Chapter Forty-Four:
Bryce's POV
"Bryce? Bryce? It's eight o'clock. You really need to wake up. What time do you have class at, Bryce?"
I wake up to the sound of Kathleen's voice right in my ear.
My eyes fly open, and my heart sinks when I notice that Blossom is still unconscious in my arms,
Dammit, Blossom. You were supposed to wake up. You have to wake up.
I sit up in bed, careful not to move Blossom too much. I lean my back against the wall behind the bed so that Blossom's head can lay on my chest, the rest of her body pressed right beside me.
I take Blossom's hand in mine, gently squeezing, before turning to Kathleen. "I'm not attending class today. I won't be able to sit through it knowing that my girl is here."
Kathleen sits down on the edge of the bed. "Are you sure? Lexi wouldn't want you to throw your life away because of this. She might not wake up for a very long time, Bryce. Hell, she might not wake up ever."
With my free hand, I reach for my glasses and then place them on the bridge of my nose. "I know, but I just can't leave her. Between my two good friends at Columbia, at least one of them is in each of my classes, and so I can have them help me get caught up. Don't worry about it."
Kathleen's smile falters, and her nose crinkles just as Blossom's does. "We brought you some coffee. We weren't sure what you like to eat for breakfast, but Lexi told us once that you like your coffee black. You should probably grab something to eat. If you'd like, Johnathon or I could get you something."
I shake my head. "I have to get back home to shower and make sure Scarlett didn't burn my apartment down. I'll make something to eat, too, but thank you. I'll be back in a couple hours at the most."
Kathleen remains silent as I climb out of bed. I adjust Blossom so that she's laying comfortably in the centre of the bed with her head on the pillow. I slip my feet into my Converse, tying the laces and then taking the cup of coffee from Kathleen's outstretched hand. "Thank you so much. I promise that I'll be back soon."
Finally, I press a kiss to Blossom's forehead. "Behebbek. I'll be back soon, habibti."
When I turn back to Kathleen, I smile at her before I take a step towards the door.
A thought strikes me.
I turn around, retrieving Blossom's necklace and rings from the bedside table before I exit the hospital room without a second glance, since I know damn well that I'll burst into tears if I have to look at Blossom's sleeping face for another moment.
As soon as I step into the hallway, a nurse stops me by the doorway. "Sir? May I speak to you about something briefly?"
I pause, turning to find the nurse from yesterday standing beside me. Hesitantly, I say, "Sure, I guess."
She gives me a gentle smile. "No one is permitted to sleep in the patient's bed with them when they are unconscious. We allowed it to slide yesterday, but after you slept in the bed with Ms. Brooks last night, we had to speak up. It can't happen again, sir."
I open my mouth and then close it again without uttering a single word.
I don't bother responding to the nurse verbally. I just nod my head at her before hurrying down the hallway, ignoring the burn of tears in my eyes.
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I find Scarlett curled up on the leather couch in the living room, wearing red lingerie—and nothing else, of course.
Once I close and lock the apartment door after myself, Scarlett looks up from the book that she's reading. "Can you make breakfast?"
I scowl at her. "I don't even get a 'good morning'?"
She purses her lips together, cocks her head to the side, and sighs. "Nah. I'm hungry. Has Lexi came back from the dead yet?"
I storm into the living room, grabbing a pillow off of one of the chairs only to hurl it right at her face.
She merely catches it and tosses it to the side without a second thought, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap. "How aggressive. Didn't your daddy teach you not to hurt women?"
I cross my arms. "That doesn't make me want to strangle you with a fucking pillow any less."
Scarlett scoffs and stands up from her seat. Giving me a wicked smile, she slowly spins in a circle, arching her back slightly. "Do you like the lingerie? I know that you've always liked red, lacey things."
I continue to stare directly into her eyes, not giving the rest of her body even a moment of my attention. "Go put some clothes on, Carly."
I watch all of the light fade from Scarlett's eyes.
"Is there something wrong with my body now? You used to love my body. You always used to tell me how sexy I am. Where did I go wrong?" she asks quietly.
I freeze, unsure of how to react to her sudden display of insecurity.
I watch as Scarlett slowly sits back down on the couch. She then lifts the pillow that I had just tossed at her into her laps, hugging it to her chest as though she's attempting to cover her body.
Fuck my life.
I approach her, cringing when she flinches as I sit down beside her on the couch. I gentle pry the pillow from her hands, setting it down on the floor at my feet.
Scarlett immediately looks away from me, staring down at the floor instead.
I reach for her face with one hand, gently angling her face towards me. She stares back at me with those dark, catlike eyes of hers, brimming with sadness and hurt.
"You are hotter than hell, Scarlett Zhang, and we both know it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with your body. Just because I'm not interested in you doesn't mean that everybody else feels the same way," I tell her, bringing a hand up to her face.
Scarlett sighs, leaning back in her seat. "I just want something constant, dammit. You were my constant for awhile. Now I've got Anders, I guess, but isn't it sort of fucked that I'm screwing him when I'm still in love with his dead sister?"
I brush my thumb against Scarlett's cheekbone before removing my hand from her face. "You'll find someone. I've already told you, Carly. You're a smart girl. Just keep your options open."
With a groan, Scarlett sits up in her seat. "The fact that I'm so smart is a huge ass problem sometimes, you know. A lot of men can't accept that there are women in the world way fucking smarter than they are, so they choose to pretend that intelligent women don't even exist."
I give her a sad smile. "Fuck any man who thinks that way. That's pure bullshit."
Scarlett laughs, adjusting one of her bra straps. She takes a breath in as though to signal that she'd like to change the topic before she then asks, "How's your dad doing? It feels as though I haven't seen him in ages. I miss that sexy face of his."
Now I'm the one to bark a laugh. "He's doing very well. He's engaged. His fiancée is only a few years younger than him, rather than thirty-fucking-six years younger than him, by the way," I say, giving Scarlett a pointed look.
She sticks her tongue out at me. "How boring. How'd he meet her?"
I raise an eyebrow at her, finding it bizarre that she seems genuinely interested in my dad's wellbeing. "Why do you care?"
At that, Scarlett looks away from me, her gaze instead landing on the wall parallel to us. She begins to idly tap the diamond piercing above her lip. "Even though I'm a fucking bitch all the time, perhaps there's a part of me that wants to let go of that facade. Perhaps a part of me really just craves love and intimacy, and therefore, perhaps hearing about the joy others have found in their relationships gives me hope."
I freeze, because this is a sort of Scarlett that I've truly never seen before.
"You really want to know about my dad?" I ask her gently.
She sniffles, and if I didn't know her better, I would think that she's blinking back tears at the moment. "Yeah, please."
I lean forwards in my seat, bracing my elbows on my knees. "You remember how I told you that I have a half-brother?"
Scarlett nods at me.
"Well, my dad is engaged to the woman who he had that child with. Her name is Elena, and she makes him happier than I've ever seen him. She's very sweet and incredibly kind. Her son and I didn't get along very well in high school, but he's not so bad now that I know him better. I'm just glad to see that Dad's happy," I then say.
Scarlett turns to me with a genuine smile suddenly on her face. "Good. He deserves that. Your mom is a bitch." She pushes. "No offence."
I grin. "None taken."
Scarlett laughs, and I give her shoulder a gentle squeeze before I stand up from the couch. "I'm going to shower and then I'll make us breakfast."
Scarlett raises her eyebrows. "You've been complaining about me skipping class but now you're skipping class for your girlfriend, are you?"
I shut my eyes, just for a moment, as I say, "I don't know if I'll be able to survive without her. I need time to process and I don't want to be away from the hospital for longer than necessary. Lexi is my everything."
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"Hi, baby. I'm back," I call out as I step into the hospital room, even though I know damn well that Blossom won't respond to me.
Instead, Kathleen and Johnathon glance up from their computer screens and towards me. They're sitting in chairs against one wall of the room, both of them with laptops in their laps, probably so that they can get some work done.
They must have requested more chairs for the room as two additional chairs are still at Blossom's bedside from earlier. I give Kathleen and Johnathon a small wave before I take a seat in one of the chairs next to the bed, dropping my backpack onto the ground at my feet.
After I had taken a quick shower, I made bacon and eggs for Scarlett and I. She decided that she wanted to spend the day walking around the city, and so we said our goodbyes before I packed a bag with some of my school things and headed straight for the hospital.
Now, I unpack my backpack, stacking my textbooks next to the chair and rummaging around until I locate the book that I had thrown in here: Persuasion. I then kick my feet up onto the other chair, leaning back in my seat and opening up the book.
I hold the book with one hand and reach for Blossom's hand with my other. I gently kiss the back of hers before I rest our hands on the very edge of her bed.
But alas, I'm only given the opportunity to read about four fucking words before my phone begins to ring from within my pocket.
I groan, yanking the phone out. I don't have the number in my contacts, and so after reminding myself that it could be something important, I accept the call and hold the phone up to my ear. "Bryce Bradshaw speaking."
"Bryce! Oh my gosh! I've been trying to— Wait, why the hell do you answer the phone like that?"
Ugh. That voice.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath in. "What do you want, Kennedy?"
She makes a hissing sound at me, as if she's a goddamn cat. "Where the hell is Lexi? I thought that maybe she's sick and in bed, therefore not answering her phone, but this is so unlike her! Is she okay?"
I take a look at Blossom, who is sound asleep in her hospital bed.
No. She is certainly not okay.
"She was in an accident yesterday, Kennedy. She's in the hospital and in a coma. Her parents and I are here with her but she isn't awake," I explain.
Kennedy gasps.
She then pries for all the information she wants before announcing that her, Knox, and Nathan are headed here as soon as possible.
When I'm finally able to hang up the phone, I find Kathleen and Johnathon watching me with raised eyebrows, and so I reluctantly explain the situation to them.
I go back to reading my book, but sure enough, Kennedy, Nathan, and Knox come careening into the room about an hour later.
Kennedy starts to cry as soon as she sees Blossom in the hospital bed. Knox and Nathan just look startled as fuck, and they remain silent as the three of them stand at Blossom's bedside.
Once Kennedy is able to calm down somewhat, I explain to Knox and Nathan what happened; how Blossom got hit by a car and is now in a coma.
I strategically left out the part where Scarlett busted into my apartment to tell Blossom about Brittany and the pregnancy.
Kennedy, Nathan, and Knox then introduce themselves to Kathleen and Johnathon, and though Nathan's purple hair earns a disapproving glance from Johnathon, Kathleen is able to put on a smile.
Nonetheless, Blossom's parents seem delighted to meet their daughter's old roommate as well as the friends that she's made from school. Kennedy, Nathan, and Knox hang around the hospital for just under an hour before they say goodbye to us and leave, Kennedy with tears in her eyes as they walk out the door.
As soon as they're gone, I settle back into my seat next to Blossom's bed. Kathleen and Johnathon head out to take a walk, which leaves me alone in the hospital room with my girlfriend.
When the door shuts behind them, I take Blossom's hand in my own. I then open up the book that I had been reading prior to Blossom's friends' arrival, but rather than reading to myself, I begin to read aloud to Blossom.
Just as I would've done if we were back in our bed at home, Blossom curled up in my arms, since she loves to fall asleep to the sound of my voice.
My heart shatters when I realise that she may never fall asleep in my arms ever again.
A/N: Will Lexi ever wake up?
I guess we'll find out soon.
On a completely different note, do you ship Kennedy with Jules (her boyfriend who lives in France) or Nathan?
Just wondering ;)