The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 27

Saturday

A beam of sunlight penetrated through the curtains and burnt Ashley's eyes. Squinting, her eyes felt so heavy to open and a sudden ache stung her head right away. When she finally could disclose her eyes, it took a moment or two to figure out where she was until she noticed she woke up in an unfamiliar room.

Her eyes widened in shock when she realized her head was on top of a guy's tattooed broad chest. Holding her breath, Ashley shot up and turned her head to the guy. There lay Joey still fast asleep, snoring softly. The blanket was drawn off him as she gathered it to cover her naked body, but now it revealed his.

Her scream made Joey blink his eyes open, crooning and squirming sleepily. But when his eyes met hers, he gasped and sat straight up in his bed. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no."

"What happened last night?" Ashley shrieked. "Where are we?"

"In my bedroom. Nothing happened last night."

"You think!" Her eyes ran up and down, gesturing to his naked, burly body.

By that, it came to his realization that he was naked and he hurriedly reached for his boxer on the floor. It was impossible not to check him out since he looked really hot with his morning bed hair plus his concrete muscles. She tugged her eyes away as her stomach tightened, urging herself not to jump onto him.

"H- how did I end up in your bed?" Ashley asked nervously as she got dressed.

Joey put his t-shirt on then replied, "I don't know, you're one to talk."

She paused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're the one who threw yourself at me."

"Excuse me! I definitely did not!"

And out of the blue, some flashes of what had happened last night rewound in her head. When they had been playing drinking game. When they had been dancing in the rain. When they had been making out. She couldn't reminisce the full version of last night except those three moments. Her knees got weak and she plopped herself down in bed.

"So," Ashley went on, "what did it mean, then? You know, for you and me?"

Her heart throbbed faster waiting for his answer but nothing came out of Joey's mouth. He just stood at the other side of the bed with his back facing her. Somehow, hope for things to change between them emerged inside her for she wanted to feel the comfort of being held in his arms while lying her head on his chest again. His touch felt different from other guys she had ever been with and the taste of his lips got her so addicted. Ironically, for her everything just felt so right with him after last night.

But then, after drawing in a deep breath, Joey turned around and said, "It meant nothing, of course. It shouldn't have even happened. It was a mistake."

Her shoulders sank, tears poking at her eyes. It hurt. His words extremely hurt. It felt like her heart plunged right into a thousand swords. The way he had said it so easily and apathetically made her feel stupid and embarrassed. How foolish of her to think he would feel the same way about her. If she knew that falling for him would be a huge mistake, she wished last night had never happened.

Shielding her tears from streaming down her cheeks, Ashley stood up as she rasped, "Yeah, right, it was nothing."

Without any further ado, she paced out of Joey's room and collected her scattered things in the living room before she slammed the front door close.

***

Later that morning in her living room, Jessica couldn't remove her suspicion over Ashley's behavior earlier this morning. Around 7:30 AM today, Ashley had burst into their apartment out of nowhere carrying her shoes, purse and coat in one hand with tears flooding her face. When Jessica had asked about Ashley's whereabout last night, she didn't answer and just fled to her room.

Jessica was worried about Ashley. Seeing her like that, she could tell something very wrong had happened. Could Ashley be off to the bar by herself last night? Where had she spent the night then? But the most essential question was... with who? From the way she had carried her things and walked with bare feet, it could be with someone in this building. Jessica had tried to knock on Ashley's door and offered her a comfort, but she wouldn't let her in.

It was all her mistake. Jessica felt super guilty for bailing on her two best friends last night. If only she could turn back the time, she would've just asked Ashley to meet Kyle with her. So, she wouldn't have bailed on anyone, Ashley wouldn't have gone out by herself and the three of them would've had a good time together. None of those bad things would've happened.

And now, Jessica completely had no idea what to do to make things right again.

***

In quietness, Sean stood by Allison's bed in ICU room. Her condition was still not improving since the last time he had visited her last week. Due to his exam and the restricted visiting hours, he couldn't see her every day and it really messed up his mind. It was challengingly hard to stay focused on his exam while the thought of her lying in a coma kept haunting him. Luckily, he still could manage this week of struggles and now he hoped for the same thing next week.

So, it was Saturday noon and Sean decided to stay at the hospital today. Before coming to the hospital, he had stopped by Allison's Nana's house this morning to check up on her. From her disheveled look, he could tell that she was desperately miserable. With Allison in a coma and her own health condition, there was nothing Nana could do about it but prayed the best for her granddaughter from home.

Nana had told him how much the guilt was torturing her for not being there when Allison had gotten severe asthma attack that day. Allison would've died if it hadn't been for their dog. All Nana wanted to do was to be by Allison's side every day, but the doctors and nurses there had suggested her not to be so hard on herself and take a good care of her own health while they would take care of Allison's.

Having seen Nana shed tears in front of him, Sean couldn't help crying, too. This current situation was extremely hard to endure for him and Nana. The only thing he could do to her was to hug and tell her he would look after Allison, so she wouldn't need to worry so much. He had made sure to let Nana know that she wasn't alone to face this and he would do anything to help.

It was excessively unbearable to see Allison lie there fighting for her life with all those hoses helping her breathe, the sound of very slow pulse from the heart-rate monitor by her bed and IV tube sticking out of the back of her hand. The medical equipment must be physically painful for her.

He hated how the best he could do was just to hold her hand. If he could trade lives with her and bring her back to life, even if it cost him a soul, he would do it without even thinking twice. He didn't want her to feel any more pain because she had been through enough because of him.

Staring at Allison, Sean caressed her scalp lovingly. Her emotionless face used to glow brightly when they were together. Her closed eyes used to gaze at him firmly yet shady it always made his heart hammer. Her pale lips used to be so pink he wanted to kiss them all the time. Her cold, limp hands used to send warmth to every part of his body every time her fingertips touched his skin. He didn't want every beautiful detail about her to be just reminiscence.

The familiar sweet smell of Allison's chestnut-colored hair flew into Sean's nose as he landed a long kiss on top of her head. It travelled him back in time to the day he had first gone to her grandparents' house. They had a fine breakfast together followed by a classic, black-and-white movie time while sitting together in the living room. The movie was dull, he admitted, but he enjoyed having her head on his shoulder that he kept kissing her head for he really liked the smell of it.

Nevertheless, it was also the day he had first seen her get asthma attack. He was panicked and scared to death. Since that day on, he vowed to himself that he would never let anything hurt her. Losing her would be the second most heartbreaking thing he had to face after his parents. But in the end, he was the one who had caused all the pain she had to suffer now. The one who had let her walk out of his life and hadn't done anything about it.

Did he still deserve her after everything he had done to her? Did he still deserve her forgiveness? Did he still deserve her at all?

***

(to be continued)