Ripple Effect

4

She came around to the passenger's side of the car and grasped my hand and I allowed her to tug me along inside her home.

She shut the door heavily behind me, not bothering to lock it and I followed her into a dark room, which I assumed was the living room.

"Sit there." She pointed to a puffy armchair with a victorian looking pattern. I could tell she was extremely eager for this to happen. I sauntered over and plopped myself down. She began undressing in front of me and I licked my lips in anticipation. 

Once she had stripped down to her underwear, she made her way over to me and straddled my lap. She tugged at the bottom of my shirt and pulled it over my head, then placed kisses along my jawline and my neck down to my chest. I felt her nails dig into my arms as she gripped me firmly, trying to bring our bodies closer together.

She took her little hand and began palming me through my jeans as she nipped at my neck. She rose back up to my lips and placed rough kisses upon them, trying to open my mouth with hers. Strangely, as I looked at her face more, she started to morph into Dez and then back to her and back to Dez.

"Stop.. Get off!" I cried out in protest. Her touch just felt so wrong. It was suffocating.

She grazed my bottom lip with her teeth and tried to kiss me again. I spun us around and placed her beneath me on the chair.

"Stop it." I grabbed my shirt off the ground and pulled it over my head and made my way to the front door.

"Where the fuck are you going, I thought we were having fun?" Her voice was whiny and layered with shock, as if she'd never been rejected this way before.

I slammed the front door on my way out. I definitely wasn't drunk anymore. I could feel adrenaline coursing throughout my body. I had to get my car back at the bar. The drive was about five minutes so on foot I'd be back there in ten. What kind of a selfish bastard goes to a bar and gets himself drunk to go and fuck some random chick while their girlfriend is in a coma? I literally hit rock bottom. I missed her so much. I wish I could wake up next to her in the morning and bury my face in her wild curls and make her pancakes and just take her where ever she wanted to go. She always liked to go on drives and find new places. She was like that... She could see beauty in everything. Anything.

I made my way up to the bar and spotted my Camry. I got into the driver's seat and locked the doors, then tilted my chair and sat back. I released a huff as my back hit the chair.

I couldn't go home tonight. Everything in the house reminded me of her and I didn't want to see her in the hospital anymore. I was over being disappointed every time I wasn't greeted by her beaming smile, so I'd just sleep here tonight and figure my life out in the morning.

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I awoke to sunshine passing through the windshield right into my eye and the annoying marimba ringtone. I let the call go and sat upright and the tightness in my neck reminded me that I'd slept in my car. I checked my phone.

8 missed calls from Brynne.

Did Dez wake up? My fingers dialed her back immediately. She picked up on the first ring.

"What? What is it, is she awake. I'm driving there right now."

"Wait Ashton.. no she's not awake but I need you to come here. There's something we should talk about."

I hung the phone up and threw it on the passenger's seat. The issue seemed urgent so I raced over as quickly as I could.

I marched into the hospital and made my way down the halls that had become way too farmiliar in these past few months.

When I entered, Brynne was sitting on Dez's bed, nervously twiddling her thumbs.

"I'm here, now what happened? Is she worse or what?"

"The marketing company I was working for was in the process of downsizing and I'm going to be out of employment for a month. The problem with that is I'll have nothing left in my budget to pay for Dez's bills. I think we have to pull the plug Ashton. I can't do this. I don't want to but there's no other option. I have no other mo-"

I held up my finger to silence her. 

"I've been skipping class for months at a time.. I don't see the point in me going to college anymore and paying tuition if I'm not showing up so I'll leave school and I can help out. I make decent money on producing jobs anyways. I'll work two jobs if I have to, I don't care, but you're not doing this."

"No way in hell! You graduate in a year; if you drop out now, you won't have a degree and you can't do anything without a degree! And what's this bullshit about skipping class? Dez would kill you for this!"

"You're basically offing her, Brynne. You're the one planning to kill her!" My voice cracked as tears started to form in my eyes. Her lip quivered and she lowered her voice.

"I am not killing my sister, but how can we keep her here on life support with no money?" Bile was rising in my throat and I struggled to push it back down. The thought of living in a world that Dez no longer existed in sickened me.

"Your parents didn't leave you guys anything?"

Her eyes grew wide and she slapped my chest and began laughing hysterically. My brows furrowed in confusion.

"Holy shit! Why didn't I think of the trust fund. You just... holy shit I almost killed her." She closed her eyes tightly and tears leaked through onto her cheeks. Her body began to shake as sobs rumbled throughout her small frame. I took her in my arms and held her there. This was foreign, Brynne and I sharing an intimate moment. In the few years I'd known her I never saw her lose her composure.

"I have faith in her, B. Don't stress over this. Everything will pan out."

What a hypocrite I was telling her not to worry when this was what kept me up each night.