Drowning In Hope {Smouldering Love Sequel}

~ Chapter 12 ~

Smouldering Love II

(Drowning In Hope)

Chapter 12

Ricky leaned against the wall outside of Brooke's hospital room. She had told him to get out, he knew she wouldn't take it well. He'd been so hopeful of her waking up from her coma and the two of them being happy together. But of course luck wasn't on his side. Brooke had asked him to call Ashley and ask her to come in. School had finished now so Ashley came in straight away. That's why Ricky was waiting outside of the room, because the two of them were talking. He had his fingers crossed harder than ever for Ashley to be able to convince Brooke.

"Hey um.." Ashley whispered, closing Brooke's door behind her and leaning on it.

"I think it'd be best if you just gave Brooke some time.. She's got a bit on her plate at the moment."

Ricky wanted to yell that he of all people knew about how much she was dealing with. Ricky, as the person who had never left her side, he fought for her, if she needed time Ricky would just have to except that. He'd do anything for her, so if that's what she needed Ricky would give her time. As hard as it would be for him, it wasn't about him. This was about Brooke. He didn't say anything to Ashley, he just nodded and turned away, disappointed and respectful of her decisions. He left the hospital, and decided to walk home. The weather was nice enough, it wasn't raining it was just cold. He put his hands in his jeans pockets, his hoodie over his head to keep his ears warm and headed down the street. He wouldn't be seeing Brooke tomorrow, he'd be going to the place he dreaded most: school.

*

'beep, beep, beep'

Ricky's alarm woke him. He slid his legs out from under his warm blanket and opened his wardrobe next to his bed, searching for his school uniform. He found his black shorts and his white shirt, but he couldn't find his tie anywhere. He put his clothes on, leaving the collar on his shirt up, sort of like a vampire's cloak.

"Have you seen my tie?" He walked into the kitchen, Stoner was standing there in a pair of blue, striped pyjama shorts.

"Nope." He answered slowly.

"How's the cat going?" Ricky teased, there was a ginger cat rubbing on Stoners ankles.

"Ranga? Yeah he's great! Come with me." Stoner said excitedly.

Ricky followed him down the hall, around the corner and to the small room Stoner spent most of his time in. It was actually a study but Stoner had chosen it over the spare room that was now Brooke's. He said he'd rather a small room. Ricky arrived out the front of Stoners room. When Ricky had mentioned to Noah about having heaps of cat he had been joking.. But it looked like he had been right. Stoner was now holding Ginger in his arms, the smell of cat piss filled his nose and he slapped his hand to his face.

"Dude there's no way Noah's gonna let you keep them all." He complained, Stoner ignored his comment.

"This is Ranga obviously.. Then there's blacky, snuffles, Einstein, buttons, tiger and fluffy." Stoner seemed so proud of his collection of cats, he had a wide smile spread across his face.

He had pointed out the cats as he named them, firstly there was a long hair black cat, then a white and brown cat with no ears, Einstein was one of those cats with no hair, buttons was a short haired tortoiseshell, tiger was a black tabby and fluffy was white and very, very fluffy.

Ricky burst out laughing. "I don't even know what to say." He was still holding his nose.

"They're really great, I love them!" Stoner beamed.

"I wouldn't get too attached if I were you, you'll have to get rid of them soon but knowing Noah he'll probably get rid of them himself.. And you should no what I mean by that." Ricky said.

"Don't say that! They can hear you." Stoner growled in a sarcastic tone while placing Ranga on the ground and shutting the room full of cats behind him.

"I'm pretty sure Noah's been wanting to test out the new shotgun he bought the other week, so don't give him a reason to use it." Ricky could no longer stand the stench of the cats and left to go and find his tie. Maybe it had been washed, which he highly doubted unless Zac did it.

He headed for the laundry, hoping to find his tie in there. When he approached the laundry the door was closed over and hanging from the door handle was indeed his black tie and a sticky note was stuck to the door next to it.

Have a good day at school -Zac

Ricky sniggered, people never left him notes, well the last night he had received was quite a few years ago. It was from his mother, saying how much she loved him. That was before she died. The small smile that was upon Ricky's face soon faded at the thought of his mother. Your typical clichè son who had lost their mother would say things like 'there's not a day that goes by I don't think of her.' Ricky was the opposite. He really did try not to think about his mother, it just brought back bad memories of his father; who of which he despised. When he was with Brooke though, he couldn't always help himself. He had always admired his mothers caring nature, Brooke was exactly like her in that sense and that's something Ricky treasured, he really wasn't ready to loose what he had with Brooke just yet. He was ready to fight. Because when one loves something deeply, they fight for it, they do everything in their power to keep it where they want it, and in Ricky's case his arms.