Terrible Things: Stay

Chapter Two

May...

"How much longer am I'm going to be here?"

It's been another week, and I'm still in the same hospital bed. I'm on an IV and that's it, thank God. No more oxygen mask. No more catheter. No more troubles with my body, really. I'm just sick of this place.

The nurse smiled down at me and I heard a laugh from the corner of the room. I looked and the sight of Harry, back resting on the wall with one foot up, arms crossed, made my heart pump even faster. My cheeks began to burn considering my heart monitor was visible to everyone. He smirked, and my cheeks burned even more. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the nurse.

"You should be able to leave towards the weekend," she said with a smile and walked out of the room.

Harry walked up to me. "You know, you should be grateful. At least your graduating."

My mouth opened in shock. "Oh my God! I totally forgot that I've been gone from school for so long! I've missed work, days, tests, oh my god."

He held my hand. "Calm down. Kendall and Camille have been making it all up for you, and Chasity's been helping too. Even Amanda's helping."

I looked at my mom who was sitting in the chair next to my bed. She smiled and laughed. "And Mom, you're okay with this?" I asked.

She shrugged. "You worked so hard to get where you are, and it's not like I could stop Harry."

I smiled at her. "Mom..." I trailed off.

Harry turned to face her. "You know, you could just admit that you like me. You could just admit that you think that I'm good for Diana."

She shook her head. "Now, I've never said that."

"Just say it, mom." This was getting funnier, and I couldn't help myself from laughing.

She shook her head. "No, I refuse."

~~~

It was only a couple hours later that my mom left to go home at my request. But Harry stayed. It was dark out, really dark. Maybe it was around ten. Harry was next to me on my bed. He had his arm around me and I was on my side. "Harry, I love you."

He smiled down at me, but it faltered slightly. He looked away then back at me. "I love you."

"So are you ever going to tell me what college you were on the phone with the other week?" I asked.

He smiled at me. "Depends. Have you decided which college you were picking?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, but I'm kind of leaning to Columbia or NYU. I'm not sure. Maybe FIT though."

He nodded. "Well, when you make a decision, I'll let you know."

I rolled my eyes. Then the air in the room got serious. "Are you mad at me?" I asked, bringing up a whole new topic.

He looked at me, seeming surprsied. "Why would you think that?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I mean... You were trying to help me - save me... and I could've told you that you were too late. I could've told you that I already swallowed the pills. I could've but I didn't. I let you believe that you were helping me when I knew otherwise..."

He shook his head. "I didn't expect you to listen to me anyways. I was just hoping that you would. Even if you hadn't swallowed the pills yet, I know that something drastic would've happened anyways."

"Well, I'm sorry... if um, I scared you. But I probably didn't, considering, well, you know, I kind of just fell."

"I mean, I'm not gonna lie... I was scared. When you fell I didn't know what to think. But I knew that I had to get help. I called the ambulance and police first. Afterwards, I delt with what I was feeling."