21
Taryn Sawyer
When I wake up, I'm alone.
I look around, squinting my eyes at the bright lights of the hospital room. I try to sit up, and wince. I run my hand over my stomach, feeling a gauze pad through the material of the hospital gown.
I reach over and find the nurses call button, and push it. Where is everyone? Where's Liam?
A nurse comes walking in, someone different than the one I had last night. She smiles brightly. "Hey there," she says. "I'm Brittany. How are you feeling?"
I clear my throat. "A lot better," I say. "Do you know if my family is here? And where the guy that I came in with is?"
She grabs my chart and starts writing my vitals down. "Your family is in the cafeteria, and I don't know who they guy you're talking about it. I wasn't here last night, I work the day shift," she explains. "Your family should be back soon, they've hardly left."
I nod. "Thanks," I say.
"No problem. Can I get you anything? Water, something to eat?"
"Um, a trip to the bathroom would be nice," I say. "And I'll take you up on the water."
Brittany smiles kindly. "Alright." She helps me through the IVs and wires around me to the bathroom. "Be careful and make sure not to irritate your incision, it's still fresh."
"Thanks again," I say, closing the door. I take care of my business and wash my hands, and accidentally look in the mirror. I look like a mess, as per usual. I try to fix my hair the best I can, but it's no use.
I sigh and step out of the bathroom, noticing the nurse is gone but there's a cup of water next to the bed. I carefully sit back on the bed, sipping my water, looking around. The clothes I came here in, which consisted of sweatpants, a t-shirt, and Liam's hoodie, are folded neatly on the arm of a chair.
Suddenly, Reed comes running into the room and almost jumps on me before skidding to a stop in front of me after remembering I've just had surgery. "Taryn!" he says gratefully, wrapping me in a hug tightly.
"Hey Reed," I say nonchalantly. "How are you?"
He pulls away from me and glares. "Taryn Leigh, I'm mad at you. You can't just go around getting sick and ending up in the hospital!"
I roll my eyes. "Shut up, stupid," I say. "Where's everyone else?"
"Mom and Dad are on their way up, we were eating breakfast. Aunt Grace picked Sophie up last night after we got here," he explains, sitting next to me on the bed.
I still don't want to deal with my parents, but I guess I'd have to eventually. Might as well be now. "Is Liam still here?" I ask. "I know he brought me in last night."
Reed is silent for a moment, biting his lip. It's a thing he does when he's trying to find a way to say something that's hard to say. "No," he finally says. "He went home to get some sleep."
I know that's not all that happened, but before I can press him for more information my parents come in and I'm covered in hugs and forehead kisses. I just sit there silently as they fuss over me. I know, I know, I'm stubborn.
My mom notices that I'm not responding to them and frowns. "What's wrong honey? Does your incision hurt? I can call the nurses-"
The look of disbelief I give her makes her stop talking. Does she seriously think that the reason I'm not saying anything is because my incision hurts? Does she not remember what she did literally three nights ago?
"Don't give your mother that look, Taryn Leigh-"
Reed stand up between me and our parents, sticking up for me as he's always done. "Did you guys really expect her to welcome you with open arms? You kicked her out on Thursday!" he says, his voice slowly rising with anger.
"That's enough, Reed. Why don't you go call Aunt Grace and have her tell Sophie that Taryn's okay," Mom says. Reed tries to protest, but Mom holds her hand up to silence him. He leaves the room and walks down the hall, giving me a 'sorry' look as he goes.
"Taryn, we were just trying to teach you a lesson that while you're under our roof you live by our rules," Dad says calmly. "But you were so intent on going to see your boyfriend or whatever-"
I stand up quickly. "He is not my boyfriend for Christ's sake! I literally just needed help with my calculus homework. When I got there, guess what? After I stopped shaking from the cold, we worked on calculus. I know that may be a shock to you guys, since apparently you don't trust your own daughter to keep her legs shut around any guy she happens to be friends with," I snap.
Mom and Dad look shocked at the words I say. "Is that really how you feel? That we don't trust you?" Mom says, her voice cracking. "It's not you that we don't trust, it's other people who can take advantage of you."
"We were just trying to protect you," Dad says.
That's so not the point! I could fucking scream right now. I take a breath and try to stay calm. "Look, I understand you guys want the best for me, but sometimes you have to let me make my own decisions. I'm not trying to sound like I have all the experience in the world, but you can't control my life for me."
"Well, this is one time that we're right because last night when we talked to Liam, he said he didn't want you living with him anymore," Dad tells me, crossing his arms. "He just didn't know how to tell you to your face."
I look at him for a second before rolling my eyes. "That's a lie, he wouldn't do that," I say. "Nice try, Dad, but whatever you're trying is not going to work."
He raises an eyebrow. "Really? He wouldn't do that? Because he's already brought all your stuff back to our house. He said to tell you not to call," Dad says.
No, that's impossible. Liam never gave off any kind of vibe that he didn't want me around. We didn't fight or anything, and we were mostly always laughing together. Did I say something when I was drunk Friday night? He hasn't acted like anything was wrong...
I try to act like I'm sure that Liam wouldn't do that, but now I'm starting to doubt myself. Was I just missing the fact that he didn't want me around completely? "I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding," I say. "I'll call him and see what he says."
Dad shrugs. "You can, but you'll see. He may not even answer. You can borrow Reed's phone when he gets back," he says. Just as he says that, Reed walks back in.
"Sophie said she's glad you're okay and she loves you," Reed tells me.
I smile. "How sweet," I say. "Hey, can I borrow your phone real quick? I need to make a call."
"Sure," he says, handing me his phone.
"We'll wait outside, give you some privacy," Dad says, herding my mom and brother towards the door. "Holler when you're done."
Why is he being so weird?
I shake my head and scroll through Reed's contacts, finally landing on Liam's. My thumb hovers over the call button before pressing it, my dad's words running through my head. He must be lying, but why would my own father lie to me?
I bite my lip as it rings before going to voicemail. My heart drops into my stomach. Oh my god. What if Dad wasn't lying? I press the button again, but get the same result. My breathing increases as I keep calling until I've called nearly ten times. I try one more time.
It still goes to voicemail. This time I leave a message, tracing circles over my kneecap as I talk. "Hey Liam, it's Taryn. Um, I just wanted to let you know that I'm doing fine. I know you're probably busy, but I really need to talk to you, so...call me when you get the chance. Okay, um, bye Liam."
I hang up and hold the phone in my hands, staring at it, willing it to ring. I sit for nearly fifteen minutes before a single tear slips from my eye.
Why am I even crying? It was just a stupid crush, and he didn't like me anyways. I was so stupid to think he would ever like me. I guess it just hurts that he wasn't who I thought he was.
He could still call.
Yeah, right.
* * *
edited: september 3, 2019
hey y'all, here's another chapter (totally unlike me for updating so quickly...lmao I surprise myself) I hope you enjoy it and please comment, because I love comments and I may give you a shoutout if you're nice :)
so how was your day?? mine was fine, I'm just really tired of school already 😬😂 thanks for reading :) :)