Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Ren

"What an asshole!" Megan exclaims.

"I can't believe he'd do something like that," Alanna shakes her head in disbelief.

I shrug, "Old habits die hard, I guess."

I decide to get my mind off what happened last night by helping Megan and Alanna with their studies. We were in the middle of a talking about biology when Adam and Travis walks in.

"Megan, come with me to the mall?"

"Alanna, walk with me?"

The girls turn to each other and quickly get on their feet. Alanna gives me a kiss and Megan nods at me before they get to the guys. Seriously? A few minutes after they left, the door opens and Austin comes inside.

"I couldn't find any other way to get you alone," he points out.

"You do know Alanna likes Adam and you just gave him the permission to take her out, right?"

He shakes his head and joins me on the floor. "I couldn't care any less about her anymore," he says.

I ignore him and continue reading Alanna's book. Why am I even reading her book when I'm not taking any of her classes? I don't even know. He grabs the book from me and tosses it on my bed.

I sigh, "What do you want?"

"I want to apologize."

"For what? Slamming the door at my face or leaving me to walk and find a cab back to the UNI?"

Sighing, "For all of that. Listen, I didn't mean to-"

"You can't just do that, Austin." I tell him, "You can't just do something bad and apologize and do it again."

He nods slowly, "I'm trying to change, really."

And I know he is. For some incredible reason, he's actually trying to change. He takes my hand in his and I look down at them as he rubs my hand with his thumb.

"I can't tell everything all at once, Ren." He tells me, "I'm just not ready yet. But when I am, I'll tell you, okay?"

I can't believe he's actually willing to tell me everything. "Promise?"

He rolls his eyes. "Don't push it," he says before smiling slightly. "But I promise."

We stop talking but our eyes never leave each other. His green eyes staring into my brown ones. The silence consumes us, and we let it. I bite my lip and he glances down at my lips. Right then I realize how close we are to each other. Only inches apart. If either one of us leans closer we'll be-

Austin's phone alarms and we both jump further apart. I play my fingers, trying to think about what was just happening. Austin sighs and rubs the back of his neck before checking his phone and standing up.

"I need to go," he says before shoving his phone in his back pocket. "I guess I'll see you around."

He leaves the room without another word and I hug my legs back to my chest. We could have kissed. I shake my head from the thought, why do I even bother thinking about that? He doesn't like me and I don't like him.

I don't have anything else better to do so I continue reading Alanna's textbook. I've been reading for half an hour when Alanna bursts inside my room.

"Ren," her expression's full of worry and fear. I drop her textbook and stand up slowly. "We have to go to the hospital."

"What happened?"

"Megan and Travis got into a car accident," she says.

My legs start to buckle and Alanna quickly runs to my side, keeping me on my feet. I grab my keys and we ran straight to my car before driving to the hospital.

I can't lose her.

I press onto the gas pedal and grip the steering wheel till my knuckles go white. I glance at Alanna as she grips onto her seatbelt for dear life. Ren, if you don't slow down we'll be in the same situation as them," she exclaims.

Sighing, I slow down and drive more cautiously. We get to the hospital and we quickly ran to the nurse behind the counter.

"I'm looking Megan Hines?" I tell her. My hands start shaking uncontrollably and my breathing fastens. I don't know what I'll do if something happens to Megan.

"She just came in," Alanna adds.

The nurse looks at her clipboard and scans through the names. She shakes her head, "I'm sorry but your friend is still at the E.R."

I close my eyes and cover my face with my hands. I start to cry unexpectedly. Alanna wraps an arm around my shoulder and leads me to the waiting room. She texts Adam about the situation and they're on their way to the hospital. Unfortunately, neither of us had Austin's number. What feels like hours waiting, a doctor comes to the waiting room and calls out Megan's full name. Alanna and I approach the doctor and he tells us about the accident.

Apparently with the heavy rain, Travis couldn't see the road or any cars for that matter and so did the car that hit them. Neither Megan nor Travis, fortunately, break any bone in their body. Megan does have a sprained arm and a few cuts and bruises and so does Travis, but nonetheless they're alright.

The nurse leads us to Megan's room and we find her sitting on a hospital bed, eating pudding. My lips curve into a smile when I see her. She sees us entering and she smiles widely at us.

"Hi guys," she puts down her pudding and waves at us.

"If you weren't injured I'd whack you in the head," I tell her before taking a seat beside her.

She brings her hands up. "Whoa, what did I do?" she looks at me then at Alanna.

"Got us worried you idiot," Alanna retorts.

She smiles sheepishly. "I'm really sorry for making you worry so much guys," she apologizes. "But hey, I'm alright so there's nothing to worry about."

She turns to me, "Can I ask you for a favor?"

I place my hand over hers. "Anything."

"Can you check how Travis is doing?" she asks softly.

I smile and squeeze her hand. "Sure thing."

I stand up from my seat and head out the door. On my way to the nurse, I pass a door that was left ajar. I hear someone singing inside and his voice makes me stop in my tracks. I turn to the door, hypnotized by the stranger's voice. His voice is beautiful. I lean against the door frame, careful to not move the door, and listen to his voice.

I have to see who it is.

I move around but the door isn't wide enough for me to see. I push the door lightly and it creaks. My eyes widen and I freeze in place.

Run, idiot! Run!

I see the stranger turn to my direction, standing up from his seat. "Who's there?"

I bite the inside of my cheek. "I-I'm sorry," I stutter, keeping my hands up. "I didn't mean to-Austin?"

"Ren." His eyes widen. He glances at the person on the bed before pushing me out of the way for him to get out and close the door. He looks down at me, "What are you doing here?"

I raise an eyebrow at him. How can he not know about his own best friend's accident? Oh right, no one could contact him. I tell him all about the accident and Megan's condition. He runs his fingers through his hear and sighs, "And Travis?"

I shrug, "I was just about to go look for his room when I heard you-you sing?" He looks away from me and scratches his head. From his expression, he didn't want me knowing that. "If you don't want anyone to know, then my lips are sealed." I run my thumb and index finger across my lips, zipping them shut.

He looks back at me and tries to hide his smile. "Thanks."

"Why want to keep a voice like that a secret though?" I tilt my head at him. If I had a voice like him I'd already be signing up for American Idol or The Voice. "You have an incredible voice."

He smirks, "I know princess."

I roll my eyes at him. "I told you to stop calling me that."

He crosses his arms over his chest, keeping that smirk of his on his face. "And do you see me giving a damn?" he raises an eyebrow at me and I don't answer. "Exactly."

I glance at the door beside me. "Who was that you were singing too?"

Austin clenches his jaw and I quickly shut my mouth. Don't get mad, I thought. He sighs, "A good friend."

"What's-"

"Drop it, Ren." He deadpans.

He grabs my wrist and tows me towards the nurse. "Now, let's go see how my best friend's doing, princess."

I sigh and let him tow me along. Austin asks the nurse for Travis' room and she points us to the direction. We enter the room and see Travis on the bed with a cast on his arm and few bandages on his legs and face. Adam is sleeping soundly on a chair next to him. When did he get here?

"Hey man," Austin fist bumps Travis. "I just heard about the accident," he nods at his casted arm. "How's your arm?"

"Not that bad. Just two months till I can remove this thing," he glares at the cast.

Travis turns to me and guilt plasters all over his face. I give him a reassuring smile that I wasn't mad. "I'm so sorry, Ren. I wasn't able to-"

"It's not your fault, Travis." It was raining and he couldn't see a thing. How can I blame him?

"How's Megan?" his eyebrows furrow in concern.

I nod, "She's doing good. Just focus on getting better, alright?"

He nods, "Alright."

I leave the guys and head back to Megan's room. Megan then talks about her day with Travis. My mind wanders to that person Austin was visiting. Who was he? Or she? The lights were too dimmed for me to see who it was. A good friend, he said. I shake my head, he was too sensitive for just a friend. So what if that person was more than that?