Pretty Boy In Love

|12| Filthy Liar Revelations

"Noah Wilde."

Just waiting for them to register his name raises my anxiousness. Cass' soft palm rests on my forearm and Liv's arm is gently looped through my other. Neither of them look quite as worried as I must, but it's not like I should even remotely be this worried. I'm not his girlfriend. I'm not his sister. I'm barely even his friend. What I am is his acquaintance, someone who simply knows him and has no importance in his heart. Why am I so nervous?

"Ah yes." The receptionist(Ms. Hanna on her name tag) rubs in between her hazel eyes tiredly, looking at what must be Noah's record. I brace myself for the worst. "He was admitted to the ER just an hour and a half ago. Are any of you direct family? Another one of his sisters?"

The last question was clearly directed at Liv, the only one who could be Noah's sibling based on looks. My heart clenches at the thought of how long we'd have to wait in order to get 5 minutes with him. I can't let my best friends waste their time because I will, without doubt, wait as long as I have to in order to see Noah. I just need to see for myself that he's okay. It's actually an odd feeling, being so close to him but having him just out of reach. One glimpse at him and my pulse will stop racing. Right now, the only thing on my mind is a list of possibilities as to how the hell Noah ended himself in the emergency room.

Frowning, Liv gently releases my arm and gives a hard stare at Ms. Hanna. "I'm not Noah's sister, but if you would just let us in his room for a single minute, we'd be so grateful—"

"No can do, dear," Ms. Hanna interrupts a bit rudely for my taste. Only now do I notice her southern accent. "We need to make sure he's stable before he can have any visitors. So, probably another one or two hours at the most. It was just a slight poisoning, he'll be fine after a hangover."

Overdose, of course. Some stupid party resulting in some stupid drinking contest and now he's passed out in some stupid hospital bed. It even sounds like a mistake he'd make. Beneath all my worry, I'm a little mad at him for doing this to himself. I've had beer once in my life and barfed at the smell of it. One of the many reasons high school parties aren't my thing.

Clingy. I feel so clingy. he's not even my responsibility. I'm... I'm just over thinking it... am I?

For all we know, Ms. Hanna could just be saying "slight poisoning" to get my surely panicked face to calm down. They probably lie all the time. Noah could be dying right now.

"How long's the wait?" I blurt out, gripping both hands onto Cass' arm. If it hurts, she doesn't say anything.

"As long as the doctors need to get him stable."

I have a billion more questions, but she tells us that we're holding up a line and the three of us embarrassingly step into the waiting room with only the promise that once Noah can have visitors, we'd be the first ones to go in.

The waiting room hurts my eyes the second I step in. The white florescent lights are so bright, they must use the same ones for surgery. There are hardly any people, with the exception of a few elderly and a little girl with her father. They're hard to look at, half because I can't sit still and other half because I used to be like that with my dad. Before he left us. 

"You guys can go," I tell them after a few moments in silence. "This is my problem, not really yours."

Cass leans into one of the hard hospital chairs like it's an impossibly soft cushion. Her curls bounce as her head shakes. "Not a chance in hell we're leaving you, Jules."

A gut feeling tells me that I shouldn't have them misspend their time for me, but I push it away, knowing my need for my friends is stronger at the moment. Instead, I cirle my arm around Cass' and Liv's shoulders on either side of me and bring them closer.