Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Ren

Empty bed. It's unusual seeing Austin's bed clean and free of wrinkles. I don't think he slept here last night nor was he here since our fight yesterday. I woke up to his bed empty and left for my morning classes. I came back after lunch and still find it empty. Where is he?

I head to Travis' room where Andre is staying. We hang out and listen to music when I ask if he had seen Austin anywhere. He shakes his head. "Why do you ask?"

"I haven't seen him all day," I retort. "I'm just worried."

Something flashes in his eyes. He shrugs, "Austin's old enough to do whatever he wants. If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about him. He can take care of himself." He turns to his phone and scrolls through Twitter.

My phone rings and I check the caller ID before answering. "Austin."

"Ren, please come to the hospital. NOW." He hangs up before I could say anything else.

I stare at my phone. Please don't be another accident, I beg. I stand up and Andre stares at me curiously. "What's wrong? Who was that?" he points at my phone with his chin.

"It was Austin." I have to call the others.

"What did he want?"

Suddenly, the door bursts open and Adam comes running in. "Austin called," he states.

"Hospital?" I ask.

He nods, "Hospital."

Adam grabs my arm and starts towing me to the elevator with Andre tailing behind us. Adam drives to the hospital and we head inside walking towards her room. Amanda's room. Oh no. No, no, no. It can't be.

"Adam what happened?" he doesn't answer and I try him again. He ignores me once more. I sigh, giving up. We stop in front of her room and Adam turns to Andre.

"You should wait somewhere," he tells him.

I furrow my brows. "No, he's coming-"

"I understand," he turns to me and kisses the top of my head. "Call when you need me, alright? I'll be here, waiting."

I watch as his body disappears around the corner. I sigh, turning to Adam. He's staring intently at the door. I furrow my brows. "Adam, please tell me what's going on."

Megan and Travis just go into a car accident a few days ago. I can't have another one. Or any accident for that matter.

He sighs, "It's Amanda."

My eyes widen. No. We can't lose her. Austin can't lose her. He's going to be so broken, so incomplete. Adam opens the door and everyone else is in here. I look around a meet a pair of green eyes.

But it's not Austin's.

"Amanda," I breathe out.

Adam stays frozen by the door. He doesn't look like he's going to move any moment now so I take a step forward. Everyone has their eyes on me now – well, me and Adam. While Adam stays frozen by the door, I walk up to the hospital bed.

Austin sits next to Amanda on the bed. She smiles when I approach her. "I'm just going to go ahead and guess," she says. "You're Ren?"

I smile and extend my hand. Instead of shaking it, she pulls me into a hug. My eyes widen in surprise but quickly return the hug. We pull away. "I've heard lovely things about you," she smiles toothily. "I've been wanting to meet you since the day you visited me."

"Especially since this idiot wouldn't shut up about you," she mutters, glancing at Austin.

What? Ha! She must be joking...right? I glance at Austin and he has walked away and joined Travis and unfrozen Adam. In that moment, I realize something. "You could hear him?" I ask her.

She chuckles lightly, "I hear everything."

I smile and reach and give her arm a light squeeze. "I'm glad you're awake and I'm so happy I get to meet you."

Amanda and I continue talking about each other. Turns out, Amanda is just like me. But younger (obviously). She gets straight A's, loves reading, etc. It seems like she was my sister instead of Austin's.

While she shares a story about her runaway adventures I take a moment to look at her features. She has the exact same green eyes as Austin's and judging by the way she talks and acts it's as if she hasn't woken up from a coma. She is so beautiful. Guys would beg on their knees for her hand.

"Okay, that's enough bonding for today." Austin grabs my wrist and starts pulling me away before turning back to Amanda. "Do you need anything? Water? Food?"

She shakes her head, smiling at him. "I'm find, big brother." Amanda leans closer to Austin and pinches his cheeks. "I know you miss me, but honestly, I feel fine."

Amanda swats Austin's hand away and pulls me back to her. Amanda laughs at Austin's facial expression but when I turn to look he already has his back facing me. Honestly, I thought talking to Amanda would be awkward and strange. But oddly, it isn't. It's like talking to my best friend.

Speaking of best friends, where is Megan?

Adam taps my shoulder and we both turn to look at him. Amanda quickly looks down at her hands shyly. "Do you mind if I talk to Amanda?" he asks politely.

I look at Amanda and she gives me a slight nod. I turn back to Adam and shake my head. "I don't mind. I'll be with the guys."

Adam and Amanda basically talked to entire time. Amanda's doctor comes in with a nurse and does a check-up. I pull out my phone from my pocket and try contacting Megan, but I can't get a hold of her. I shove my phone back in my pocket when the doctor informs us that Amanda should stay in the hospital for two more days for her to rest and for them to check-up on her for anything unusual.

Before leaving Amanda and I exchange numbers. She tells me that she'll call once she discharges. "We should totally hang out," she tells me.

"You should meet my two friends."

"Then we should all hang out once I'm out of this hell hole."

I nod my head, "Definitely."

We meet Andre at the waiting area and he wraps his arm around my shoulders as we walk out of the hospital.

Walking towards the parking lot, I feel Austin staring at us the entire time. Travis brought his own car, so did Adam and Austin. Travis tells me he'll be heading back to the UNI to pick Alanna and Megan up. Before he leaves, we all agree to hanging in Ben's for some milkshakes.

Travis gets in his car and leaves. Austin stands beside his car, waiting for me to get in the passenger side. Instead, I get in Adam's car. Adam looks at Austin and shrugs, before getting in. Andre gets in the back.

My phone suddenly starts to ring. I furrow my brows at the unknown caller ID. I swipe my phone and pull it up to my ear. "Hello?"

"It's Megan."

"WHERE ARE YOU?" I say exasperated. "I've been trying to call you but-"

"-but my phone fell in the toilet." She continues and I burst out laughing. "Shut up, Ren. And where are you?"

"On our way to Ben's. Travis is on his way to pick you and Alanna up."

"Okay, see you there." She says before hanging up.

We get to Ben's and Austin is already sitting on a booth. Adam and Andre head to the counter to order while I awkwardly stand by the booth. "You can sit?" Austin glances at the vacant seat.

I shake my head. I'm still pissed at him. I just can't deal with him right now. I know his sister just woke up and all, but I'm still mad from our fight yesterday.

Austin sighs, "I can't stand fighting with you. Look, I'm sorry and I-"

"Don't apologize," I stop him immediately. I clench my jaw and try to look anywhere but him. I turn on my heels and join Andre and Adam by the counter.

I don't want to deal with him. At least, not right now. Adam receives his and Austin's milkshake and makes his way back to the booth. I hear the familiar bell ringing and I turn to see Megan walking in. She looks around before her eyes meet mine. Immediately, she walks to me.

I hug her and a few seconds later, Alanna joins us at the counter. We order our milkshakes and walk back to the booth. Alanna sits next to Adam while Megan to Travis. Austin looks up at me and pats the space beside him. I ignore him and sit next to Andre.

Austin frowns. "You can't ignore me forever, Ren."

Without acknowledging him, I take a sip from my milkshake. "This is really good," I turn to Andre. I pass it to him. "Try it."

He grabs my straw and tastes it. He raises his eyebrows. "Wow," he mumbles.

I quickly snatch my milkshake back. "Get your own." I smile innocently at him and he narrows his eyes at me.

After spending some time at Ben's, Travis decided it was a great time to cool off. Literally. So now, we're at an ice skating rink. Shaking my head, I grip onto the side for dear life.

"I can't skate." My heart is beating and my knuckles are turning white. Andre has one hand on my arm and the other around my waist.

"I won't make you fall," he assures me. Oh, but you have. I shake my head from the thought. I don't let go of the side and he frowns. "Don't you trust me?"

"You? Yes. My clumsy legs? Not likely."

He grins, "You can do it."

I shake my head, "No, I'm going to fall flat on my butt and embarrass myself in front of everyone."

"No one cares, Ren." He says in a 'duh' tone. "They're too busy trying not to fall themselves to pay any attention to other people's humiliation."

I shake my head again. If I keep shaking my head I might get a migraine or something.

"Ren."

"No."

"Please?"

"Nope."

"Pretty please?"

"Nu-uh."

"With a cherry on top?"

"Nada."

He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "How about I teach you?" he suggests.

I bite my bottom lip, thinking. I reluctantly nod. "Okay."

A smile slowly forms on his face. He gets a better grip on me before pulling me away from the side. "Okay, so glide your feet across the ice one by one." I do as he says, but my shaky legs make it incredibly difficult to skate.

"Just pretend you're wearing socks on a newly waxed floor," he adds.

I stifle out a laugh. "Seriously?" I look at him and he chuckles lightly.

"Hey! It really works," he states.

Left...right...left...I continue gliding my feet across the ice and slowly and carefully I'm starting to skate. I slowly peel Andre's arms away from my body and skate faster. A smile plasters on my face. I hear Andre skating behind me and I squeal, skating faster.

Suddenly, I hear Andre slip. I look over my shoulder and see he has fallen. Where are the brakes in this thing? Crap. I look forward and hit someone and we both fall to the ground.

"Ow," I groan and rub my behind. I blink my eyes open and see that I'm on top of Austin. My eyes widen and so does his. I try to stand but I fall back onto him.

He groans, "For Pete's sake, Ren, stop falling on me!"

"It's not like I'm doing it on purpose you moron!"

I try again but I end up straddling him. Our faces inches apart, the tip of our noses touching. I stare into his green eyes and let myself melt into them. I blink back to reality.

"Getting up from a fall is a lot harder than actually learning how to skate," I mutter under my breath and he laughs. His laugh. I miss his laugh. It's been so long since I've heard him laugh.

"Ren!" I turn to the side and see Andre skating towards us. He stops and lends me a hand. I gladly take it and he pulls me up to my feet. Austin effortlessly gets up and shoves his hands in his pockets. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He grabs my face with both hands and checks for any cuts.

"Ren, I'm so sor-"

"You fucking ass!" Andre shoves Austin hard. "She could've have gotten hurt!"

"Andre."

"If only you were being cautious perhaps you wouldn't have hit her!"

"Andre."

"You should be glad she isn't hurt because if she was I'm going to rip your throat and-"

"O my gosh, Andre! STOP!" Andre looks at me and his expression softens. "It wasn't his fault, alright? I heard you fall and I looked back at you and wasn't looking where I was going and hit him."

"Come on," I nod at the exit. "I think we had enough skating for now."

Andre skates ahead. "Ren," Austin calls.

Sighing, I turn around and look at him dead in the eye. "What?"

"I'm sorry," he starts. "I'm sorry about saying shit about your father and taking control over you like I was your father. I just got...never mind."

I furrow my brows. "What?" I push him to continue but he shakes his head, refusing. I cross my arms over his chest. "You won't tell me?"

He shakes his head. "Fine then. I won't forgive you, at least not right now."

He sighs in defeat. "It was worth a try."