Ghost of You ✧ jordan baker [2]

20. a turn for the worse

✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧

Stacey didn't expect to be driving back to South Crenshaw the next day. She woke up to texts from Darnell, explaining that his mom was severely injured. She was in the military, so it couldn't be good at all.

Parking outside of Spencer's house, she rushed and knocked on the door. Grace James opened up, a solemn look on her face once she saw Stacey.

"Honey, it's been way too long since I've seen you," smiled Grace and brought her into a hug.

Stacey embraced her motherly warmth. She didn't see her mom a lot anymore. Grace was the closest thing she had to a mom, as well as Laura.

"I know. I've been super busy lately," she said. "I promise I'll come around more, though."

Grace let go of her and motioned her inside. Stacey walked in and saw Darnell coming out of the kitchen.

"Thank god you're here," he sighed.

Darnell let himself grieve in Stacey's arms as she comforted him. Having a loved one in a hospital was never fun.

"Do you have any updates?" asked Stacey as she guided them to the couch.

"I'll cook you guys some lunch," offered Grace.

"Thank you," Stacey said.

Grace left and Stacey took Darnell's hands in her's.

"She got out of surgery a bit ago, but it's bad," confessed Darnell. "I-I don't know what to do."

"Well, you have to go see her of course," said Stacey. "A couple of weeks or something."

Darnell cleared his throat, looking at Stacey finally. "If I go...it'll be for a while."

"What? A month?" asked Stacey, but she knew she was wrong by the look in his eyes.

He squeezed her hands, trying to stop them from trembling. "No. It'd be a while. Possibly most of my senior year."

Stacey felt as if she got hit in the head. Of course, she knew he'd go see his mom. She didn't expect him to be gone that long, though. It was hard to be mad at him for going when it was for his mom. He had every right to be gone for as long as he could.

"Part wants to stay, wishes this would've never happened so I could be with you," he continued. "We're finally happy. I'm finally happy, but the universe just didn't agree."