Love, Dahlia // B2

[43]

Luke's P.O.V.

"Is this a bad time?" I ask, walking up behind Dahlia. She's been staring at the wall for a few minutes now and hasn't noticed that I'm here. She jumps and spins around when she hears my voice.

"Luke," she sighs, rushing toward me. I open my arms as she falls against me.

"Hi," I say quietly, wrapping my arms around her. "What's going on?"

"I have so much to tell you," she mumbles into my chest. "Jake's not at the hospital. I went to go see him, but he wasn't there. And then I tried to talk to you, but I don't even know if it worked. And then Dad picked me up and was upset with me for leaving. And then Julie and I got into a big fight. I know we get in fights a lot, but this one was bad. Really bad. She slapped me. And Reggie was standing there the whole time. And then Dad saw him and fainted. And I just feel like everything is falling apart. And I still don't know how to get you away from Cal-"

"Caleb's gone," I cut her off. "Well, maybe not yet, but he's crossing over. He let me go."

"And your friend?" Dahlia looks up at me, pulling her head off my chest. "Where's Aura?"

"I-" I pause, taking a deep breath in. "She's gone. For good this time."

"I'm so sorry," she says, putting her head against my chest and tightening her hug.

"Jake? What happened to Jake?" I ask, pulling away from her.

"They moved him out of the hospital," she sighs. "He's going back to the ward. Dad told me when he picked me up from the hospital. I tried telling you," she grabs the necklace. "But I don't know if you heard me."

"I heard some of it," I reply. "I don't know, maybe Aura crossing over messed up the connection or something."

"Well, the good news is that you're free from Caleb now, so we don't need the magic bit anymore," she gives me a small smile before taking the necklace off. "You should keep it. Something to remember Aura by."

"Thank you," I say, balling my hand into a fist around the crystal pendant. I can feel a small pulse go through my hand as I do this, as if Aura is letting me know she's here. I quickly shake my head before putting the necklace on. "Dahl, you said Jake is going back to the ward?"

She nods, her eyes watering. "Suicide watch. Again. I don't know, he's at home for a few more days and then he's going back."

"Can you visit him? Is that an option?" I ask, taking her hand in mine.

"No visitors for the first 72 hours. And then no visitors besides family for up to 3 weeks after that, depending on behavior, how treatment is going, overall well being," she answers. "The fun stuff."

"Well, how fast did you get to have visitors?" I ask.

"After my 72 hour period, my friends got to visit within a week," she explains. "But I held my tongue when I was supposed to and shared during therapy. Jake is not the same."

"You'll see him again," I say, squeezing her hand.

"I hope so."

*****

Julie's P.O.V.

"She's crazy! Officially-off-her-rocker, back-to-the-ward crazy," I say into the phone.

"Watch your mouth, Julie," Tyler warns. "You're upset with her; you don't think she should go back to the ward."

"I- okay, yeah," I give. "I don't want her back in that place. But, I swear to God, she's going to end up back there if she doesn't let this Jake guy go."

"Have you tried just explaining to her why it's dangerous for her to be involved with this guy?" Tyler asks, there's a shuffling sound - like he's sliding the phone under his other ear. "I mean, I'm sure if you went at this chill and with an open mind, you guys wouldn't fight."

"Don't get all zen on me Ty," I joke. "You know me better than that."

"Look, I'm just saying slapping her over your dad's unconscious body isn't going to solve anything," he chuckles.

"Okay, I slapped her before Dad passed out," I argue. "And I know I shouldn't have, okay? I just- I didn't know what else to do I guess."

"Hey, it's okay that you get flustered and it's okay that you're still upset," he says. "But it's never okay to take it out on somebody with physical violence."

"I know," I nod. "I know."

"Just wait for her to cool off too and then try talking to her," Tyler advises. "Maybe start with 'Hey Lia, I'm sorry' and go from there. If she's still upset, which I imagine she would be, back up and try again in the morning."

"Okay," I say quietly. "Hey, Ty?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," I say.

"Hey, Jules?" He replies.

"Yeah?"

"Any time," he says. There's a pause before the phone shuffles again. "Hey, I've gotta go cook dinner with Mom, but keep me updated, okay? Even if it's just a call where you rant and I listen, I'm cool with that too. But I wanna know how you're doing."

"I'll keep that in mind," I smile, taking a deep breath. "Bye."

"Later."

My phone beeps as Tyler hangs up and I do the same. I sigh, laying back on my bed and starting up at the ceiling. I'll apologize to Dahlia. Eventually.

A.N.

Hia

Look at me. Taking less than a month to upload.

Also...
New Girl. Season 4. Episode 2.

-Redd

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