I Don't Love You, Like I Did Yesterday

Lex's P.O.V.

My eyes stung at the harsh light on the hallway of Holy Redeemer Hospital's hallways of the ER. I blinked a few times as everything came back into focus and stretched my legs before I stood up. I rubbed my back and tried to get the stiffness from the hard plastic to leave my sore body. My thighs still ached in protest from the running I had done yesterday. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair and zipped my black hoodie all the way up before looking into the room across from me. The lights were off, and the light spilling in from the hallway only reached as far as the foot of the bed, and even that was cut off by my.shadow as I walked forward to lean against the threshold. I leaned my head on the wood and frowned at the steady beeping of the heart rate monitor.

My dad had a heart attack.

When I got to the house, I called the last number on the caller I.d., which happened to he the hospital. My father must have been so out of it he thought it was ten years ago and that I didn't have a cell phone, and that id actually be home, let alone in the city to pick up the landline. I closed my eyes and remembered running in here in my soaking wet clothes and yelling at the doctors, demanding to see my dad like a lunatic. I shook my head and stepped back out into the hallway and made a right turn to where the vending machines were located downtown the hall. I shoved a five in and got a Pepsi and a different variety of chips, since I had eaten in two days.

Adam and Ronnie had no way of knowing where we were, since I had cleared the call log on the house phone, and because I had dropped my phone back at the venue. I walked back over to the small room my father had all to himself, thankfully. I went all the way in this time, and sat down in the dark corner, the light from the hall covered my feet and legs as I sat down in another hard chair. I didn't do it on purpose, clearing the I.d. like that, but it
didn't make a difference anyway. Adam probably wouldn't have checked to begin with. A few minutes into my staring at my father's silhouette and my mom wondering, I felt myself starting to doze off. Before I could fall into a real sleep, I heard footsteps coming down the hall rapidly, along with loud male voices. I recognized the slightly raspy one as Ronnie's, and the deep one as my brother. A surge of panic went through me. I really didn't wish to see either of them, definitely not until my dad had woken up. They had him on aspirin and pain killers for his heart and he
still hadn't roused from his sleep just yet. Tears stung my eyes already as the door opened all the way, letting more light from the hallway flood into the dark, quiet room.

"Right this way." I heard the doctor say quietly before I took a deep breath and crossed my legs so that they were covered by the darkness. Maybe I'd get lucky and they wouldn't notice me.

"Lex?" I heard Adam's sneakers step lightly onto the the tiled floors as he walked in. I could see him, but he probably couldn't see me. I wasn't sure. There was a long pause. I was debating on whether or not I should pretend I was asleep. He'd probably know I was faking it, or try to wake me up. I ended the silence.

"Yeah?" I croaked. My voice sounded horrible, like it hadn't been used in years.

"I just talked to the doctor." He sat down on the side of my father's bed about two feet across from me. "They think he's gonna wake up within the next day or so." My head shot up at his words, though I'm sure now that he couldn't see because he didn't go any deeper into details.

"And...?" It sounded rude, but I didn't care.

"They said he'll most likely be fine. But he'll have to relax for a while and rest. And he'll probably have to start eatin' better." Obviously, neither did he.

"Okay." I let out a breath I forgot I was holding.

"Ronnie came with me." He said after another pause.

"I know."

"I called Jesse and told him..." Adam said quieter than usual.

"Thanks." I blinked and waited for him to go on.

"And umm... I might've uh..." he figgited on the bed and took off his Raiders snapback and ran a hand through his dirty blonde locks. He looked away from me quickly, probably having sensed even through the darkness I was surrounded by, I was staring at him intensely. Not even the sound of Ronnie bitching at someone on the phone echoing off of the hallway walls outside distracted me.

"Might've..?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Called your mother..." He said so quietly, I was surprised I could hear him.

"You did what?" I ground out in between my teeth and leaned forward into the ray of light. He looked up at me, and gulped when be saw the look on my face.

"What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. You." I glared so angrily at him, that he shot up off of the bed. My father's snoring was the only noise filling the room after I stood up as well, almost reaching his tall stature.

"Lex! Things weren't looking good! The doctors had almost lost him and I know she still has stuff at the house from all those years ago so I looked her up and-"

"BASTARD." I cut him off and chucked my un-opened bottle of soda at him. He threw his arms up and leapt backward, crashing back into some extra hospital equipment as the bottle hit the floor and started sputtering foam, threatening to explode. Just like me.

I saw red. My teeth clenched together so hard I thought my jaw would break and my fists tightened so hard my nails threatened to break the skin of my palms. My breathing came out jagged and I didn't even flinch when he screamed in retaliation.

"You fucking phsyco! It's not that big of a deal-"

"Not that big of a deal?! I haven't seen her in ten years! For a good fucking reason! You wanna se physco?! I'll kill you!" And with that I took off towards him, but he was fast. Right before I could wrap my hands around his throat, he took off out of the door, tripping somewhat and slamming into the closed door of the room across from the one this had all started in.

I was barely thrown off, and launched myself out after him, though not as frantic so I wasn't all over the place. The tiredness and soreness in my muscles had been replaced with adrenaline and fury. I was fucking livid.

Apparently all this noise had finally caught Ronnie's attention and he turned around and pulled his iPhone away from his ear. He looked at us slightly perplexed after we came barreling out of the room from his spot a few feet away. Adam shouted something close to an apology back at me as I he took off at full speed down the hallway. I didn't comprehend what he said in my hell bent rage, I just growled and threw myself after him. Obviously Ronnie hadn't turned around fast enough to register what was going on enough to step out of the way, and I can't remember for the life of me which one of us knocked him over, but that he went down like a sack of bricks and shouted something I didn't catch as I pursued my brother down the hallway, he made turns and tried to throw me off, but I kept on going. After passing by some nurses, and almost knocking over a few pissed off interns, I heard another set up foot steps behind me. I ignored it, just like everything else.

"What the hell is going on?!" He shouted as he followed us closer to the lobby.

"Lex! Relax! She didn't even answer!" My brother shouted over his shoulder to try to calm me down. I relentlessly pushed forward, getting as close as I possibly could. Even though I was still coming at him, I felt a small surge of relief flow through me. One of my outstretched steps caused the tip of my Jordan's to clip the heel of his own. My brother was usually never one to back down from a fight, and even though we had fist fought a hundred times, he was still sensitive about hitting me fullforce, which probably explained why he was darting away from me. After my sneaker hit his, I threw my weight forward and felt his leg cave from under him. Everything went so quickly that my mind must've skipped a beat, because I had registered was Ronnie's worried shouts behind us as our bodies landed on the shiny floor with two audible smacks, and we slid for about five feet.

"I said she didn't answer! Please! Calm the fuck down!" He winced as he tried to sit up and slide further away from. I couldn't exactly blame him.

"I don't fucking care. It doesn't matter. You know there are reasons she's gone. Leave the past the fuck alone. It's none of your damn business to fucking begin with." I stood up and glared at him fiercely as I heard Ronnie's footsteps and the chains on his belt bouncing together as he finally caught of with us. Adam returned my glare, obviously getting tired of being nice and apologizing while I wasn't calming down. But I could also tell he'd let it slide this far since he knew what he did was wrong. Dead Wrong.

I shoved my phone into my back pocket that had fallen out of his during the scuffle, wondering where he got it since I had distinctly remembered dropping it somewhere in Jersey yesterday. I ignored the nagging question and walked away from them, only shaking my head when Ronnie shouted for me. After all, I wanted to at least show I heard him.

"Where are you going?" He asked loud enough to reach me. I stopped just before the lobby and took a breath. I looked over my shoulder with a blank expression at Ronnie.

"Call me when he wakes up. I'm gonna go home and clean up the mess he fucking started." I said loud enough for them to catch before I turned around and went on my way. I heard Ronnie yell to be careful and Adam apologize again.

My nerves calmed a little bit when I stepped out of the automatic glass doors of the entrance to the hospital into the night air. I looked up as I fished out a cigarette from the pack in my front pocket. I snapped my zippo shut after lighting it and walked through the parking lot to my car. I pulled my keys out of my pocket as I got closer to the mustang and hit the keypad to unlock it and disarm the car alarm.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a guy seeming to be in his mid twenties sitting on the trunk of a '91 Trans Am parked next to my own car with choppy brown hair and tattoos covering just about everywhere his gray v-neck did not and jeans did not. I didn't spare a second glance at the guy as I made my way in between our cars to the driver's door. Again, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed him staring at me as I unlocked the door.

"Hey, what's the ru-"

"Not interested." I stated sharply and reached for the handle, not even sparing him a whole glance as I heard him get off of the back of he car.

"Is that anyway to greet me, princess?" The man sauntered closer and I froze before slowly turning around. My heart thudded in my ears when I took in the sight before me. My wide eyes must've seemed funny to him, either that or the fact the I had carelessly dropped my keys, because he smirked before crossing his arms arrogantly.

"So, how's Duke?"

Oh shit...