Castle de la Rosé

Chapter Twenty

I can't even explain how scared I was when I realized I had pushed Schuyler away. I ran through the doors to the cafeteria in a blind panic, only wanting to find my boyfriend. 

 'Where is he?' I thought. I didn't know where to go first. Would he go to our room? To hide in the bathrooms? He wouldn't run away, would he?

'Schuyler,' I prayed. 'Please let me find you.' All of a sudden, I felt a pull deep within me and knew exactly where to go. I don't know how I knew, but there was no question in my mind where he was.

I ran full tilt down the hall and practically flew up the stairs, not even pausing as people jumped out of my way at the last second, swearing at me. As I finally ran up the stairs to the attic and saw my boyfriend curled up in a ball in the corner. My heart dropped and suddenly I was speechless. 'What could I possibly say to make this okay?' 

Part of me--a big part, admittedly-- wanted to turn around and give up right there, but I knew that Schuyler deserved better than that. "Schuyler, Schuyler baby, I'm so sorry," I pleaded, kneeling behind him and pulling him into my arms.

Schuyler tried to jerk out of my arms, but I refused to let him go. "You don't want me!" Schuyler yelled, turning towards me and beating his hands on my chest. "You're just like everyone else! Stop pretending to care!"

"I do care," I murmured without thinking. I flushed, but couldn't bring myself to take it back. After all, I knew that every word of it was true.

Schuyler relaxed and laid against my chest without another  word. I was kind of confused. What does this mean? Does he forgive me, or is he just gearing up to make another escape attempt?

"At least I'm not a female werewolf."

What the fuck? That was all I could think. I couldn't help laughing at the absurdity of the situation. I buried my face in his hair, laughing at my ridiculous werewolf. "Schuyler, I care so much. I can't put into words how much..." 'I love you,' I finished silently. "I'm sorry I yelled at you for fighting. I don't want to see you get hurt," I added. 

The thought of Schuyler bloody and bruised, trying to protect me...It just felt wrong. I'm supposed to care for him. Cant' he understand that I need to keep him safe? He's already done so much for me. I'm not worth it.

Schuyler interrupted my chain of thought in a way that only Schuyler can. We spent the rest of the afternoon, talking and laughing. I couldn't remember ever feeling so happy, so at ease with a person in my whole life.

Finally, I scooped Schuyler up into  my arms. "We need to head back to our room. You made me skip school again. Bad influence," I said waving a finger at him disapprovingly. 

Schuyler snapped at my finger, playfully.

"If you're going to bite things I put in your face, I'm not very enthusiastic about our future...activities," I said, raising an eyebrow.

Schuyler giggled, turning an hilarious shade of red. 

I smirked back at him and said, "Let's go." I held him in my arms as I got to my feet, before setting him down gently.

Schuyler pouted. "You won't carry me? I see what kind of boyfriend you are."

"I can't carry you everywhere. You're going to get fat if you just lay around all the time. You don't want to get fat, do you?" I poked him in the thigh and laughed when Schuyler sprang away from me.

"I am not fat! And don't make me jiggle!" Schuyler slapped my hand, which only made me laugh harder.

Schuyler started to laugh too, before stopping abruptly. "Elian, you're bleeding."

"What?

"Your wing. Let me..." Schuyler paused. "I mean, is it okay if I touch it?"

"Yeah," I said after a long pause.

Schuyler approached me carefully, like I was a scared animal. He gently unwrapped the bandages on my wing. Gently, he touched around the wounds, apologizing when I sore as he touched a sore place.  "It's getting really swollen around the wounds and they've definitely started bleeding again."

"I was supposed to go to the hospital after the fight, but..."

"I had a fit?" Schuyler suggested.

"It was my fault," I said. "But, if it's alright with you, I'd like to go to the hospital now."

"Yeah, of course." Schuyler was looking really concerned. He motioned for me to go down the stairs first. "Lead the way."

We walked to the hospital, all the way down on the first floor. Schuyler was looking more and more worried. Now that the bandages were off, I could feel the blood oozing down my wing and the waves of heat rolling off my wing.

The moment we walked in, a nurse I didn't recognize stormed over to me. "So you're here again," she snipped. "What did you do to yourself  now?" Obviously she knew me though. 

I extended my wing slightly to show her. 

The nurse sighed. "I'll send someone to stitch you up. It looks like you've left it for awhile and it's going to get infected if you don't let us take care of it." She waved me toward a bed.

I sat down with Schuyler sitting at my side. Another nurse appeared a moment later. "I heard about the fight you had earlier. It sounded pretty impressive," she said. She seemed like one of those people who were chipper no matter what was happening.

"Hm," I murmured, without interest. 

Schuyler elbowed me in the side, softly. "Be polite," he hissed. 

The nurse smiled continuing to flit around me patching up my wing. After a few moments, she said, "I'm afraid you'll have to stay here tonight. I want to keep an eye on your wing. You shouldn't have left it without treatment for so long."

"Can I stay?" Schuyler said.

"No sex," the nurse replied instantly.

"Who said we are going to have sex? And that didn't answer my question." Schuyler said, blushing slightly.

It was my turn to elbow Schuyler. "You don't want to have sex in a hospital room?" I asked.

At the sight of Schuyler's blush, I wanted to cackle evilly. 

"Yes, you can stay, but I expect you to be the good influence," the nurse said, trying to repress a smile.

"We're all screwed then," I said, laughing. 

Schuyler rolled his eyes and stretched out on the bed.

The nurse finished wrapping up my wing and left, with a "Be good, you two."

"Yeah, be good, Schuyler," I laughed, laying down next to my boyfriend, pulling him close to me. Schuyler just laughed.