“I’m sorry,” I replied quietly, taking my phone back when he handed it to me.
“So now what?”
I resisted the urge to sink my teeth into my bottom lip. “What do you mean?”
What looked like a smile tugged at his lips. But it was off. Not a happy expression, more like an amused and slightly annoyed one. “I mean, do you ever want to see me again?” Before I could answer, he huffed out a strange sound. “Sorry. This is new for me, Emersyn. I’m just wondering how not to fuck this up. Or if I already have.”
I gave in and let my teeth pull at my bottom lip. His eyes fell to my mouth.
“You haven’t. What you did for me, staying with me at the hospital, taking care of me last night, you definitely haven’t fucked anything up. I think…right now…I really just need to focus on Drew. It’s all so much and I’m struggling to process everything at once.”
I prayed I didn’t sound like a dumb kid making him wish he’d never spoken to me at the carnival last night.
He nodded. “That makes sense. I’m sorry. Promise me you’ll text me and let me know how he’s doing and that you got home safely?”
I nodded. “I will. And thanks again, for…everything.”
I forced what half-hearted version of a smile I could manage at him before closing the door and heading inside the hospital’s emergency entrance.
It wasn’t until I passed through the hospital doors that I realized I’d left the hockey jersey behind.
After I updated my mom, who was angry as expected but did muster up some genuine sounding concern for Drew, I messaged Mrs. Anderson, who said Ethan could spend another night. She said the boys were having a blast camping in their backyard and my entire body heated thinking of the camping I’d done with Aiden.
According to the nurse at the ER registration desk, Drew was no longer in the ER, but had been moved to the ICU, which I knew from my mom’s visits meant Intensive Care Unit and was not an ideal place to be.
After stopping at two more nurses stations and taking one long elevator trip, I found the waiting area for Drew’s family. His mom wasn’t there but Stacy stood to greet me as soon as I arrived.
“Hey, Em.” She wrapped me in a hug, and I squeezed her back. Her hair was shorter and her previously bleach blonde locks were dyed a more natural shade of brown. Apparently, she’d made some changes while away at college. In all the chaos, I hadn’t noticed last night.
“Hey, Stace. How is he?”
She gave me a sad smile. “Awake but still kind of out of it. They’re keeping him sedated due to some swelling on his brain. They said tomorrow they’ll ween him off the sedation. His vitals are good and strong, though.”
The weight on my chest became a little lighter but didn’t go away completely.
“Do they have any idea who did this?”
“So far, no. But none of us know the password to his cell phone so we can’t figure out who he was with. You don’t happen to know it, do you?”
I didn’t, and even if I did, I probably wouldn’t give it out without Drew’s permission, even under the circumstances.
“I don’t. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Mom has been beating herself up all morning for not knowing more about his life, his friends, his, um, romantic interests.”
I arched a brow.
She made a face. “We’re not blind, Emersyn.”
“You know then? That he’s…”
Stacy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, since he was in like fifth grade and tried to steal my entire Twilight DVD collection.”
“Team Edward?”
“Yeah, I was. Pretty sure Drew is still Team Jacob. Like all the way.”
I smiled. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” I glanced around the waiting room. “Can I go back and see him?”