Shattered But Not Broken

Chapter 6

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When my alarm went off the next morning, I woke with a smile on my face knowing that I would finally be able to get out of this darn hospital for a while. I was excited to go out to breakfast with Richie and his mom and sister.

I got changed into the clothes I wore, the day of the accident but don't worry, they got washed so they were clean.

When I got a knock on the door, it was Richie.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah," I responded, holding out my hand.

We laced our fingers together and walked out of the room.

We passed the front desk. "Oh," I said. "I have to go check out."

Richie gave me a big smile. "I already did that before I got you."

I returned a smile. "Thanks."

We walked outside and I took a deep breath in, enjoying the nature. I saw the car. Irene was driving and Cheryl was in the passenger seat. I thought that eight was a little young to ride in the front but I was fine with that.

Richie opened the door to the back seat and gestured me to get in.

I jumped into the car. "Thanks," I said. I looked out the window and saw the outside of the hospital. It was a off white color and wasn't really kept up as neat as some of the other buildings in the area.

Richie made his way to the opposite side of the car and got in.

"You ready," Irene asked me.

"Yep. Thanks again for inviting me to tag along."

"It was our pleasure," she stated.

When we made it to the café, I got out of the car and Richie came over and we interlocked hands. A few times during the walk into the café, my leg hurt, but it would always go away a few seconds later.

When we got in, a waiter gave us our seats and table. It was a booth so I slid in first and was next to a window and under a air vent, which made me shiver a little until got used to the cool air.

Richie slid in next to me.

"Hey," Cheryl complained. "I wanted to sit next to Jessica." She gave him grin and Richie replied with a smirk.

Irene looked at Cheryl. "Maybe next time honey. Come sit next to your mom."

She said next time. That means I'm going to be spending more time with them. That'll be nice.

When we all decided what to order, I got a BLT. I know that BLT's are normally a lunch thing but I always ate it for breakfast if restaurants had it.

"So, Jessica," Irene started. "Richie said that you have stayed in Calabasas for a little while now. How do you like it here?"

"It's really beautiful," I said. "I enjoy how it is nice about all year round. I used to live over in New York and it gets super cold in the winter so I like having a break from that.

"Was it hard leaving all of your friends behind in New York?" Richie asked.

I frowned and shrugged. "Well, I never really had any friends. I was home schooled until I came here."

"You can be my friend," Cheryl said jumping in.

My lips curled into a smile. "Aww... thanks. I would love to be your friend. Thanks Cheryl."

She gave me a big smile.

~~~~

The whole feeling that I had while eating with them made me feel welcomed and happy. I felt like I had a whole family for once.

When we were all finished, Irene paid for the food and left a tip at the table.

On our way out I heard Cheryl. "Mom, mom," she said tugging on Irene's shirt.

"Yes honey?" She replied.

"I want a muffin," she pleaded.

"Honey, there's a line. It's going to take a while."

"It's okay mom," Richie said. "You can get the muffin for Cheryl and me and Jessica can wait out in the car for you."

"Yeah," I responded. "Besides, I think she really wants that muffin."

Cheryl looked at her mom with puppy dog eyes.

"Okay," she finally agreed. "Do you two want anything?"

"I'm good," I responded. "But thanks for the offer."

Richie agreed.

Irene then dug into her purse and gave the car keys to Richie.

We both walked outside and found the car.

He pressed the unlock button on the keys and the car unlocked. We both climbed in and Richie put the keys in the front.

We sat in silence for a bit.

"Thanks for inviting me again. It was really nice," I said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. I enjoyed it too. I'm glad you could come," he said giving me a smile.

"Well, I am always free and I didn't have anything else to do today."

We sat there in silence for another while longer and then our eyes met.

We kind of already knew what was going to happen.

I gave him a smile and he gave me a smile back, taking his glasses off slowly.

Something just clicked and the next thing I knew was our heads moving slowly towards each other. My heart started to pound faster as the butterflies in my stomach came. Our lips met in between and the butterflies in my stomach slowly faded away and my heart started to slow down. I felt passion and love again.

We sat still in the same position for a few moments and then our kiss deepened at the same time. I put my arms around his neck and he put his hands on my waist.

We were both in the moment and loved it until we were interrupted by the car doors opening.

We quickly got back into our seats and Richie put back on his glasses.

We both tried to hide the smirks on our faces.

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The ride back to the hospital was quiet with a few things said here and there.

When we got back to the hospital, I looked at Irene before exiting the car. "Thank you again for taking me out to eat with you all. I really appreciated it."

She smiled. "It was no problem. I hope that we can do this again sometime."

I smiled. "I would like that." I got out of the car and waved at Cheryl. "Bye."

"Bye!" She said energetically.

Richie walked me back into the hospital and checked me back in. We then went to my room and he gave me a small kiss on the cheek. "Bye," he said quietly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," I said, gazing into his dreamy, dark brown eyes.

When he left, I went and sat back down on the bed and fell asleep.