Chapter 42: Dinner's Getting Cold

Thank you to @Echoooooooooo0 for the amazing cover above!

Alex's POV:

I arrive at the airport at around six. I try to race through security, but I have to wait for my bag. So it takes me an hour to get to the hospital. But the cab driver drops me 500 meters away from the hospital and I don't feel like waiting to see her so I sprint the whole way.

I arrive in the building, puffing and sweaty. I gulp as I put my hands on my knees and pant. I see Mum, Dad, Felecia and Liam as well as the Bennetts in the waiting room, all looking nervous. I run up to the reception desk.

The woman motions for me to wait until she puts the phone down. "What can I help you with."

"I need to see Natalie Bennett," I say.

She shakes her head. "Her family has already visited. She hasn't woken up. You can try again at 12 tomorrow."

"No, please, I need to see her," I say, tapping my fingers on the desk in front of me.

The receptionist lady shakes her head. What a stubborn b***h. She looks back down at her computer at types, the keys clicking as she touches them, one by one. She speaks to me without looking up at me, "She your girlfriend."

I stutter for a few seconds before she looks at me without moving her head, her glasses perched on the tip of her nose. I shake my head and swallow. "No, she's my best friend."

***

Nat's POV

Everything is blurry when my eyes open. The light slowly comes into focus and I blink a couple of times. I look around. Someone is holding my hand. They're sitting on a chair beside my bed. Their head is lying on my stomach and they're snoring.

No else is in the room, and my head feels heavy when I crinkle my forehead. There is a cord strapped to my hand connected to a machine and there is a damp cloth on my head. Everything is still fuzzy. I try to sit up.

Alex stirs. Then his eyes pop open and he sits up. I feel a surge of bile rising through my throat. Alex grabs a bucket and hands it to me. I vomit into it. Alex pulls my hair off my shoulder and holds it behind me, catching the cloth from my head before it drops into the sludge.

I wretch into the bucket for about thirty seconds before I can breath again. Alex rubs my back and helps me sit down.

"Why'd you have to go and get yourself in this mess, Nat?" he asks, sitting back on his chair. I shrug, which only hurts my head more. I wince. He places the cloth back on my head and takes the bucket from me, walking into the bathroom and washing it down the sink.

He comes back to sit on the seat but I stop him and instead shuffle over so that he can fit in. He lies down. His hair is all messy and his eyes have big circles under them, as though he hasn't slept for hours.

I wince when I speak, my voice sounding croaky, "I thought you were.." I cough, which hurts my head because of the movement. "In Virginia with Amanda."

"Shh," he says and points to the five sleeping bodies on the other side of the room. Lucas, Paul, Mum, Dad and Felecia. I'm surprised they're still here. "Claudia called me. I came back."

"Alex," I try and groan, but wince when it gives me a ginormous headache. "You should've stayed."

"No," he says simply. "I wanna be with you."

I try not to think that there is a double meaning to those words, since I know there's not, but a girl can hope.

"But Amanda..." I trail off. He shushes me quietly.

"She'll be right. Maybe have a panic attack, but other then that, she'll be right," he whispers. I sigh and turn into him, my head ache stops a little bit when I surround myself in his warmth. He wraps his arms around me and I bury my head in his chest. He runs his hands through my hair and he's still doing that when I fall asleep.

***

"Alex and Natalie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," voices sing to me as I stir from my slumber.

"You boys are such idiots," a girl's voice - Felecia.

"Then comes marriage, Then comes baby in the baby carriage," my brothers sing. I open my eyes and pull myself up onto my elbows. My parents are out of the room and my head ache is dull. Lucas and Paul are grinning foolishly and Felecia sits on the bench near the window, picking at her nails and rolling her eyes at the younger tweens.

I squint at the open windows, then to the clock. Its 12:00. My hair must be all messy and I must look like a pregnant woman in this hospital dress. I lie back down on the bed. Alex's arm is still around me and his eyes are shut tight, trying to act unresponsive. I laugh.

"Alex, you're up, there's no point denying it. And don't try to tell me you can get back to sleep," I say. He groans and pulls me into his chest. "Alex," I whisper to him. "Get off me! The others are watching."

"I don't care," he mumbles, his voice husky as he nuzzles his face in my neck.

"Get off!" I shove against his chest. He groans and rolls over. I sit up, looking at the glass of water sitting on the table beside me. I sip it.

"Your parents have gone to get the doctor," Felecia says. I nod. She smiles.

"How come you're here? I mean, your parents must've gone home, right?" I say. She shrugs.

"Yeah. But Alex was staying and I wanted to see you when you woke up. Claudia was here before, but she didn't want to wake you. She left you those," she says, pointing to a bunch of helium balloons that say "get well soon!" with a bunch of tiny smiley faces on them. I smile.

Alex sits up beside me and scooches over. "Can I have some of that?" he asks. I gasp loudly.

"Of course not!" I say. He smiles at my teasing acting. "Nah, you can have it."

I hand it to him and he takes a sip. The boys are standing at the foot of our bed and have grossed out expressions on their faces. "You're sharing water!" Paul says.

"Yeah, next you'll be kissing!" Lucas says. I groan. Alex grins. He kisses my cheek and Lucas and Paul go:

"Ew."

***

The doctor said I could go home. I was in the hospital for two days, apparently. I open my eyes on Monday morning to the sound of drizzling rain. I get up and walk downstairs. Mum's down there, but Dad and the boys aren't anywhere to be seen.

"Mum," I say, sitting down on a stool. "Where are the boys?"

Wombat trots down after me and I pull him up into my lap.

Mum looks at me over the carrots she's chopping. "They've gone to school."

I whip my head around and look at the clock. Its nine o'clock. I look back to Mum. She rolls her eyes. "You're staying home. I'll bring you some breakfast."

I nod and walk back upstairs with Wombat. I play with him on my bed for a bit before taking out a book called 'Lost and Found.' Its about a girl called Nya that has a missing Mum. Then she's transported to a land called Lar where she meets Patrick. They encounter these shadow monstwers and have to get away from them. Its written by one of my favourite authors, and the book is very high quality.

a/n: go read lost and found by

I read for a bit with Wombat lying at the end of my bed. Then my door opens and I look up, expecting to see Mum with my breakfast. Instead, Alex stands there with a bag. He walks over to me, taking off his leather jacket and chucking them on the floor. He sits down beside me.

"I thought you'd be at school?" I say.

"Nah. Your Mum's leaving, so I'm staying with you," I say. I smile. He runs a hand through his semi-wet hair and lies down. "Lets keep watching Star Wars."

I laugh. "You liked it!"

"Course I likes it, it was with you!" he says, I look back up at his face. His expression changes from teasing to sombre and he looks into my eyes. I look away first and close my book.

"Well, which one are we starting with?" I ask. Wombat trots over to us as Alex sets up his computer in front of us. He curls up between us when Alex gets popcorn out. I grin. He hands me a Maccas bag. I open it. Fries, lemonade and an oreo McFlurry. I smile wider.

"Thanks," I say.

"No problemo," he says and we lie down as he clicks play.

***

The rain is still pouring when we finish. Its six o'clock. I stretch and Wombat jumps off the bed and starts running around. I get up and Alex shuts the computer down. I stretch then sit back down with one leg hanging off the bed.

"What do you wanna do?" I ask. He puts his hands on my hips and pulls me into him so I'm lying with my back to his chest.

"I just wanna lie with you," he whispers, moving his hand from my waist to my hair and brushing it back. We lie there for a while until Wombat stops yapping like crazy and curls into a ball at the foot of my bed.

I close my eyes and try and breathe in his scent without making it too obvious. He sighs.

I dunno what comes over me, or what pushes me to ask it, but I do. "Do you love Amanda?"

"What?" his hands tighten on my stomach. "Nat..."

"Sorry," I squeak. He brushes another piece of hair out of my face. I close my eyes and listen to the sound of rain outside. Of course he loves her, she's Amanda! She can make any guy fall in love with her with a wave of her Gucci bracelet hands.

"Its ok," he says, moving his hand back to around my waist. There's a boom of thunder and we both shudder. "I'm not in love with her."

"You're not?" I fight the urge to turn around and look at him. I feel Alex shake his head.

"No," he whispers. "I lo-"

My door bangs open and we spring apart. Dad is standing in the doorway with his raised eyebrows.

"You kids weren't doing anything, I hope?" he say.

"Ew. No, you disgusting man, Dad," I say.

"No, Mr Bennett," Alex grins. Dad grins back. Boys have such dirty minds.

"Well, dinner's ready. Come down soon. Sarah's baked some for you too, Alex," Dad says and winks at us before closing the door. I roll my eyes.

"If you want me to do some of that, I'd be happy to help," Alex winks at me and I laugh/groan and reach for a pillow, picking it up and smashing him with it. He fakes an angry expression. "You're gonna pay for that."

Before I can scramble off the bed, Alex launches himself on top of me, careful not to hurt my ribs. He tickles me on the stomach and I wriggle around screaming. He pokes me in the side and my hips arch up as I try and push him off. I'm laughing so hard it hurts.

The door opens again. "Sure you guys aren't up to anything, because dinner's getting cold..." Dad says suggestively.

I groan. "We're coming, we're coming."

I see Dad look at Alex behind me and shut the door when I leave, leaving the other two still locked inside. I frown a bit but decide to just go downstairs for dinner.

Alex and Dad join us a little while later, joking around. Dad's smiling at Alex. I can tell he likes him. Damn him, why does everyone have to like Alex?

We're having some kind of pasta for dinner. Alex keeps kicking me in the shins, so I kick him back. When I get so annoyed that I almost decapitate his lower leg, he lets out a yelp and bangs the table. He mutters some apologies and I smirk with my head down.

When dinner finishes Alex and I head upstairs. We walk out onto the balcony and wait in the pouring rain. I dunno why, but neither of us make a move to go inside. He just looks at me and I look back at him.

He opens his mouth to say something but he turns away and half-smiles and me before leaping over the railing and mouthing 'good night.'

I smile back and walk back inside.

***

I dress in leggings and converse with a cropped maroon shirt. I tie my hair up in a really high ponytail and grab my backpack and hold the straps with my thumbs as I run out into the garage, calling a goodbye to both my parents.

I drive to school quickly, since its already eight o'clock., and I drive through as many orange lights as I can. When I finally get to school, Bubbles runs over to me.

"Are you excited? You should see what's on your locker!" she almost yells. I shush her.

"Excited for what?" I ask.

She rolls her eyes. "Valentines day, duh."

"Oh," I smack my head. "Right. I forgot."

"Course you did," she says, taking my arm and leading me in. Kate and Meghan join us.

"Bruh," Kate says. "You have to see this."

Meghan nods and I look confused. "What?"

"Hurry up!" she says. We walk faster until we reach my locker. Around half the grade of boys is surrounding it, stuffing notes into it.

My mouth falls open. The boys look at me and step back. Bubbles lets go of my arm. I walk over to my locker and ignore the stares, spinning my locker combination in. I open my door widely and about a hundred little notes fall out onto the floor. I pick one up.

Natalie, It reads. Be my Valentine? I've had my eye on you since day one, and now I've finally got the chance to ask you.... So, will you? - Thomas xoxo

I have no idea who in the world fudging Thomas is. I pick up another one. Natalie, I wanna write your name on my Christmas list so that Santa knows what to get me. Come to me, baby, I live at 64 April rd. Waiting for you. ;)

I drop the note in disgust and turn to the boys. They all walk forward slightly. "Um... sorry, but-"

"Natalie! Will you be my girlfriend?" one guy asks, getting down on one knee and producing a rose. Then three other boys come up to me and hand me bouquets.

"Nat! You're my Valentine!" Someone yells.

"No, you're mine!" Another person yells.

"She's mine!"

"Shut up! She's so fine, she's mine!"

I back up against my locker, my feet pushing through the notes. Another bunch of boys come up to me and throw me roses. Another person tucks my hair behind my ear and whispers, "C'mon, let's get out of here."

I open my eyes and see Alex's face inches away from mine. I smile and sigh with relief. I shut my locker after taking out a few books. He takes my hand and we push through the crowd. We finally escape and Alex pulls me into an empty classroom.

I sit down on a chair and he sits opposite me, his legs open and his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together.

"Well, you're a little popular," he says. I roll my eyes.

"Shut up," I grumble. He laughs lightly.

"I got you something," he says, reaching into his pocket.

"What? Why?" I ask.

He shrugs, "I wanted to."

I sigh and he hands me a 2 by 3 centimeter book. I take it. Its pretty thick. He takes it back and shows me how to flick through the pages so that it looks like its moving. I take it and flick through it like he instructed. Its a video of us at the modelling shoot the other day. I don't think they actually asked us to model for this one, but they just took the video anyway. I'm running up to him and smash into him, latching my arms around his neck and turning to somewhere beside the camera, smiling. He is too. And he wraps his arms around me before its the end of the book.

I smile and stand up, giving him a hug. "Thanks, Alex."

"There's more," he says. I shove his shoulder a little as he reaches into his bag.

"You didn't have to," I say.

"But I wanted to," he says and hands me a photo frame. Its the one of us in the ice cream shop, the same one he has. He rubs the back of his neck. "I dunno if-"

I throw my arms around him in a hug, the photo frame and book still in my hand. "Thank you," I whisper in his ear. The bell ring and he walks out with a goodbye. I sling my bag over my shoulder and start to walk out of the room when someone corners me.

"Hey Amanda," I say, putting the small book in my pocket so I can play with it in class.

"You think you have total control over him, don't you," she says, walking forwards until she's right in my face. "Well, news flash, hun, he's my boyfriend! Stay away from him! He loves me, not you! Suck it up and stay away from him! How many times do I have to tell you? You're ugly! You're fat! You eat way too much sugar. Most of those wrote notes because their friends dared them too. Do you know how many letters I get every year? And yeah, he gave me one of those too," she says, motioning to my photo frame. "So, stay away from him, ok?"

And with that, she whacks my photo frame out of my hands and onto the ground. The glass cracks. Amanda smirks at me. I suddenely have a ginourmous surge of rage inside me and I smack her, hard, across the face.

"F*** off, Amanda," I say, picking up my present and walking off. She stands there, mouth hanging wide open as I leave.

______________________________________________________________________

Hiiii.

Sorry about the rudeness at the end... BAD FRENCH.

Sorry, also, that this chapter is a little bit short...

Go check out @Belle9890's new story - Only Me, cover designed by mwa!

Also, a big thank you to Emily for the great cover up above, I rly like it!

Who's pumped for the wedding chapter in the next part? It might not be updated for a few days, since I have a buttfaced science assignment I've got to get onto!

THANK YOU FOR 50K!

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LUH YA.

- Abbey