His Paper Heart ✓

•16|His Proposal

"NO, GRAY STOP. I DON'T WANT TO ANYMORE."

"You already said yes. It's not that bad."

"We're breaking the law," I whine as he grabs my blouse with one hand and my oxygen tank with his other hand, then starts to pull me out of my room. "Gray, we're gonna get caught."

"Just trust me."

"That's the opposite of what I feel for you right now."

He succeeds in dragging me out of my room into the hospital hallway. It's pretty late and my parents are in the cafeteria, discussing how they are going to get four thousand dollars for my medication. And here I am, looking at the alluring brown haired boy, dressed in a doctor's scrub, his hair and attitude still as reckless and as messy as they come.

"I'm going to get in trouble if we're caught," I say.

"Trust me. When have I ever lied to you?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Just follow my lead."

"I don't want to," I whisper.

"Genevieve, I'm taking you to a very special place and as a bonus, I won't argue with you for next two hours," he states. That isn't going to last, I think to myself as I stutter closely beside him down the almost deserted hospital hallway. I am sweating like a coke bottle in an August barbeque as I try not to make eye contact with the few nurses in the hallway, unlike Gray. The rebellious teenager is so blithe about the fact that I'm sneaking out of the hospital, and as we near the counter, where Nurse Stewards is stationed, I swallow deeply, feeling my temperature flare.

"We're gonna get caught," I whisper to Gray, unable to take my eyes off the naturally tanned nurse, a suspicious crease between her full brows.

"Well stop walking like that," Gray whispers back.

"Like what?"

"Like you're sneaking out of a hospital," he says and I exhale when we bypass the woman.

Just as I start to convince myself that perhaps Gray and I can get away, a scuffle breaks behind me and I groan silently, slowly turning to nurse.

"Genevieve," she calls again.

Elena Stewards was my mother's closest friend till her husband suddenly disappeared. Despite her ability to ignore the questions of his whereabouts, the people in this town are popular for their gossips and conspiracy theories. Like how people say her husband left her and her daughter to Sacramento and went on a crazy rampage killing three kids in a park, thus, Elena's joyous personality has turned dark and mundane since then yet, you can still see a flicker of hope in her eyes. Even when Elena and my mom were joined to the hip, Elena's daughter, Imogene never wanted to hang around my sister and I, seeing as we are the same age. Maybe she also believes the theory I'm contagious.

Elena narrows her eyes at Gray and I, knitting her
eyebrows together. Coils of leafy brown hair stumbles over her shoulders as she places her clipboard on the counter and ushers for me to move closer to her. I do and so does Gray. Elena's dark skin is flawless. She is something between burnt sienna and caramel and it never looked so good on a woman, which always lead to the argument of why she ever married Craig. According to the stories I've heard from my mother, there was something off about his 'I'm trying to figure myself out' demeanor. And that initially, started the tear between Elena and my mother's relationship.

I exhale softly, wanting to thread my words carefully without hinting the fact that I'm sneaking out. "Oh hi Ms. Stewards, I didn't see you there," I say.