𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑 ᵗᵃʸˡᵒʳ ˢʷⁱᶠᵗ

01

Gabriella wakes up to long, manicured fingernails assaulting her cheeks. She groans, attempting to hide under her covers, but instead, she feels them being pulled away. She opens her eyes to see her best friend, Evelyn, smiling at her. "Let me sleep, asshole," she grumbles, earning an even wider smile from her friend. "I did! It's 11:43, and I wanna bake. Please, can you ask your mom?"

"Can't you ask her? I'm sleeping,"

Evelyn pouts, "I tried to wait until quarter to, but do you have any idea how long two minutes feel when you're staring at the clock?" The brunette rolls her eyes, pushing Evelyn off of her before reluctantly standing and going to freshen up.

She enters her mother's room on the way to the bathroom. The older woman is sitting on the bed, her glasses resting on her nose bridge and her phone in her hand. Her mother, Jackie, smiles when she sees her daughter, giving her a kiss on the forehead when she sits next to her. "Hello, sleepy head." The girl groans at the nickname, earning a laugh from her mother. "Can me and Evie do some baking before she goes home?" she asks, giving her mother her best puppy eyes. The two girls often make a lot of mess when they try to make anything, so the older woman is very reluctant to agree. Even though she almost always does.

"Thanks, mom! You're the best!" she exclaims, about to exit the room when her mother stops her. "If you guys wanna bake, you have to start soon because I'm going out for lunch with your Aunt and I do not trust the two of you in my kitchen without me here." she says, shooting Gabriella a knowing look when she's about to protest. The younger girl nods, leaving her mother's room and going to freshen up.

Once she showers, brushes her teeth, and does her skincare, Gabriella goes to her room and begins to change. She picks out a flowery tank top and sweatpants, knowing there's no point putting on anything nice because of the mess that'll come from baking. She then brushes out her hair, deciding to just put it in a claw clip and heads downstairs. Evelyn is in the kitchen, beginning to prepare for whatever they're going to make. Gabriella examines the ingredients, clapping excitedly when she realises what they're going to make. "Cookies!" she exclaims, jumping up and down, earning a laugh from Evelyn.

"Your mom said we have to start like, now, so do you wanna quickly eat first or just make the cookies?" Evelyn asks, washing her hands. Gabriella shakes her head, running to wash her hands and soon enough, they've begun. Their shared playlist is playing from Gabriella's phone, and they dance as they bake together. Soon enough, the aroma of fresh cookies wafts through the air, and the girls are ready to take them out of the oven. They locate the oven mitts, placing the tray of cookies on the stove and letting them cool.

Jackie walks down the stairs, smiling when she enters the kitchen. "Hey girls, oh, these look good!" she exclaims, looking over the cookies. "They smell delicious too, I wonder whose recipe you used?" she teases, earning laughs from the two teenagers.

"Mom, what time are you meeting Aunt Andrea?" Gabriella says, turning to her mother while peeling a cookie off of the tray and offering it to her. "I should be leaving now, actually. I'm running l- oh these are good! You guys normally burn them." the older woman says, laughing at her own joke. Gabriella pouts, taking a bite out of the cookie in her mother's hand.

"Well, I'm going to head off. You two be safe, okay? No burning the house down!" she scolds jokingly, giving both girls hugs and pressing a kiss to her daughter's cheek. "I love you, sweetie," she says to Gabriella, before going to put her shoes on. "I should be back in time to drive you home, Evie! Please don't go by yourself if it's dark. See you in a minute!"

A few hours quickly fly by, and Gabriella's feet are resting in Evelyn's lap as they watch an episode of Gilmore Girls; a show that the two girls love to binge together. They've rewatched it too many times to count. They snack on their fresh cookies, sipping on their sodas in a comfortable silence, watching the show and occasionally adding their own commentary. They are halfway through an episode when Gabriella feels her phone buzz from beside her. She looks at the caller ID, mouthing 'Taylor' to Evelyn before she answers. Immediately, Taylor's voice can be heard on the other end of the phone. She seems to be in a busy room, and a lot of people are speaking loudly at once.

"Gabi? Do you know how to get to the hospital near your house? The one near the park?" Taylor asks, her voice weirdly calm.

Gabriella furrows her eyebrows. Why does she need to go to the hospital? "I...yeah, but why?"

Taylor sighs, "I- Please don't freak out or anything, okay? Just get here as quick as you can, please."

Gabriella can feel her heart beating at what feels like a trillion beats per second, "Of course I'm going to freak out if you tell me to meet you at a hospital, Taylor. What's ha[[ening" she snaps, before her voice softens as she looks over at her concerned best friend. "Can I bring Evie?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea, actually. Be super quick, please." Taylor says, hanging up once she has told Gabriella where to go.

Back in the house, Evelyn watches as her best friend goes upstairs, grabbing their jackets. "Get your shoes on, we gotta go." the brunette orders, tying her laces. Evelyn complies, looking over at the girl once she's done. They leave the house, and quickly begin their journey to the hospital. "What's going on? Why are we going to the hospital?"

Gabriella simply shrugs, checking her phone for any updates before sighing and putting it back in her bag when her screen is blank. "I have no idea, and I don't wanna wait to find out. Tay wasn't telling me much." she replies breathlessly, grabbing her best friend's hand and speeding up.

The girls don't say much after that, until they make it to the hospital. The recognizable hospital smell fills their senses as they enter the building. Gabriella looks around in a panic, relaxing slightly when she sees Andrea walking from further into the hospital to the reception. As she approaches her, the girl immediately starts bombarding her aunt with questions. "What's going on? Where's my mom?" she asks impatiently.

"Honey..." Andrea starts, giving her niece a look.

"What? What is it?"

The blonde woman bites her lip, before placing her hand on Gabriella's shoulder. "Your mom got into an accident about an hour ago."

The girl just stares at her aunt in disbelief, and she swears she could feel her heart speeding up. "Is she...is she gonna be okay?" Gabriella asks weakly. Andrea looks down at the ground, "I don't know, sweetie. I don't know much, only that she's in surgery."

The brunette feels her heart drop, and God, she was about to break Evelyn's hand from how fucking tight she was gripping it. "Oh my God."

A doctor approaches them, giving Gabriella a sympathetic look before turning to Andrea.

"We have some news."

A/N
hello there xx i started posting this on ao3 in APRIL and haven't updated since so i thought maybe posting here like i said i would, would like . up the inspiration??? idk. enjoy x