N A T E

"Thanks for comin' through," I told Big Mike.

We met outside of my soon-to-be old house. I was only a little bit ready to walk inside knowing it held so many memories. I had Mike come over to help me pack shit up so I could move it into my new spot. There was dust everywhere and the smell of weed was faint compared to how loud it always smelled in here. The first thing I saw was Foosh's hat on the hook by the door. Then I saw Alex's skateboard in the living room. I tried not to let it show that it was affecting me.

"You sure you wanna do this, bro?" Mike asked.

"Gotta get it over with."

I packed what I could. Big Mike dealt with all of Foosh's stuff; throwing out what he could and boxing up what he could donate. We loaded all we could onto his truck, leaving behind all the boxes of what was left of Foosh's memory.

"Don't fuck yourself up and look back," Big Mike said as he started the truck up.

"I can't even let that fuck me up, man." I shook my head. "I'm still tryin' to figure out how to find out about Liv."

"Can't you just call the hospital in Cali? You remember her hospital room, right?"

I stared blankly at Big Mike. How could I be so stupid and not even think about that? I grabbed his phone from the truck's cup holder and looked up the number to the hospital.

'Saint Marina Hospital'

"Yeah, hi, I was...calling to see if you could connect me to room 380, her name is Olivia Delaney."

'Olivia Delaney? She transferred a couple days ago.'

"So she's awake? I mean...where was she transferred to?"

'It says here: Nebraska. But I am not allowed to give out anymore specifics under family requests.'

I clenched my fist. "Okay, thank you." I hung up the phone and was going between being pissed off with the secrecy and being happy she was okay enough to transfer back here. I knew she had to be back in Omaha, not just a random town. But we had three hospitals. My next instinct was to call them all.

. . .

O L I V I A

"Okay just hold onto me...easy...easy...slowly, take your time."

Matt was helping me get back on my feet for the first time in a while. It hurt like absolute hell. Gravity pulled down on my entire body, making my wound hurt even more. I had one hand on his arm and the other holding onto the IV pole.

"I can't," I whimpered, trying to take another step. "Every movement makes it sting."

"Face the pain and it'll go away," he said.

"That's a crock of shit if I ever heard one," I spat.

"Hey, hey, look at me."

I looked up, meeting his eyes and they were...oddly comforting.

"Don't take your eyes off me," he continued. "Do you trust me?"

"...for some reason, yes," I replied.

"Just take three steps, that's all. You have to learn to tolerate the pain for now, but you will heal."

Matt moves his arms away and goes to hold my hand. He locks his fingers with mine, still keeping a reasonable distance. I trembled harshly, you could hear it in my voice. I was on the brink of tears but...I did it. A huge smile grew across Matt's face and he admired my joy from this achievement.

"Alright, let's get you back in the bed."

As he helped me get tucked back in, I watched him carefully, making sure he was still a professional about this. But on the flipside: he seemed like a very cool person.

"I don't know how you muster up the strength to work in a hospital," I spoke.

"Me neither," he quietly chuckled to himself.

"How many people have you seen die since you started?"

He paused and kept his eye on the hospital linen. "...Twelve."

"I'm sorry," I said. "Were you close to any of them? Like, did you form a bond?"

"...With three of them. But, to work here, you gotta have tough skin. We're here to help people and if we fail, then we feel like we're to blame. You spend nights wondering what you could've done differently and get angry when you realize there wasn't a damn thing you could've done."

"Sucks feeling helpless...and alone."

"Very alone. But," he sighed. "You're gonna be okay. You're not gonna die. And I'm gonna miss you when you get discharged." 

"Well, feel free to visit on your breaks if you can. I mean, you're okay I guess," I joked.

"Yeah, you're such a pain in the ass," he joked back. "Alright, Liv. Um...I gotta go make my rounds. I'll see you later?"

"I'll be here." I waved as he left. My room was silent now minus the low buzzing of the light on the wall behind my bed. My mother said she was out apartment hunting for me with Andrea. All I had was the hospital phone near my bed. I used it to try Nate again.

The number you've dialed has been disconnected.

"Nate," my voice shook. A lump grew in my throat and I began to tear up. "Turn on your phone, you asshole! Please...I need you."

I eventually hung up on the automated voice and tried to maintain my emotions. But I couldn't...

It all came rushing to the forefront and I broke down. I didn't care how much it hurt when my stomach muscles contracted with every sob. Nate was just gone...out of my life. He hasn't made an effort to contact me to make sure I was okay. If he had a new number, he could've let me know somehow. He has Andrea's number. But no...

He made the decision without me to get out of my life and it hurt more than ever. How could we go from being so in love to him concluding he was bad for me. Only I say what's bad for me, no one else. I was pissed off. I wanted to throw something, I wanted to shout at something, I wanted to do all the things that I just couldn't do right now.

. . .

N A T E

I hung up after talking to the people at Central Hospital. My leg was bouncing with anxiousness.

"It has to be Central," I told Mike. "The other two hospitals straight up said they don't have an Olivia Delaney in the system. Central was talkin' about they can't give out patient information. That's that bullshit."

"So...what are you saying, you wanna go there right now? That's pretty far."

"Bro...please. I need to see her," I begged.

"You owe me," he said, making a U-turn.

35 minutes later, we got to Central Hospital and I ran into the lobby and to the receptionist.

"Hello," I spoke properly. "I'm here to see my sister, Olivia Delaney. She just transferred here from Saint Marina Hospital in Los Angeles."

"Don't even think about it," I heard her mother yell from behind me.

Fuck.

I turned around to face her. "Ms. Harrison, I need to know she's okay. Please don't be this person."

"She's fine! Leave! Miss, this man is not allowed to see Olivia Delaney. He is an outright stalker."

"Don't listen to her," I turned back toward the Receptionist. "I'm Liv's boyfriend, you can call her room right now and ask her! I'm not a fuckin' stalker!"

"Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to lower your voice."

"You should go ahead and call security," Ms. Harrison suggested. "He's stubborn."

Out of pure anger, I forcefully push over a stack of papers, sending them everywhere. I get up close to Ms. Harrison, using up all my energy not to scream in her face.

"You think I'm some kinda thug and you think I'm not good enough for your daughter, huh? Let her make her own decisions for once or else you're gonna push her away further than you'd like. When you see her upstairs tonight, go ahead and ask her what she said when I fuckin' asked her to marry me. Go ahead. Go fuckin' ask her!"

She flinched a little and I stormed out of the hospital before security even came out. It got hard to breathe, even in the fresh air. I moved backwards onto the lawn, looking up at the hospital building.

"Olivia!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Olivia!!"

I kept shouting and shouting her name, hoping her room wasn't on the opposite side of the building. My eyes shot at every hospital window, hoping to see her, hoping she would see me and wave at me with that smile I miss so much.

"Olivia!! It's Nate!! Olivia!! Baby please!!"

Big Mike beeps his car horn and I only looked back at eye-level for a split second before I was tackled by Security.

"Olivia!!" I kept shouting, turning into tears. Even as I got pinned down on the grass and my wrists tied up with a zip-tie. I still managed to scramble onto my feet and try to run inside, hands tied and all. But the guards chased me down to the ground. Next thing I know, one of them knocks me out and everything goes dark.

___________

Author's Note: The feels. Oh, the feels.

This was a bit of a filler chapter. Don't worry, I have more feels on the way. *evil laugh*

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After you read this, feel free to check out the 4-chapter preview of my next book "Immortalis" starring all of OGOC, Cameron Dallas, quick cameo of Acacia, etc... It's a fantasy type of story dealing with all the myths and legends you thought you knew the truth about!

Thanks for all the support so far. Next update will be on Friday!