No One Has To Know

-16-

Song: Give Your Heart A Break

Artist: Demi Lovato

A/n- originally, this was all going to be in chapter 15, but I realized it was a bit too long😅

*~*~*~*~*

Heather stepped into the hospital room. Her ears were met with soft beeping noises. It broke her heart to see Alejandro injured and weak with a cast around his left leg.

Alejandro turned his head and gasped when he saw Heather. She looked like an angel, with the hallway's light glowing behind her. "I didn't know you'd come," he told her, his voice hoarse.

"Yeah, I'm here." She stared at the floor.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "How did you know about this?"

"The news. I recognized the description of your car," Heather shrugged, playing it off like it was no big deal. "Ugh, why am I even here?" She muttered quietly. "You don't want me in your life, so I'll just go." She spun around on her heels.

"Heather, wait!" Alejandro called out. There was an unfamiliar desperation in his voice. He couldn't run after her if she left, so he felt hopeless.

Heather stopped but stayed facing away from him. "What?"

"Can we please talk?"

"Oh, sure, 'cause that went so well for us earlier today," she spat.

Alejandro sighed. "Heather, I didn't mean what I said earlier. I was—"

Heather whipped her body back around. "Can you just stop?! I don't want to talk about this anymore! I know what your answer is! I just came here because I was so worried you were dead!" Her voice cracked as inevitable tears trickled down her face.

Alejandro froze, processing what was happening. This was the first time he saw Heather cry, which hurt him. "I'm ok. I'm not dead," he said gently.

"I know you're not, dummy," she sniffled, wiping her runny nose with her long blue sleeve. "I just...I should go."

"Heather, please," Alejandro begged. He was never one to plead, but he felt desperate. "Please let me talk to you. Just for a minute?"

Heather wanted to run out of the room, but her legs remained glued to the floor. The vulnerability in his voice made her feel drawn to him. "Ok, fine. What do you want to tell me that I don't already know?"

"I didn't mean what I said earlier. I didn't text you because—I want you in my life. I want you, and..." tears burned behind his eyes. "I want you, and I can't have you." Heather stared at him, wide-eyed and bewildered. Her words were trapped in her throat, so she let him keep talking. "Every moment I spent with you made it harder to stop wanting more. We couldn't stop ourselves; we didn't want to stop. I had to stop it before it became something we could never return from."

Heather nodded. "I understand. I know that..." she huffed "...we can't do what we want. You wanted something more from me?"

"Yes, of course. I love spending time with you, Heather." A tear trickled down his cheek.

Heather shuffled towards him. She scrunched her eyebrows when she saw the shimmer from his teardrop against his dark skin. "Are you in pain? Is your leg hurting?"

"No. No," Alejandro replied woefully.

Heather brushed her hand against his, trying to decide if she wanted to intertwine their fingers. Alejandro beat her to it, grabbing her hand and gently squeezing. "I think we can get away with it if we're really careful, hm?" She let her knee sink into the hospital bed mattress.