his face red, his eyes rimmed with tears. "I need you to drive me home," he says, his lip quivering.
I rush over to him, dropping my bag in front of my feet. "What's wrong?" I ask, my hands going to his cheeks.
"My mom's heartbeat is weak. We're losing her," he cries, his hands moving to my waist and pulling me into him.
My heart sinks to the floor. His mom went into hospice a week and a half ago so they moved her back into their home to make her last days more comfortable. It had her surrounded with her children and husband, anyone that would come visit and an occasional nurse.
I stand on my tippy toes and his body bent so my head is directly next to him. "I'm so sorry, baby." I turn my face to kiss his forehead softly. "Let's go so you can be with her."
"I need you there with me. Please don't leave," he whimpers with panic clear in his voice.
I shake my head. "If that's what you want, I won't leave. I'll be right by you."
Ross nods and pulls away from me. I wipe under his eyes and lean up to kiss him gently on the lips. I grab my backpack off the floor and throw it over my shoulders, my hand immediately intertwining with him and my other hand resting on his arm.
Thankfully the building we were in was close to the parking lot that we parked in this morning. Twenty minutes later, we were at his house.
"I'm not ready," he says once we pull into the driveway. All of his siblings are already here. "I'm not ready to lose my mom." He says as he begins to cry even more.
My eyes water as my brain begins to process even more that this is happening. All too soon.
"I know, baby. No one will ever be ready for that." I say as I squeeze onto the hand I've been holding for the whole drive.
As we walked through the house and into the room, you can feel the sadness in the atmosphere. "Rossy," his mom breathlessly says. The entire family is standing around the room. "Hayley. Hi babies."
"Hi mom," he says as he pulls us over to her. He sits on the edge of the bed, pulling me near his leg. "How are you doing?"
She smiles weakly at us. "I'm tired. I'm happy to have everyone I love here though. Was waiting for you two."
"I know, I'm sorry. I was in class and came as quick as I could," he says, reaching up to wipe his eye.
Stormie reaches her hand out and grabs onto mine and Ross' grasped ones. "I'm glad you're here."
"I love you a lot mom. You know how much we all love you." Ross says, his voice cracking.
She gives our hand a tight grasp as their father moves to sit on the opposite side of the bed to take her weak hand. "I love you all, my little babies. I'll always be so proud of you." I hear a cry escape from Rydel's mouth behind me. His mom's hand is tight on ours or else I would've moved for anyone to move closer.
Everyone steps closer as if they know these are her last moments. "Mom, please don't go," Rydel cries.
"It's hard to keep my eyes open," she says very breathlessly and lightly that it was almost impossible to hear. "I love you."
It was as if time slowed as her eyes fluttered shut. Her heart rate machine began the everlasting flat line beep.
"Mom!" Rydel screams, her body flinging forward to grab onto her body. "Mom, please."
Riker grabs onto her arm, "Rydel. Come here," he cries. "It's too late."
As the tears began to stream harder down my face, I glance around the room to see everyone breaking down. I look back at the three of our hands intertwined.
"Ross," I whisper softly to him, he hasn't moved an inch within the last minute as his siblings are all crying and hugging one another. Their dad unplugs the machine to stop the beeping.
Ross slowly pulls his hand away from his mom's and mine. I quickly do the same and place her hand gently onto the bed. He slowly turns his body to face me better.
"She's gone," he whispers to me. "She can't be gone, Hayley."
I nod. "I know, baby, I know."
Ross quickly jumps up from the bed and wraps his arms around me, sobs erupting from his small body to join in the chorus of cries from everyone else in the room.
---
a/n
i suck bc i was too busy to update. i suck bc this chapter got real sad real fast.
i'm sorry