by Green, Maree
She exhaled shakily, the noise sounding incredibly distressed, but I couldn’t let it get to me. I needed to know what she was keeping from me.
“We went to see Dr. Markey last Saturday so you could get contraception.”
My eyes almost bugged out my head. I was speechless. That had been the last thing I would’ve thought she’d say.
I heard my breath coming and going, my ears kind of blocked. I think I was in shock. The pill? Seriously? What freaking planet was I on? There was no way I could’ve been considering sleeping with Jace.
Mom cursed, something she never did, and squeezed her eyes shut in a long blink. She was clearly distressed. I knew she wouldn’t lie to me, but what she was saying was completely impossible. Jace and I had hardly even said two words to each other in the last four years. I was sure he didn’t even know I existed. How could we have gotten so close in such a short amount of time that I would be comfortable dating him?
Dating. Jace. Oh. My. God.
“I…” My head was so screwed up. I had no idea what to even say. “Okay.”
Mom frowned at me. “Okay?”
I think I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks for telling me.”
Mom looked even more worried than before. “Are you alright?”
I felt like laughing. One of those really hysterical laughs that needed someone to slap them to stop. “Sure.”
Mom shifted uncomfortably in her chair, eyeing me wearily.
“Can I see Aiden?”
She took a deep breath as she watched me and slowly nodded her head. “Sure, baby girl. I’ll go get him now.”
She stood and leaned over to kiss me on the forehead before heading for the door. Before she walked out, she turned to look back at me. “Did you want to see Jace?”
The panic that surged inside me was instantaneous. The thought of Jace coming to see me was terrifying. I’d never even really had a conversation with him. I shook my head. “No. I…can’t.”
Mom nodded sadly. “Okay, baby. It’s fine.”
I exhaled slowly, trying to calm myself down. “Tell him…tell him, I’m sorry…”
She nodded. “I’ll send Aiden in.”
“Okay.” I breathed, long and slow. Aiden I could handle.
Chapter 47
Jace
Aiden and I were sitting in the waiting room when Kaeli walked in, scowling and tense. “They’re running an investigation at school,’ she announced bitterly.
“What?” I didn’t understand what she was talking about. I thought everyone involved had been suspended.
“It’s all bullshit. Everyone already knows what happened.”
I looked over at Aiden, seeing the same confused expression on his face. He raised his eyebrows. “You’ve lost me…”
Kaeli threw herself down on a lounge and huffed. It was obvious she was pissed. “I spoke to Ryan just before. He said when he arrived at school this morning, Corey came to ask him if Mia was okay. They talked for a little while, and Corey mentioned how he thought it was strange that Coach Anderson would ask Mia to come to see him in the gym if the Grunge Guys were in there.”
I hadn’t really thought about how Mia had ended up in the gym. With everything that’d been going on, I’d forgotten about it.
“When Ryan asked him what he meant, Corey told him that Melissa had been looking for Mia because Coach wanted her to tell Mia to meet him in the gym.”
I straightened in my seat, my brain switching to high alert. “Melissa told Corey that Coach wanted to see her in the gym?”
Kaeli nodded, still looking incredibly pissed off.
I frowned, thinking. “There’s no way Melissa would pass on a message to Mia. She’d purposely not do it just to spite her.”
Aiden grimaced. “When we were in the waiting room downstairs, Ryan said the basketball team had gotten wind that the Grunge Guys were going to destroy their stuff so they went on a rampage to find them.”
I nodded. “Yeah, someone said the Grunge Guys were pissed because someone from the team had put something on their cars.”
Kaeli smiled humorlessly. “Yeah, but it wasn’t anyone from the basketball team that did it. It was Melissa. April saw her do it.”
What the fuck?!
Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “Melissa set it all up?”
Kaeli nodded. “That’s what everyone’s figuring out now. Apparently Melissa put some offensive note on the Grunge Guys cars then happened to mention to someone who knew them that she saw some of the basketballers doing it. When she made sure the Grunge Guys were good and pissed, and heard of their plan to destroy the guys’ equipment, she told Jordan. Once she knew Jordan and the guys were out for blood, she sent Corey off to find Mia to deliver the message that Coach wanted to see her in the gym. The end result? Two very angry groups of guys and one very fragile girl with a fear of angry crowds.”
I felt fucking sick. What the hell kind of person did shit like that?
“What the ever-loving fuck is wrong with that girl?” Aiden spat. “I swear to god, the next time I see that chick she’s going to wish she were never born.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Kaeli said snidely. “Everyone more or less knows now, and if what Ryan says is true,” She looked at her watch. “She’s going to be feeling it right about now.”
I was lost for fucking words. I couldn’t believe someone could be so vindictive. I mean, she almost cost someone their fucking life! Did she not have a fucking conscience? I wanted to grab her by her scrawny little neck and choke the life out of her.
Kaeli sighed and stood up. “I need coffee. You guys want any?”
“Yeah, thanks,” Aiden said, anger still audible.
I shook my head. “Nah. I’m good.”
I watched Kaeli slip from the room before slumping back on the lounge. “I knew that chick was going to be trouble.”
“She’d wanna fucking hope she doesn’t cross my path for a really long fucking time,” Aiden growled, looking ready to rip someone’s head off.
We sat there in silence for a while, trying to let the news sink in. It was a difficult thing to swallow. Mia was the sweetest, most loving person I knew. It was almost impossible to think anyone could hate her so much.
The door to the waiting room opened and Lillian stepped inside, her eyes immediately pinned to us as she closed the door behind her. The look on her face had me instantly on edge. Aiden must’ve seen it too because I felt him tense beside me.
She came forward and took the seat across from us, giving each of us a worried look before speaking. “She’s awake.”
The relief I felt was smothered by the constant worried look on Lillian’s face.
“Is she okay?” Aiden demanded.
“She’s good. Fine.” She swallowed. “She’s a little confused. She’s having trouble remembering some things…”
I nodded. That sounded normal. Right?
“The doctor says that’s normal for her type of injury, and the missing pieces should come back when she’s had time to recover.”
“Okay, good. So other than that, she’s okay?”
I heard Aiden’s question, but the worried look on Lillian’s face had me feeling uneasy.
She sighed, fiddling her fingers nervously. When she looked up and met my gaze, my breath froze. “Jace…”
I didn’t know what she was going to say, but I instantly wanted to tell her not to say it.
“Jace…she doesn’t remember being with you…”
Her words hit me like a brick. I felt the shock go through me Felt it shutting my brain down to protect me from the hurt. She didn’t remember being with me? How was that possible? I closed my eyes as though that would somehow take the pain away, then dropped my head into my hands.
I felt Aiden slump back in his seat. “Fuck.”
I’d been preparing myself for different scenarios when she woke up, but this hadn’t been one of them. How could it have? It was a fucking nightmare. Everything we’d gone throug
h, everything we’d shared. Wiped from existence like it’d never happened. How was I supposed to deal with that? How was I supposed to accept it?
“Can I see her?” I asked. I didn’t even recognize my voice. It was broken and full of pain.
“She needs time, Jace. It’ll work out. You just have to give her time.”
She hadn’t answered my question. I looked up to meet her gaze, asking with my eyes.
“She can’t, sweetie. She’s not ready to face you yet.”
Aiden groaned and let his head fall back on the lounge, his eyes scanning the ceiling as he ran his hands over his head.
I thought I’d felt despair before. But I was wrong. I hadn’t known it before this moment. What was I supposed to do with this? Where did I go from here? My new found reason for living didn’t know me – not like I needed her to.
My chest ached. It hurt so fucking much.
“Aiden, she wants to see you though. She’s pretty distressed right now. Try not to talk about things she can’t remember unless she wants to, okay? That’s what Dr. Sanders has recommended.”
A lump grew in my throat. I felt Aiden watching me. I knew he was torn between going to see Mia and being there for me. I could feel his worry, but I couldn’t ease his concerns. My whole world had just tilted on its axis, and I was now upside down.
I had no idea how the fuck I was going to get through this.
Chapter 48
Mia
As the door slowly swung open, I anxiously waited to see who it was. Since Mom had left the room I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what she’d told me. I was having such a hard time trying to understand how Jace and I could’ve gotten together. It just didn’t make any sense to me.
When I saw Aiden’s figure appear in the gap, I grinned, relieved, but of what, I wasn’t sure.
His body seemed to relax when I smiled, and he quickly closed the door and rushed to fold me into his arms. “Fuck, Mia. If you ever do that to me again, I will kill you myself.”
I laughed softly against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
He sat on the chair beside the bed, gazing at me while he held my hand. “How are you feeling?”
I nodded with a slight frown. “Yeah, okay. A little confused. It’s frustrating not being able to remember things.”
Aiden gave me a strained smile, and I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me. “Yeah, well, everybody is still trying to figure out exactly what went down. I think there’s going to be quite a few suspensions handed out.”
“Really?” That surprised me. I wondered what happened.
Aiden went on to explain bits and pieces to me. I knew there was a lot he was holding back, but I found myself preferring it that way. It sounded like it was a pretty bad fight. What I couldn’t understand was why I’d been there. My natural instinct was to stay far, far away from things like that.
We discussed the recording contract for a while too. That was another thing I couldn’t remember apparently. I wondered how much more there could possibly be. But as Aiden talked about their studio time and what they had to do, I decided it didn’t matter. I was so happy for him – happy for the whole band. They’d worked so hard for it.
When he mentioned about them going on tour with The Dark Hybrid, I got confused again, and the panic returned. Something about it seemed familiar, and all I felt was a deep sense of sadness.
“What’s the matter, baby girl?”
“I can’t believe I can’t remember you’re going on tour with The Dark Hybrid. I mean, that’s huge, Aiden. It’s exciting and…and…just…” I sighed. I couldn’t pretend anymore. “Was I really going out with Jace?”
When I looked back up at him, all I saw was sadness. “Yeah, baby girl, you were.”
I frowned, the ache of despair creeping back in. “I don’t understand how. Mom said we’d only been going out for a few weeks, but she said we went and got contraception. How is that possible?”
Aiden groaned and closed his eyes. “Mia-”
“I’m sorry. I know that’s not something you want to hear, but I need to understand.”
He nodded, opening his eyes. “Jace only told me he liked you last week, so obviously you tell Mom more than either you or Jace tell me. But in saying that, if I look back, it was obvious by how comfortable you guys seemed with each other that something had been going on between you for a lot longer than that.”
I frowned even more and shook my head with disbelief. “And you were okay with me being with him?”
Aiden laughed then. “It was weird, believe me, and don’t think I didn’t threaten to cut his balls off if he ever hurt you, but you were really happy, Mi. I’ve never seen you so...alive.”
The whole thing just seemed really strange. I just couldn’t reconcile the picture I had of Jace inside my head with what Aiden was saying.
“He’s really upset, Mi. I know you don’t want to hear that, and you probably don’t need the extra stress, but I just had to tell you that. He’s my best friend, and I don’t like to see him hurting.”
Tears stung my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Aiden just pressed his lips together, giving me a sad smile. “It’ll be okay. Everything will work out. We all just have to be positive.”
Silence settled in the room for a minute while I tried to digest everything.
After a while I heard Aiden groan. “I can’t believe you were considering sleeping with him.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “You know I’m going to have to go beat him up now, right?”
I widened my eyes. Was he serious? “Aiden!”
He laughed. “I’m just joking, Mia. I’ll wait until you’re back together, then I’ll beat him up.”
I sighed. “Leave him alone. I feel bad enough as is.”
He smirked at me a little, and I finally started to feel a little bit of normalcy returning to me. “I better go. I’m pretty sure Kaeli will be frothing at the mouth to get in here, and I need to get down to the studio to see how the guys went today.”
“Okay. Thanks for everything. I’m sorry I put you through so much stress.”
He gave me a kiss and disappeared out the door. Less than two minutes later, Kaeli barged through the door. The hesitancy morphed into a full blown smile when she saw me sitting up, watching her expectantly.
I knew if anyone knew the true story about what was going on between Jace and me – other than Jace of course, it would be Kaeli. I usually told her everything. What I wasn’t sure of, was if I was ready to hear it.
She beamed at me as she skipped over to the bed. “Yay! I’m so happy you’re awake!”
I let her squeeze me, giving her a generous squeeze back. When we pulled apart, her eyes were shining.
“You scared me so much,” she said emotionally.
“I’m sorry.” I seemed to be saying that a lot today.
She inhaled deeply as she studied me. “Your mom says you’ve got holes in your memory.”
It wasn’t a question, but she was looking for an answer. I nodded. “It’s kind of scary not being able to remember parts of your own life.”
She nodded her agreeance. “The doctor said it’ll come back to you though, right?”
“Yeah. Hopefully.” I gave her a pointed stare and took a deep breath for strength. “I need you to tell me how I could’ve possibly been with Jace.”
Kaeli’s shoulders dropped a little and she sighed. “It was so unexpected, so totally unconventional, but at the same time, so you. Honey, you’re crazy about him. So much so, you decided face your fears and start having lunch at the guys’ table.”
I gawked at her. I couldn’t believe it. Nothing could make me face that table. Nothing.
“No one knew you guys were seeing each other,” she said softly. “You made Jace keep it quiet because you said you couldn’t handle people looking at you. You should’ve seen Jace when you started dropping in to sit at his table. He was so excited.”
I shook my head with disbelief. “It j
ust sounds like you’re talking about a different person.”
“I know,” she said dramatically. “That’s because you were – are – a different person, and I say that in a positive way. You were becoming so much more comfortable being around people. You even went to see the guys play last Friday night.”
Holy shit. What? “Really?!”
“Yes! You looked hot by the way, and Jace couldn’t keep his hands off you. That was the first time most of the school saw you guys together.”
I just couldn’t fathom what she was saying. “Kaeli, Mom said we went to get contraception.”
Kaeli’s expression grew weary and she bit her lip. Cautiously, she nodded.
Shit. “Was I really thinking about sleeping with him?”
She bit her lip harder and nodded again.
I watched her guilty expression with confusion. Realization came to me slowly, but when it hit, I almost choked. “I’ve already slept with him?!”
The smile Kaeli gave me was piteous and sad. “You really like him, Mi.”
I was floored. It was like I didn’t know myself at all. How could I possibly be this person everyone was talking about? Then there was Jace. He didn’t date! Ever. In the four years I’d known him, he’d never had a girlfriend. Why would he suddenly decide I was worth changing for?
“Does he really like me?” I asked softly.
“I’m pretty sure he loves you, Mia. He was crying before.”
Shit. He was crying? This was madness. I wanted to pinch myself to see if it was all just a dream. My heart ached. I felt so bad. From what Aiden and Kaeli told me, it sounded like I was hurting him pretty bad. How was I supposed to make it better though? How was I supposed to fix it when I was as confused as hell? I couldn’t make myself remember.
“It scares me,” I whispered.
Kaeli took my hand and squeezed it tightly. “I know, but try not to think about it too much. It’ll come back to you when you’re ready. Jace will be okay. He just blames himself for not being there to protect you.”
I shook my head. I was with Jace. Shit.