Chapter 38: McDonald's

Cassie's point of view:

If there's one thing I've discovered about myself in these last few months, it's that I hate hospitals.

Honestly, I do.

The smell of disinfectant fills my nose every time I inhale, and I would rather be smelling anything else.

My parents came over and cried a little bit. Well, Mom did; Dad was pacing around the room angrily, claiming he knew all along that Kyle was no good.

Sure he did.

I'm alone now, and I wish I wasn't, because all I can think about is how I'm not enough.

I wasn't enough for my father and I wasn't enough for Kyle, because he cheated on me and showed no remorse until almost two years after the incident, and then he broke my leg, which, weirdly enough, hurts the most.

Kyle didn't change at all.

Sitting in this hospital bed, I've had a lot of time to think, and I've realized that Kyle hasn't changed between now and when we were dating; so that just means I was blind to it.

I let out a bored sigh.

I want Aaron.

I want him here to make fun of me, to tell me everything is going to be fine, to tell me that he'll stay with me until I'm okay again, and that he'll stay even if I'm never okay again.

But he's not going to, because he's dating Tiffany.

And I find myself wondering why I still like him, why I'm still hanging out with him, if he's content to stay with Tiffany.

I meant what I said when he said we could date in secret; I don't like being on the side, being treated like I'm not someone's main priority.

Kyle already did that to me, and I'm not looking to go through that again.

It's morning now, and I look out the window in my room to see birds flying around and the trees swaying in the wind.

I want to be outside, but a glance at my leg curbs those dreams.

I'm so hungry.

There's no one to bring me food from the cafeteria—which I wouldn't eat anyways—and the nurses aren't going to bring anything for a while.

I'm so fucking hungry.

My phone pings, and I pick it up to see a text from Aaron.

Helpful Ass: Hey cassie

Helpful Ass: You awake?

Me: Yea, why?

Helpful Ass: I'll be at the hospital in a little bit.

Helpful Ass: Want me to sneak you in some McDonald's??

I love this dude.

Me: Ten-piece nuggets and a large fry.

Me: And a Medium Diet Pepsi or Coke, whichever one.

Me: And an Oreo mcflurry

Helpful Ass: 👌

He doesn't respond after that, so I put my phone down and close my eyes.

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I end up falling asleep and the only reason I'm up now is because Aaron is gently shaking me awake.

My eyes open to see him looking down at me with a smile on his face—with his cute ass dimples on display—and his green eyes shining with warmth.

He holds up a McDonald's bag. "I brought you food."

I sleepily smile at him and sit up, adjusting my pillows.

Aaron pulls the little table-like surface attached to the bed out, and takes out my food for me, crumpling the bag up and putting in the trash can by my bed when it's empty.

Chicken nuggets, fries, a Sprite—which is fine because I changed my mind, like, half a second before I fell asleep—and an Oreo Mcflurry.

I immediately start sipping on the Oreo drink as Aaron opens the containers of my food, snagging a fry.

I glare at him but don't do or say anything, and he grins at me, taking another fry.

Ass.

I put the Mcflurry down and take a packet of ketchup out, emptying it on to the lid of the nuggets container.

Taking another packet of ketchup and doing the same thing I did with the first one, I glance up to see Aaron staring at me.

Literally, just staring at me.

His eyes flicker over my face, examining my features, lingering on my mouth.

I open my mouth to speak, but his eyes snap to mine, and I can't. It's more like I don't want to, actually.

He's staring at me like I'm his everything. I don't know why I think that's the look he's giving me, but I do. He's looking at me like I'm important to him, like he cares about me more than anything, even himself.

The thing that's really freaking me out though, the thing that's causing my throat to close up and my heart to pound in my chest, is the fact that he's never once gave Tiffany that look. Not one in their three, almost four, months of dating has he ever looked at he like he's looking at me.

What the fuck?

I don't know what to think—don't know what I'm supposed to be thinking, let alone doing—right now.

A small voice in the back of my mind whispers that it's because he likes me more than Tiffany—or he never liked Tiffany in the first place—but that's absurd. Absolutely crazy.

This is why I don't listen to the voice in my head.

I avert my eyes from Aaron's and stare at my food, grabbing a fry and lifting it to my mouth, chewing in silence.

I want to leave. I had managed to keep the panic of being in this tiny room at bay, but now everything came rushing towards me.

Small rooms like this sometimes get to me, especially if I feel like I'm trapped. And I felt trapped now with a broken leg.

A touch on my arm makes me snap my eyes up to meet Aaron's, which are filled with worry. "Calm down, Cassie. It's just me."

He glances over at a machine that's letting out a fast beeping sound and then back at me.

Oh, shit, that's my heartbeat, isn't it?

The door opens and a young looking nurse—who can't be that much older than me—bustles in, pausing briefly when she sees the food on the table and sending me a skeptical glance.

"I'm here to check your vitals," she tells me, moving closer and starting to mess around with the machines that I'm connected to.

An awkward silence envelopes the room, and, me being me, I break it by saying something.

"Do you want a chicken nugget?"

Aaron bursts out in laughter, and a smile quirks on my lips. Even the nurse laughs.

"No, thank you. I'm actually on a diet."

I can't fight my shudder.

Diets.

I remember one time when Mom went on a diet and forced the whole house to do it with her. Easily the worst moment of my life right there. Besides what happened with Kyle. And then with Gabs. And then with my parents. And then with Kyle again.

I have a lot of worst moments.

The nurse finishes up and and moves away, sending me a smile before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Aaron catches my attention by opening the window.

"Why the fuck would you do that?" I screech, pulling the covers up around me as the chilly winter air flows into the room. "Do you know how fucking cold it is outside?"

Aaron laughs. "Jesus, I'm sorry, calm down."

I scowl at him as he closes the window and comes to sit down again.

He grabs my hand, holding it with his own, and I stare down at them as he intertwines our fingers together. "When did the doctor say you could get out of here?"

I raise my eyes to his. "Why?"

"I want to ask you something." My eyebrows raise. "But I don't want you to be stuck in here after I do."

Um, okay.

"I think he said until Friday."

Aaron's face falls and I think i know why. It's Wednesday.

Shit, it's Wednesday.

"Oh my fucking God, what about school?" He shoots me a weird look. "What if I don't graduate?"

The last time I went was... I don't even know. Do you know what that means? I'm failing. Why the fuck did no one remind me about school?

Aaron's eyes shift around the room, and his hand slightly tightens its grip on mine. "I'm sure you'll graduate, Cassie. Stop worrying."

"Stop worrying? Stop worrying? How am I supposed to stop worrying? This is my future, the rest of my life is at stake here."

"You'll be fine."

"Okay, you go to school and pick up all my missing work, and I mean all of it, and bring it back to me and I'll do it. Fuck me."

Aaron clears his throat. "Alright, I wanted to tell you this when you got out of here but I guess I'm telling you now." I narrow my eyes at him. "I did everything for you."

My first reaction is to be angry with him, but then I slow down and think. "What?"

He shrugs. "The classes we have together gave me work for you and I went around and got your missing work from the classes we don't have together, and I typed up the answers."

I... "What?"

He swallows. "Please don't be mad. You were hurting and in here and you were fighting with your parents and I didn't want you to be stressed, so I did your work for you."

"I...you...what?"

I have no words. None.

And I'm not as angry as I thought I'd be. I admit, I thought I was going to be angrier about it. But I'm not. I'm grateful. And happy. And filled with something else, something more real than everything else I'm feeling.

And a hell of a lot more scary.

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Weird ending spot, I know, but I don't know where to take it from here. Like, I know Point A and Point B, but I don't know how to get to Point B from Point A, you know? Or is that just me?

My computer broke :(( I'm literally typing this on my phone right now so I'm sorry for any mistakes.

So close, so very close to the end. And we reached 10k! I literally screamed when I saw that. So, like I've been doing a lot, thank you!

I'm thinking of editing, more like reediting, this book because I want it to be in past tense; I feel like that'll give it a more mature feel. I've actually experimented with it by writing a couple of the past chapters in past tense and I personally think they're way better than what's originally written. I haven't really decided how I'm going to edit, like if I'm going to take the whole book down and repost chapters as I rewrite them or if I should keep this up here and have a rewritten version or if I should just edit them normally and warn new readers. So, pretty big dilemma, but I'll figure it out.

Again, thanks for reading!

--Rose

Edit: I FORGOT TO GIVE THE CHAPTER A NAME THINGY AFJSKNDKSND.  Literally the only reason I saw was because someone commented like a minute after I updated and I just have no words because I'm such an idiot. So wisegirl_1702 thank you so much because I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise.