CHAPTER EIGHT:
some long awaited closure.

   The bright hospital lights blind Aster as she walks down the daunting hallway. It was only hours before that she was in a romantic restaurant trying to save her ex-boyfriend's life. After hours of being comforted by her two best friends and promising them that she absolutely would not go to the hospital to see him, did she find herself breaking the exact promise she was whispering not too long ago.

A sigh escapes the red-heads mouth, as her hands grip the tray of milkshakes. She knew exactly why her friends didn't want her to come, last time Aster and Evan were together they were a whirlwind full of passionate romance so much so that when Evan left, Aster had no idea who she was without him. Despite the screaming part of Aster's brain telling her to turn around and go home, the crying of her heart longing for closure pushed herself closer to his room.

"Knock knock," Aster smiles, her eyes fluttering between Bobby and her aunt. "I brought milkshakes," she offers, noticing the look of confusion on the older man's food. "I knew he wouldn't be able to eat solids so..."

"That's very kind of you," Bobby replies before giving her a gracious smile.

Aster nods her head. "Am I... interrupting?" The younger red-head asks.

"No, no, I just got here," Bobby informs her.

"He's still out of it?" Aster nervously asks while nodding her head towards Evan, who lays almost lifelessly in the hospital bed.

"Well, he would be completely out of it, if it wasn't for you..." Bobby assures.

"You saved his life," Abby agrees, a small but grateful smile on her face.

Aster smiles awkwardly, she was never good at accepting the whole praise thing.

"What were you doing there anyways?" The young adult's aunt questions.

"Oh, I was uh... double dating, uh with Nala and Emily," Aster strings together a lie, nodding in satisfaction once she spits it out.

"Oh, with who?" Abby asks, her face scrunched with confusion. She had no idea that Aster was dating or even interested in dating at the moment.

"Uh," Aster's eyes widen. "...Owen," she purses her lips.

"Owen?" Bobby questions from the corner of the room.

"Yeah Owen," the freckled girl confirms. "We really hit it off at the firehouse party, thought it would be fun," she shrugs. "It was nothing serious, just you know... casual."

"Oh," Abby mumbles.

Bobby looks at the two women. His eyes landing on Abby's hunched over body, her exhaustion radiating off of her. Seems like you could use a cup of coffee," he offers to her.

A chuckle full of exhaustion escapes her lips. "That's okay, right? I mean, you can't choke on that, can you?"

"Well, clearly you've never had the coffee from here before," Bobby tells her, a teasing smile on his face.

"I'll risk it," Abby concedes.

"All right," Bobby tells her, opening the room door ao she can make her way out.

"You'll be okay, here right?" Abby asks her niece as she leaves the room.

"Yeah, yeah I got a milkshake and my phone. I'll be fine."

"Okay," Abby nods, giving Aster a quick hug. "We'll be right back."

Aster nods, making her way to a seat next to Evan's hospital bed. A sigh escapes her pink pout as she plops her weight onto the uncomfortable chair. Her blue eyes overlook the blonde laying down.

"You fucking asshole," she comments with a shake of her head.

"That's not very nice," Evan's raspy voice echoes through the room.

"Oh, you're absolutely right, what I should be saying is 'you're welcome," Aster retorts sarcastically, although her heart rate picks up with excitement

Evan's lips twitch into a smile. His blue eyes struggle to stay open as he blinks away the drowsiness. "When they said a red-head saved me, I kinda figured it was Abby," he confesses, his voice still raw.

"Well, I can understand your confusion. I mean, how could you not be? With you hopping up the family line and all," Aster snarkily comments.

Evan stays silent which only fuels her more.

"When it doesn't work out with you and Abby, who's next? My grandmother? She's a red-head too and with the last name Clark, look at that! Just your type!"

"Never thought we would be having this conversation."

"That makes two of us," Aster huffs.

"I didn't know she was your aunt," Evan confesses, his hands laying in his lap as his fingers twiddle with each other.

"Really?" Aster asks dryly. "The last name and the eerily similar looks weren't dead giveaways?"

Evan sighs in defeat. "I'm sorry, Aster."

The red-head rolls her lips, accepting his apology with a wordless nod. "It is what it is," she shrugs, letting a silence overlap them. "Do you like her?"

Evan nods hesitantly, never would he ever think he would be admitting to liking his ex-girlfriends aunt.

Aster nods slowly. "Well then I guess that's that.

A look of confusion falls over Evan's face. "That's it?"

Aster shrugs. "Well, what do you want me to say Evan? Is this a fucked up situation? Yes. Am I still upset that you dumped me out of nowhere? Possibly. Am I pissed off that you dropped off the face of the Earth and then showed up as my aunt's new beau? Oh 100%. But there's literally nothing I can do about it, I just have to accept it and move on."

"So... you're okay with it? With me and your aunt?"

Aster scoffs, standing up from her seat. "It doesn't really matter does it? I can't sit here and say yes because I'd be lying but I can't sit here and say no because I'm not gonna deprive either of you of being with someone you like because of my own feelings."

Evan struggles to pull himself into a sitting position before giving up. "But you can say no, Aster, if it bothers you you can--"

"Is it gonna stop you from being with each other?" Aster interrupts.

Evan lets the silence envelope them.

"Exactly. It's not and, honestly, it shouldn't."

Evan sighs in defeat. He knew no matter what someone was gonna be miserable in the situation they found themselves in.

Aster plops down in her chair once more. "Can I ask you something?" Aster questions, her voice soft and full of vulnerability. "Why did you break up with me? I mean, you kinda just said it was over and I never saw you again. What happened? Where did I go wrong?"

A pang hits Evan's heart as Aster's questions hang between them. "Aster..."

Aster scoffs in disbelief. "God, why do I feel like you're about to give me a 'it wasn't you, it was me' speech?"

Evan snorts. "Because I am. It wasn't you Aster. I never knew who I was, I had nothing going for me, and you... you never struggled with that. You always knew what you wanted to do, what steps you wanted to take next, you've always been so sure of yourself and the person you are. You had a path to go down and I was still deciding on which one was mine."

Aster chuckles sadly. "Well, I guess I'm a really good actress then because that is so far from the truth."

Evan looks down at his lap, a comfortable silence once again gathering them into its arms. "I didn't want to hold you back," Evan confesses. "I knew you were gonna be a great nurse one day, I wasn't gonna drag you down like an anchor."

"I would have let you," Aster tells him honestly.

"And that kinda was the problem with us, wasn't it?"

Aster smiles. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"You're awake!" A voice cheers from the doorway.

Aster's attention gets pulled from her ex-boyfriend and spotlighted onto Chimney and Hen who enter the room.

"What are you guys doing here?" Evan asks, his eyes and mouth both smiling.

"Heard you choked on your first date, talk about embarrasing," Chimney teases, his hands on his hips. "What happened, did you see the check?"

"Leave it to Buck, to take a date out on Valentine's Day and make it all about him," Hen joins in on the teasing.

Aster's snort from her seat, catching the attention of the two other firefighters. Hen looks between the two, an awkward grin on her face.

"Were we interrupting something?" She asks knowingly.

Aster denies the question with a shake of her head. "I was actually just leaving," she gathers herself, standing up from the chair.

"So soon?" Chimney asks.

Aster nods. "Yeah, I have to be up for school early tomorrow. Big test and all that," she heads towards the door. "It was nice seeing you guys again!" She waves goodbye, rushing down the hall. She leans against the corner once she's out of sight, a huge sigh escaping her body.

She really thought talking to Evan would somehow help her but all she feels like now is throwing up.

NOTES.
i feel bittersweet about this chapter, the conversation played out nothing like how i originally planned but also i'm just really happy to be writing for this again that idc?
anyways, pretty please
let me know what you guys think, i'm so torn over this chapter.