Chapter 21: ♠Chapter 15♠

♠CHRIS♠

And just like that, she was back to square one. Back to a hospital bed and being drugged up because of how much pain she's in.

I was scared to be honest. When I saw her lying there on the ground, I thought the worst and I couldn't help it. And when the ambulance came and finally got her minutes before she passed out, I found myself skipping school again.

I knew my mom was gonna be pissed, but I needed this. So I was in the hospital again. I thought I was gonna be done with them for a while, but obviously not. But this was the last time, I'm sure of it. This attachment I've forged with her was going to get me killed.

It didn't take long this time to get to see her. They just had to tend to her wound and drug her up a little, but standing next to her bed, I could tell that they'd drugged her up a whole hell of a lot.

“-they was plannin it, man,” she slurred out, her eyes low and staring up at her mom who shook her head but was holding back a smile.

“Really?” She retorted.

“Yeah, man!” She said loudly and I choked on a laugh, “They been plottin on me. I knew dem nigg-”

“Hey, watch it,” her mom cut her off, but a grin split across my face and I reached up to cover my mouth to hide it.

“They tried to kill me, momma!” She shouted, lifting a hand up lazily at her mom, “They-They been wanna take mah life and you tellin me to watch? Watch what? Whatchu said?” She turned her head toward her.

Her mom shook her head with a low laugh, “You so damn lucky.”

“I knew they ain neva like me, but ion like em much eitha. So they jumped me bruh. They- they a bunch a puss-”

“Lil girl,” her mom cuts her off again.

She turns to her, her eyes low, “Yeeerr?”

I snickered as her mom grinned a little.

Then she looked over at me, “Who you?”

I grinned, “Chris. I'm your best friend.” I told her. She has a hard time accepting and admitting that fact so let's see how this is gonna go.

Her eyebrows furrowed, “Best friend?” She slurred out and I nodded, “You look like mah husband.”

I couldn't help the loud laugh that came out of me.

“Lord…” Her mom muttered.

“Wh-Why you laughin for?” She asked then looked over at her mom, “He mah husband right?”

Her mom shook her head, “He's not your husband.”

“But you mah momma,” she stated.

I had no idea how she got that connection.

“Yeah.”

“And he mah husband.” She looks back over at me.

“No.”

“So why you here then?” She asked.

“Cause we're friends,” I told her with a grin.

She rolled her eyes and I'm sure she forgot how to stop for a second. Then she started making a noise in the back of her throat.

“What does that mean?” I laughed.

“It means,” she said after a couple seconds of still rolling her eyes, “you talkin a load a booooty!”

“So we're married then?” I humored her, shifting my index finger back and forth between us.

“Like you don't know,” she sucked her teeth loudly but ended up choking.

I snickered a little, but her mom just couldn't hold back and started laughing loudly.

“The devil is a lie,” Ariana said after clearing her throat, “They got spirits in hea,” she reaches up to rub the base of her throat, “Tryna choke me. Momma get me outa hea.”

“They don't got no damn spirits, girl.”

“Look,” Ariana gave her a look, “They got them damn spirits. You remember that night I stayed hea,” she said and we nodded, “One them woke me up,” she swallowed hardly, then lets out a breath, “Talkin bout some “you snorin-”

She got cut off by her mom and I laughing loudly.

“Like, bitch, ion snore,” she said, ignoring our laughs, “Whatchu doin in my room anyway. Creep.”

Her mom was shaking her head at her with a grin, “You are something else.”

“Am I goin home?” Ariana asked, “Cause am not gon tolerate anotha night with Sarah standin ova me, talkin some bull. We go fight if she wake me up again, that's all I gotta say, tuh.” She adjusted herself on the bed.

“Damn, right,” her mom agrees, nodding and I shook my head, holding back a laugh.

These two.

After a couple more minutes of listening to Ariana rant about all the ‘slackness’ goin on in this hospital. I excused myself to go to the bathroom.

I found myself chuckling as I walked along the corridor and shaking my head. She was honestly, probably the most funniest person in my life right now. But that could just be her alter ego that only comes out when she'd on a good amount of medication.

“Hey?”

I stopped and turning around, “Yeah?” I answered before I noticed who it was, “What's up?”

She walked up next to me and we both started walking again.

“I heard what happened at school, how's she doing?”

I nodded, letting out a chuckle, “Yeah, she's okay. She's just worried about staying overnight. Apparently they have ghosts.”

She giggled as I let out a low laugh.

“So,” I started again, shoving my hands into my front pockets, “Why do you seem to always be here during school hours?” I looked over at her.

She reached up to push a loose blonde curl behind her ear, “I don't have anymore classes after lunch. So sometimes I just leave right after second and get lunch when I come here or have lunch at school.” She explains.

I nodded, “Ah.” Usually when a person’s done most of their required classes before senior year, they have it a bit easier and have a lot of study sems that they don't have to stay for.

I'm one of those people, but I chose to have a full schedule. Most of the classes that I'm taking, I really don't need to and if I get my community service done and apply to college and get early responses, I can be out of here by January. But that's not what I want. I wanted to graduated with everybody else.

She slowed to a stop when we were passing by a closed hospital door. Then she just stood there and she looked like she wanted to say something. She was chewing on her bottom lip and wringing her hands, something I remember she always did when she was nervous or anxious about something.

“See you later?” I said, my eyebrows raised as I continue to take slow steps away. I was giving her a chance to say whatever she had on her chest.

“Are you,” she got out, her voice squeaking a little and she cringed but met my eyes anyway. Her cheeks were a light pink, “doing anything… on the weekend… maybe?”

I blinked, watching the way her face flushed. Something I used to find adorable.

“Uhh,” I dragged out, reaching up to rub the back of my neck, awkwardly, “I'm not… dating right now…” I trailed off.

“...oh,” she said, blinking rapidly and nodding.

“Yeah, I'm kinda just focused on senior year right now. Y’know, with SATs, work, college applications, community serv-”

“Yeah, yeah,” she cuts me off, nodding and waving it off, “It's totally fine, I totally get it.”

“Good,” I let out a breath, “I really can't fit dating into my schedule. Especially since I haven't started trying to knock a couple of those things off my list yet.”

She nodded a couple times, “I get it. It's fine.” She smiled but I wasn't so dense as to not notice that it was fake. Her face was burning and I saw the way she kept her eyes away from mine and kept looking down at her shoes every other second.

“You-” I stopped, thinking if this is the appropriate time to say this but settled on saying it anyway, “You do remember that you broke up with me right?” I said, awkwardly pointing between the two of us.

She opened her mouth then closed it and blinked at me a couple times.

That was definitely the wrong thing to say.

When she got over her shock, she bobbed her head, “Yeah, I do.”

I nodded, “Okay,” I let out a awkward laugh, running my hand up the back of my head, “Just making sure.” I muttered, “I'm not trying to throw it in your face or anything, just that-” I gestured between the two of us as an explanation that I couldn't form in words.

“Yeah,” she nodded, “With me dumping you and… trying to ask you out again,” she forced a laugh to get rid of some of the tension, “I'd say no to me too.” Then she looked down at her shoes.

I shrugged, “Not really much of the problem,” I said, but it was definitely most of it. I can't have her just dropping me without an explanation then trying to… squeeze herself back into my life a couple months later. “Just confused is all.”

“You don't need to be,” she said hastily then stepped back, jerking a little when her back met the door. I pressed my lips together against a smile, “It's fine, really.”

I took a step back, “Sure?”

She nodded, “Mhm.”

I nodded, “Great, well, I'll see you later,” I spun around in my heels after taking a couple more steps back, momentarily forgetting where I was heading to in the first place.

“Sure,” she said lowly but I heard her. Then a couple seconds later, the click of a door being closed.

That was bizarre. Honestly, I was mostly confused than anything. She dumped me. Now she wants me back. Sure, I had deep feelings for her at one point, but that was a while ago. I've moved on with my life. But after having all but two to three conversations with me, she's asking me out?

I tried to shake that altercation out of my head on my way back to Ari’s room.

But I didn't even make it three steps into the room when she'd asked, “Which one a you’s ama goin home with?”