Not Too Late

XIII

I whip around just in time to see Jc's face reddening with fury and he storms over to me and takes me in his arms.

"What the fuck did you just say to my fiancé?" He yelled, causing David to take a few steps back.

"Fiancé?" Is all David says, before snapping out of his "trance" and realizing what he got himself into.

"Damn, man, I didn't mean it that way, I..." He trails off, but Jc can't stand to be there anymore. He turns us around, but not before flipping David off, and bulldozes through the crowd back to Belle's room.

We got in the elevator, the silence making the moment that much more awkward. Eventually my stomach started growling so much that by the time we reached Belle's room, Jc was halfway done ordering a pizza. The first thing I see is that Belle is fast asleep on the hospital bed, and Trevor is no where to be found. Jc and I stand awkwardly next to eachother, until he decides to speak.

     "You...You still love me, right?" He asks, still not turning to face me, "it's not too late for us?"

     Turning towards him, I hug him and kiss his cheek.

     "It's not too late."

    ~~~later~~~

     It's the cries of help that wake us up. Jc and I had fallen asleep on the couch in Belle's hospital room, peacefully, ever so peacefully.

     Now, there's a wide eyed Belle in front of us, clutching her head. Nurses surround her, shouting out medical terms and phrases that I had no intention of decoding. I shoot up and go towards the ruckus. A nurse asks me to leave the room, and I'm about to rant to her about how I am not leaving, when the doctor yells.

     "Here's what's gonna happen. We have to take her to surgery, regardless as to if she is ready. It's our only chance."

     She is wheeled off.

--------------------------------

Five hours.

Six.

Seven.

By the eighth hour, I had stopped speaking. By the ninth, so had Jc. We stayed in silence, in Belle's room, on the couch, in each other's arms. Trevor had joined us by the tenth hour. We were a sleep deprived mess. Just my luck.

I had gone to speak with the doctor earlier, but I was told he was very busy at the moment.

By the eleventh hour, I lost it. I stomped out of the room, tired of watching cartoons on silent with captions and eating chex mix. I shouted, I screamed, I cried. I don't know how or when, but everything blacked out at some point.

------------------------------------
/// the next day\\\

I clutch Belle's favorite elephant stuffed animal close to my heart as I stare into the abyss, sitting alone in the middle of a shit brown carpet in the mansion that is McKenna and James's house.

I remember it all.

In full detail.

The hours of waiting, the dread on the nurse's face when she came to tell us about Belle.

How she had died.

On the operating table.

I remember Trevor bouncing into the hospital room happily expecting good news and leaving ever so quietly, all the color drained from his face.

What I can't remember, though?

How I got here.

I remember Trevor sitting next to me, not saying a word, and Jc trying to get us to speak, but we don't say anything.

All I remember is the nurse saying Belle had passed, and then poof, I'm here.

How nice.