No Strings Attached (SUSPENDED)

Chapter 12

I arrive at the hospital and instead of getting out and going to Carter's room like a normal person would, I decide to sit in the driver's seat lost in my thoughts. I start as Oli's face appears by the driver's side window.

"Are you coming in or are you just going to sit in your car all night?" He has an easy grin on his face and it's good to see him looking so carefree and happy when it wasn't so long ago that I held his sob wracked body in my arms as he feared losing his baby brother.

I smile back at him despite the nerves taking over my entire body. Switching the engine off, I climb out of the car and join Oli's side. Without even thinking about it, my hand finds his. I look up at him when he squeezes my hand to find him smiling down at me. I blush like an idiot and his smile broadens at my embarrassment as I lock my car and we make our way into the hospital.

We reach Carter's room and Oliver lets my hand go. I look up at him so fast that I'm sure my neck clicked. He laughs at my terrified face.

"He won't bite," he assures me. I giggle nervously, scared to death that Carter is going to hate me more than the first time he ever met me.

"Aren't you coming in with me?" I ask hopefully, he might be nicer if Oliver is there with me. Oli shakes his head.

"He wants to speak to you alone," he states before opening Carter's door and pushing me in without giving me a chance to argue. Carter looks up as I stumble into his room, my mouth curves into a smile anxiously. Carter gives a closed mouth smile back, I awkwardly clear my throat and approach the chair beside his bed.

"May I?" I ask, gesturing to said chair. He nods and I perch on the end of the sofa chair. I observe Carter's injuries as silence enters the room. The swelling in his eye had gone down in the week that I hadn't seen him, leaving an ugly yellowy green bruise in it's place. His lips are chapped with cuts and the bruises around his neck have faded to a light green. The cuts on his face have been stitched close and have started to slowly heal. We sit in awkward silence for what feels like forever before Carter finally speaks.

"I'm sorry," I look at him confused, out of all the things I expected him to say I wasn't expecting that. He must notice my confused state as he continues talking after a moment. "For the way I treated you when we first met, you didn't deserve that and I'm sorry."

"It's fine, don't stress it," I smile warmly as relief rushes through me; he doesn't hate me after all. Carter breathes out a gust of air, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"And thank you for saving me," he adds, turning to face me. His blood stained face flashes in my head and a cold shiver crawls up my spine. This could have ended a lot worse.

"I couldn't just leave you there," I say quietly as that night's events come rushing to me. My throat closes up as I remember those few minutes we thought Carter was dead. The way Oliver broke down on me, the way his mother collapsed to the floor when she realised what had happened.

I feel a hand rest on mine. I glance up to see Carter looking at me with sympathy.

"I'm okay, the doctors said that my facial wounds will be healed in about a week and my abdominal wounds will be stable enough to leave the hospital in two weeks and I'll be back in school in a month time," he assures. I sigh and nod.

"What did you tell the police?" I ask, hoping that he will tell me what really happened that night.

"I told them the truth. I got jumped by a gang of men when I was on my way home and they beat the shit into me," he recites robotically, his defensive walls going up in a millisecond. Of course he wasn't going to tell me the truth, I'm practically a stranger. I frown but don't pester him to tell me. That's when the door opens and Oliver walks in with 2 coffee's and a humungous grin on his face.

"Alex, I didn't know what coffee you liked, or even if you liked it for that matter, but I got you a plain Americano and brought milk and sugar just in case..." His voice trails off slightly towards the end and his smile drops as he catches sight of Carter's hand on mine. I quickly pull it away and scratch my head to make the fast movement look less suspicious, not that I was doing anything bad.

"Americano is fine, thank you," my lips stretch into a smile. Oliver shakes his head as if to clear his head and hands me the coffee with a smile. He puts the tiny 10ml milk pot and sugar packets on the small coffee table beside the chair, I thank him again as I take 2 sugars and add them to my coffee. Oliver takes the other coffee and takes a sip of it. Carter gasps loudly and I jump to attention, thinking that he's hurt, spilling coffee over my jean clad legs in the mean time.

Carter bursts out laughing at my reaction but winces when his laugh hurts him which in turn makes Oliver laugh. Carter frowns at Oliver and sticks out his bottom lips in a pout. I snort a laugh at this, which causes Carter to send me a playful glare before returning his pout back at Oli.

"Why don't I get coffee?" He sulks like a child. Oliver smirks at him and childishly replies with a plain "because." I roll my eyes at the brother's bickering and pull my phone from my pocket to find 8 missed calls from my mother. Fuck. I excuse myself from the room and call her back. She picks up on the first ring.

"Hi, Mo-"
"Where have you been Alexa?"
"I'm at the hospital with Oliver."
"Why didn't you leave a note?" Mom growls angrily.
"Why would you care?" I reply sarcastically.
"Because I am your mother, Alexa, come home right now!" She commands.
"No."
"Alex-" I hang up before another word can escape her mouth. I still haven't forgiven her for what she did. You might say I'm pathetic for holding a grudge, but the last time I let someone get off easily for hitting me, they didn't stop.

I put my phone away before entering Carter's room again. Oliver is sat in the chair I had recently left and he's sipping my coffee as Carter gulps his. They gasp loudly when they see me, as if they had just been caught in the middle of a drug deal. I narrow my eyes at Oliver as he looks at me trying not to smile. I try to keep an angry face but a smile breaks out before I can stop myself, I shake my head at them both. Carter grins happily, finally having the coffee he wanted and Oliver winks at me causing butterflies to stir in the pit of my stomach.

I sit on the foot of Carter's bed and join the boys' conversation, ignoring the nagging feeling in the back of my mind to go home.


A/N:
I did it !!!! I finally updated! This hasn't been proof read so I apologise for any mistakes but I've actually posted chapter 12! I am so incredibly sorry for how long this chapter took but I hope it's worth the wait!
I will try my best to update very soon! I am still suffering from writer's block but I kind of have an idea where I'm going with the next few chapters now so the updates shouldn't be too slow!
Thank you for sticking with me and please vote, comment and follow me! :) xo