The waiting room is silent and empty, except for me and the tapping of my foot. The receptionist types away on the computer and doctors walk by every few minutes.
I've been here for about an hour and still haven't gotten an update. I'm assuming it's alcohol poisoning, but who knows what else she could've taken. I've made the decision to put her in rehab after this, they'll just transfer her there. I'll tell her, and she'll be pissed and probably hate me even more, but it'll help her.
Even though I've been here a while, I haven't even thought about Grayson or what happened. I know I probably should because it's confusing as hell, he wasn't just trying to calm me down. But every time I try and think, I zone out of my own thoughts and stare into the blank space.
My phone vibrates and I glance at it, seeing notifications from Grayson and some from Julia. I open Julia's,
julia: what was that about
julia: are you okay? where are you?
julia: seriously mads answer me.
me: at the hospital. mom, don't ask. I'll explain later. tell Dianne I'll try my best to make it but if I don't moms in the hospital.
julia: which hospital. I'm coming.
me: I need to be alone.
I reluctantly go and open Grayson's texts:
Grayson: where are you? We can work on the next portion of the project.
I scoff and turn my phone off, he just ignored the fact that we need to talk about it and went to the project. I anxiously tap my foot and my phone begins to ring. I ignore it and turn off the ringer, but it still buzzes. I turn it over to look at the screen and see 5 missed calls from Grayson and 7 FaceTimes. I call him back.
"Listen, princess, I'm not about to fail because you don't pick up the goddamn phone."
"What do you want, Grayson?"
"To work on this project. I told you I don't want to fail." he responds.
"Well, then go to my house and I'll meet you there." I say,
"Why don't we just do it over FaceTime?"
"Come to my house or I'm not doing it and we can fail." I say and he gives in, I quickly give him my address, "The key is under the plant beside the door, I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Where the hell are you?"
"The hospital."
"Whatever." he hangs up and I roll my eyes.
"Family of Anne Waters?" the doctor asks and I stand up walking over, "She had too much alcohol in her system, we had to drain her stomach. She's sleeping right now."
"Can I put her in rehab?"
"Yes, with a family members consent."
"What about her daughters consent? I'm the only one she's got." I ask, tugging at the ends of my sleeves.
"Here are the forms." he gives me a look of sympathy. I quickly fill out what I need to and hand the forms back to him, then go to her room. I sit beside her bed and look at her.
She slowly opens her eyes, squinting, swallowing, and wincing. "Mom..."
"Oh, Madison. Where am I?"
"The hospital. I found you passed out in the bathroom." I respond and she shakes her head,
"Oh, no, I'm fine, just take me home." she demands and I shake my head,
"You're going to be transferred to a rehab facility, mom. You have a problem and I can't deal with it anymore. I don't want to deal with a drunk you every single night and hear you say things you forget or don't mean. I can't watch you drink away your life another day, I just can't. And you can go on and hate me and say what you want, but it's what's best for you and like you always say, you'll thank me one day." I grab my bag, "They'll transfer you tomorrow, I'll stop by if you want."
"Madison." my mom speaks up as I walk to the door. I turn around, a small part of me hoping she apologizes and we can have some kind of moment, but instead she says, "What kind of backstabbing bitch of a daughter would put their mother into rehab? Don't bother visiting."
"I'll remember that." I nod, walking out of the room and the hospital. I quickly get to my car and rush back home, then I remember Grayson will be there and I really don't want to face him right now.
I close the garage and walk inside. I lock the door behind me and lay my bag on the counter. The empty alcohol bottles lay all over the island, kitchen table, and in the living room. I'll have to clean these up this weekend. I don't have the time now.
I slowly walk upstairs to me room and see Grayson laying down on my bed, already making himself at home. I roll my eyes, "So, princess, took you look enough."
"Stop fucking calling me that! You know I'm not spoiled or treated like a princess yet you insist on calling me that, Jesus Christ."
"We don't have any of the project to do tonight. He gave us a break because of the test, remember?"
"Then why did you come over? I have a shit ton of homework, I have a dance, I have to study. I don't have time to fight with you or listen to you call me princess, I'm tired of it."
"Okay." he says, sitting up and holding his hands in his lap, "I just needed to explain earlier."
This is a totally different Grayson than I know. He's always glaring at me or finding a new girl to annoy me. Avoiding me in the halls and that shit. It's weird. Now, he's just nervous to look at me. I sit beside him and he takes a deep breath, "I felt bad for you, so when you were freaking out, I was trying to figure out a way to calm you down. What I did usually works when girls are freaking out, so..."
"So you do that, to a girl you've been a fucking douche to since the seventh grade?" I ask and he shrugs.
"You started hating me before I was douche to you."
"Because you found out I stupidly liked you and you were a dipshit and asked out my cousin. I'm allowed to hate you." I respond and he chuckles. I roll my eyes and my phone vibrates. I reach for it, "Ms. Dianne is sick, canceled dance.'
"Well, I have a lot to do. Dance and everything..."
"I just saw the text. I can, uh, help you clean." he says and I look at the wall,
"I'm not cleaning until this weekend, I have to study and do other homework." I sigh,
"Why do you want me to leave so bad?"
"Why don't you want to leave?
"Where were you, anyway?" he asks.
"Is this an interrogation? I was checking my mom into rehab because I found her passed out on the bathroom floor. And after I did that, she basically called me a backstabbing bitch of a daughter, and told me not to visit her in rehab." I sigh,
"Well then I should stay, make sure you don't do anything."
"Oh, no, remember I have Julia, my only friend?" I ask and he stands up, grabbing his bag.
"I'll, uh, get going." he says and I nod, showing him out. "I get we hate each other, but I'm not that bad a person that I'd leave you like this, so please tell me if you need to talk to someone and Julia isn't around."
"Wow, that isn't like you at all."
"Oh well." he shrugs and walks away. I close the door confused, furrowing my eyebrows together.
Then, I reluctantly open the door to seem him standing there leaning against the railing with his arms crossed, "I guess I could use some help cleaning..."
"You're so predictable." he walks right past me inside.
