Chapter Thirty-Six
A ringing sound cuts through the dark of my bedroom.
Feeling Brenden shifting next to me to sit up, I start groaning, trying to fall back asleep.
But as soon as he answers the phone, he’s shaking my shoulder, trying to wake me up.
“Hey, Sweet Cheeks, wake up. Something is wrong… It’s Gavin on the phone. ”
“What’s going on, Gavin? You're on speaker.” Panic flooding my voice.
Emotion takes his words; he manages to stutter out. “So… I am at Saint Francis Trauma with Juni…”
I instantly cut him off. “Juni? What do you mean, Juni? What did that mother fucker do?!” I all but yell.
“It’s bad, and I need you both to get here as soon as you can. She’s technically stable, but she is being closely monitored,” he says quietly.
We both jump out of bed, stumbling, trying to find our thrown-off clothes from only a few hours ago, covered in darkness on the floor. “We are on our way; we will be there as fast as we can.” I hear Brenden tell Gavin over the phone.
We don’t talk as we make our way out to his car; I’m honestly thankful he offered to drive.
My hands are shaking, my mind swimming in regret.
If we hadn’t gotten into that fight, she would have called me herself.
I wouldn’t have found out this way from Gavin.
She needed me, and I wasn’t there for her, all because my anger got the best of me.
So many people have already abandoned her, and I did the same because I was upset with her, thinking that leaving and picking up her life would have been easy.
I’m a fucking fool. Maybe we wouldn’t be on our way to the hospital right now if I hadn’t continued to push her.
I haven’t looked at Brenden since we got into the car.
The low music and the turbo's whistle drown out the deafening silence. What has been going on between us isn’t at this level of friendship; shit, we aren’t even friends.
I shouldn’t have let him stay the night.
This whole situation is making it so much more complicated.
Juni really is my only friend. She’s all I ever needed.
I don’t date; I don’t do commitments… this has just been convenient.
I can sense we are not on the same page.
With him being Gavin’s best friend, I don’t know how to get myself out of this… without affecting Juni and Gavin.
The drive to the hospital from my apartment is an hour long, and I’m still trying to process what we are going to see when we get into the hospital room as we pull into the parking lot.
I don’t wait for Brenden; I’m up and out of the car as soon as he gets it in first gear and pulls the emergency brake.
“Peyton, slow down! We don’t even know where we are going. Let me text Gavin, okay?”
I start sprinting across the parking lot, not bothering to wait for Brenden.
It won’t take him long to catch up with me anyway.
We make it to the entrance at the same time.
As we enter the building, Brenden grabs my hand a little harder than necessary.
The look he gives me kills the protest forming on my lips.
“How can I help you?” The receptionist asks without looking up at us, continuing to type on her keyboard.
“We are here to see Juniper Monroe; she’s in room #7,” Brenden says, answering for me.
“Go through those double doors and follow the signs, please.”
“Thank you, Ma’am…” Before Brenden can finish talking, I take off running again. I know I probably shouldn’t be running in the trauma area, but right now I don’t care.
Coming around the corner, I start trying to slow down as Gavin comes into view. Brenden grabs me around my waist, bringing me to a stop. “Where is she? How bad is it?” My voice filled with panic, my eyes searching for Juni.
“Okay, so it’s going to be hard to see. She is suffering from Blunt Force Trauma, causing her to lose consciousness.
A severe concussion. Broken nose, bruising around both eyes.
They continue to test for any signs of brain bleeding, broken and bruised ribs, and additional abdominal trauma.
Her left wrist was rebroken… and her left hand was crushed.
And the worst part is that they wanted to give her time to start to heal, so she is currently on a vent.
That’s why I closed the curtain.” Emotion clogs his voice.
I wrap my arms around myself tightly and start to sob.
My shoulders start shaking from the force of my cries.
“Hey, she is stable… we have to hold on to some positivity.” He says weakly.
Gavin wraps one arm around me in an attempt to comfort me, but I push him away and bury my head into Brenden’s chest.
All three of us step into the room, slowly walking toward the bed.
“Just prepare for yourself.” He says gruffly.
Gavin grabs the privacy curtain, pulling it back to reveal Juni lying still, aside from the mechanical rise and fall of her chest. My knees give out at the sight of my best friend, bruised and broken, lying so still.
Sobs ripping out of my chest, I keep repeating “Juni, I’m so fucking sorry, God damn it…I am so sorry.” Brenden again does his best to comfort me. But I come to my senses and push him away, too.
We sat quietly, discussing what would happen after Juni was healthy enough to leave the hospital.
We agreed to take what Juni absolutely needs from the trailer, but we will replace the toiletries and clothes.
Making sure the plans we have now are in place.
The most important question lingers in the air.
What are we going to do about Reece? It comes out of all our mouths at the same time… “Reece needs to die.”
The smell of antiseptic burns my nose, regret weighing heavily in the room.
So many questions running in a loop. Could any of us have prevented this?
Probably not. I hate that things had to come to this.
Neither Gavin nor I has left this room. The only background noises are the steady beeping of the machines and the whooshing of the vent.
They are supposed to take Juni for her last scans in the next hour to determine if any bleeding has formed and check if the swelling has come down enough so that they can turn down the sedation medication, to hopefully start the process of letting her wake up.
Gavin hasn’t left her side; he’s barely gotten out of that chair since we got here.
I’ve been dozing on and off for the last few hours.
Brenden’s breathing pattern tells me he’s also asleep.
I’m curled into him with my head on his chest. His arm is wrapped around me protectively.
Whatever has been happening between Brenden and me hasn’t been that serious.
Well, at least to me. I appreciate him being here for all of us, but he’s acting like we are together, and we aren’t.
This isn’t the place to have that conversation.
I already know he’s not going to take it well.
I don’t know if it would be easier to let him down gently or if I should just be my blunt self and rip off the band-aid.
A soft tapping on the door wakes us all up.
This is the doctor’s first appearance since Brenden, and I got here.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Marlowe. Within the next 10 to 15 minutes, we will take Juniper down for the final round of testing.
The whole process should take about an hour.
This would be a good time for you all to get some food or coffee…
stretch your legs. We will be back shortly.
“I want to go with you when you take her for testing. If she wakes up, she’s going to panic… I’ll be able to calm her down.”
“Mr. Petrov, that won’t be necessary. Please take care of yourself, and we will be back before you know it,” Dr. Marlowe tells him calmly.
Gavin goes to argue, but I stand up and walk over to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. “Gavin, it’s going to be okay, okay? Let them do what they need to do… You won’t be any help to her if you're running on E.”
“But if she wakes up and I’m not near her…”
“Gavin, she doesn’t know any of us are here; they won't lower the sedation until she’s back here and the tests come back clear. Just breathe, okay?”
He goes to argue again, but just runs his hands over his face, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling, and sighs. “Yeah, I guess you're right.”
“Let’s go get something small to eat and get some energy drinks after they come to take her.”
“Deal.”
As we stand around watching the monitor beep, a soft knock at the door catches our attention.
Dr. Marlowe and two nurses have come to take Juni for testing.
One nurse goes to the head of the bed and the other goes to the foot, unlocking the wheels.
Locking the bed rails into place, they start taking her out of the room.
“We will be back within the hour. Please take this time and take care of yourselves.”
The nurses and the doctor take Juni and disappear down the hallway. The room falls silent without the steady beeping of the machines or the whooshing of the vent. “Alright, you two, let's go,” Giving them both a don’t fuck with me look. That thankfully gets them moving.
None of us says much as we walk down to the café.
Knowing they won't be up to eating much of anything. I sent them both to a table big enough for the three of us. Carefully surveying the options, I grab three containers of cottage cheese and three Monsters. After checking out, I make my way to the table and pass out everything I bought. “I don’t care if you don’t like cottage cheese, shut up and eat it.
It’ll hold everyone over long enough until we get the tests back.
Maybe we will be up to eating something by then. ”
They both grumble at me but crack open the containers and start eating.
Opening the Monster, I all but finish it on the first swig.
Welcoming the rush of the caffeine hits feels like such a relief.
Gavin has been repeatedly checking his watch, his leg bouncing under the table.
Picking up on his nervousness, I gather the trash off the table and throw it away.
“Come on, guys, let’s get back to the room. ”
Leaving the cafe, we make our way back to the trauma area.
Feeling as fresh as we will be at this point, we go back to our seats in her room.
I’m not sure how time passes, my eyes mindlessly tracking the clock on the wall.
We all jump at the knock at the door, oh, thank fuck they are back.
“Hi, here we are!” One of the nurses says, way too cheery for my liking.
Once they get Juni’s bed back where it belongs, the whooshing and beeping start again.
“The doctor will be in as soon as we get the results, hang tight… shouldn’t be long. ”
Gavin is immediately back to Juni’s side, taking her uninjured hand, his thumb softly caressing her hand. His eyes never leave her. I take my seat next to Brenden and place it next to Gavin. Placing my hand on her leg, I softly grip it, patting her to let her know I’m here.
Dr. Marlowe appears at the door, softly knocking; her eyes are on Gavin.
Stepping into the room, she closes the door.
Walking over to her doctor's chair and sitting with what I’m assuming is Juni’s chart.
“Okay, so deep breaths, everyone! There is no new swelling or bleeding. All her tests came back good, so at this point, we are going to start the process of waking her up. Please be advised that she might wake up combative once the sedation wears off. We will try to get her calmed down as fast as we can.”
“What should we expect?” Gavin asks.
“It’s going to be a rough start; that’s normal with her type of injuries. Once she’s awake for about twenty-four hours from wake-up time, we will schedule her ortho surgery.”
“Thank you, Doctor. We appreciate everything. “
“No problem, we will start the process in about half an hour. I can’t really say how long it will take. Everyone is different.”
“See, Gavin, it’s going to be okay. We will have our girl back in no time.”
“I fucking hope that’s the case, Peyton.”