Wish I Knew You Sooner

chapter thirty eight

It's been a few weeks.

School starts tomorrow.

Grams is still in the hospital.

I visit her almost every day. I bring either a stack of cards or a novel. We've gotten quite competitive over a game of War, so some days I just decide to read to her. We've gotten pretty far into the copy of Little Women that I got on the trip.

Some days though, I just sit there holding her hand while she sleeps. She looks so tired. It's been really tough on Gramps, so some days he has to step out while I'm with her. He says he is going to the cafeteria, but he always comes back sniffling or with puffy eyes, so I know he isn't taking this too well.

I hug him every chance I get, hoping that a small embrace will ease him at least a little.

There haven't been any more flare ups. She has been stable, besides one night where her blood pressure spiked an unusual amount. Mother was there and gave us a call. We rushed there, still in our pajamas, but we relaxed once the doctors notified us that she was under control.

Mother looks exhausted. She spends most of her time with Grams, and when she isn't there, she is knocked out in bed. She hasn't been getting the recommended amount of sleep ever since we got back, so whenever she is sleeping, we just let her be.

We each pray every night together in hope that Grams will recover, and I've been using a journal to manifest it also.

With all of this going on, I haven't been able to see my rock at all.

My Aspyn.

My twin flame.

She's been asking to see me, because it hasn't been since I'd left for vacation, but she understands that I had to be MIA for a while. Until today.

I'm brushing out my hair as my phone lights up. Aspyn's here. I slide on my air forces before actually sprinting out of my room and down the stairs. I barely made it down without falling, but I didn't have time to think before I was jumping into her arms in the middle of my driveway.

"Penny!"

"Oak Baby!"

We couldn't let go of each other, so we just whispered in each other's ears about how much we missed each other.

"It's been way too long." she tells me as we walk to my car.

"Wayyyy too long." I exaggerate.

"I hope Grams is doing well." she said while I turned on my car.

"Um, yeah... she is." I say with little confidence. "They may release her soon."

It's true. They've spoken on letting her go home, but that was a week ago, and nothing has gone into play since. My hope is running thin.

"Well," she gulps. "I do have something I need to tell you."

"Great!" I let out a relieved sigh. "I want to hear all about what you've been up to over lunch."

I definitely need a distraction. I want to focus on the good that is going on around me instead of residing in the dark pit that I've been stuck in with no way out lately.

It's been a full month without seeing her, let alone really talking much. Even though we haven't communicated, we are the type of friends that can pick up exactly where we left off last as if the gap in time hasn't strained a single thing.

I want to hear all about what has been going on in the world of Aspyn, since I feel like I've been surrounded by personalized stuff for too long.

We pull up to our favorite restaurant; a local sushi place down the street from our high school. We would go there almost every day after school if I didn't have dance class or if she wasn't cheering. The workers know us by name, and we have a special table in the corner that basically belongs to us.