[Featured on @YARomance, @NA, @Teenfiction, @Contemporarylit]
"I feel him lean closer towards me and softly whispers into my ear, 'I just want the best for you.' I almost shiver at the rumbles his deep voice sends down my back, before he releases th...
Ray and Lincoln get up and stand protectively in front of my bed. Stephanie however, doesn't hold back and walks straight up to him.
"What are you doing here?" she asks angrily. "Actually no, I don't care, just go away and stay away from Katie."
"I just came by to see Katie, I wanted to make sure she was OK," he says.
"You piece of literal human trash, it's your fault she's here! You let her drive drunk!" she shouts. She's nearly as tall as Jason, and takes a step closer to him as she berates him. He actually looks intimidated and instinctively steps back.
"I-" Jason begins,
"Being too distracted making out with your new girlfriend isn't an excuse you dick. I can't believe we trusted you," she says coldly, shooting daggers with her eyes.
"I-" Jason tries again.
"And you wanted to see if she was OK?! She's been here for almost two days already! Where the hell have you been?!" Stephanie exclaims. "Oh let me guess, out on dates with your dear girlfriend?"
Jason doesn't respond, looking at the ground. It's obvious she's right.
Stephanie looks ready to start swinging, but Ray quickly grabs her and holds her back. "Steph, honey, violence isn't going to help anyone."
I can't help but smile a tiny bit at how protective she is. I'm incredibly grateful to have her as a friend.
"Katie?" we hear a tiny voice say.
None of us even noticed Belle standing behind Jason's leg, tightly gripping onto his jeans. She walks towards my bed, she's so tiny it's difficult to see her when she comes up right next to the bed. Ray gently picks her up and places her on the bed next to me.
"Hi Belle," I say, trying but failing to smile.
"Are you OK?" she asks, her eyes are wide and watery.
"I've been better I guess," I chuckle a bit.
"Did Jason hurt you?" she whispers, grabbing my hand with her two small ones.
I look up, Jason looks heartbroken at Belle's words.
"It's...complicated Belle," I whisper as she wraps her tiny arms around me.
I hear her start to cry. I softly stroke her hair.
"Will you disappear too?" she sobs into my shoulder.
"No of course not," I try to comfort her. I write on a notepad on the table by my bed. "Here, this is my phone number. Ask your parents for help with calling or texting and we can hang out whenever you want," I say as I hand her the piece of paper, trying to muster up the most cheerful voice I can.
"Thank you," she says shakily, and puts the piece of paper into her butterfly backpack.
Ray helps lift her off the bed and she walks back to Jason.
"Jason, please leave," Lincoln says calmly, even though I can see his hands are curled so tightly around the bars of my bed that his knuckles are turning white.
Jason
I'm about to turn around and leave but we hear Katie.
"Guys?" she whispers. Everyone turns and looks at her. "Could you give me a couple minutes alone with Jason?"
My heart starts pounding.
"But Katie-" Lincoln begins.
"Please?" she asks desperately, her voice cracks a bit.
Everyone nods and silently leaves the room. Stephanie glares at me on her way out. Lincoln picks up Belle and he shuts the door behind them. I sit down on the chair by her bed and awkwardly rub the back of my neck. We don't make eye contact.
"I heard what happened with your presidency. I'm really sorry that happened," she says quietly.
"Don't be, I deserve it," I sigh, it was a very uncomfortable conversation between Ray, Lincoln, and I as we sorted things out and I passed on the position to Ray.
We sit in silence for a bit. I notice all the cards and flowers people have brought her and I suddenly regret not bringing her anything.
Suddenly she turns towards me and her eyes lock onto mine. She's starting to tear up.
"I remember the phone call," she manages to whisper. The look on her face is full of hurt and betrayal.
The phone call. The call where she called me out on all my bullshit and I basically just hung up on her.
"Katie..I..I.." I have no idea what to say.
A single tear rolls down her cheek and I have to fight the urge to wipe her tears away. "So you knew I was right. You knew you were treating me differently and you basically tried to gaslight me."
"Katie I'm..I'm really sorry," I stammer.
"They explained to me why you did it. Why you manipulated me into staying around," she says.
The sound of her voice shaking breaks my heart. Her tears are flowing now. I hand her a tissue. She ignores me and takes a new one out of the box.
"I'm so sorry. I was being stupid and desperate," I quickly say.
"That's not an excuse. It's an incredibly shitty thing to do to someone."
There's another long period of uncomfortable silence. I can't make eye contact with her, even though I can feel her gaze on me.
"I had feelings for you. I really liked you," she whispers, "and you knew that didn't you?"
I look at the floor. "I did."
She inhales a shaky breath, trying to compose herself before she continues speaking. "But you didn't realize that you weren't just leading me on or teasing me," she looks at me with her teary hazel eyes, "you broke my heart Jason."
"Katie please," I reach for her hand. She quickly pulls away. It stings, a lot.
"Leave. I don't want to talk to you ever again," she turns away from me and crosses her arms. I see tears welling up in her eyes again, but she's too stubborn to let them fall in front of me.
I take one last look at her before I leave the room.
