Matches: Why We Burned Out

twelve // we'll never have true closure

twelve // we'll never have true closure (edited!)

When I arrived back home, I couldn't get back to sleep – I was too busy worrying about Romeo. There must have been a million things on my mind and all of them were about him. Perhaps I shouldn't have left him alone. What if he was freaking out again but didn't want to tell me? I should have spent the night with him. With everything he told me, I should've been there for him. The worst thing I could've done was leave.

I stared anxiously at my phone until the sun seeped through my curtains, expecting a call from Romeo. Or maybe it was just that I would've hated myself if he called me and I missed it. I didn't even feel like eating – perhaps it was unhealthy for me to worry so much, but I decided to ignore the pain I was feeling in my lower abdomen.

"You look tired," Romeo mentioned to me while we sat under our tree at school. He was wearing glasses again, and I thought he looked incredibly handsome. I used his shoulder as a pillow.

"I am a little tired, but it's nothing I can't handle," I lied. I felt like death.

"It's my fault, isn't it? I'm sorry, petal, I needed you," he replied as he planted a kiss on my forehead. He winced slightly. "Jesus, you're burning up."

With a frown, I touched my own forehead with my fingertips and was shocked by how hot it was. "I'm probably stressed or something," I answered, honestly questioning why my temperature was so high. I felt a little faint, so I closed my eyes to try and ignore it. I didn't realise that I fell asleep because the next thing I knew, I was being woken up by Romeo.

"Someone's here to see you," he said in a monotonous voice as he stood up. "I'm just gonna...you know...disappear." Without giving me time to process fully what was happening, Romeo was walking away with his bag on his back and somebody was placing themselves beside me. I recognised this person's scent. It was Max.

"Hey there," I said with a yawn. Max chuckled.

"Hey Mia."

There was silence. What did he want from me? The last time we spoke ended terribly.

"I just wanted to apologise," said he, his fingers brushing the back of his neck nervously. "It was nice...uh, to...to kiss you. But I shouldn't have. I don't know what I was thinking."

I sighed and turned to face him. "I guess we'll never have real closure," I replied. I couldn't be bothered to talk to him, my head was pounding. What was happening to me? Did all this happen because I had no sleep?

Max frowned. "Are you alright?"

"Just fine," I said as I passed out.

***

When I woke up, I felt lost. I was surrounded by all sorts of machines and the hospital smell entered my nostrils. Looking down at my hands, I realised that there were countless wires and tubes attached to my arms and I tried to rip them off in a panic. What happened?

"Stop, stop! You shouldn't do that!" somebody exclaimed as they rushed from the window to my bedside. Max.

"What the hell? Why am I here? Where is Romeo? Where's my mom?" The words tumbled from my mouth like a waterfall; I couldn't hold them back.

Max chuckled slightly as he glanced down at me. "One question at a time, Mia..." I glared at him expectantly. He raised his hands in surrender before answering my questions one by one. "One, I don't know, two, you had appendicitis, three, he's anywhere but here and four, she couldn't get off work."

"Appendicitis..." I mumbled to myself. How could that have happened? "Have you been waiting the whole time?"

Max sighed and sat down on the chair by the window. "Well you've been knocked out for about... four hours? They wouldn't let me leave school, though."

If school was over, where was Romeo? Didn't he want to see me? Did he even know I was in the hospital? I had way too many questions to ask and it hadn't been three minutes since I had woken up. I sighed in defeat.

"Where's Romeo?" I asked again, wanting a real answer this time. Max pursed his lips.

"He said he had somewhere to be," he said reluctantly. I raised my eyebrows in shock; when Romeo called me and told me he needed me, I was there in a heartbeat but when I needed him he was nowhere to be found? Max wasn't even my boyfriend but he made the commitment of visiting me when I needed someone. I didn't want to make comparisons between Romeo and my ex, but Max was doing way better.

I closed my eyes again and pulled the blanket over my head. All I wanted to do was shut the world out. Mom always told me not to cry over boys but there were tears slipping out of my eyes. Didn't he care about me anymore?