Best Friend's Brother: Chapter One

She'll Be Fine

Nathaniel wandered into my room. I spun in my chair to face him. I was expecting him to say something, but he didn't say a thing. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by his phone ringing.

"Hey Harry, what's up?" I deemed the conversation irrelevant until I saw his face contort into a mortified expression. "Get your shoes on, we need to go!"

I slipped on my slides. I ran to Melody's room to see Nathaniel already there carrying her sleeping body against his chest. I ripped the keys off the hook and darted down to the door. I ran out and jumped in the driver's seat as Nathaniel sat in the passenger seat with a sleeping Melody still in his arms. I sped to the hospital; thank God there was no traffic! I dropped Nathaniel off at the door and quickly found a parking spot.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and saw a text from Nathaniel; 217.

I bolted into the hospital and up to the second floor. I scanned the doors as I passed them searching for the number seventeen. I found it soon enough and opened the door to see my best friend sleeping with two IVs hooked onto her body, one for fluids and one for blood. Nathaniel turned to me with tears in his eyes.

I reached my arms out to take Melody, and he reluctantly handed her to me. I watched him as he slowly took a seat next to her bed and took her hand in his. His head fell forward and rested on Jessica's stomach. I took a seat on the other side of the bed. Melody started to stir. I shifted her, so she was sat on my lap with her head on my chest.

I rested my chin on top of Melody's and rocked side to side. I heard a soft sob come from Nathaniel.

"It's not your fault," I simply stated, "Nothing would have changed, and how this happened, even if you were there, it wouldn't have changed."

"You're really bad at consoling people, you know that?" Nathaniel sniffled and let out a soft sigh. He used one of his hands to wipe his tears away.

"I would come over there, but a child is sleeping on me."

"I know." We fell into a sullen silence. Melody groaned and started to stretch. Her sleepy eyes opened enough to see Jessica lying on the bed. Melody reached her arms out to her as she slipped off my lap and crawled on the bed, snuggling into Jessica's arm. She quickly fell back asleep.

"What do we do now?" I asked, looking over at Nathaniel.

"Sleep, I guess? There's not much we can do if she's asleep."

I nodded and got comfortable in the chair. I closed my eyes and hoped that Nathaniel would do the same.

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I groaned as someone started tapping on my face. I opened my eyes to see Melody with tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong, Mel?" I yawned.

"What's wrong with mommy?" She cried. I pulled her into my lap.

"Mommy got a really bad owie and needed a doctor to make her feel better." She relaxed a bit with my words. I felt something crinkle in my sweatshirt pocket and reached in to see what it was. I pulled out a pack of fruit snacks, and Melody's face lit up.

"Can I have them?!" Melody asked. I unhooked my arm from around her and opened the pack of fruity shapes for her. She gleefully munched on the little fruits. I glanced across the bed at Nathaniel. He was slumped over on his chair, resting his for head on the edge of the bed. There was a soft knock at the door, and it opened. Harry walked in, and Melody jumped off my lap, running to Harry.

"Hey Mellie, how are you this morning?" He crouched down to hug her.

"Good!" She said with an excitement that only young children have. He picked her up and sat down on the free chair.

He turned to me, "How is she doing?"

"She hasn't woken up since we got here at midnight last night. She seems to be okay for now. Nurses haven't said anything to us about her condition."

"You should go home and rest for a couple hours. I can't imagine Jessica is waking up in the next few hours, and if she happens to wake up, I will call you A.S.A.P.," Harry smiled, and I sighed.

"Do you want me to take Melody and Nathaniel too? Melody slept through the night."

Harry nodded, "Take Nathaniel home. He needs rest. Like, just look at him," I looked over at Nathaniel to see him still slumped over in his chair, but now soft snores were coming from him. "He needs to sleep in his bed... Probably needs a shower too."

I laughed, and Melody looked at me with a giant smile on her face, "I like your laugh a lot!" I booped her nose and kissed her forehead. I walked over to Nathaniel and shook him awake. He groaned and lifted his face to look at me, "Come on, we're going home so you can rest and shower."

He opened his mouth to argue, "Don't even try me. You are getting in the car and at least showering. You know you would want Jessica to do the same if the roles were switched."

Nathaniel closed his mouth and got up off the chair. He kissed Jessica's forehead and left the room. I handed Melody to Harry and quickly caught up with Nathaniel. A wave of dizziness hit me as I reached him. I leaned on the wall to steady myself and closed my eyes to stop the spinning.

The elevator dinged and I waited a second before reopening my eyes and turning to enter the elevator. My vision was blurry and my legs gave out from under me. I heard Nathaniel shout my name before passing out.