Just Let Me Be Yours

Chapter Nine

(Harper's Pov)

Me and Alex went without talking for weeks, avoiding each other at school and ghosting each other on Instagram. Things were horrible. And the worst part was, I had feelings for him too. If he was just some guy who tried to kiss me and I had zero interest, I could get over it, I could ghost. But this was different. Alex made me feel vulnerable, and that scared me. I've been keeping secrets for so long, and I couldn't risk exposing them to some guy.

I got the call in the middle of the night from Alex. I was hesitant at first, I considered letting it ring, but something told me this was important. "Hello?" I answered. I heard him crying from the other line and knew something was wrong.

"Harper..." His voice cracked.

"Alex, Is something wrong?" I asked in a panic.

"Harper... It's Aria. She's in the hospital, we found her... we found her in her room passed out, she was covered in blood. I, I don't know what to do," He replied, I could feel his pain from the other line.

I was shocked, "Oh my God, I-"

He interrupted shakily, "I, I know things are kind of weird with me and you or whatever but, Can, can you-"

"Text me which hospital she's at, I'm getting in my car right now, I'll be there as soon as possible," I replied.

"Thank you...Harper." He said.

"That's what friends are for," I replied, then grabbed my keys and hung up my phone. I sped the whole way there, and when I finally got there, I got out of the car, slammed the door, and raced into the building. "Do you know where Alex Anderson is?" I shouted to a nurse.

"The Anderson Family is In the waiting room on floor two, Are you friends or family?" She asked me.

"I'm Alex's friend, thank you, ma'am," I replied, and ran up to the waiting room. When I saw Alex pacing the hall in tears, my heart broke for him. I remember that feeling too damn well. He noticed me, And the panic left his face for a second, but only a second. I rushed toward him and gave him a huge hug, asking, "Are you okay? Did the doctors figure anything out?"

"They did a CAT scan and it came back fine, now they're running more tests to figure out what's going on. My parents are with her now, she's still unconscious." He replied.

"It'll be okay," I reassured him, and he nodded his head. "Is Sam coming?" I asked, sitting down in the waiting room.

"Yeah, He's on his way, he got caught in traffic," Alex replied and sat down on a sofa next to me.

Sam arrived about a half hour later, and we all waited together for about another hour before Sam fell asleep, and then I looked into Alex's eyes, he looked exhausted.

"Why don't you lay down here and try to take a nap? Here, You can take my cardigan and use it as a blanket. I'll wake you up if the doctors or your parents come out." I said to him.

He was hesitant and asked, "Are you sure? I don't want you to have to"

"No. It's fine." I replied.

"Well, okay. Thank you, Harper." He replied to me.

A little while later I awoke with his head in my lap, sound asleep. I guess I must've fallen asleep at some point too. Sam was also sleeping on the other sofa, snoring like crazy. I checked my watch, and it read, "4:55." I ran my fingers through his soft brown hair, something about that was soothing. As I stroked his hair, I started to fall for him even more. He looked so handsome and sweet sleeping like that, curled up on the sofa like that with his head in my lap. That's all I remember, and I must've fallen asleep again because the next thing I remember was waking up the next morning. Alex was awake next to me talking to Sam about video games.

"Hey guys, I must've fell asleep, Any news about Aria?" I asked tiredly.

"My mom called me from the other side of the building early this morning and said there weren't any updates, Aria's Just sleeping now. They're still waiting to hear back from the lab for her test results. They also said we couldn't come in till later because they didn't want anyone disturbing her while she slept." He replied.

"So, do you guys have any Idea what happened?" I asked.

Alex was hesitant to answer, but finally said, "Well, I don't think she's been eating enough. She's also been exercising way too hard."

"Damn... I hope she's okay," I replied.

"Me too." Alex and Sam said at the same time.

Aria did end up with a diagnosis. She had passed out from low blood sugar, And the doctor said she was severely malnourished. Their parents convinced her to see an eating disorder therapist, and Sam was also very supportive of Aria through all of it. Me and Alex continued to talk, just as friends for the next couple of weeks, but I knew I was falling deeper in love with him every day. I remember one night in particular, he came over to study, even though we'd finished our project together.

We were sitting at the foot of my bed studying when he asked me, "Hey Harper, what's the area of a circle with a radius of 5?"

I thought for a second and replied, "78.54, I remember because Miss Hale told us that in school last week."

"Thanks, I would've never remembered that." He laughed, and we looked each other in the eyes. For a moment all I did was examine them, and I think he did mine too. Then I remembered something Talia told me that morning, she said she got two tickets to a baseball game, and I could have them and bring a friend.

So breaking the awkward silence between us, I said, "So, I got two free tickets to a baseball game this Saturday. Would you umm, wanna come with me?" and his eyes lit up.

"Yeah! I'd love to!" He smiled.

"Great," I smirked. So it was a date. I knew I shouldn't be going on a date with him, I knew it was probably a bad idea. But I didn't care, at that moment, I was just excited to be going to the game with him.