Tangled in Love

Chapter 3

Nolan panicked as he watched his beautiful love lay on the hospital bed. He grasped her hand anxiously, but was too sensitive to look into her closed, blank eyes. The doctor walked in, filled with unsettling sorrow, "I'm sorry, son. She's in a coma. We don't know how long it will be until she wakes up."

Nolan bit his lip angrily and shoved his forehead onto Maya's with passion, and whispered dolefully, "I didn't mean for this to happen."

Ever since then, Nolan would go to visit Maya's hospital room twice every day for nearly a week, bringing white chrysanthemums and red roses to represent his long lasting love for her.

After visiting the hospital one morning, Nolan tossed his black-sporty duffel bag over his shoulder and used the side of his index finger to clear away the dangling tears on the bottom of his eyelid. He shuffled his feet towards the nearest subway station and forced himself into the underground tunnel knowing he would have to face his first day of his classmates telling them how sorry he was for him, and what a great person Maya had been. Nolan just kept thinking in his mind, She's not dead. She's just in a long rest. She's not dead! He would sometimes yell that repetitiously to himself, as if he were trying to convince his own mind of that, rather than the people bombarding him with worries.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Emory asked with a sympathetic frown.

First one down today with fake sympathy, Nolan mumbled mentally.

"I'm fine."

Emory looked down to her hands as she fiddled nervously with her nails. She looked as if she were going to speak, but Nolan's now ignorant expression turned her off, causing her to nervously smile one last grin before turning her back and walking the other direction.

As Nolan continued his day, now dragging his feet up the many flights of stairs towards the math room, he passed by the one girl in the school significantly shorter than him.

"Hey, I'm really sorry." Fairuz whispered shyly, wrapping her hand softly around his waist.

"Thanks," Nolan faked as a meaningful response.

Nolan shoved himself into Mr. Greenawalt's room and stared blankly on the do now telling him to observe the three shapes dilated onto the whiteboard. He looked to the blue rectangle as he imaged Maya staring into thick, empty darkness, all alone.

Nolan saw Annie walking into the classroom at the corner of his eyes. She was looking down to her black sneakers mixed with some gray, and he thought hack to the gray snoopy shirt Maya wore. He sighed. Everything seemed to remind him of her.

He decided to bring himself off of his depressed state, admiring Havah who was walking right behind Annie. She had such a wavy, soft texture for blonde hair that matched his. Her blue eyes though much brighter than his, were glittering with such curiosity and wonder. The deeper he admired her, the more he realized why he had fell in love with her last year.

But his aching heart stopped him and cut off any chance of moving on and distancing himself from Maya. His heart belonged to her - it seemed that she had literally stolen a piece of it, or rather, she had greedily taken the whole entire heart. It was such a great example because he couldn't live without Maya like he couldn't live without his heart.

Mr. Greenawalt's voice called out, "Nolan," and he jolted back to math class. Shocked and in panic, he yelped out the first thing that came to mind: his girlfriend's name. "Maya!"

The whole class broke out in laughter, except Isabel. She was staring at him with the most sincere and sympathetic look in her eyes he had ever seen since Maya's medical condition and mouthed, "I know how you feel." His eyes were blurring and his nose stinging, unable to keep his tears in anymore. As Mr. Greenawalt gave everyone a stern look that basically said "shut-up," Nolan grabbed all his things and ran out of the classroom, into the hallway.

He sat down, leaning on the cold, green lockers that claimed the walls of the school and dumped all his things onto the floor. A few pencils rolled out of his bed and down the hallway as his eyes became foggy. He sat like that, crying for a few moments, until the door banged open and shut close, footsteps sounding from the other end of the hall coming toward him.

"Here are your pencils," a familiar voice called out.

"Thanks, Isabel," Nolan replied, wiping his tears.

She sat down next to him and leaned on the lockers. "Are you alright?" she inquired with concern.

Embarrassed to be seen crying, he looked down to his light brown khakis that were now soaked wet from all the crying that had happened. "Yeah," he said quietly.

"Are you sure? I'm not." Isabel confirmed, this time looking straight at him, or rather, his silky, blonde hair that blocked his face.

He looked up, uncomfortable with the proximity of her, but he felt a familiar tug in him as he realized how beautiful her eyes looked. They were a deep color, just as Maya's eyes were, but they were a darker, warmer brown that left him fuzzy inside. And her plump lips - her red, large lips that looked so fresh and welcoming. He just couldn't take it anymore.

He pulled Isabel closer to him and fitted his lips onto hers.

Isabel was filled with shock and surprise after realizing what had just happened, but as her thoughts registered into her mind, she kissed him back. There was a kind of roughness and hardness of the kissing from Nolan. He was conceiving Isabel as Maya and forcing all his wishes and desires for his love onto her.

Isabel pushed Nolan away, with the two of them gasping for air. Isabel, wide-eyed, stared terrified at Nolan. "What the hell!" she yelled, wiping her mouth.

He smirked playfully, although he was nothing but playful and light-hearted inside. "Don't tell, me you didn't like that."

"Well... Fine," she admitted. "I've liked you for a little while, but WHAT THE HELL! You're with Maya! You can't cheat on her, even if she's in coma. And if you cheat on her when she's in coma, that's even worse!"

Nolan pouted and stared doe-eyed at Isabel, knowing that his cute look would make her do whatever he wanted. "Please. Please don't tell anyone."

Isabel inwardly sighed. She knew she couldn't say no to such a cute face and she knew that Nolan knew that too. She felt her heart soften. "Fine."

"Besides, I already broke up with her right before the crash," he lied without blinking an eye.

Isabel had a suspicious glint mixed with her brown eyes, but she let it go. After all, she had to trust him because she had no other way of knowing.

An arm wrapping around her waist woke her from her thoughts. It was warm and felt nice... Too nice. Isabel felt guilty from being with her crush, especially in the hallways, where every teacher could have caught them.

"So you know," Nolan started. "I've...always liked you. I just never told anyone. I never liked Maya. She just asked me out and I felt bad so I said yes. I've always just had my eye on you, Isabel, ever since we broke up." Nolan didn't know what had gotten over him, but he just felt the need to get a girlfriend. He knew he'd never get Maya back - there was no point wasting time and breath over her, when there were so many other girls who'd want to be his girlfriend. This was the first step to moving on and putting a barrier on his heart so that it will never break again - so that no one else could rip it in as many pieces as Maya did.

Isabel was flattered and her heart fluttered as she was anticipating what Nolan was going to say next. "Will you be my girlfriend again?" he asked softly, looking at her with such blue eyes that seemed to be only looking at her.

Isabel knew that Nolan was a player, or at least he was before he met Maya, but she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. She also knew that he was a sweet talker. He could probably talk off his death with the devil, but Isabel was so flattered, because this was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her, that she just wanted to say yes.

"Yes!" she cried out.

Nolan smiled at her, but the smile was one that didn't quite reach his eyes. It was a smile that didn't make his eyes sparkle, unlike the smiles he directed at Maya. But Isabel was so happy and excited that she didn't notice.

Perhaps if she had noticed it, she wouldn't have gotten herself into a big mess.

**Don't forget to VOTE, COMMENT, and SHARE to your friends**