Crossroads

“She’ll be okay.” Brian said as he hugged Aden, Jude and I. We’ve been sitting in the waiting room at the hospital for almost twenty minutes but seemed like hours.

Matt, Katie, Lexi and Zacky sat with Brian and Jude, however Aden and I couldn’t help but pace. The nurses told us numerous times to sit down and relax until I told one of them to fuck off and leave me to my methods. Aden ended up sitting down when Jude kept reaching for her.

I stopped pacing when I got a text from Craig letting me know he was here. When I saw him walk through the main entrance doors I ran and wrapped my arms around him.

“You okay?” he asked me. I couldn’t conjure up a steady voice so I just shook my head. He kissed my forehead before trying to lead me over to the chairs. When we got close I pulled my hand away. He looked over at me in confusion.

“Craig, don’t even bother trying to get her to sit. She won’t.” Lexi said to him.

“Yeah, the nurses tried but she told them to fuck off.” Katie added.

He sat down next to Aden and took Jude when he reached for him, and begun to bounce him on his leg. A moment later I saw Monte and Robert walk in, Max trailing behind.

When I laid my eyes on him, my blood began to boil, and the look he gave me forced every drop of sanity I had left to disappear.

“Sit the fuck down Green.” I said.

“Cut the shit Joanna.” He replied.

The amount of anger that boiled over in the physical activities that took place between Lucy and I earlier could not compare to what happened to me just then. I bolted for him and slammed him into the wall.

“Do not FUCK with me you worthless sack of shit!” I spat.

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, “Joanna let it go for now.” I heard Matt say as he started to pull me away, however this pissed me off more.

I swung my fist and aimed for his head, due to Matt jolting me just a fraction to the right, I missed Max’s face and my fist collided with the concrete wall. I heard a small snap and when I looked at the wall I saw blood on the wall. I turned and headed for a vending machine when I felt two sets of hands reach for mine. I pulled it away and saw both Craig and Zacky looking at me.

“Away. I want a drink.” I said shooing them.

“Joanna, your fuckin hand!” Zacky exclaimed.

“What about it?! I have fuckin two of them!” I replied.

“It’s bleeding! And it’s swelling.” He replied.

“And? I shall live.” I replied reaching into my pocket for some change. He sighed and returned to his seat mumbling about how difficult I was.

“Anyone got a dime?” I asked.

I looked over at Craig who stood on the opposite side of me with the saddest look I have ever seen. He handed me a dime, “Please, let someone look at your hand.” He said.

“My hand isn’t my main priority right now. Lucy is.” I replied.

He took the dime back and slid it into the coin slot before pressing a selection button giving me Mountain Dew. For the short amount of time I’ve known this man, he knew me well. He handed it to me and pulled me over to a seat and made me sit down. He grabbed my hand and started to inspect it.

“Can you flex it?” he asked me. I flexed it with ease but flinched when I felt a little pain.

“It’s not broken. I probably just bruised it pretty bad.” I said to him.

“Well regardless, you cut it pretty bad.” He replied getting up. He walked over to the nurses’ station and spoke with one of the nurses. He returned a few moments later with some wipes, bandages and a tube of Neosporin. “Give me your hand.” He said.

“I’m fi-“ I started.

“Stop.” He said. When I looked at his face, the expression scared me. If I could rip my hand off I would have and tossed it to him. “Quit being stubborn.” He said as he started to wipe away the blood with one of the alcohol wipes. After that he put some Neosporin on a bandaid and put it over the knuckles that were bleeding.

“You could totally be a nurse if you music career goes down the shitter.” I said.

He chuckled, “Thank you.”

“Lucy Patterson?” we heard from the desk. I looked up and saw a doctor standing there with her file. I jumped up and ran up to him.

“Yes?” Aden, Lexi, Katie, Max and I all asked.

“Hello,” he said holding out his hand. I was the first to grab it. When he shook it he furrowed his brow at it and shook it off. “I’m Dr. Benson. Okay,” he started before going through the file he held, “Lucy apparently overdosed on OxyContin. She also had a high alcohol level.”

“I-is she okay?” Aden asked, her voice shaking.

“Well, we just pumped her stomach. So everything she consumed was removed, however the chemical effects are still active. She should be okay though. We want to monitor her for a few days. Right now she’s still sedated so for now, I’m sorry but she cannot have visitors.” He replied

“Why the fuck not?!” I exclaimed.

“Well, ma’am, she’s not even conscious.” He stated.

“I would still like to see her.” I said.

“I’m sorry ma’am. But visiting hours ended twenty five minutes ago.” he replied with an apologetic look.

I was about to say something but was pulled away by Craig and Matt, Aden being pulled away in the same fashion by Brian and Jude. Jude pulling her was adorable.

“I promise, as soon as there are any changes in her condition, someone will give you a call.” He added as we headed for the door.

We headed back to the hotel in the vans. Once we got to the hotel, I spotted Max and walked over to him. Craig grabbed for me, but I yanked my arm away and turned to him.

“I’m not going to do anything. I want to talk to him.” I said. Craig read me for a long moment, and turned when he felt Zacky’s hand on his shoulder.

“She’s telling the truth, she’s not going to do anything malicious.” Zacky told him. Craig nodded and they both joined the others.

“Max?” I said, reading his expression, he was still wary of me.

“Joanna?” he replied.

“I’m sorry about before. It’s just, Aden and Lucy are my best friends. I don’t know what I would do if I lost them. And now that you and Lucy are involved, you have grown to be of some importance to me. Earlier, I was just really angry because of Lucy’s condition, and how you’re just a susceptible to being in the same position. I don’t wanna see the both of you like this. You two need to get yourselves together.”

He stared at me for a long moment. I saw tears start to form in his eyes and I pulled him into a hug. He instantly hugged me back and started to cry into my shoulder.

“I’m scared Joanna.” He said into my shoulder.

“I know Max. It’s okay. I’m scared too.” I replied rubbing his back.

“What am I going to do? I can’t let her go through this anymore. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.”

“Well, you’re going to have to stop too. You two need to work through this together.” I replied.

He collected himself and looked down at me. I wiped a stray tear and patted his arm. “You’ll be alright, and Lucy will be alright. And when she gets out, you two can start working this out.” I smiled at him.

He smiled back and nodded. “I’m gunna try to get some sleep.” He kissed my cheek and made his way to his room.

I walked into the room that Craig and I were staying in. He changed into gym shorts, an MCR shirt I gave him, Vans, and a sweatshirt. “Wanna go get some food?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure. Just lemme get changed.” I replied.

I went through my bag and pulled out some pajamas. For some reason, I felt after the conversation I just had with Mr. Green, I’d wear the color. I pulled out a green cami, green plaid pajama pants, black, white and green DC shoes, and a Volcom hoodie. After taking my contacts out, I put on my glasses and headed to the living room.

“Hey.” Katie sighed as she bounced Alaina.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked.

“She won’t sleep. Johnny and I are at our wits end and ugh, what I would do for just four hours of sleep.” She replied.

“Well, Craig and I are going out, do you want us to take her with us?” I asked.

“Oh my God! Would you mind?!” she asked.

I giggled, “I can tell by you not being your paranoid self that your desperate. We’ll take her.”

“Oh my, thank you!” she smiled.

Katie changed her diaper and put her in a cute plaid shirt, jeans and sneakers. She gave me her sippy cup, diaper bag, and a Tinkerbell toy phone she has taken a liking to recently.

When Craig walked into the room, he looked confused when he saw me holding Alaina. “What’s goin on?”

“Katie and Johnny need a break so I said we’d take her out with us.” I replied.

He nodded and zipped up his jacket.

“You got your phone with you?” I asked. He held it up and nodded. “Okay, mines staying here to charge.” That being said we made our way to find a place to eat.

We settled for a diner about twenty minutes away. We were led to a table and given a high chair for Alaina and went about ordering. I ordered a chocolate shake and when I got it, Alaina held out her sippy cup to me. When I took off the lid I saw it was empty, so I decided to give her some of my shake. When she took a sip, her eyes went wide and then shriveled up, probably from a brain freeze, and Craig and I let the laughter ensue.

The waitress came back a moment later as I was wiping some of the shake off of Alaina’s face. “Aww, she’s adorable!” she said.

“Indeed she is.” Craig replied.

“How old is she?” she asked smiling.

“She’ll be one at the end of next month.” I replied popping a fry in my mouth.

“Well, she’s beautiful. You two did a great job.” She said.

“OH! No. Haha, she’s not ours, she is our friends spawn.” I stated.

“Oh! I am soo sorry!” she apologized.

“Don’t worry about it.” I said giving her a reassuring smile. She smiled back before tending to another table.

I took a bite of my burger when I looked over at Craig. He was staring at me. I stopped chewing for a moment and furrowed my brow. “What?” I asked.

“We would make some gorgeous babies.” He smirked.

I snorted a laugh, “Dude, shut up.”

I heard sounds come from Alaina’s toy phone. I looked at her and she was babbling into it before holding it out to me.

“Who is it?” I asked taking it from her. She babbled something to me and I laughed. “Hello?” I asked the phone.

“Hey!” Craig said holding his phone to his head. Alaina looked over at him and started to laugh.

“What’s going on?!” I asked looking at Craig.

“Not much. Just eating with a couple of gorgeous babes!” he replied poking Alaina’s tummy. She gurgled and laughed some more.

I was about to say something back when his phone actually started to ring. He looked at it and his face confused me.

“Hey Aden, what’s going on?” he asked. I handed Alaina back her phone and tried to listen in.

“Oh yeah? What did they say?” he asked. He nodded a few times. “Yeah, she’s right here….NO she’s not in the bathroom.” He added with a chuckle. Finally he handed me the phone.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Hey chicken baby! Lucy called! SHE LIVES!” she said in a very majestic tone.

“Oh thank God.” I said.

“Yeah, we can go see her tomorrow. She kept telling me how sorry she was. I told her that you and I are going to have a conversation with her. Max too. And she said she’s sorry about your hand.” She said. I flexed my hand at the reminder.

“She’s okay, that’s all that matters right now.” I said.

“Indeed, but hey, I’m gunna get some shut eye. I’ll see you in the AM.” She said before hanging up. I handed the phone back to Craig and sighed.

“Got a little piece of mind now?” he asked stealing one of my fries.

“Yes. I do.” I said feeling relieved.

“Well, Miss Alaina here looks as if she’s getting a bit droopy eyed. Maybe we should head back.” He said. I nodded and waited for the check.

The ride home was pleasant. We listened to a mix CD and Alaina fell asleep. I carried her to the room and placed her in her pack-n-play. I headed to mine and Craig’s room and got my toothbrush and toothpaste to tend to my teeth, after all was done, I returned to the room.

I took off my hoodie and tossed it on top of my bags and kicked off my shoes before crawling into bed. When I finally got comfortable with Craig wrapped around me, I noticed something out of the ordinary.

“Craig?” I said.

“Mhm?” he said kissing my shoulder.

“Uhm, are you naked?” I laughed. His response was a nip at my neck. A major turn on which he found out after a very short time.

He climbed on top of me and slid my pants off with no problem whatsoever. He then proceeded on letting his hands roam freely as he kissed me. After a very short time, things escalated and before I knew it, we lye side by side panting and covered in each other’s sweat.

I rolled over and rested my head on his chest. He kissed the top of my head as he wrapped his arms around me.

“Best time I’ll ever have in Seattle.” He said jokingly. I smacked his arm and laughed.

It didn’t take long for him to drift off into a calm sleep. His steady breathing and heartbeat in my ear made it next to impossible to stay awake, that is however until the realization hit me.

There was no protection involved.

My eyes shot open and I sat right up. I bolted to the bathroom and took a quick shower, making me feel better for some odd reason. While inside I pondered about my menstrual cycle. I kept doubting for the sake of my sanity that I was not in any way, shape or form able to get pregnant right now. I stepped out of the shower and got dressed in my pajamas before heading to the kitchen for a drink.

When I walked out of the room, I saw Aden sitting on one of the couches reading the first book of the Infernal Devices series. She sat her glasses on top of her head and smirked at me.

“Are you two done?” she asked. I felt my face go red. “I see that I’ve embarrassed you and can’t help but to rub it in more so, just so you know you were loud as fuck. Uhm, you sounded like you were having fun, and uhm, God Bless America!” she said before getting up and heading to her room, laughing the whole way there.

I normally would have laughed with her or defended myself, but under the circumstances I couldn’t.

“Fuck.” Was all I could say as I stood in the kitchen, wondering what my future could now hold.