Chapter 49 - Just Friends

-Chase-

 

There’s something terrible about losing both of your best friends at the same time. Even though Andrea and Skye and I weren’t exactly getting along, it still hurt when we found out Andrea was in a coma and Skye fell into depression. I became completely alone.

 

My shape-shifter school ended a few weeks after the incident with the ghombies, so I had been at home.  My parents had become super clingy and never stopped apologizing and sympathizing. At first, I appreciated it. But after about a week it got annoying, so I stopped coming home straight after school. I would hang out around school and finish my homework, or go to the library. Sometimes I’d go to diners or fast food restraunts and just sit for hours, thinking. It wasn’t as boring as it sounds. I got a lot of thinking done . . . and my grades are way better.

 

A few days ago, Andrea woke from her coma. Its took me four days to gather the courage to contact Pricilla and schedule a meeting with Andrea. I was sitting in the hospital waiting room, my leg jiggling with anticipation for a good thirty minutes while I waited for Andrea to wake up. The doctors didn’t want to rush her to wake, since she’s still fragile, so I waited. Pricilla was there with me, sitting just as impatiently. It was the first time I’d ever sat in an awkward silence with Pricilla for a very long time. I didn’t like it, so I tried to break it.

 

I cleared my throat. “So, uh, how are you?” I asked lamely.

 

She pursed her lips and leaned back in her chair. “Fairly well. Much better than I was when she was still comatose.”

 

I nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

 

“Chase, I have a question for you.”

 

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Uh, let me hear it?”

 

“What ever happened to you and Andrea and Skye? I didn’t even know that you and Skye had broken up until you brought that Annabelle girl over. Before this mess of ghombies, what happened between you three?”

 

I sucked in a deep breath while a million possible answers raced through my mind. I had no idea what to say, what to tell her and what to leave out, what to glorify and what to downplay. But Pricilla was waiting for an answer, so I decided to just tell her the truth. The muddled, weird truth.

 

“I broke up with Skye because I just wasn’t feeling a connection anymore . . . I didn’t want to hurt her anymore, lead her on. You know?”

 

Pricilla nodded. “A wise decision, although probably hard.”

 

“Very hard,” I agreed. “She acted heartbroken and wouldn’t even speak to me and that drove a wall between Andrea and I. I hated it. Then I met Annabelle, and for a time, I was happy again. But not really. She was great but . . . not the girl for me.

 

“And I, uh�"” I coughed. “�"kind of discovered I had feelings for Andrea.”

 

I’ll give her credit: Pricilla didn’t even flinch.

 

I continued, “And that was hard for me to, well, process. She was my best friend! But those feelings were undeniably there. And so I messed everything up with these stupid feelings and she and Skye both hated me, and everything was hurting inside and I just wanted things to go back to normal but obviously that didn’t happen; that’s why I didn’t make that call sooner to come and see her. She probably still hates me and I didn’t think I could handle her rage until now.”

 

Pricilla smiled. “Chasey, she doesn’t hate you. She may be hurt for Skye and shocked and defensive about her new boyfriend, but she doesn’t hate you. You’re family now, and family will love family almost under any circumstance. Take Wendy. She hurt Andrea bad, and Andrea will probably be very wary of her for a long time, but she loves her mother anyways. She’ll get over this mess with you, as will Skye. Just give it time.”

 

I leaned over and gave Pricilla a much-needed hug. She took me in her frail arms and I let myself cry for a few seconds. Life had been damn hard without friends, without anyone to turn to. This felt like a step in the right direction.

 

“Thank you,” I whispered.

 

She just patted my back and let me go. I wiped my eyes, flashed a weak smile, and then we went back to waiting silently. A few minutes later, a Romanian nurse walked in and called for me in a thick accent. She smiled hollowly when I stood up.

 

“Ahh, so you’re Chase,” she said. “It is wonderful to meet you.”

 

“Uh, hi,” I mustered.

 

“Andrea has told me things about you,” she continued.

I swallowed again. “Oh.”

 

She grinned like she knew something I didn’t, and led me through a complicated maze of hallways and rooms. We walked up two flights of stairs, turn a few more corners, and then we were there. The door was open, and I could see her messy, black rats nest of hair against the faded white pillowcase. I couldn’t help myself�"a grin spreads over my face, a big goofy one, too. And something in me cracked right in two when she didn’t grin back at me. She even turned her head away so she wasn’t looking at me.

 

Oh God.

 

The grin slowly shrunk until my mouth was just a flat line again, and I shuffledinto her hospital bedroom. I think the Romanian nurse sensed the awkward because she gave us a quick farewell and scurried as fast as she could out the door. But she didn’t close it.

 

I tentatively took a few more steps closer to her bed, and when she didn’t scream or anything, I sat on the edge of the mattress.

 

“Uh, um, hey, Andrea,” I stuttered. I winced at myself.

 

“Hi.” The word was tense, and sounded like it had barely escaped clenched teeth.

 

“How, uh, are you?”

 

She finally turned to face me, then crossed her arms angrily over her chest. “How do you think I am, Chase?”

 

This is totally wrong, but my heart sped up a tiny bit when she said my name. Shut up.

 

“Not good?” I guessed half-heartedly.

 

She answered by turning her stern gaze back to the wall. I sighed. This was off to a great start. I decided to just cut to the chase.

 

“Look, I know you’re mad at me and all for what I did to Skye, but I just want us to be friends again, okay? Nothing more.”

 

She spoke to the wall. “I think Skye’s fine. She hasn’t cried about you since I woke up.”

 

I sat up straighter. A stupid voice in my head was screaming what? That’s not possible! She was so obsessed with me last time I saw her! But I held it in. Instead, I murmured a little, “Ah.”

 

“Yeah, so it’s not like you were her whole world. She’s practically got another boyfriend anyways,” she growled, but it wasn’t menacing because her voice cracked on the word boyfriend.

 

Again, the most I could muster was a defeated, “I see.” Then, “So, uh, why do you still hate me so much?”

 

She finally turned back to me. “I don’t hate you, idiot. I’m just mad that you risked yourself to come and find me.”

 

I stood up and dropped myself closer to Andrea, then threw my arms around her. I squeezed her so tight I heard her lose her breath, and she had to take a few quick breaths to get it back. After a shocked moment, she hugged me back and started to cry into my shoulder. Her whole body was quaking, so I just hugged her tighter. Eventually, I cried a little bit too, but not much.

 

“I’m so sorry I was an a*s to you, Dre,” I told her.

 

She sniffled, then said, “I forgive you.”

 

I smiled. We stayed locked in an embrace for a long time before she pulled back, wiping her eyes.

 

“Chase, listen to me, okay? I’m not mad at you anymore, but . . .” she trailed off, and when she picked back up, her voice was trembling. “I can’t be anything more than your friend. Especially not now. I’d really appreciate it if you, well, you know, didn’t try to get involved with me that way anymore, okay?”

 

A few things crumbled to bits in my chest area, but I put on a great smile. “Yeah, sure. No problem.”

 

Andrea hugged me again. “Thank you. I just really need my friend right now.”

 

And i hugged her back, but this one didn't feel nearly as wonderful. 

Author's Note

hi! so sorry i haven't posted in so, so long... i've been busy lately and frankly, just lazy. but i made a kinda-long chapter, and i hope you enjoy :)

Reviews

[Damita Taylor]

Okay Great, Now more chapters LOL

[selkietales]

Yes! Chase is out of the romantic playing field and even agreed to it! I loooove this story and can't wait for the next chapter!

[SwagMaster]

Hehe...Chase decided to cut to the chase.:}

[Jasmine Thousand]

Yeah, Chase is okay and everything, but still prefer Nate.

MAKE HIM WAKE UP~

Priscilla's nice! :)

[13ReasonsWhy]

good. i like it like this. but uh, poor skye and, uh, poor chase and yeah. but i want andrea to get together with nate. YOU KNOW IF HE EVER WAKES UP. hinthint nudgenudge. anywho, Priscilla's AH-MAZ-ING. i give her props. and still....poor chase.

[JadeForever]

YES FINALLY...ive been WAITING FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!!! :D aww..they are friends again.. how sweet!