An Unlikely Pair - (Lesbian Short Story)

Chapter 8: Oh Shit

Brooke jumps into her red convertible faster than she ever has. It is 1:47pm, four hours since the first phone call. What happened to her brother? Speeding as much as she can get away with, Brooke arrives at the hospital. She quickly parks and rushes into the emergency section.

She finds a desk of many nurses and runs over. "Jones, James. Where is he? He's my brother and he's been hurt." She asks the nurses frantically.

The nurse starts typing into the computer. "Room 372, down the hall to the right. Everything is okay, Miss--" Brooke is gone before the nurse can finish her sentence.

"360, 362, 364," She whispers to herself as she walks down the hall. "368, 372!!" The tag on the door reads "Jones, James."

"Jimmy!" Brooke exclaims when she sees her brother in the hospital bed. She almost missed her parents sitting against the wall inside. "What happened? Are you okay?" She takes notice of all the scrapes and burns on her brother's face. His leg is in a cast along with his arm and neck. Bandages everywhere.

"Brooke, for the love of god, calm down." Her mother says with annoyance. "You're here, finally, everyone can just calm down."

"What happened?" Brooke asks again, a little calmer.

"Your brother got in a car accident." Her father says, sounding equally concerned and annoyed.

"What the hell were you doing in a car?" Brooke exclaims at her younger brother. "You go to boarding school, everything you need is in walking distance. Food, class, bed. It's all walkable!!"

"I know, I know," Jimmy says, groggily. "Michael thought it would be cool to go to a party."

"A PARTY?! You're like 12!"

"I'm 15, but okay."

"Who the hell is Michael?"

"He's a senior at my school. He started dating this girl in college, so he took me and a few other guys to a party. There was some drinking, and Michael got a little too into it." Brooke glares at her little brother, but lets him finish. "None of the other guys had their licenses yet, so he had to drive us back to campus before bed check at midnight. He and his girlfriend were getting...friendly on the couch and he didn't want to leave right away, so he had to rush. He swerved into a tree. I was sitting in the front, so I got thrown out through the window. I can't remember much else than that."

"Oh, my god, you idiot. You are so lucky to be alive." She gives him a hug and then steps towards the door. "I'll be right back."

Brooke steps outside and pulls her phone out of her back pocket. Quickly putting in her passcode, she opens the call app and opens Waverly's contact. Her thumb jumps back and forth between call and close similar to what Waverly did earlier the same day. Instead, she decides to listen to the voicemail. Waverly sounds so sad and dejected, it makes Brooke want to call her even more. She's about to press the call button when she hears her name.

"Brooke!"

The blonde looks up and sees a familiar face running towards her.

"Brooke!" She yells again, almost next to Brooke. "Brooke, oh my god, are you okay?" The girl is hugging Brooke now, with her arms over Brooke's neck squeezing for dear life. The smell of lavender fills Brooke's senses as she hugs the girl back.

They separate for a moment and look into each other's eyes. "Waverly," Brooke says finally, "I was just about to call you, how'd you know I was here?"

"Your mother called me, said she couldn't get ahold of you. I figured she didn't know we were in a fight and asked what was going on that she needed you for. She told me and I came as quickly as I could."

"We're in a fight?" Brooke teases.

Waverly gets flustered. "I mean, I thought we were. Is it something else?"

"Waverly, Waverly, calm down." Brooke puts her hand on Waverly's shoulder to calm her down. This is the most physical contact they've had since the concert.

"Why are you telling me to calm down? Your brother was in an accident, I should be telling you to calm down."

"Waverly." Brooke says calmly.

The brunette looks up and meets Brooke's eyes. "Yes?"

"Thank you for coming." She smiles at Waverly. "I have been so cruel to you this week. I haven't returned any of your calls, I skipped school today, but you still came when you heard my family was in trouble."

"Of course I would. You're still my best friend, Brooke. I wanted to make sure you were okay even if we aren't on great terms."

"You are so amazing, Waverly. Do you want to go for a walk? I want to tell you something."

The two girls walk away from Jimmy's hospital room and down a few halls where there is a bench that overlooks the main entrance to the hospital. This seems to be as good of a place as any for Brooke to say what she's been thinking since she woke up and checked her voicemails.

"Waverly, I need to tell you something."

Looking a little concerned, Waverly nods and says she's ready to hear whatever Brooke has to say.

"When we first met, I thought you were a little strange. You were at my boyfriend's football practice with a fancy camera and you didn't seem affected by my presence at all where most people are either super excited or scared to see me. You were just doing your thing and I was mesmerized by that. From the very first time I laid eyes on you, I couldn't stop thinking about you. The whole drive home from practice, I was thinking about you. From there on, I just got so flustered and awkward and it was weird for me. I've never really had a friend that wasn't just friends with me because I was popular. You liked me for me. I loved hanging out with you and doing things with you even if it was unfamiliar to me. When you told me you loved me at the concert, I freaked out. I didn't know that's how you felt and I didn't know what to do. I feel bad for shutting you out, I can imagine how terrible that was for you. Ever since that night, my life has fallen apart and I realized how much I needed you. I broke up with Jason, all of my friends ditched me, and my brother almost died. I wanted to call you so many times, but I didn't know what to say and I'm not sure what to say now, but I'm saying it. Waverly Martin, you are the most amazing person I know and," she pauses and takes a breath before finishing her thought. "I love you too." Brooke closes her eyes when she says this and then opens one to look at Waverly who is crying.

"You have no idea how much I wanted to hear you say that," she says as she wipes a tear from her cheek. "Not the part about your life collapsing, but the last part."

Wiping the second tear from Waverly's face, Brooke pulls her hand around the back of Waverly's neck and pulls her in for a kiss. A kiss she didn't know she's been wanting for a long time.

"I love you, Waverly."

"I love you, too, Brooke."