The Unexpected

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

I stood still, feeling as though the soles of the sneakers I borrowed from Aaden's cousin had been cemented down. My fingers graced the handle of the door in front of me, the metal cold against my skin, but I couldn't find it in myself to turn it.

Aaden positioned himself behind me. “Do you want to come back later?” he offered, moving to place his hand over mine.

As he stretched his arm over my shoulder to reach the handle his chest pressed against my back. With his outstretched arm pinning me to his front and his hand trapping mine, it made for an uncomfortable, awkward, and unwelcome position.

I tried to wiggle my hand out from under his, but he had me trapped, whether he meant to or not. “Aaden...” I said, glancing up at him to find him watching me. He blinked a couple of times when I spoke; coming back from la-la land.

“Yeah?”

“Why are you just standing there?”

His eyes flitted to our hands to my face and back. “You looked like you were going to get sick coming up here. I wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing before you just barged in. Are you sure you don't want to wait a while?”

“I'm sure. I know what I'm doing, Aaden,” I argued. He did have a point, though. When the nurse at the desk directed us to room 301- Emma's room- my insides somersaulted. Am I just trying to convince myself, I wondered, that just the thought of seeing my best friend didn't make me want to beat it to Canada? I was already contemplating how hard it would be to hot-wire Aaden's car. I scolded myself for being so silly- I mean, Aaden said she wasn't in critical condition, right?- and took a deep breath, inhaling the sickening scent of sterilizer and bleach. I crinkled my nose.

I hate hospitals.

“I can also open a door by myself,” I continued. “And, if you don't mind, I would rather go in by myself.”

Aaden frowned, but complied. He slid his hand off mine, took a few steps back, and raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, have at it.”

I turned back to staring down the door, taking a deep breath to steel myself for what might lie inside. It was almost like one of those horror movies Emma would talk me into watching with her- how the audience would yell and yell to no avail; the girl would always opened the door the monster was behind.

Then I turned the handle, pushed open the door, and stepped in.

.   .   .

As soon as I closed the door behind me I realized how bright it was inside the room. I assumed that it would have been darker- the lights switched off and the shades closed- but it was just the opposite. But then again, the blinding white of the walls and tiled floors made everything seem lighter. A nurse was fiddling with a beeping machine in the corner of the room, and I could see the end of a bed peeking out from behind a curtain.

At the sound of the door clicking closed the nurse- a pretty woman with chocolate skin and silky black hair pulled back in a pony-tail- looked up. Her warm brown eyes softened when she saw me. “Hello Dear,” she said, leaving the machine behind to give me a gentle hug. She leaned back and smiled softly at me. I automatically liked her. “I'm guessing you're Ricki?” She asked.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “How did you know?”

She chuckled. “Miss Emma here has been demanding to see you ever since she woke up from surgery. Something about needing to know how long it will be until her car is fixed.”

I smiled for a second; glad to hear Emma was still herself, before I realized what she said. “Wait, surgery? I thought- I had heard it wasn't that bad.”