The Time of My Life [Completed]

Chapter 30: The Time With the Shooting

Zeke.

"Is Zeke okay?" I asked Sheriff Coleman.

"Who?"

"Ezekiel Talbot. Is he okay?"

"I'm no doctor, but last I heard, he'll recover. The teacher, on the other hand, won't."

"What do you mean?"

"She died almost instantly." Shit. Shit. Holy fucking shit. Was all I could think. My teacher was dead, and one of my closest friends was in the hospital. All because of me.

After answering a bunch of questions about Brock, and some about me, I texted Dallas, asking him to pick me up. Luckily, he's still home, for whatever reason.

He pulled up to the police station in his black SUV, and I quickly climbed into the passenger seat. "Do you mind dropping me off somewhere?"

"What, am I your personal chauffeur today?" Dallas rolled his eyes. Instead of turning right out of the station towards our house, he turned left, toward the hospital.

Twenty long minutes later, Dallas parked in front of the main entrance to the emergency room. "Can you wait? This shouldn't be too long."

"Sure." What I wasn't expecting was for him to climb out and walk in with me. "You didn't expect me to wait in the car, did you? I'm coming in." I just shrugged, not bothering to fight him on this. I knew I wouldn't win, he had his "don't mess with me" face on.

Remembering what I was there for, I sped up to the front desk. "I'm here to see Ezekiel Talbot?" I gave his name to the woman sitting behind the computer.

"Ah he just got checked in. You can go see him now. He is in room 163."

"Thank you." I'd be rude not to thank her. I then practically sprinted down the halls like a maniac, searching for room 163, Dallas trailing behind me. I finally found the room, and asked Dallas to wait out in the hallway while I go in. I knock, to be polite, but walk in before hearing anyone saying anything. The first thing I notice is that Zeke wasn't alone. His dad, stepmom, and Kelly were all there. Then, my eyes narrowed in on the frail boy on the bed. I felt so guilty. Like this was all my fault. I was the reason Brock did this. I wasn't even there to do something about it. "Zeke. Can we talk?"

He looked so weak there, on the hospital bed. He always carried this bad boy aura wherever he went. It always made him seem invincible, at least in my eyes. This was actually scaring me.

He nods, and his family slowly filed out of the room. I cautiously moved next to the bed, and carefully sit down on the edge of the chair near his head. "I am so, so, so sorry."

"Sorry about what?" He asks quietly. "You didn't do this."

"No, but it was my psycho ex who did. And I wasn't even there to help you."

He smiled, and that alone made me feel so much better about the whole situation. "Do you really think it would make you feel any better if you were there and watched him pull the trigger?"

"Trigger? He shot you?!" I watched as his smile disappeared and I just wished it would come back. "Urghhh!" I groaned. "That boy has some nerve! I swear, if I ever see his face again I'm gonna-"

"Jess." My eyes snap back to his. "I'm okay." His smile reappears. "The doctor got the bullets out of my arm and leg, said I'll be almost good as new in a few months."

"Arm and leg? He shot you twice?! Agh! That-"

"Jessie! That's not the point." He gently takes my hand, which was resting on the rail of his bed, and squeezes it lightly. If I wasn't paying close attention to his every move I would've missed it. "I'm okay." He looked me in the eyes once again, and spoke slowly this time, attempting to sink the words into my brain.

"No. You're not."

"Yes, I am. Maybe not physically, but I will be." He was grinning like the fucking Cheshire Cat.

"Why do you look so happy? You just got shot. Literally. Twice."

"Because. When Brock came into my classroom, he kept mumbling stuff about you and me. How we're good together, but he didn't like that." Zeke look down at his lap, pieces of his dark hair falling down in front of his face. "While I was laying in that ambulance, nearly bleeding to death, I realized something." He paused.

What was he gonna say? The suspense was eating at me. "What? What did you realize?" I rushed him.

".....I think I'm in love with you......" I was speechless. "I just kept thinking about how if I was going to die, I wanted you to be with me. And how much I've loved just being around you these past few months. I know it's totally out of the blue, so I don't expect you to say it back. I just wanted you to know. And-"

"Zeke." I cut him off.

"Yeah?" He asks sheepishly, still looking into my eyes.

"I don't know if I can say that yet, I've never said that to anyone before. But I know that I like you." I smile at Zeke. "I really do like you." I bent down from where I was and gave Zeke a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Not on the lips?" He asked disappointedly.

"This isn't exactly a situation I want to associate with our first kiss." I smirk, looking down at him. "You'll get it eventually. I promise."