How to Love (un-finished)

Chapter 10

Jake POV

I had wanted to kiss her since that day on our way to the park. My lips being pressed against hers, was, well, perfect. Her soft lips moved with mine like they were made for each other. Then she just stopped. I pulled back and looked at her. Her, normally green eyes, had turned a dark hazel.

“Jake, I – we can’t – I, uh, I need a second” she mumbled. Suddenly, she collapsed in my arms. So many thoughts were going through my head, “this is all your fault” “call an ambulance” “take her to lay down” “call her sister”. I felt like my brain was fighting with itself. I decided to call her sister.

“Hello” Maddi answered calmly.

“Can you come over, now, its Dani!” I screamed into the phone. I felt my eyes start to sting, no I was not going to cry. I had to blink at a mile a minute to keep the tears inside my eyes.

Maddi was at the door in seconds, she didn’t even bother to knock. I was in the kitchen, Dani’s frail body in my arms. She was still breathing. I kept telling myself, she was going to be okay, continuously repeating it in my mind.

“What happened” Maddi said frantically, running to me.

“She just passed out I think, but I don’t know what to do” I said looking up to Maddi.

“I’m going to take her to the hospital just to be safe” Maddi said.

“I’m coming with” I stated, holding Dani in my arms, bridal style.

“You can’t” she stated, giving me a sad look.

“Why can’t I?” I almost screamed.

“What’s going on?” Ariana peaked her head in, looking confused.

That was the reason I couldn’t go. Then I remembered, the older lady down the street offered to watch Ariana. No Ariana wasn’t good with strangers. I could just take Dani to the hospital and Maddi could stay back and watch Ariana. No, Maddi would never agree to that. Finally I had a decent idea.

“She can come with” I said.

“Fine” Maddi gave up. I’m sure she just wanted to get Dani to the hospital.

I sat in the back seat with Ariana next to me and Dani on my lap. Ariana wouldn’t stop asking questions, but thank god Maddi answered them. It took about 20 minutes to get to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital, I carried Dani in and Maddi had Ariana. I sat on a chair in the emergency area. My legs were bouncing up and down nervously. They took 15 minutes to call Dani’s name. Once we were in the small checkup room, they brought a bed for Dani. They took her to a decently sized room with 4 chairs.

I had texted my mom just to let her know not to freak out if nobody was home when she got back.

The doctor told us that we just had to wait for her to wake up. That could be as little as 5 minutes or as long as 3-4 days. It had been 5 hours since we got here and my parents would be home soon. Maddi wanted Ariana and I to go home and she would have her husband pick her up later, but I refused to leave.

I couldn’t leave until Dani could. It was my fault she was here in the first place. I needed to be here when she woke up and since we didn’t know when that would be, I couldn’t leave until she was ready to leave.

Maddi had finally decided to let me stay while she took Ariana back to my parents. I just sat next to Dani’s bed, holding her hand and zoning out at the TV in the corner of the room. I blamed myself for putting Dani in this horrible place. It smelled like cleaning solution and almost every minute you could hear the squeaking of somebody’s shoe on the linoleum floor.

The paint in the far corner of the room was chipping and the seats had caused my butt to go numb. I couldn’t stay sitting anymore. I got up and started pacing around the room. I just wanted to punch something.

I just wish Dani would wake up so I could tell her sorry I was. I wanted for her to be at home in her comfortable bed. I wanted for her to be in my arms, not on some shitty hospital bed.

I had gotten to the point that I fell to the ground and clasped my hair tightly in my fists. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, but most of all, I wished none of this happened.

I mean, I don’t want the kiss to not happen, but maybe it was too soon. I sat, my back against the wall, sitting on the floor, and head in my hands. I heard the door slowly open and in came Dani’s doctor.

“Is everything alright” I asked, standing up quickly.

“Danielle is fine, but you, you’re another story” the doctor said, looking at me worriedly.

“Why would you say that” I snapped, I needed to calm down.

“You’re beating yourself up. I don’t know what happened, but you need to stay strong for Danielle. No matter what happened, remember it wasn’t your fault.” And she left.

She was right, Dani needed me to be strong for her. I decided to just sit down next to her and watch the TV again. I checked the time and it was about 7. Maddi told me to text her if anything changes, since I decided to stay until Dani is awake. Apparently, Dani has a puppy waiting at home for her.

I ended up falling asleep at midnight on an extra bed the nurses brought in for me.

Dani’s POV

I opened my eyes and I saw a bright light. I could smell a faint smell of cleaning solution and rubber gloves. Where was I?

Last thing I remember is kissing Jake. Oh shit, I kissed Jake. I sat up quickly looking around, but I was constricted by an IV. 

“Nurse?” I called out.

“Dani, you’re awake” Jake said, groggily. He must have just woken up.

The nurse walked in and helped me with my IV. Jake had moved to my side and he had called Maddi letting her know I was up.

“Jake, what time is it?” I asked looking on the walls for a clock.

“It’s 4am” he moaned.

“I’ve been asleep since yesterday?” I asked, surprised.

“Mmhhmm” he mumbled.

“Jake, about the kiss-” I began.

“We can talk about it later” he cut me off.

“Fine” I huffed.

The doctor let me go home after another 2 hours. Maddi had picked Jake and me up. Even though I tried to convince Jake that I could walk fine, he insisted he carried me to the car. He was still really tired, since he only slept for 4 hours. He didn’t want to leave me, though, because we still needed to talk about the kiss. I agreed to let him take a nap in my bed and then we would talk about it.

When we got to the house, Jake insisted he would carry me inside. He took us up to my room and collapsed on the bed. I had managed to help him get under the covers and on my bed comfortably.

“Dani, I am so glad you’re okay” he said, grabbing my hand.

“Thank you for taking care of me” I said back.

“Will you lay with me?” he tugged on my arm lightly. I moved into his arms and he wrapped his arms around me. We both ended up falling asleep after a few minutes.

A/N shorter chapter but whatever