Finding Finley ✔

24

Darby

Finn isn't replying and I'm trying really hard to convince myself that it's because he's driving, but it isn't working. It's been almost an hour since he told me he was leaving. Even if he hit every red light, he should still be here by now.

I scared him away. I sent that stupid text without thinking, and now he isn't going to come over. 

"Damn it, Darby." Great, now I'm talking to myself too. 

I keep watching my phone even though I know that if he was going to reply, he would have by now. I open up the message and read it again and again, wondering if maybe I shouldn't have sent the second text, like maybe that made it worse somehow.

I'm about to text him again to apologize and ask if we can just pretend that this awkward moment never happened when I heard footsteps running down the hallway. The footsteps stop outside of my door and then there's knocking - loud and insistent knocking. 

"Darby! Open the door!" 

Ellie. 

When I open my door,  Ellie is standing there with Kit I'm speechless as at the sight of them.

Kit looks like he's two seconds from completely falling apart, he's shaking but he doesn't seem to be aware of it. Ellie's holding his hand and I can see him holding on tightly, like she's his lifeline. Panic is written all over Kit's face and he looks as if he's ready to bolt down the hallway and to wherever he needs to be right now. 

"What's going on?" I'm looking at Kit, but Ellie is the one to answer me.

"We need to go, Darby. It's Finn." I knew the second I opened the door and saw Kit that it was Finn. I knew why they were there before she even said the words, but I was hoping - praying -that I was wrong.

 I nod my head, determined to be as calm as Ellie seems right now. I know that Ellie is freaking out on the inside, but just like she's being strong for Kit, I'm going to be strong for Finn. 

I grab my purse and the three of us ran down the stairs and to Ellie's car. 

---------------------------------------------------------

Finn

I can hear muffled voices and beeping. My head feels heavy and there's was a sharp pain on one side. When I open my eyes, I immediately shut them because of the bright lights making the pain worse.

I try to focus on the voices, try to hear what they're saying and who they belong to. 

I hear Kit first. I can't make out the words he's saying, but I can hear the fear and worry in his tone. He sounds like I did back when the roles were reversed and it was him laying in the hospital bed, me waiting for him to wake up. 

Eventually the words start to make sense and I can tell that Kit is talking to my mom. 

"What do they mean they can't do anything? We know who did this, mom." I must have missed whatever was said to make the worry and fear turn to the anger I hear in my brother's voice now. 

"Kit, there's no actual proof. No one saw him there, there aren't any cameras in the parking lot, and they don't even have the weapon." She sounds defeated and I know it has a lot to do with being back in a hospital, her son lying in a bed unconscious. 

"Are they even going to question him? He was in jail a few weeks ago for beating Darby and now Darby's new boyfriend was just attacked with a baseball bat. Don't they find that suspicious?" 

That's when it clicks. Kit thinks that Josh is the guy from the parking lot. 

It makes sense. Darby told me that he was jealous and violent, there was proof of that in the faded bruises on her body and the police file in her nightstand.

How did he find out about me though?

I slowly open my eyes, prepared for the lights and the pain in my head. I can see my mom and brother sitting in the chairs against the wall beside my bed. "Hey" I say, causing them to drop their conversation and turn all their attention towards me. 

Mom rushes over to my side and I am engulfed by her perfume, squeezed so tightly that I can't breathe. When she finally releases me, Kit takes her place. 

Apparently I was hit with a baseball bat and have a pretty serious concussion. Everyone is convinced that Josh was the attacker, especially after I describe what the guy looked like. Kit says that the police are going to take Josh in for questioning, but no one is hopeful because of the way Darby's case against him played out just weeks ago. 

Ellie and Kit stay for awhile after my mom left, but visiting hours are over now and I haven't seen or heard from Darby. Ellie says that she went to the police station to go over her case once more and to give a statement that says she thinks Josh is a danger to me, but that was hours ago. 

My phone is sitting on the table beside me and as I reach for it, I remember the texts Darby had sent me just before I was knocked out. 

She said she loves me, but then she took it back...but was it taking it back if she didn't mean it that way in the first place? 

My headache is starting to get worse and I put a hand to my head, scrunching my face in pain.

"Wow, is that your thinking face? I know it probably doesn't get used much, but it's not very cute, Finny." 

I move my hand from my head and look towards the doorway where Darby is standing, her laptop and a Qdoba bag in her hands. She's wearing one of my t shirts and a pair of joggers, her hair down and falling in her face as she smiles at me. 

"Finny?" 

She closes the door behind her and sits her laptop and the food on the table where my phone was, before sitting a backpack I didn't notice that she had on in an empty chair. "Yeah, it sounded better in my head. Makes Finley sound cute though, doesn't it?" 

"What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over." 

Darby pulls out her phone and computer charger from the backpack and plugs them into an empty outlet beside the bed. She opens up Netflix on the screen and motions for me to scoot over. 

As she climbs into the bed beside me and gets everything situated she says, "Kit pulled some strings with some of the night nurses. Apparently they all remember him and really like him." She hands me my burrito and pulls the sliding table attached to the bed around so that she can sit her laptop on it in front of us. 

As Darby searches for the show we were supposed to start earlier tonight, I watch her. I watch as her brown eyes scan the screen and her dark hair falls into her face before she gets frustrated with it and quickly puts it in a bun on top of her head. 

Darby hates her hair, she tells me almost every day that she hates her hair. It's too thick but also too thin she says, and I always nod like that totally makes sense to me. 

Darby hates the way her laugh sounds but I love it.

Darby hates that she has "baby hands" but I love the way they fit in mine. I love that I can finally hold her hands. 

Darby hates that she can't reach the top shelf of the cabinets in her apartment, but I think it's cute how small she is, especially in comparison to me. 

I love how, like earlier, Darby will text me a hundred times in a row. I love how she tries to annoy me. 

She turns to look at me, "Why are you staring at me?"

"I love you too."