Going Nowhere At Full Speed

Chloe walked out into the hallway, grabbing her cell phone out of her bag while she got into the elevator. By the time she had walked outside, she had already dialed Kris’s number and he had picked up. “Hello?” he answered.

“Hey, Kris, I’m at the hospital,” Chloe began.

“What?” he cried out. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine. Ava’s in the hospital right now. Apparently, she was in a car accident. The doctors are saying that she should be alright and able to go home tomorrow, but I still wanted to let you know that I’m here. Brent’s in with her right now talking to her, so I thought I’d give them a bit of space,” she explained as she looked up at the night sky.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Kris told her before hanging up. Chloe smiled to herself as she flipped her phone shut, waiting on Kris to arrive.

Not even ten minutes later, she saw Kris walking towards her, and she met him half-way, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. “Hey, are you okay?” Kris asked, pulling away a little bit, surprised by the sudden envelopment.

“Yeah, I’m just worried about Ava,” she told him.

“I thought you said that she’s fine and the doctors said she could go home,” Kris replied as he followed her into the hospital and towards the elevator.

“That’s what they say,” Chloe said as she pushed the up button for the elevator. “But, you never know. It’s just a little crazy, everything that’s happened. I mean, one minute I’m talking to Ava, and the next Brent gets a call saying she’s in the hospital. It just all happened so fast,” she explained as they stepped into the elevator.

“It’s okay,” Kris told her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her towards him.

“Thanks,” she smiled, laying her head on him.

The elevator doors opened, and the two of them walked out with Chloe leading the way. They walked down the hallway until they stopped in front of Ava’s room. Chloe slowly inched the door open, trying to make sure she wasn’t interrupting anything that was going on between Ava and Brent. When she realized she was clear, she swung it open the rest of the way.

She grabbed Kris’s hand in hers and walked inside, smiling to herself as she saw Brent sitting in a seat that had been pulled to the side of Ava’s bed, his hand wrapped around hers. “Hey,” Chloe said, letting the two of them know that they were no longer alone.

“Hey!” Ava said happily as she looked over to see Chloe and Kris. “Kris, you didn’t have to come,” she told him.

“Well, Chloe called,” he began.

“Oh! So, you didn’t really come because I was in the hospital. You came because your girlfriend called you. I feel so loved now,” Ava said jokingly.

“Well, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. It appears she’ll be alright. I mean, she’s joking,” Kris said, turning around to look at Chloe.

Ava looked up at Chloe. “You were worried about me?” she asked her.

“Of course I was!” Chloe exclaimed. “I mean, you were just in a car accident!”

“Yeah, but the doctors say I’ll be just fine. They’re just keeping me here as a precaution,” Ava told her.

“So, it appears that you and my brother are back to being happy,” Chloe commented.

Ava looked over at Brent, a smile forming on her face. “Yeah, we’re back to being happy. That’s one way of putting it,” she laughed.

“So, what exactly happened?” Chloe asked, wanting to know every single detail that had happened while she had been out of the room.

“We made up,” Ava said. “That’s it.”

“That’s all I get?” Chloe asked.

“That’s all you get,” Brent laughed as Chloe yawned. “Hey, Chloe, why don’t you go home and get some sleep?” he asked, looking over at his little sister. “I mean, I’m sure you’re tired from all this stuff.”

“I kind of want to stay here,” Chloe said.

“Chloe, seriously, nothing’s going to happen to me,” Ava told her. She squeezed Brent’s hand. “Plus, I think Brent’s going to stay here with me, so if something would happen, which it’s not, he would call you immediately.”

“Yeah, I’m staying here with Ava,” Brent said with a nod of his head. “But, I really do think that you should go home and get some sleep. Steeger, do you mind driving her home?” he asked Kris.

“No problem,” Kris answered.

“Guys, I really do have a bad feeling,” Chloe said.

“I’ll be fine!” Ava told her once again. “I promise you, if anything happens at all, I’ll make sure that Brent calls you right away.”

Chloe looked over at Brent. “Do you promise?” she asked.

Brent gave her a small laugh. “Yes, I promise. Just go home and get some rest. You can come back in the morning if the doctors haven’t already released her, okay?”

“Fine,” Chloe relented, looking back at Kris. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Kris nodded.

“Bye,” Chloe said, giving both Brent and Ava hugs. “I hope you get to feeling better,” she told Ava.

“I will. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Ava told her.

“Bye,” Chloe said once again as she exited the room with Kris, not noticing the blonde girl that was standing right around the corner, listening to every single word of the conversation the four of them had just had.

“Chloe,” Kris said, grabbing her hand as they got into the elevator. “She will be okay,” he reassured her, putting his hand on her cheek.

“I just have this bad feeling,” she said.

“Ava will be just fine. Brent’s not going to leave her side, and if anything happens, you’ll be the first one to know,” he said, giving her a quick kiss.

“You’re right,” she said, stepping out of the elevator, giving him a proper kiss. “Thank you. Now, can you just drive me home because I’m exhausted!” she said with a small laugh.

“Sure,” Kris told her as the two of them walked towards his car.