Angel

Chapter 26

I found Ana in her room, which kind of surprised me. With the way she stormed out of Zack's room, I figured that she would be too mad to just go back to her room. Apparently I was wrong.

When she saw me, she avoided eye contact with me.

"I'm sorry for his strange behavior," I said, obviously referring to Zack.

She looked away from the window that looked out onto the hospital parking lot and turned to stare at me.

"Don't apologize for him," she said. "But, strange? So he doesn't act like a total jerk all the time?"

"No, not at all. That's the first time I've seen him be so rude to someone for no reason. I mean, I've seen him act that way towards people before, but he's always had a very good reason to do so."

"Oh."

She turned away from me and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Maybe I should go apologize to him. Even though I don't know what I'm apologizing for."

I thought about that. I didn't know how that would turn out, but I guess she could give it a try.

"Sure. That might help."

"Great. I'll do that later. Did you still want to do something? Visiting Zack didn't really go as planned."

"Yeah-"

I got cut off by Dr. Pasterik.

He had come up behind me secretly. His sudden words scared the shit out of me.

"Vanessa, Julie is here with all of your things."

Ana's face was filled with confusion, but she kept to herself.

"Okay. Tell her I'll be there in a minute," I said, my heart still trying to get back to a regular beat after the mini heart attack Dr. Pasterik had given me.

"Just don't keep her waiting very long. She's in your room, and I don't need any drama started."

"I promise I'll only be a minute or two."

He nodded his head, smiled at Ana, then made his way back out of her room.

"Guess that means our adventure will have to wait until another time," I told her.

She got up from the bed.

"It's fine. It's almost four anyways. I'll be forced to eat in about an hour, and I don't think you want to stick with me through that."

"Oh. Well, good luck. I'll come see you later, if that's okay."

She nodded.

"Of course. I'll go ahead and apologize to Zack before you get back."

"See you later, then."

With that, I made my way back to my room.

***

Julie brought everything that I asked for, plus more underwear. I guess she thought that the hospitals don't have washing machines?

I spent the next hour and a half arranging everything. I changed it about a million times before I was satisfied with the turnout.

Julie left only minutes after I got back from Ana's. She said that she missed me, and that Matt and Charlie wanted to see me. That was all, really. She rushed away, just like always.

It didn't phase me much, though. My room was perfect. It had everything I needed; no more, no less. And, just like I requested, it screamed "me".

After admiring my new home for a good ten minutes, I got bored. I decided that I would go visit Zack, and then see if Ana was okay after dinner.

Hopefully, he would be better now, and this would be a good visit.

I seriously didn't understand what had gotten into him. What didn't he like about Ana?

She had perfect skin, beautiful features, a sweet voice, and her whole personality was everything a guy could want.

I would kill to be her. I was jealous, and I had known her for about two days.

I hated that she had so much to deal with. I know anorexia isn't an easy battle, and I've never even experienced it.

To dodge my thoughts, I got up and started to make my way to Zack's room.

On my way to the elevator, I glanced into Ana's room. She wasn't there. I figured she was being forced to eat somewhere else.

I took my time going to Zack's room. It seemed like this was the first time I hadn't been in a rush to see him. Every other time had been an emergency or I had been filled with excitement.

This time I was actually kind of nervous to see him. I didn't want to argue with him, and I didn't want him to still be mad at me.

I realized that he had made me cry earlier. He made me cry, and they definitely weren't happy tears.

I didn't know how to feel about that.

The ding of the elevator disconnected me with my thoughts. The doors opened.

A middle-aged man waited patiently for me to step out before he got on.

Once I was out of the elevator, I immediately headed for Zack's room. I didn't bother checking with the nurses first. They knew who I was, and they knew that I was allowed to visit at any time.

I slowed my pace once I got closer to Zack's room. I couldn't walk fast much longer; my heart couldn't take it.

Once I got to the window of his room, I saw movement from in his room out of the corner of my eye. I moved my head in the direction of it.

I froze.

Ana was sitting on the edge of his bed, her head bent down into his,and their lips were attached.

Their eyes were closed, so they didn't know I was watching as they made out.

When they split apart for breath, Zack noticed me. Our eyes made contact. A tear rolled down my cheek.

I heard him through his open door.

"Vanessa, I'm sorry."

I just continued to stare at him.

Ana was standing up next to his bed, looking ashamed and afraid.

I looked down at my feet and began to walk into his room.

"If you didn't really love me, you could have just told me," I said, struggling to get the words out through the tears.

I turned around and walked away. I didn't know where I was headed or what I was going to do. I let the tears stream down my cheeks.

I had proved two guys wrong. I knew it all along.

I was never meant to be an angel, and I never will be.