“Only two people are supposed to be back there at a time and both Camille and my aunt Linda are in there with my mom now. You know we’re rebels. They should be coming out soon though. I need to run home and shower and grab Drew some clothes for whenever they let him come home.”
I hated to ask her, but I needed a favor. “Um, is there any possible way you’d be willing to run by my house and check on my mom? I stayed at a friend’s place last night and haven’t been home.”
“Of course.”
I’d just finished giving her the code to our front door when the doors opened, and Camille came out with red eyes. Drew’s mom followed close behind her.
Camille hugged Stacy, then me. As she did, she broke down in sobs all over again.
“I didn’t know,” she mumbled over her tears. “Last night when you were calling looking for him, I had no idea. He told me he had plans and that was it.”
I nodded. “That’s more than he told me.”
His mom hugged me and then spoke quietly with Stacy for a few minutes.
“I’m so sorry about last night,” Camille said, wiping her eyes. “Derek and I got into it. I looked everywhere for you but then the carnival was closing, and I couldn’t get through to your phone.”
“It’s okay,” I told her. Thanks to Aiden, it truly was. “I found a ride.”
“Did you drive here? Drew’s mom said you were with a guy last night, and um, those are the same clothes you had on yesterday.”
A blush crept across my cheeks.
“I ran into a guy from one of the classes I took at Southeastern this summer. He drove me here last night and today.”
“Do you need a ride home or is he here somewhere?”
“I had him drop me off. A ride home would be awesome.”
Stacy gestured to us and told me I could go back and see Drew now. His aunt joined us in the waiting room and she and Drew’s mom began another round of sobbing and hugging.
Stacy gave me her visitor’s badge and I stuck it on my shirt. “Pass through the double doors then go right. It’s laid out like a square with the nurses’ station in the middle. He’s in the back right corner.”
Following her directions, I made my way to the curtained off room with Drew’s name on the dry erase board. Just as I started to enter, a petite nurse with close cropped dark hair stopped me.
“Sorry, hon,” she said. “Visiting hours are eight to ten and one to three in ICU. He’s about to head down for an MRI anyways.”
The words seized my heart like a fist. I checked my phone. It was half past ten. “Um, okay. So, I can come back at one?”
She glanced around as if making sure no one was listening. “It’s supposed to be family only back here. You his girlfriend?”
I shook my head before I realized it might have been better to let her assume. Camille being with his mom and aunt probably helped. I mentally berated myself for not getting here earlier. “A friend. Best friend.”
“Well, best friend,” she said candidly, “I’m about to get off and I can’t promise the charge nurse on dayshift is going to let you back here. Unless you’re a close relative. But I’ll be back tomorrow at eight if you want to come back then.”
I nodded. “Got it. Thank you.”
Dejected, I trudged back to the waiting room. Stacy was already gone, and Drew’s mom was on her phone updating someone on his condition.
Camille stood. “You ready to go?”
I wasn’t, but if I couldn’t see him, I might as well head home deal with my mom. I couldn’t avoid her forever.
“Yeah. Guess so.”
“I really am sorry about last night,” Camille said for the tenth time as we left the hospital. “Derek got into a car with Amberly Mills and I lost control. I followed them, and I know it was dumb, but he always denies everything. I guess I wanted to see the truth for myself.”
Derek didn’t take Camille seriously enough to consider what he did cheating on her. Drew and I both knew that, but she had trouble accepting it.