Make the Most of It

9. Friends

Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. My whole body froze up. The ice-cream come splattered all over the table and I ws left speechless. Jake asked me what was wrong, but I couldn't answer. I couldn't speak, as if my body gave up.

"Nikki! Nikki! What's wrong?!" I needed to get to the hospital right away. I used all my stregnth to move my mouth to answer Jake.

"We need to go to the hospital now," I whispered. Jake could barely hear me, but he had heard enough. He grabbed my hand and had to push me to the car. Then only did I relaize what was really going on. As soon as the thought reached my head, I burst out into tears. I didn't care about anything else.

"Nikki, you need to calm down please. Can you at least tell me what's going on?" Jake asked. I had said those same words to Ari. Now I realize how hard it really is to calm down. I tried to stop my tears. I neeeded to be strong for Aria and everyone else, to show them that everything was going to be okay. But, I wasn't so sure myself.

"Do you remember Carter? Aria's boyfriend? He got into an accident and they aren't sure if he's going to make it," I told him, sniffing over and over again. A serious look past over his face as he let the words soak in. The rest of the drive was silent, with only the sounds of me sniffing.

As soon as we got there, I jumped out of my car and was about to dash inside until Jake caught my hand. I turned around.

"What are you doing? We need to get in there!" I urged.

"Wait. Look at me," he said sternly. I stopped tugging and looked at him.

"Look. I've gone through this before. I know how you feel, but you need to remember that no matter what happens in there," he says pointing to the doors, " promise me thay you won't lose yourself. Remember that everything happens for a reason, whether we like it or not. I know this isn't the greatest pep talk, but I'm serious. I knew someone who went through this also and he went into extreme depression and he never recovered." He looked me in the eyes. "I just don't want the same happening to you."

"I promise." He nodded, then turned and led me into the hospital. He asked the lady for Carter Lee and she told us to go to the third floor.

As soon as the elevator doors opened up, all the heads turned in our direction. I looked at each face and saw that many people were already there. Scarlet was sitting next to Jacob, her boyfriend, holding his hand in her lap with a tissue in the other. Alex was a couple seat aways with her head buried in Luke's neck, her shoulders moving up and down as she cried. Aria was close by, being comforted by Ivy, who had Xander's arm wrapped around her. Levi was whispering things with Xander.

Then, I saw someone who I wasn't expecting to be there at all. Someone who wasn't even supposed to be here! Zayn. I walked up to him, my head fuming.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I whispered angrily. "You have no right to be here!" Scarlet must've heard me yelling at Zayn because she quickly walked up to my and put her hand on my shoulder.

"He's okay. He was the one that brought him here. Without Zayn, Carter would've already been dead. Upon hearing what happened, I looked back at Zayn, who looked distressed. Then, I noticed the blood spread all over his gray t-shirt.

"Oh my god. I...Is that Carter's blood?" I asked, as the tears starting rolling down my cheeks again. Zayn got up and put both his hands on my shoulders.

"Hey don't cry. It'll be okay," he assured me. I heard Jake walk over and sit down in an empty seat. He held his hand out for me. I took it and he pulled me into the seat next to him. Scarlet walked back to her seat and leaned her head onto Jacob's shoulder. I turned to Zayn.