8
1244 Words
LEXI'S POV
"Chase, we're not kids anymore. You can't fool me like you used to," I replied sharply.
No matter how serious he looked, I wouldn't believe him. With how well he used to pretend before, he wouldn't be able to trick me now. Besides, the only reason he's acting this way is that he needs something from me. And no, I wouldn't give in.
We both looked at my phone when it suddenly rang. I glanced at it, frowning slightly when I saw it was Savina calling.
"You can answer that. Maybe it’s important," Chase said seriously.
I didn’t bother standing up to step outside to answer the call.
"Sav."
"Lexi, where are you? It’s James," Savina answered, crying.
"Why? What happened?" I asked, now feeling nervous.
I knew something was wrong. Savina wouldn't call just to pester me for a story. She was crying, which made me even more anxious.
"James got into an accident."
Tears started falling immediately at what I heard. I didn’t even care about Chase anymore. I just stood up and rushed out of the restaurant.
"How is he? Where is he?" I asked Savina, panic rising in my voice.
"He’s at Perpetual Medical Hospital. Please come here, Lexi," she replied.
I didn’t say anything further. I put my phone in my bag and practically ran to the parking lot to get to my car. My hands were shaking as I fumbled for my car keys.
When I finally found them, I pulled them out, but I was nearly startled when someone grabbed the keys from my hand.
"What the—"
"You can't drive in that state. Let me drive," Chase said.
"I can handle it, Chase," I replied through tears, realizing he'd followed me all the way here.
"No. Which hospital?"
I didn’t argue anymore, as getting to the hospital quickly was more important.
"Perpetual Medical Hospital," I answered briefly, walking around to the other side of the car.
We both got in, and he started driving. I just stared out the car window. The hospital was a bit far, and I hoped we wouldn't get stuck in traffic.
"You really love him," Chase broke the silence.
"How did you know?" I asked, surprised.
"I heard everything. Your phone was on the loudspeaker earlier," he replied casually.
I didn’t say anything else. No matter how angry I was at James, the truth that I loved him and was extremely worried about him still took precedence.
After a while, we finally reached the hospital.
"I won’t go inside with you, Lexi," Chase said seriously.
"I’m sorry, Grey. Just take my car so you can go home," I replied.
"Are you sure?" he asked, incredulously.
"Yeah. It’s hard to find a ride here. You might have trouble getting home. I have your sister’s number, I’ll just call her tomorrow for my car," I answered seriously.
"Okay, fine," he agreed.
"Grey, thank you," I said sincerely.
He just nodded, and I ran into the hospital. I also called Savina to meet me here, and when she saw me, she paused for a moment.
"Wow, Lexi. Were you in the middle of a date? You look beautiful," she commented.
I didn’t respond to her comment. "Where is he?"
Savina grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the E.R. James' parents were there, as well as my dad and Shiela.
"Where have you been?" my dad immediately asked.
"Papa, how is he?" I asked through my tears.
"The doctor hasn’t come out yet, so we don’t know," my dad replied.
I walked over to James' mom, but I received a slap from her. Savina and Papa quickly came to my side.
"Auntie," I sobbed.
"You’re the reason my son got into an accident. Shiela told me everything," she said angrily.
I looked at Shiela in disbelief. She stood by James' mother.
"James opened up to me. You rejected him because you told him you loved someone else. James couldn’t accept that because he’s been courting you for so long," Shiela continued.
I shook my head slowly, my tears falling continuously. I didn’t know how to defend myself, since they already believed my clever sister.
"Before James got into the accident, he called me and said he was coming to see you. I told him you weren’t home, but he said he would look for you anywhere to talk to you. James was drunk and crying. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen. And here we are, he got into an accident because he was looking for you," Shiela added.
"How could you do this to our son? James loves you so much. If you couldn’t love him back, you should have told him from the start, not led him on," Marco’s mom said, disappointed.
"Lexi, just go home," my dad ordered.
"You believed her," was all I could say.
"Go on, Lexi. It’s better if James won't see you for a while when he wakes up," James' dad said.
I didn’t say anything else. I walked away with my shoulders slumped, because they all believed the lies Shiela told.
"Lexi."
"Savina, if you followed me to scold me, please, not now," I said, crying.
"No. I followed you because I’m your best friend."
I didn’t have any choice when Savina pulled me out of the hospital. Once we were in her car, she faced me.
"I just can’t believe that Shiela would tell all those lies."
I looked at my friend. "You don’t believe her?"
"Of course not. It’s obvious you love James, so what she said is impossible. But you owe me an explanation, Lexi."
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.
"It’s true I didn’t continue answering James. But not because I loved someone else. Sav, I found out that James didn’t really love me. He loves Shiela."
"What? Are you serious?" she asked, stunned.
I nodded slowly. "Shiela just told James to court me. I don’t know why, and I don’t understand why James followed her. I’m still confused," I explained.
"Oh my god! So what was Shiela saying earlier? That James was chasing you and got into an accident?"
"I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it right now because the most important thing to me is James' condition. I made a mistake too because he texted me earlier wanting to talk to me. Maybe it’s true that James was really looking for me," I said through my tears.
"Lexi, could you please check your phone? To make sure if James really was looking for you," Savina said seriously.
I froze for a moment. I remembered there was a text I hadn’t read earlier because Chase arrived suddenly. So I quickly took out my phone and checked my inbox.
There was indeed one unread message, and it came from a number not saved in my contacts.
'Lexi, this is James. Shiela insisted that I should talk to you. I don’t know what her plan is, but I can’t take what she’s making me do. I’m still your friend, Lexi. Please take care of yourself around your sister.'
Weakly, I showed Savina the text from James. So it was still Shiela. Everything was still revolving around her.
"Is your sister crazy? It looks like she really wants to ruin you," Savina said, shocked.
"What is your plan, Shiela? Why did it have to go this far?" was all I could ask myself.
- Writer
