Sleeping Beauty

Chapter 22

America

Dr. Allan was nice. He drove me back, explained to my parents why I was gone (which was a complete lie by the way) and then he took me out to lunch. I was starving. It was already 1:15 and I hadn't exactly eaten breakfast. Plus I needed something to get my mind off of Shawn. 

Shawn.

I swear, the waiter looked exactly like him the first time he came up to us at the table. Then he explained how his name was Luke. Every time he came back with drinks or food, I saw what how different he was from Shawn. He walked with his shoulders slumped instead of with confidence. His voice was scratchy instead of smooth like Shawn's and his hair was smoothed back with hair gel, something Shawn never did.

Dr. Allan was in the middle of stuffing a chicken salad sandwich in his face when his phone rang. He quickly wiped of his hands and answered it. 

"Hello." Food spills out of his mouth and I resist the urge to throw up. 

A pause while he spits the rest of the food into a napkin. 

He laughs. "Yeah. You're lucky you called now. I'm in surgery all afternoon. I'm on my lunch break now."

A little bit of time passes. Dr. Allan rests his chin on the palm of his hand. Then he laughs again. "The life of a doctor is crazy, man."

A smile spreads across my lips.

After another pause, Dr. Allan looks up at me. He mouths something to me, but I don't understand. 

"What?" I whisper.

Shawn.

My eyes get wide. Did he want to talk to me? I wanted to of course, but it had only been three hours since I had seen him. Why was he calling?

"Why?" I whisper.

Dr. Allan pulls the phone away from his face mumbles, "I don't know."

And to my surprise, I shake my head and whisper, "No."

"Why?!?" he shout-whispers.

I cross my arms and lean back in my chair. "Because."

"You better call him tonight," he says.

I roll my eyes. "I will. I will."

He begins to speak into the phone. I'm surprised at how fluent his lie is. "No. I dropped her off at the hospital about an hour ago. Her parents were about to take her home. She must be gone by now."

Dr. Allan closes his eyes and uses his free hand to rub his forehead. 

"But I can guarantee she has your..." He pulls the phone away from his face and turns it off. "I can't believe he cut me off."

"Was he mad?" I wince. I shouldn't have done that. If he needed to talk to me, then I should've talked to him. 

Dr. Allan shakes his head and calls over the waiter, asking for the check. "More like upset." He wipes off his face. "Don't take this boy for granted. You won't be able to get him back once he's gone."

I nod. "Yeah."

He drives me back to the hospital. I'm stuffed back into the car that smells like McDonald's and cleaning supplies. They don't even let me take the stuffed animal Shawn gave me. 

I go through my picture book on the hour long drive to my new home. New friends, new high school, new everything. This was all I had left of my old life. 

It was time to jump into a new life...

For Shawn. I chose Shawn. 

Maybe that's why it's such a shock when I see Brandon sitting on the front porch of my new house with flowers in his hand.

I shake my head. NO. NO. NO. 

He looks at me through the car window. Our eyes meet and I feel the spark of love we used to share. I turn away. Think of Shawn. You love Shawn now. 

Brandon runs up to the car and opens the door for me. "America!"

I allow him to let me out, but when he tries to kiss me on the cheek, I turn my head away. He shakes off the disappointment. 

My dad climbs out of the car and shakes Brandon's hand. "Nice to see you here."

Brandon nods. 

My mom gets out also and whispers, "We'll just give you two some privacy." 

Before I can say anything else, they're both retreating towards the front door.

"Hey," Brandon says. "I figured that I'm 17. I just have one more year of high school before college. I could live on my own, get an apartment and pay off the debt later-"

"Brandon."

"And if that doesn't work out, then I could ask your parents if I could stay with you, in a separate room of course-"

"Brandon."

"I just want to be with you. The idea of losing you all over again is unimaginable. I need to be with you. That 's why I drove here-"

"Brandon!"

He shuts up for just a few seconds before he puts his hand on my arm. "Is something wrong?"

I close my eyes and pull my arm away. Then I adjust my crutches under my arms. "I don't think we should see each other anymore-"

He argues. "But this morning-"

"But this morning was a mistake." I open my eyes again and see him looking at me.

His eyes are full of anger and confusion. Before I can stop him, he smashes his lips against mine. He kisses me until it becomes more embarrassing than awkward. When he pulls away, he says, "Are you serious?"

I nod and silently plead for him to understand.

"After all I've done for you." He takes the flowers he was holding and throws them on the ground. Then he steps on them and scrapes them across the cement. "You're a bitch, America."

"Get off my driveway," I whisper, not sounding as confident as I wanted to.

He doesn't move. "And to think I kissed you. I told you I loved you! Were you faking it this whole time? Was all of this a joke I wasn't in on?"

"Just leave, Brandon."

Brandon stares at me for a second before a scary smile creeps across his lips. "There's someone else, isn't there?"

I don't answer. Instead I move my crutches under my arms again. I remind myself that once this conversation was over, all I would ever have to worry about would be Shawn.

He turns into a fiery mass of explosion. "You slut!" he screams. "I can't believe you would cheat on me with some random guy! I came the week you woke up! How did you even find a guy?" His smile fades. "Wait, you've been cheating on me this whole time! Who's the son of a bitch?"

"Shawn Mendes," I answer, sounding confident, like I had planned. "And he's ten times the man you'll ever be. Get off my goddamn driveway!"

He leaves, dropping F bombs all the way to his car.