waste the night [c.h.]

thirty-three

The entire car ride there was silent, thoughts racing through my head.

Calum's hand stayed in mine, a worried frown on his face as he speed through traffic and towards home.

We arrived at the hospital after a couple hours, my hand clasping Calum's as I rushed through the brightly lit hallways.

"Ben Taylor." I said to the nurse.

"Are you family?"

"Yes, I'm his sister."

"Room 304."

I turned, Calum keeping up with me as I scanned the room numbers, finding 304. I opened the door, my family all huddled around the bed.

Their eyes turned to me and Calum dropped my hand as I moved forward, my eyes filling with tears as I searched for my brother.

Ben laid in the hospital bed, wraps and bandages covering his skin, blood and bruises littering his face and arms. I pushed past my mom, leaning down and hugging him tightly, causing him to groan.

"What happened?" I cried softly, pulling back to look at him.

"Stupid U-turns."

I let out a laugh, choking on my tears. I rested my head on his chest, his heart beat pounding against my ear. His alive and well beating heartbeat. 

"They still have to do an important surgery, we were waiting for you." My mom said from behind me.

"Surgery? For what?"

"Internal bleeding," she said quietly, tears falling down her cheeks. "It doesn't look good."

"But he's talking, he's joking, he's okay."

"That's the outside, there are bad injuries inside."

The doctor came in, my family starting to tell my brother how much they loved him, they started saying goodbye. 

I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning around to face Calum, whose eyes were dark with worry. I wrapped my arms around his waist, my cheek pressing into his chest.

He put his arms around my shoulder, his chin resting on top of my head. "It's going to be okay."

The doctor took Ben to surgery, he smiled softly at me. I wasn't going to say goodbye because this wasn't goodbye. He just kissed my hand softly and smiled that goofy smile. 

We were escorted back to the waiting room, my father's eyes watching as Calum's hands rubbed my back softly, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

"Alex, who's this?" My mom asked, everyone's eyes turning to us.

"Oh uh, this is Calum," I said, meeting his brown eyes, a smile pulling at my lips. "My boyfriend."

My mom grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from Calum and farther into the hallway. "What the hell, Alex?"

"Look, I know you said that I couldn't have any boyfriends but I think that you would like Calum, a lot, actually-"

"I can't believe you would do this to us now, Alex, with your brother in the hospital."

"Yeah, I'm aware of that so I brought the only person that comforts me with me, Mom," I scoffed at her. "Me and Calum are dating and will continue to date whether you like it or not."

She looked up at me in shock, horror in her eyes. "What has gotten into you?"

"Calum and I talked about what happened and we made up, we're a couple, I like him a lot, Mom, I think that I might love him," I choked as the words fell from my mouth. "Oh shit, I can't believe I just-"

"Alex Brighton Taylor, did you just swear? Is that a tattoo?" She grabbed my arm, examining the fresh tattoo on my wrist.

"Yes, I did, and yes, it is," I said, snatching my arm away. "I can do that. Because I am an adult. And I can make my own decisions."

My mother scoffed at me before turning away from me. I rubbed my eyes harshly, anything to help me wake up from this nightmare.

Someone walked through the front door, their eyes falling on me. "Alex."

Blake wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly. "I heard about Ben, how are you?"

"I'm fine," I said against his chest. "I just want him to be okay."

He pulled back, brushing a piece of hair from my face. "You look horrible."

I hooked my arms around his waist, looking up to meet his eyes as I laughed. "Well, thanks, nice to hear your wonderful compliments."

He smiled, pressing a kiss to my forehead before squeezing my cheeks. Someone cleared their throat beside me and I turned to look at Calum.

I realized how this looked to him. I was all over another boy. "Oh, Cal, this is Blake."

Calum put an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. Blake extended his hand and Calum just stared at it, raising his eyebrows.

"Here, let me," Blake smiled at him. "I'm Blake, Alex's gay best friend."

Calum chuckled as I nudged him softly, taking Blake's hand and shaking it before pulling away. "Don't worry, pretty boy, I'm much more likely to hit on you than her."

Calum laughed as I settled my head on his shoulder. 

"Is this the boyfriend you're always talking about?" Blake smiled at me.

"Yeah," I smiled, looking up to meet his eyes. "Calum."

"I thought we were supposed to keep it a secret." Calum pouted.

"It is a secret, Blake is just really good as reading body language," I chuckled. "The day I got home he literally pulled me aside and asked me, and I quote, 'who dicked you down?'"

Calum laughed, throwing his head back as he clutched his stomach. "Yeah, that's me."

I smiled, pressing a kiss to his cheek before wrapping my arms around his waist, my head resting against his shoulder. "Mom's pissed at me, she's gonna be all up our asses for the rest of our time here."

"Did you just say ass?" Blake asked me, his eyebrows raising in shock. 

I rolled my eyes and looked up at Calum, meeting his brown eyes. He just smiled softly, leaning down and kissing my lips softly.