New In Town

Scooby Dooby Don't

They made me stay in the waiting room. I didn't know how she was doing or if she was gonna be okay. The damn chair felt like concrete but I didn't care. I don't care about anything. I'm just sitting here, staring at the wall. I can't hear anything. Not over the blaring thought in my head, the only thought in my head. 'This is all your fault. This is all your fault. This is all your fault.' Over and over and over again. I think it's about 5 in the afternoon but I can't be bothered to check. Aus has tried to talk to me but nothing gets through. That is, until I feel arms wrap around my body. I don't know who it is nor do I care. I just bury my face into their neck without a word. I don't care about anything other than Danni. I need to know if she's okay. But they won't tell me. They won't let me see her.

"Shh, Av, shh. It'll be okay," someone's voice breaks through the deafening sound of my own. I snapped out of my trance long enough to look up. My eyes met Nik's and I immediately looked down.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked quietly.

"I texted you and your brother answered telling me you guys were here. He just wouldn't tell my why. I was worried it was you so I rushed over here as fast as I could."

"Why do you even care?" I asked, my eyes snapping up to his. My voice was cold and the tone was a bit foreign to me. I'm not usual this mean to people.

He looked helpless; he didn't know what to say. After what looked like careful consideration, he answered me. "Does it matter?"

I turned away from him and got up. The food in the vending machine looked inviting so I walked over, pulling a few bucks out of my pocket. I tried feeding the wrinkled bills to the machine but it wouldn't accept any of them.

"Take the damn thing," I whispered to it, quickly becoming frustrated. After a few more attempts, I got fed up and just put my fist through the glass. I grabbed the damn funyuns, put the money in their place, and took my seat.

"What the hell?" Aus yelled. "You didn't have to punch it!"

I shrugged. "It wouldn't take my money." I opened the bag and stuck my left hand in, ignoring the blood dripping from the right one.

He huffed and calmed a bit. "Look. I know, you're upset. But that doesn't give you the right to destroy someone else's property."

"You're wrong, y'know."

"No I'm not. You can't just punch a vending mach-"

"I wasn't talking about the damn vending machine. I was talking about you knowing how I feel. It's my fault she's almost dead. I'm not upset." I looked him dead in the eyes. "There aren't words for how terrible I feel. This is my fault. I caused this. I'm a bitch and I can't do anything right. You know that I'm the real reason we had to move all the way from fucking Maine. Open your eyes. We're in California." That's when I realized that Nik was still here.

"You came here from Maine?" His reaction was more than shock. In his eyes swirled confusion and suspicion. "Why?"

"Because I got shot." I told him matter-of-factly without explaining.

"We should really do something with that hand." Nik said, changing the subject.

I looked down to see the pool of blood forming on my pants and the floor, getting bigger with no sign of stopping, and just shrugged. "I'm fine. I'll be fine. Always have to be."

Nik sighed and stopped a nurse, asking for some gauze and some other things I didn't catch. She looked at me and quickly got whatever he need and scurried off. "Come here."

"No." I gave him a sharp glare but he just came closer to me. Austin, of course, had fallen asleep by now.

Nik sat on the floor in front of the chair on my left. "Come here," he repeated. I shook my head and he rolled his eyes, grabbing me and pulling me to his lap. He pressed his chest to my back and cradled me in his arms for a few minutes. Then he whispered in my ear, "Let's get that hand cleaned up."