The Anatomy of a Broken Heart //Completed//

31. Santana

"Don't blame yourself, Santana. I know that's what you're doing." Marlow looked at me with half shut eyes from her side of the car. I'd always had the sneaking suspicion she was clairvoyant or something because she could read my mind like an open book. This was my fault. If I hadn't pushed her, none of this would've happened.

"This is a good thing."

"How can this possibly be a good thing, Mar?"

I looked at her incredulously, waiting for her answer. But she only smiled in her sweet, silent way and rested her head on the door as I held her hand. It was all I could do. I didn't want her to go home but she reassured us her father and step mother would be leaving tomorrow on some trip, leaving her alone with her brother and sister. At least she'd be okay for a few days.

Jonah took us back to Zealand's to pick up Marlow's car and together we drove to her house but not before Pari had a meltdown when she saw Marlow as JD and Zealand watched on. Zealand didn't ask her if she was okay. He only looked at her with stoicism, throwing a couple hard glances my way.

Caleb had taken my car which in hindsight was a terrible idea but I couldn't do anything about it now so Jonah drove me home after we walked Marlow all the way inside her house and into her room. The house was large enough that I knew her parents wouldn't even notice a bunch of kids sneaking into it, even with the fancy alarm system. I knew that passcode by heart, having snuck in hundreds of times before.

As soon as I was back in Jonah's car, I texted her to make sure she was still okay.

Jonah didn't say anything the whole way home and I wondered if he felt just as guilty as I did. But Jonah was always quick to let his troubles slide right off his shoulders. I wasn't too worried. When we got to my house, I was ready to throw myself in bed and sink into a weekend long coma. It was past 2 in the morning, and all the lights inside the house were off so I had a little bit of trouble navigating my way into my room. When I finally made it, I was sure I'd woken up the whole house after tripping on one of the stupid potted plants Maria insisted on decorating the house with to make it more 'homey.' I limped into my room, cursing my little sister and Martha Stewart for enabling her.

As I undressed I heard a soft thud just outside the window. I was sure a poor bird had slammed into the wall until I heard it again. And again. I threw on a thick sweatshirt and walked over to the window only to see Caleb, like a lost Romeo taken right out of the bard's tragedy, looking for his Juliet, standing beneath my window with a handful of pebbles in his hand. His face broke into a smile when he saw me and motioned for me to come down and meet him outside. At the risk of losing another limb to Maria's home décor, I climbed back down the stairs and into the cold night to meet Caleb.

"I couldn't let you come home without making sure you were really all right," he said.

I shook my head at him. "You didn't have to. I'm fine."

"I did. How's Marlow?" He seemed genuinely concerned, this boy who up until a few days ago could be seen turning his nose up at us as we walked by and laughed at the whispered jokes his girlfriend made about us.

"I'm not entirely sure. I would've stayed with her tonight, but her parents are...intense." That was an understatement.

He nodded, looking down at his feet. Then, "At the hospital, you said she didn't have parents."

"Are we playing a Marlow trivia game now? What are you doing, Caleb?"

"I just..." he shrugged. Lost Romeo.

I remembered what he said about the hospital. About not liking sleep. "Do you want to come inside?"

He looked away from me and towards the house. "Can we just talk in the car?" he asked. I knew what he was thinking. He couldn't stand to go inside another run down home. Maybe he thought he'd catch something if he stayed there too long.