This Girl

Chapter 42: Dinner's Getting Cold

Thank you to @Echoooooooooo0 for the amazing cover above!

Alex's POV:

I arrive at the airport at around six. I try to race through security, but I have to wait for my bag. So it takes me an hour to get to the hospital. But the cab driver drops me 500 meters away from the hospital and I don't feel like waiting to see her so I sprint the whole way.

I arrive in the building, puffing and sweaty. I gulp as I put my hands on my knees and pant. I see Mum, Dad, Felecia and Liam as well as the Bennetts in the waiting room, all looking nervous. I run up to the reception desk.

The woman motions for me to wait until she puts the phone down. "What can I help you with."

"I need to see Natalie Bennett," I say.

She shakes her head. "Her family has already visited. She hasn't woken up. You can try again at 12 tomorrow."

"No, please, I need to see her," I say, tapping my fingers on the desk in front of me.

The receptionist lady shakes her head. What a stubborn b***h. She looks back down at her computer at types, the keys clicking as she touches them, one by one. She speaks to me without looking up at me, "She your girlfriend."

I stutter for a few seconds before she looks at me without moving her head, her glasses perched on the tip of her nose. I shake my head and swallow. "No, she's my best friend."

***

Nat's POV

Everything is blurry when my eyes open. The light slowly comes into focus and I blink a couple of times. I look around. Someone is holding my hand. They're sitting on a chair beside my bed. Their head is lying on my stomach and they're snoring.

No else is in the room, and my head feels heavy when I crinkle my forehead. There is a cord strapped to my hand connected to a machine and there is a damp cloth on my head. Everything is still fuzzy. I try to sit up.

Alex stirs. Then his eyes pop open and he sits up. I feel a surge of bile rising through my throat. Alex grabs a bucket and hands it to me. I vomit into it. Alex pulls my hair off my shoulder and holds it behind me, catching the cloth from my head before it drops into the sludge.

I wretch into the bucket for about thirty seconds before I can breath again. Alex rubs my back and helps me sit down.

"Why'd you have to go and get yourself in this mess, Nat?" he asks, sitting back on his chair. I shrug, which only hurts my head more. I wince. He places the cloth back on my head and takes the bucket from me, walking into the bathroom and washing it down the sink.

He comes back to sit on the seat but I stop him and instead shuffle over so that he can fit in. He lies down. His hair is all messy and his eyes have big circles under them, as though he hasn't slept for hours.

I wince when I speak, my voice sounding croaky, "I thought you were.." I cough, which hurts my head because of the movement. "In Virginia with Amanda."

"Shh," he says and points to the five sleeping bodies on the other side of the room. Lucas, Paul, Mum, Dad and Felecia. I'm surprised they're still here. "Claudia called me. I came back."

"Alex," I try and groan, but wince when it gives me a ginormous headache. "You should've stayed."

"No," he says simply. "I wanna be with you."

I try not to think that there is a double meaning to those words, since I know there's not, but a girl can hope.

"But Amanda..." I trail off. He shushes me quietly.