𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐡 | 𝟏𝟖+

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

Alex left an hour ago because I sent him away. As much as I wanted him to stay, I also did want to talk to Mia. She walked in with a new set of comfortable clothes for me and set them on one of the chairs. Mia was supportive the whole time she was here, just intently listening as I was pouring my feelings out. I didn't want to cry in front of Alex, but I sure as hell can't hold back in front of Mia. I was mostly crying because of Nick rather than getting roofied. What happened, happened, but Nick could've done something about it. He was being a dick the whole night though, even before everything happened.

Mia let me know that she had to bang on his door at eleven in the morning, letting him know that I was in the hospital. She then told me that she already gave him an earful, but he should hear more from me. God, I love this girl already.

Once, Mia exits, I see Nick walk right in. "Why didn't you text me back when you woke up?" He says, sitting on the chair beside my bed.

"Maybe because you were acting like a douchebag yesterday." He stays silent. I sit up in my bed, adjusting my pillow. "First of all, you go and ditch me to hang out with your friends. I'm okay with you hanging out with them, but for you to just leave me there alone is not okay. I was bored and at some point, I thought I could join you outside, but what did you do? You kicked me out."

"You can't blame me for wanting to hang out with my friends alone."

"I can't. I just said that you could, but you also said you'd be back in a few minutes. Instead, you played multiple rounds of beer pong."

"I thought you would be fine alone," he said, now just arguing for the sake of arguing.

"You clearly don't get the point of the buddy system, do you? You can't just leave me like that!" I now yell. "Nick, you have to understand that I am a girl."

"A buddy system?"

"Yes, a buddy system. Leave with the person you came with no matter what."

"Okay, but you left me," he fires back.

"You weren't helping me when I needed it, so I had to find someone else. I don't understand why you're arguing with me on this," I'm trying to fight the tears about to pour out of me. "Of course, you wouldn't get it because you never had the threat of drugs being slipped into drinks before. You don't have to take several precautions before going out. You don't have to be wary of your surroundings, Nick. You have that privilege. You also know damn well, why frats easily let in girls, but not guys." His insensitivity angers me to the point of wanting to scream.

Nick just stays silent. He's looking down at his shoes, refusing to look at me. It's infuriating.

"Sorry," he says as if his mom just made him apologize to his sibling.

"You didn't even bother checking to see if I made it back to my dorm. There was no knock on the door and Mia was scared shitless not knowing where I was. You, you didn't give two fucks because all you cared about was yourself."

There's a knock on the door and I tell them to come in. It's the doctor. "Hi, I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I wanted to let you know that you are well enough to get discharged. If you'd like, I can write a doctor's note to excuse you from your classes for the next two days."

"That would be great," I respond, masking the anger that's still left over in my voice.

Nick just sits on the couch, scrolling on his phone as one of the nurses gets me situated. I can fully move my body, but I still have slight body pain. Once the nurse leaves I reach for my clothes and close the curtain between me and Nick.

I can put on my shorts, especially since they are cotton, but when I reach over to untie the back tie of my gown, I can't reach. Usually, I can but not today.