Luke/Lucas' POV
I ran two red lights and skipped a stop sign. I needed to get to the hospital. I had a suspicion that Hayden liked Isla, but I didn't want to believe it. He was my best friend. He knew the truth. He knew that I was Luke. He knew that I am and have been in love with her as long as I can remember. I get that he's mad at me and we aren't friends, but I never took him as the type to steal her from me. Stupid, he can't steal something that isn't yours to begin with. Maybe she wasn't mine yet, but the keyword is yet.
I run into the hospital and try to make it to the elevator, but I am stopped by security. "Excuse me, young man, but where do you think you are going?"
"Uhm...my cousin. I need to see my cousin," I lie. The security guard looks at me suspiciously but nods his head, letting me go.
I make it to the fourth floor and run to Isla's room. Since it's only a little after three in the morning and I don't want to wake Isla up, I quietly enter her room. I am here after all to tell Hayden to back off. I look around her room for Hayden, but I don't see him sitting in the empty chair. Her room is pitch black, so I search the wall to find a light switch.
I flip the switch and my blood starts to boil immediately. I blink several times and rub my eyes, because I cannot believe what I'm seeing. Hayden is lying in Isla hospital bed with his arms wrapped around her. Why is he lying with her? Why are his arms wrapped around her? They are both sleeping so peacefully, but I guarantee that's about to change.
I grab him by the arm and yank him out of the bed. "What the fuck are you doing?" I scream as he falls to the floor. Isla sits up in her bed with panic and fear written all over her face.
"What the hell?" he screams back as he shoves me. "Love, are you okay?" he asks softly as he turns and tries to console Isla, who is crying out of fear.
"Love?" I growl. "Quit fucking calling her that!" I demand as I slam my fist into the wall."
"L-Luke," Isla stutters. Fuck. I'm causing her to fear me. "Wh-what are you d-doing here?"
Hayden's eyes widened at the realization at what she called me. "Did you call him Luke?" he asks her.
"Yes, she called me Luke," I say proudly before Isla can answer him. "That's what we talked about when we were alone. I told her that I love her. I told her that I will make her love me again. I will earn her trust again."
If looks could kill I would be six feet under with the way Hayden is glaring at me. "Are you serious? Are you fucking serious?" he cries, venom lacing his words. It's never a good sign when Hayden cusses. "She deserves so much better that you. You will never be able to treat her the way I can. I don't care if y'all were best friends when y'all were kids. You've hurt her since then, and I will be damn if you think I will let you hurt her again. I'm what she deserves. I can and will treat her the way she should be treated"
This fight is pointless, and I don't want to fight with Hayden in front of Isla. She doesn't need to see that side of either of us. It's not his choice, anyways. It's Isla's choice. It's not even my choice what Isla chooses. It's her choice. I plead with my eyes to Isla. "Sunshine, I love you. I know I caused you pain, but we can fix each other. You deserve to be happy, and I can make you happy."
Isla's POV
Hayden and Lucas are both staring at me, wanting and waiting for me to say something, but I can't. I mean, I literally can't. Them arguing, seeing them so angry, it has sent me into a panic attack. I hate feeling scared. Them yelling reminds me of the kids at school who attack me. I hate feeling scared. I try again to breathe, but it feels like my throat is closing. I try taking a deep breath, but I can't. The room is spinning and my vision is becoming blurry.
Finally, one of them notices me. "Quick, call for help!" I hear someone shout. I can't tell if the voice belongs to Hayden or Luke.
"Isla, Isla, listen to my voice. You're having a panic attack. I need you to breathe. Take a breath and release it on the count of ten. One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten...good. Exhale for five...one...two...three...four...five...you're doing great. Okay, repeat it. Take a breath and count to ten."
After repeating it several times, I can finally breathe, and my vision has returned to normal. Hayden is holding my hand. "Welcome back to the real world, Love." It was Hayden who helped me through my panic attack. I've had panic attacks in the past, only my parents have been able to help me get through them, until now.
I look around the room for Luke, and he's sitting in the corner, looking panicked. He slowly walks over to me and grabs my other hand that Hayden is not holding. "I'm..I'm so sorry, Sunshine. They're right," he whispers with tears falling down his face. Who's right? Right about what? "You deserve better than me. I-I couldn't even help you through the panic attack, but Hayden could. Y'all belong together. He will treat you the way you deserve to be treated. I will leave the two of you alone." What I deserve? I am so tired of people telling me what I deserve. What about what I want? Although at the moment I don't really know what I want but it should still be my choice.
As Luke turns and walks away, my heart breaks again. I can't lose him again; I just can't. While I think I may have feelings for Hayden, there's still a part of me that loves Luke. Rather I want to admit it to myself now or not I will always love Luke. I might not love him in the way he wants me to love him, but a part of me will always love him. "Wait," I croak. Luke stops and turns back around looking at me, while Hayden also looks at me with pain in his eyes. "Don't I get an opinion in all of this? For heaven sakes, I'm in the hospital, and everyone is arguing on who I am going to be with." Both guys look at me with regret. "I-I don't even know what I want. Luke, I have always loved you—and a part of me always will— you hurt me. Just because you say 'sorry' doesn't mean I'm going to run into your arms and we will become a couple. I forgive you, but forgetting what you've done isn't as easy. I don't know what our future holds, but now I think you should be more worried about mending our friendship. If our friendship remains broken, I guarantee you there will never be anything more. Even if our friendship is fixed, there is no guarantee that it will become anything more. Hayden, I...my feelings for you are confusing. We have an amazing connection, but I still barely know you. I don't know what our future holds either, but I would really like to get to know you and see what happens from there rather it be us just being friends or something more."
Both guys are staring at me in shock. It's not that I don't want a relationship with one of them—maybe I do—but everything has been crazy the past month. I feel like I'm drowning with everything that has been going on, and I want to be able to take a deep breath and clear my head. This isn't the time for me to go jumping in a relationship. "I don't know what my future holds, but I need time. I can't begin a relationship with either one of you nor do I want to begin a relationship without knowing that I am making the right choice. I really like both of you, but I don't want to hurt either one of you, and I don't want myself to be hurt. If I decide to enter a relationship with either of you, I want to know that I enter it because I want to be in a relationship with you. I don't want to enter anything while I have a mixture of feelings going on. I want to know I am in a relationship because I have real feelings for the person. I'm not just trying to somehow make the pain from everything else go away."
Hayden grabs my hand and smiles. "Thank you for being honest, Isla."
I look at Lucas and Hayden. "I do like both of you, but I'm still confused with everything that has been going on and my emotions are all over the place. I don't expect for y'all to wait around while I decide if I want to date one of you or not. I completely understand if y'all decide to find someone better. We will still be friends."
Hayden's POV
Find someone else? Is she kidding? I've fallen too hard for her to find someone else. If she needs time, I get it. I agree we should probably get to know each other, but I will definitely wait. For once in my life, I'm confident in myself. I truly believe once she gets to know me, she will see we are a perfect fit, even if she does still love Lucas, or Luke, as she now calls him. He was her first love, so I will always expect for her to always love him a little, but that doesn't mean that she's in love with him.
I smile brightly at her and squeeze her hand. "Love, I'll wait. There is no one better than you. Take all the time you need. I will wait."
Lucas looks uneasy. He's nervous and all three of us know it. "Sunshine," he says as his voice wavers. "I'll wait too. I will work on our friendship; I will show you how much you mean to me and how much I love you."
Luke/Lucas' POV
Things weren't supposed to play out like this. I knew she wasn't just going to come running and jump in my arms, but I also didn't think I would be trying to win her heart against Hayden. This is going to be a thousand times harder than I expected, but she is more than worth it.
While I am still upset with Hayden, especially since Isla now knows that he also has feelings for her, tonight—well, this morning—hasn't been completely awful. I did offer to walk out of her life for good and she stopped me. She also admitted that she does still love me a little. Not in the way I want her to, of course, but at least I still hold a pace in her heart. She also forgave me. I didn't know if she would ever forgive me, but she did. Unfortunately, I can tell that she is still hurting from what I did though. I will make it up to her. I was also able to call her Sunshine and she didn't tell me to stop. After she told me not to call her 'Sunshine' yesterday, I was devastated. I was worried that I would never be able to call her again.
And she did say that she likes us. I don't like that she likes Hayden, but at least she didn't say that she just likes Hayden. She said that I needed to mend our friendship before even thinking of a relationship and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to mend our friendship, but I will never stop thinking of being in a relationship with her. It's all I ever wanted and all I will ever want.
Isla yawns and eyes start to get heavy. "Sunshine, I'm going to head out and let you get some sleep. I will see you later. Things will get better between you and I; I promise."
"I'm going to call Nick and have him come and pick me up," Hayden tells Isla. "You need rest and I need a shower and a change of clothes. I will be back later to take you home," he adds as he kisses her cheek.
"Thanks, and goodnight," Isla whispers to the both of us.
Hayden and I walk out of her room and close the door behind us. We get in the elevator together. The ride to the bottom floor is silent. When we are at the ground floor, he pulls his phone out to call Nick. "Hayden," I say hesitantly. "Since we're going to the same place, you can ride with me. No need to disturb Nick. You know how he turns into a monster when he doesn't get enough sleep." I chuckle lightly.
He thinks about it for a second. "Umm...yeah. Thanks...a ride would be great."
We both get in my car and I drive us back to Beth's in an awkward silence. I should probably try to mend my friendship with Nick and Hayden as well. Hopefully they will be willing to forgive me like Isla did.