You and I

Chapter 17

Peyton POV

I walked to the hospital thinking what I had been since the accident happened: What caused the fire?

I've been looking all week for clues, but we haven't found out anything.

Once I got the hospital I opened Rowans hospital room door to find it empty. Cleaned out. She's gone.

I wanted to fall to my knees and cry. But I didn't. Slowly, I walked over to the desk and grasped it with all the strength I had left, because I could barely stand.

"Wh- where's R- Rowan?" I stuttered.

"Oh I'm so sorry no one told you? She was sent home." She answered.

I let out a huge sigh.

"I thought, she, she was gone." I said, tears threatening to come out.

"I'm real sorry that no one told you sweet pea."

"It's ok. I'm just gonna go see her." I said. "Goodbye."

I left to go to Rowans house. The car ride home all I could think about was how I almost lost her. How for about 2 minutes, for all I knew, she was dead. I almost died myself. I can't wait to see her.

Once I was at Rowans I knocked on her door. A few seconds later, to my surprise, Brian opened the door. And he didn't look very happy. In fact, he looked scared.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I, uh, I-" Brian started but Mrs. Blanchard cut him off.

"He came here to tell us something. All of us." She said with a smile.

Was he about to tell us that he had feelings for Rowan or something? Or that since he saved her life that he should get to have her?

"Come on let's all go sit down. Peyton, could you go help Rowan from her room?" Mrs. Blanchard asked.

"Of course. I'll be right back."

I ran up the stairs and opened up Rowans door to find her lying in her bed, attempting to grab her phone.

"Ouch. Ouch!!! Why does the darn phone have to be so far away??!!" She yelled.

I laughed a little. "Need some help?"

She turned around and smiled. Then for some reason she shoved her arms under her blanket. "Hey Peyton."

"Hey Row. Brian's here. He has to tell us all something." I gave her a questioning look.

"Don't look at me I have no clue what he's gonna say. You going to help me down stairs?" She asked.

"Sure am."

"Wait, uh, could you hand me that blanket?" She asked.

I handed her the blanket, but I didn't know why she wanted it because the weather was pretty warm.

"Why do you need that?" I asked.

"I um, get cold." She answered uneasily.

Something's up, but I let it slide for now because we had to get downstairs.

"Ok. Here." I leaned down to her bed and picked her up bridal style.

She laughed a little. "You don't have to carry me you know. My legs didn't burn off. In fact, out of all my limbs, the legs were left perfectly fine."

"I don't care. Your my princess. And a princess should be carried." I smiled at her.

Once we were downstairs, I set Rowan down on the couch and sat next to her. She lightly kissed my cheek as a thank you and then took her blanket and covered her arms. Why does she keep hiding her arms?

"So, this is really hard for me to say." Brian started. "But, the, uh- the..."

"What???" Carmen, Rowans little sister, said.

"Well, the fire was actually my fault."

I felt the anger tense up in the room. Or that might've been all mine.

"WHAT!!? I thought you saved her, not made this happen to her!!?!" I yelled, Mr. Blanchard nodding at my side, his eyes full of anger.

"Well what happened was, I was driving past the set when I realized I had left my bag there. So I stopped to pick it up. Once I was there, I thought to myself, 'Wow, I've never been alone on set before.' So I thought it would be cool to pretend I was a director. Then I remembered our director always has popcorn. So I went to the microwave and started making popcorn. But I guess it was malfunctioning or something because it blew up."

"Then how are you not hurt?" I asked, still boiling with anger.

"While the popcorn was heating up, I walked around, looking at all the props. Then it blew up and the fire started. Somehow, the fire didn't get to me. I ran around, trying to find my way out. It took me about 10 minutes until I did. That's when I found Rowan there, lying on the ground. So I carried her out and drove her to the hospital."

"Thankyou." Rowan said.

"Thank you? Your just gonna thank the guy who did this to you Rowan?" I asked her.

"Peyton, he didn't mean to. It was an accident. And without him, I wouldn't be alive."

"Without him, there wouldn't have been a fire in the first place." I said, glaring at Brian.

Then Mrs. Blanchard stood up and said, "Alright. Thank you for telling us Brian. I think you should go now."

"Yeah, before Peyton rips your head off." Mr. Blanchard said with a smile.
I'm guessing he didn't like Brian.