Make This Right (Y/N x Cassie Howard)

XII: Regrets

ONCE YOUR ALARM had sounded, you woke up. You made sure the night before that you'd open your phone and set the alarm, one that had no ringtone, just a vibrating pattern. It was enough for you since you were a light sleeper.

Your head was a bit fuzzy, and it throbbed horribly. You were surprised you weren't in your room. And weren't alone either. Instead of a brunette laying beside you, a blonde lay instead. Memories of last night came tumbling in, and you smiled.

Your hand had mindlessly reached for your cellphone, the vibrating pattern still playing that got annoying. When you turned off airplane mode, at least a dozen texts and missed calls adorned your screen. All from your wife's mother and father. And the one you least expected, your mother. This can't be good.

You quickly got up from the bed, not bothering to be quiet. This couldn't wait. This- this couldn't at all. You needed to leave. Right. Now. You hadn't checked the reason for the intrusion, but you could already tell it was terrible. Your mother never bothered to contact you since you told her not to all those years ago. She didn't break promises, so you knew this was not good. No, this wasn't good at all. 

Once you had gathered most of your clothing but still missing your left shoe, Cassie stirred. The blonde lazily rubbed her eyes as she sat up. "You're leaving? Already?" Cassie had spoken softly, trying not to sound too affected, but her eyes showed her disappointment. 

"I- uh. I need to go, but not for reasons you're probably thinking of. Something happened, and, God." You sighed loudly as you made your way back to her bed. You sat next to her, cupping her face with your hand. "Honestly, all I know is it's bad. I'm too much of a pussy to check the reason, but... I know it's not good. I need to go back. Home." You hesitated to say the last, primarily because it felt so wrong to say it out loud, especially to someone like Cassie. 

The blonde just smiled. She didn't offer a reply. She couldn't speak. Even though you told her the truth, she still felt vulnerable. Maybe this had been a mistake? Was she just a booty call? Someone readily available? She shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the toxic thoughts. But they still lingered. They always do. 

"Hey, are you okay?" You said to her as you brought her gaze back to yours. You leaned in to kiss her, but she quickly sided her head. Your lips landed on her cheek instead of her lips. You gave her a weak smile as you pulled back. "I'll call you." 

Cassie just nodded her head. "Okay. I hope It'll be okay, whatever problem it is." She said. You nodded your head, saying, "I hope so too."

***

As you started your car, you spoke to your phone, telling it to read all your recent messages out loud. Once the engine roared to life, you backed out of the driveway of Cassie's home. You gazed out, trying to look at her window, but the curtains were drawn. You sighed. You should probably have a long conversation with Cassie once all this blows.

The robotic voice of your phone brought you out of your thoughts as it began reading. "Five messages from Sonia Perez. At 7:10 PM, Y/N, where are you? At 8:47 PM, Please answer, Y/N. At 8: 55 PM, You are completely irresponsible if you think that disappearing like this will solve all your problems. At 9:41 PM, That's it! Answer your goddamn phone, Y/N. For fucks sake! Your wife is in the hospital. Doesn't that mean a goddamn thing to you?!?

"Two messages from Ted Perez. At 8:23 PM, answer your phone, Y/N. pls. At 11:46 PM, ill fucking kill u, Y/LN. where the hell are u??"

Four messages from Mother. At 7:55 PM, Sweetie, are you and Maddy fighting? Something has happened. Why don't you come down to Saint Luke's? At 8:23 PM, Hon. I know this isn't the best time for you, but please answer your phone. At 9:56 PM, Goddamn it, Y/N. I'm calling your father. He'd know if you were arrested or something. This isn't like you. I know what you said about not contacting you but please, honey. At 12:45 AM, her room number is 407. Please at least show up. I'll make sure I won't stay long if you show up. 

You gripped the steering wheel hard as the voice died down. "Holy fuck," you muttered to yourself as you quickly tried to drive to Saint Luke's. Traffic was horrible, and your stomach was in knots. The faint smell of medicine and laundry wafted through the air as you stepped inside Saint Luke's.

Thankfully there weren't many people during this time of the day. It's too early to be in a hospital. No one should be going here this early. Only bad things happen at 5:30 AM. The nurse at the desk looked at you as you blankly stared behind her, eyes locked on the elevator. 

"Can I help you?" The nurse had asked. You shook your head and smiled. You walked slowly towards the elevator, too slow. Every step felt heavy as it weighed on your shoulders. You closed your eyes as you neared the elevator. You took a steadying breath, trying to keep the anxiousness in check. 

The elevator dinged as it stopped at the fourth floor. The floor was quiet except for the faint beeping sounds and the air conditioner. Your mind had stopped thinking at that point. You gripped your phone hard as you tried to walk to your wife's room. Slowly again, you felt the heaviness of the situation dwell on you. 

You wanted to scream, fight, maybe—something to release all these emotions. You were reeling from your wife's deceit yesterday, and now she was lying in a hospital bed for reasons you still didn't know. None of the messages explained why she was here at Saint Luke's or her phone was off. 

You instantly thought of the worst. What if Maddy's dea- You couldn't even bring yourself to say it in your head. God, Mia would be crushed. Her memories of your relationship with her mother weren't the best, and it hurt to think that that's all the memories she would have if your train of thought were correct. Please, let me be wrong about this. Let all the other stuff be true, just not this. Please, please, please,

As you stood at her door, you remembered the feeling the same way as you did yesterday when you knocked on Cassie's. Only this time, instead of excitement, it was shame and dread filling you up. Slowly, you knocked and opened the door. 

"Oh, my god, Maddy." You gasped.