To Love You Again | c.v

27

27 - JOEL

"It's so weird, Zabdiel," Joel mumbled against his two thumbs. "The doctor confirmed that she doesn't have any heart problems so what happened?"

Zabdiel shrugged, confused of the whole situation as well. "Do you think Christopher said something really hurtful?"

"What?"

"Yeah..." Zabdiel whispered as a patient walked by with a family member. "She fainted at the coffee shop and who was she there to see? Exactly. Christopher."

"But he wasn't there," Joel frowned as the whole thing made no sense. "I don't think he ever showed up. We should tell him. He really wanted to meet up with her to explain everything."

"Don't," Zabdiel held Joel's hands back from using his phone. "Joel, don't you think that if Christopher showed up late and never found Nina he wouldn't call us whining? Joel... something happened and I just know this has to do with Christopher."

Joel didn't like the vibe he was getting from Zabdiel. It was almost spooking him out a bit because he was going on about it as if it were a homicide case.

"You can go in now," the nurse interrupted the two at the right time. "She woke up a few minutes ago so don't stress her."

"Go ahead," Zabdiel encouraged Joel with a light shove on the back. "I don't know her like that so it'll be weird. I'll wait for you here— actually, no. I'll be in the cafeteria."

Joel gently went in the room where a TV with low volume played in the background. A curtain slightly covered Nina's face but Joel perfectly saw her. Her eyes were droopy which made Joel softly smile to himself. She huffed and grumbled something to herself before sitting up. She tried to pull at the cover but she didn't see the remote near her feet. Nina grunted but did no attempt in getting up. She simply sat there glaring at the remote control.

"Talk about lazy," Joel smirked knowing he probably scared her.

"Jesus," she gasped. "When did you get here?"

"Few minutes ago," he said before going to her side and grabbing the remote from the floor. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. I really don't know what happened. I don't even remember how I got here."

Joel couldn't help but pull her into his chest. He gently smoothed her hair down and sighed. "You scared me. They said you weren't responding. You wouldn't wake up."

Nina's arms wrapped around Joel's waist and she exhaled softly. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I'm so confused."

"Nina," Joel took a step back. "Did you get to meet up with Chris?"

Nina's eyes no longer had that warm tone to them which told Joel everything he needed to know.

"I did. That jackass really played me. I really have no idea what I saw in him."

"What did he say?"

"He said he actually likes someone else or some bs like that. He thought he wanted me. He's saying all that shit after he told me he liked me? If you're confused then be confused on your own. Why did he come and confuse me and mess with my feelings? I'm sensitive."

Joel sat by her feet, smoothing the bed down and shaking his head. "He is literally so so dumb. I don't understand him. He wouldn't shut up about you and now he pulls this?"

"It's whatever," Nina waved it off and shrugged. "It wasn't that deep so I'll get over him pretty quickly. If I'm being honest, I'm glad things went this way. I was really doubting if I chose the right guy to go after."

"I don't blame you for doubting and it's good that you did because look."

Nina nodded but her eyes were glued to Joel's lips but he didn't notice this. "I think I know who I want now."

Joel met Nina's brown eyes but his heart stopped when he saw where her eyes were. She unintentionally licked her lips– igniting a new found yearn inside of Joel. His eyes soon also navigated to her soft looking lips. Joel gulped as he fought the urge to press his lips against hers but she wasn't helping.

It all felt rushed and the emotions all felt familiar. There was no denial that Nina was absolutely beautiful but the minute Christopher said he liked her, Joel had to forget to see her with those eyes. Yet still, wouldn't he be betraying Chris to an extent? A strange feeling twisted inside his chest that almost made him so breathless. He was craving for Nina's touch but that ugly sense of deja-vu was stopping him. Why did he feel like this already happened?

"Nina..." Joel whispered breathily. "I just had a crazy deja-vu feeling."

Nina's eyes stared at him in shock. "Me too. I don't even know why I feel like I'm betraying that loser when nothing happened between us."

"You feel that too?" Joel asked in surprise as he began to question everything. "Guiltiness?"

"Mmh," Nina nodded. "It's so weird that both of us felt the same."

"Anyway, um, I should get going. You need to rest so you can leave tomorrow." Joel said as he awkwardly got up from the bed and offered a nervous smile.

"Sure, thank you for coming."

Joel smiled at her and replied, "of course. Do you want me to pick you up?"

"Please," Nina grinned. "Oh and one more thing."

"Yeah?" Joel asked as he stood at the doorway.

Nina pursed her lips and exhaled loudly. "When you come pick me up let's go somewhere after."

"Somewhere?" Joel asked as he eyed her in confusion.

"Yes," Nina nodded. "Let's go on a date."