Exploiting Realities

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - SCARED

ARIA

I sat up straight in my hospital bed anxiously awaiting Lorelai's arrival. I hadn't seen anyone except for my parents and the nurses for a whole week now and it was driving me insane. Of course, I was worried about how well I would be able to keep my secret from her when I saw her face-to-face (it's a lot easier to lie over the phone), but my boredom made it barely matter to me. I just wanted some company.

We needed to work out my tutoring schedule. I didn't know who put Lorelai in charge of it, but I trusted her more with it than I would have trusted anyone else. She was extremely organized, and she pretty much had everyone's schedules memorized.

My face immediately lit up when I saw her in the doorway.

"Lore--" I started enthusiastically, but my face fell as soon as I saw Alec behind her. "--lai," I finished without any enthusiasm.

I could feel the color coming to my face and willed it away, but I couldn't stop the butterflies that filled my stomach. Had he always been that cute? Even though he was intentionally avoiding my eyes, I could see that his eyes really were extremely blue. They reminded me of the ocean in Bermuda, except that that water had nothing to hide; you could see the bottom fifty feet below the water. Alec's eyes however...I had no idea what secrets they were hiding. His little blonde waves fell perfectly into his face, which still managed to be fairly tan although it was the middle of November. He had his hands in the pockets of his faded jeans and he was rocking from heel to toe awkwardly. His shoulders were tensed up and it was obvious that he was uncomfortable in the situation. So why was he here?

Lorelai looked back and forth between Alec and I (I guess I hadn't been successful in willing my blush away). "What is going on with you two?!" she demanded.

I snapped out of my daze. "Nothing," I told her. "Nothing at all. Now let's work out this school thing."

"Okay..." she replied skeptically. "So, you have seven subjects, and there are seven days in a week."

"Well," I reasoned, "I could double up on two days so nobody has to sacrifice their weekends for me."

Lorelai nodded. "Okay," she said pulling out a little notepad and a pen. "We can put Miranda and Summer together, and Alec and I can come together."

"Okay," I agreed.

"So let's give Livi Mondays," she said as she scribbled on her pad. She faced Alec, who still seemed to think that the floor was fascinating enough to stare at intently. "Al, can you do Tuesdays?"

He looked up at Lorelai and shook his head. 

She nodded in remembrance. "Right, you have soccer. So Avery can have Tuesdays. Dillon can have Wednesdays. You have soccer again on Thursdays, right Al?"

Alec nodded.

"Summer and Miranda can have Thursdays, then, and Al and I can come on Fridays. Does that sound good?"

I nodded, not really listening too much to what she said. Lorelai knew what she was doing, I was just going along for the ride.

"Awesome," she said pulling out her phone. "I'll send it out in a group message now." She tapped her phone a few times before putting it back in her pocket. My phone dinged next to me when it received the message, and I heard Alec's go off in his pocket. Ah, good ole technology.

"Okay," Lorelai said in a less business-like tone. "Now for the more important part."

"The more important part?" I questioned. What was she talking about?

She sighed. "What's going to happen to you, Ar?"

I looked at the ground. "Oh," I started, "I've been meaning to talk to you guys about that..."