For Better or Worse

The Universe is Aligned...Right? (Prologue Pt.1)

~8 Months After TDWT Finale~

Fuck me for trying to do the right thing for once, Heather thinks as she anxiously twiddles her thumbs.

This is absolute torture, and I have no one to blame but myself. Ugh, I must be a masochist...

It's been eight months since the World Tour finale and Heather's been a mess. During that time, she's graduated from being a bitch to being a bad bitch–which isn't as fun as it sounds.

Her social status at school has drastically changed and made her realize she needed to lay low for a while. So she's been slumming it with Duncan and Cody, the only two people she can kind of tolerate. At least hanging out with them gave her a reason to get out of the house and away from her mother. Ugh, she mentally gags at the thought.

Once I turn 18 next year, I'm moving out and never coming back, Heather happily thinks before she's brought back to the hospital she's currently in.

She senses that familiar feeling of crippling dread as it slowly clouds her judgment. She closes her eyes and breathes in slowly.

'Chin up, queen. An easy life will never build you.'

Heather lets out a nervous breath as she stares at the hospital room door. Mrs. Burromuerto puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be alright, Mija. He won't bite." Her accent is thick and her words are comforting. Heather gives her a quick smile before summoning up the courage to open the door. Her breath hitches when she sees a sleeping Alejandro.

This is the first time she's seen him since TDWT ended, and she has to fight the urge to cry her eyes out. Heather only learned of his whereabouts two weeks ago when Mrs. Burromuerto reached out to her through email. Since then, they've been talking every day about Alejandro's condition and readjusting to normal life. It's been nice, but now she's here. And she has some things she needs to say.

Heather puts her bag down in a chair next to his bed and goes over to him. Alejandro doesn't look like he's having a peaceful sleep, his face scrunched up in a frown. He looks small in the bed, and the skin on his face and arms is healing differently in patches and shades. She notices a shark tooth-shaped scar at the corner of his jaw that looks almost healed. She reaches down and lightly brushes her thumb against it, and he visibly relaxes. Sighing, she pulls her chair closer to his bedside and takes a seat.

Okay, you can do this, Heather tells herself. She tucks a loose strand of her short hair behind her ear.

"Um, hi," She starts awkwardly, "I know it took me a while to work up the nerve to come visit you, but I'm here now. And your mom got me all caught up on your condition."

Heather chuckles sadly. "For some reason, she likes me. Your dad and Carlos do, too. They don't blame me for what happened to you." She looks down at her folded hands in her lap, her voice starting to quiver.

"But I do."

Tears are threatening to spill from her eyes and she wipes them away, grimacing. "Damn you Alejandro for making me cry and apologize on the same day." Heather buries her face in her hands to try to stop the sniffling and the tears from flowing. Just talk. Talk until it's all out in the open. "Okay, I'm gonna say this now while you're unconscious so you don't judge me."