Somewhere, Australia //A.I

Chapter 33:Then Everything Went Black

ENJOY LOVELIES!
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Sydney's POV

I woke up to the man behind the front desk of all people.

He held his chubby face inches from mine as light poured around the stubble on his face.

"What happened?" I ask, squeezing my eyes shut then opening them a little bit wider.

"She's awake." He grunts, presumably to someone else in the room, instead of answering me. The close proximity of his face allows his coffee breath to wash over me.

Front desk guy backs away and the brightness of the room makes me cringe. "Whoa, turn down the sun!" I groan bringing my hands up to cover my face.

A familiar chuckle floats in from my left and I open my eyes, regardless of how much the light hurts. My eyes land upon the tall, muscular figure leaning against a wall.

"Ashton..." I breathe, so quietly I'm not sure he heard me.

"Hey." He says pushing off the wall.

Everything darkens slightly starting from the opposite side of the room. I turn my head to the right to see front desk guy pulling some curtains across a large glass window.

"Thanks." I reply vaguely in his direction, but turn my head to Ashton.

There's so much to say, I don't know where to start. So I just look at him, hoping to find the answers inside his irises. He returns my stare, causing me to blush heavily on the inside. But I refuse to let it show on the outside.

"Welp. Seein' as you're all okay and what not, I'm gonna get going. Glad to see you better Ms. Darwin." I feel a hand lightly squeeze my shoulder, and a figure crosses in front of our staring contest.

Three more steps until he's out of the room.....

One.
Two.
Three.
And the door softly clicks shut.

"I'm sorry!"

The two words ring out in an odd mixture of high and low. It clicks in my head that Ashton said it too, and I'm flooded with relief.

Ashton's POV

I want to run to the edge of her bed and kiss her. I want to take back all the dumbass words I said in that parking lot. I really want to kiss her.

But I have to know where her head's at first, one 'I'm sorry' doesn't mean everything's ok.

"I want you to know that when I tell you I'm sorry, I mean it." I say, pushing off the wall, adding conviction to my voice.

Sydney sticks out her arm, beckoning me to her side. A light smile plays on her lips, but her eyebrows are drawn in contradictingly. Once I'm close enough, she grabs my hand and traces a callous on my palm. I bite my lip in anticipation, waiting for the words you can practically see at the front of her mind.

"I want you to know that when I say I'm sorry I mean it too." She conveys, flipping my hand palm side up to trace the rough lines across it.

I open my mouth to talk, but find myself interrupted.

"But I also stand by what I said before."  Her eyes glance up to me, but dart back down to my hand. "I'm really glad you're here, but if what happened that night was a deal breaker, I understand..." Trailing off with her words, she pulls her hands down to her lap and stares at them.

"No." I say, kneeling down at her bedside. "It's not a deal breaker. I was being an idiot. Can we forget that ever happened?" I pull every ounce of conviction I have.

She side smiles and nods, an unidentifiable look in her eyes. A laugh visibly builds from Sydney's stomach, and I feel like laughing myself silly once it reaches the air.

"Why the hell am I here?" She asks, her face reddening as the words choke out through giggles.

I laugh with her, finding it comical that we ignored her hospitalization to make up over some petty little fight.

"Well, what do you remember?" I ask, internally capturing the picture of her wiping happy tears out of her eyes.

"I was in the elevator, then everything went black."

"Well you passed out, that's for sure." I rake my hair back off my forehead.

"Well yeah, but why?" She questions, an answer I was hoping to not have to give.

"Well the doctor said your blood pressure was extremely low because.....um...." I bounce my knee out of nervousness.

Her previously curious face turns defeated. "Just say it." Sydney mumbles, eyes aimed at the floor.

"The Doctor said that you've been starving yourself."

I wanted to hug her, and never let her go. But I don't press it, knowing she'll resent me for it.

She aims her head towards the ground, honey brown hair covering most of her face. But I see her trembling lips, and I want to kiss their pain away. A teardrop drips off her chin, I ignore it. Her hands come to her face and brush away another drop, I ignore it. Another hangs shakily from her jawline, and I can't ignore it.

"I love you." I say, grabbing her into my chest, and cradling her, imagining the moments she squeezes her eyes shut and the tears come spilling out.

"I love you." I say again, as if it will wash all this hurt away.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}
YAY! I finally updated! Go me. Hope you liked this chapter, two big bombshells revealed. I'm so so so so sorry I haven't updated in a while. And new smoke streams update coming soon too!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!