Kiss Me Like you Did -IGHS Sequel-

‘Move out of the way guys,’ Landon said officiously, gently elbowing Ethan and Noah to the side so he could get access to the door. He extended the master key towards the lock, but before he could insert it, the door handle twitched and a second later the door swung open, revealing a sleepy looking Ryan standing there, blinking in the light of the hallway, confusion etched on his face.

‘What’s going on?’ he asked groggily, rubbing one eye and then pushing his hair out of his face.

Landon looked sceptical, made to push his way into the room, but Ryan stepped to the side to stop him.

‘If you don’t mind?’ he added, as though finishing his original question.

‘Why did it take you so long to answer the door?’ Landon asked, crossing his arms over his chesty officiously. I was reminded of being questioned by the Gardai in the airport two years ago by his tone. He’d make a really good cop if the whole engineering thing didn’t work out.

‘I was asleep,’ Ryan answered, his voice becoming clearer as he took in the scene outside his bedroom door; Ethan and Noah glaring at him slightly, Johnny biting his lip, Landon’s interrogation voice, me looking terrified, and, now, Jacob and Kelly running down the hall, Kelly with tears streaming down her face. Not to mention the growing crowd of strangers emerging from their bedrooms, looking confused and annoyed.

‘Dude, I practically knocked down the door,’ Ethan told him flatly. ‘It would have woken the dead.’

Ryan’s eyes shifted at his words, and Landon shoved him out of the way, switching the light on as he did so. Ryan tried to grab his arm but Landon wrenched it away and turned around, pushing him out of the room into the hall, where Ethan grabbed him by the shoulders on impulse.

‘Keep them both out here,’ he murmured, and I frowned in confusion until I felt Johnny gently but firmly grab me by the shoulders.

Landon walked further into the room, out of my line of sight, and I noticed Jacob’s grip tightening on Kelly’s hand as well.

‘Hello?’ I heard Landon mutter from inside the room, and thought for a moment that that was an odd way to wake somebody up until it was followed by, ‘I need an ambulance at Cherrytree Hall immediately...’

Without even realising I was doing it I started struggling violently against Johnny’s hold on me, and another pair of arms – Noah’s – encircled my waist as Kelly started shouting and struggling against Jacob.

‘Right, that’s the one... Okay...’

I broke free of their hold on me and darted into the room before they could catch me again, in time to see Landon tossing the phone onto the bed as he straddled Jake and started CPR. Jake was laying on the bed, unnaturally pale, even for him, not moving. His eyes were closed and his body limp.

Suddenly I was by the bed, on my knees, grabbing Jake’s hand, and a weird, unnatural keening sound was coming from my throat.

I felt Kelly next to me before I saw her in my peripheral vision; her free hand reached for mine as the other grasped Jake’s as well. In the distance, we heard sirens.

-------------------------------------------

Jake’s POV

Black.

Blue and red, flashing.

Black.

Noise. Lots of noise.

Black. Calm.

Really bright white. Blinding. Ouch.

Calm.

Taylor’s POV

I sat numbly, the images flashing through my mind.

The flowers.

The crying.

The mouths moving around empty words of comfort I couldn’t hear over the rushing in my ears and the pain in my heart.

The rain pelting off Jake’s coffin as it’s lowered into the ground, the priest throwing dirt in on top of it.

Kelly’s frame shuddering under the weight of sorrow to large for her to bear.

The sandwiches; soft white bread with ham and butter.

I shook my head, trying to dispel them. Thinking like that wouldn’t help anyone.

Slowly the images cleared and the hospital waiting area materialized before my eyes again, the feeling of Kelly’s hand clasping mine tightly anchoring me to the present. Every now and again her chair would shake violently as another sob tore through her but for the most part; she was staring straight ahead, numbly, her eyes unfocused.

I elbowed her gently, and she turned to look at her, her pupils growing as she too was brought back to the here and now.

‘Don’t think like that,’ I muttered, knowing full well she’d been seeing exactly the same images I had.

‘What should I think about instead?’ she asked, but not in a mean way. She genuinely needed to be distracted.

‘What about imagining all the different things you could do to Ryan Chambers if you got him alone in a room for twenty minutes?’ I suggested darkly. Her hand clenched involuntarily in mine and I saw the anger well up in her eyes.

‘Don’t tempt me,’ she muttered, looking away again.

Jake had been in the emergency room for over an hour now, having been rushed straight past all the non-fatal gunshot wounds, the kid with a pencil sticking out of his eye, the woman with a broken foot. We had no idea what was going on.

I had sat in the back of the ambulance as EMTs took over where Landon had left off, inserting tubes and continuing CPR as I cried and held his hand and tried not to get in the way. Following us, Ethan had driven Landon, Noah, and Johnny while Jacob had brought Kelly in his car. Landon was stalking about officiously now trying to find out what was going on, but the nurses were being stubbornly silent and there didn’t seem to be any doctors on the floor.

Eventually, Landon came and landed beside me on the empty chair, taking my other hand comfortingly. It was nice that everybody wanted to look after me – I’d been offered tea and coffee once every two minutes since we’d gotten here – but the fact that both of my hands were being held and neither of them were by Jake felt inherently wrong.

‘Where’s Ryan?’ I asked Landon quietly; I didn’t want Kelly to hear.

‘Yeah,’ she said anyway, leaning over me to look up at Landon with big blue eyes. I knew what she was up to; I’ve seen her use her powers of seduction to get what she wants countless times. ‘Where is he, Landon?’

Landon swallowed. ‘I think he’s being held in the student centre. Campus security will wait with him until the police get there.’

‘Oh really? Hey Jacob?’ she turned her attention to the twin, fixing him with the same beguiling stare. ‘Will you drive me back to college real quick?’

But Jacob, having had to guard himself mentally and emotionally against Kelly for the best part of a year now, just smiled, said, ‘Sure,’ and made a face at us behind her back so we knew they’d be driving around aimlessly for a half hour or so before Kelly would insist on coming right back here.

‘What’s taking so long?!’ I exploded as soon as they’d left.

‘Jake Chaplain?’ a voice said as soon as the words were out of my mouth, and we all swivelled our heads towards the sound. A short, balding man with little round glasses was standing at the top of the room, peering around impatiently.

‘We’re with Jake Chaplain,’ Landon spoke up as we made our way towards him.

‘He’s stable. Sleeping. He’ll be fine in a few days.’

‘But what happened?’ Ethan demanded, while I peered around the doctor futilely as if Jake would be standing there, grinning sheepishly, with his arm in a cast or something.

‘He had an anaphylactic reaction to...’ The doctor paused to study his chart. ‘Nuts.’

I frowned. Jake has been allergic to peanuts for as long as I can remember but how would Ryan have known that?’

‘Can we see him?’ Landon asked, noticing my anxiety.

‘Family only,’ the doctor said, raising an eyebrow. He knew we weren’t family. ‘So which of you is gonna pretend to be his brother?’

‘That’d be me,’ I said anxiously.

‘Let’s go.’ The doctor put his hand on my shoulder and steered me through some identical hallways, eventually pushing me gently into a room to my right. Inside, Jake lay sleeping on a hospital bed, looking significantly better than the last time I’d seen him but still worryingly unconscious.

‘When will he wake up?’ I whispered, stopping at the doorway, scared to go any further inside.

‘As soon as the anaesthetic wears off; we’re not keeping him under. Could be anything from five minutes to an hour.’

‘Okay,’ I said, in the same quiet voice.

‘Someone will be back to check on him shortly,’ the doctor continued and then I was alone in the room with Jake.

Tentatively, and biting my lip, I walked across the room and looked down at him. Even though the doctor had said he’d be fine, it was a relief to see his chest rising and falling regularly as he breathed.

‘Wake up,’ I told him, as tears began to trickle down my cheeks again. ‘Wake up right now.’

Nothing.

I took his hand and squeezed it so hard I knew it would have hurt if he’d been awake. ‘Wake up right now,’ I repeated, ‘or I’ll never kiss you again.’

Still nothing.

I reached out with my other hand and shook him gently. Then not so gently.

‘Dude,’ he muttered groggily. ‘I just had a near death experience. Be gentle.’

‘Jake!’ I shouted, shocked. I couldn’t even react properly, I was rooted to the spot.

His eyes opened slowly and he focused on me, a big, dopey smile spreading across his face. ‘Hi.’

I stared at him wordlessly, my heart hammering.

‘Are you gonna kiss me here or what?’ he asked, still smiling.

‘No,’ I said angrily, and thumped him on the chest. He coughed violently.

‘What was that for?!’

‘Scaring me!’

‘I didn’t do it on purpose!’

‘What the fuck were you doing eating peanuts?! We thought Ryan had poisoned you!’

Jake frowned, still rubbing his chest distractedly. ‘I didn’t eat any peanuts.’

‘Well what then? A Snickers? Satay?’

‘I’m not an idiot Taylor, I know not to eat that shit.’

‘Well then how did you have an allergic reaction to them?’ I demanded.

Jake raised an eyebrow. ‘You already said it.’

‘... Ryan?’

Jake’s POV

Christ. For someone so cute and cuddly-looking, Taylor has a serious arm on him. My chest was radiating pain throughout my body.

‘Bingo,’ I said, rubbing my chest.

‘Oh. Sorry,’ he said, his face crumbling in contrition. His hand reached out and laced his fingers through mine over my chest. ‘But how did he know about your allergy?’

I shrugged; or did a fair approximation of it from my prostrate position on the bed. ‘He’s a med student. And I doubt I went the entire year without it coming up at some point.’

‘But what happened?’

‘I can’t really remember it very clearly... I know I got back to the room after him, he was already there. And he just started talking to me, pretty normally. I thought it was weird, but I went with it. I know it was stupid but I thought maybe he wanted a truce or something, you know? And I knew that would be easier on you. Then he came and sat on my bed beside me and I remember thinking that was even weirder, but I sort of shrugged it off. Then he kissed me.’

I saw Taylor’s eyes widen and his hand clenched mine painfully. ‘He did what?’ he asked in a strangled voice, and I tilted my head.

‘Tay, are you jealous?’ I asked teasingly, trying to lighten the mood.

‘Yes,’ he said flatly. ‘And I know exactly where Ryan is and I’m going to go kill him, painfully and slowly, as soon as you’re asleep again.’

‘Anyway,’ I went on, ignoring him. ‘I knew as soon as he put his tongue in my mouth-’

‘Why didn’t you pull away?’ Taylor demanded, and I could see in his eyes he was about to thump me again.

‘You think I wasn’t trying to? I was pushed up against the wall at this point. He has bruises on his chest from me thumping him, I bet. Much like I will have from you thumping me,’ I added warningly, and his hand unclenched as he made a guilty face.

‘Anyway, as soon as he put his tongue in my mouth I could taste the peanuts. It was weird; I can still recognise the taste even though I haven’t had them since I was like, five. So then I tried to push him off even harder, and I tried to tell myself not to swallow, but I couldn’t help it. Then I was gasping for breath and I could feel my throat closing up and I don’t really remember anything after that except for colours and a lot of blackness.’

Taylor was staring at me. I waited patiently for him to say something; declarations of undying love, promises to never leave my side, etc, but instead he came out with, ‘This is all my fault.’ Which was something of a let-down.

‘Why?’ I asked, sucking back in my bottom lip after it tried it’s damnedest to stick out in a pout.

‘If it wasn’t for me you’d never even have met Ryan!’

‘Oh right, yeah. Cos you were in charge of room placements in Cherrytree Hall this year,’ I said, rolling my eyes.

‘Well, okay. No. But he wouldn’t have wanted to hurt you if it wasn’t for me.’

‘Ryan’s a sociopath. That’s not your fault.’

‘I’m the stresser!’

‘You watch too much Criminal Minds,’ I told him. ‘This isn’t your fault.’

‘Of course it is. If it wasn’t for me-’

‘Taylor,’ I said sternly, squeezing his hand. ‘This is not your fault. This is all on Ryan. Your only fault in this is having shit taste in men.’ I smirked, hoping to cheer him up, and I definitely noticed a quirk in the corner of his mouth.

‘But-’

‘No. Shh.’

Taylor clamped his mouth shut and swallowed.

I smiled. ‘Better. Now stop bringing the mood down and get in here with me.’

I shifted over towards the bars on the far side of the bed and Taylor climbed in beside me, resting his head on my chest and I wrapped an arm around him loosely.

‘I like how I almost died,’ I said, ‘and yet I’m comforting you.’

‘Shut up,’ he mumbled. ‘If you’d died it would have been all over for you. I’d have had to spend the rest of my life wandering lonely as a cloud...’

‘Wordsworth,’ I smirked. ‘Nice.’

Taylor turned his face towards me and kissed me once on the lips. ‘I love you,’ he whispered.

‘I should certainly hope you. I almost died for you.’

‘Will you stop saying that! It’s scary.’

‘I love you too.’

‘That’s better.’