First Time | Protector 3.1 | Wattys2017

Chapter 38

*trigger warning*

Chapter 38

Jerome

       I hated playing video games with Ryder. He always won, so he was obviously cheating. Nobody could win as much as he had been doing without cheating.

       After he won for the fourth time in a row, I threw the controller down on the couch. "You're going to have to find another person to play with," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

       "What? Why?" Ryder asked. "Just because you lost?"

       "No, it's because you're obviously cheating," I said. "Nobody can win like you have that many times."

       Mae, who was sitting at the dining table, snorted. "Are you kidding me? This is Ryder we're talking about. He over-analyzes everything, so it's not that much of a surprise that he can win so easily."

       "Don't take his side," I said. "He's a cheating cheater. He even cheats at cheating."

       "Cheats at cheating...." Ryder repeated. "Nope, doesn't make sense."

       "I'm not talking to you anymore."

       "Oh no. How ever will I survive life knowing that you will not talk to me? I'm slowly sinking into the depths of unknown just thinking about it."

        I literally couldn't take anymore of Ryder's sass. It was too annoying for me, so I got up from the couch and started looking for something in the fridge to eat.

       "Poor sport," Ryder said.

       I didn't answer him. I was serious when I said I wasn't going to talk to him anymore.

       He was a dirty cheater.

       Ryder's cell phone rang, so he grabbed it off of the coffee table to answer. "Hello, dear father," he said. "How art th--Wait, what? Why would he do that? I thought he was okay....Okay, yeah, we'll be there soon."

       When he hung up, Mae looked over at him. "What's wrong?"

       "Nolan overdosed," Ryder said. "He's in the hospital right now and they're waiting on the news for him."

       I turned to look at Ryder. "Nolan....By accident or on purpose?"

       "My dad never said," Ryder said. "He just told me that Nolan overdosed on his medication. Let's go to the hospital."

       We left the apartment and I got into my car while Ryder and Mae went into his car. I ended up getting to the hospital before them because I may or may not have sped just a tiny bit.

       I quickly found a parking spot then paid for the parking. I then rushed into the hospital and went to the waiting area where I found Nolan's family. "Is he okay?" I asked.

       "We don't know yet," Poppy said. "Grayson is with them right now. We're thinking that Nolan forgot he already took his night dosage and accidentally took more. At least, we're hoping that's what happened."

       "He seemed okay, though," Tulip said. "He seemed happy."

       Poppy sighed and knelt down in front of Tulip, sitting William on her lap. "I know, but that's what happens," she said. "They seem happy, but they're just hiding it because they don't want anyone knowing how they're feeling. They don't want anyone to think they're weak."

       Tulip's lip curled into a pout. "But....then we won't be able to help him."

       "I know," Poppy said. She then looked at me. "Has Nolan said anything to you recently about how he's feeling?"

       I shook my head. "No, he usually hides it unless I bring it up because I always know when somethings wrong. Well, I guess not always."

       Ryder and Mae soon showed up, and William stood up and carefully walked over to Ryder. He was still learning to walk so he did almost fall over a few times, but when he made it to Ryder he laughed.

       "Aww, look at this cute baby," Ryder said, picking William up and kissing his cheek. "If only I could have one."

       "Yeah, if only," Mae said.

       "Hey, Mae, can we have a ba--"

       "Otters."

       "Aww, otters. I love otters."

       Always worked.

       Grayson walked over to where everyone was. "Hey," he said so everyone looked at him. "He's going to be okay. We got him here just in time."

       "Can he take visitors?" I asked. "I really need to talk to him."

       "Yeah, he can, but he's still unconscious," Grayson said. "He should wake up soon. The rest of us will be in the cafeteria to give Nolan some space."

       Grayson told me how to get to Nolan's hospital room, so I walked over there while his family went to the cafeteria. Nolan was laying on the hospital bed with a breathing mask on his face, something that made me hurt a lot. I hated seeing him like this.

      I sat down beside the hospital bed, waiting for Nolan to wake up.

       It took a few minutes, but he finally slowly opened his eyes, then tried taking the breathing mask off but he was struggling a bit. I got up from the seat and helped him take it off. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked.

       "I'm such a failure," he said. "I even fail at killing myself."

       "What?" I asked. "You....you overdosed on purpose? Why?"

       "Isn't it obvious?" Nolan asked.

       "Nolan...."

       "I don't like feeling this way, Jerome," he said, tears staining his eyes. "I feel this way every single day and I hate it. I hate feeling useless and like I don't belong anywhere. I just wanted it to go away...."

       I pulled Nolan into a hug and he started crying into my  chest. "Nolan, it won't go away if you commit suicide," I said. "It only passes it onto someone else. I've told you many times that you can talk to me about anything."

       "I'll still feel this way after I talk to you," he said. "It fixes nothing."

       "I know," I said. "I know."

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Aww, poor Nolan. :(

So, two chapters left until the second book and trust me, it will be a lot happier than this one. :D You're going to love the first chapter.

I would push through it, but I'm going to be multitasking by studying and writing the next chapter of Major Vocal. 

I might finish it tomorrow. Idk, we'll see.