The Room

Chapter Twenty-Four: Yes?

"Miss... Miss... Miss, I need you to wake up."

There is a soft poking at my side that gets my attention. I look up to see an older woman, looking around fifty, giving me a rude look. Her eyes have wrinkles around them, but you can see the young girl who she once was. Her eyelids were painted an unflattering blue, and lots of it, and her lips a bright pink.

    "Miss, you can't be in here."

    "Huh?", I sit up and look around. The white walls and bright lights fill my view. Memories from last night flood back, and so does the night terror. Shivers go down my spine recalling it. I focus my attention back on the lady in front of me who has a look of annoyance drawn on her face.

    "Miss, I'm not going to ask you again."

    "Oh- sorry.", I scramble up and walk out of the room quickly.

    Back in my car I grab my phone and find I have over twenty missed calls from Lizzi and Nikki. I call Lizzi and she answers after the first ring.

    "Aria! I- wait hold on."

    A few seconds later she puts us on FaceTime," I have been so worried!", she continues.

    "What why?"

    "You haven't called at all! No texts or anything! I thought something bad happened!"

    "I'm fine. I'm about to leave the hospital now, I'll explain later. Is everything okay there?"

    "Not really. Teachers have started questioning, and they're wanting to come and check on you. You need to come back."

    "My flight back is tomorrow. Just cover for me until then."

    "Okay...- hey Nikki, Greg! I have Aria on FaceTime!-"

    "Aria!", Nikki and Greg chime.

    "Haha hey guys!"

    "We miss you!", Nikki says.

    "I miss you all, too!"

    "Hey Aria, gotta run. Skype later?"

    "See you then!"

    After saying all of our goodbyes we hang up and I drive back home.

===

"No that's not how it happened! You broke the window and then the cat fell out of the tree!", Jen yells to Garrett.

    "Okay okay!!", he puts his hands up in surrender.

    Everyone laughs rather loudly as Garrett continues his story. I reach over and grab another slice of pizza.

    We all met up at Jimmy's, our favourite pizza place. We've been here for well over an hour telling old stories and new.

    "Whose ready to get out of here?", Jen asks.

    "Aye.", we all reply in unison.

    We walk outside and squeeze into Danny's car. She drives us to her house and we gather in her room, all of us making ourselves at home.

    "So do you all want to watch a movie?"

    We all agree and pile onto Danny's bed while she puts in our favourite action/comedy movie 'Aliens Vs. Zombies Vs. Earth'.

    Towards the end of the movie my phone rings, a Skype request from Lizzi. I hop out of bed and head to her balcony and answer the call.

    "Hey!", I chirp happily.

    "Hey, Aria!", I hear since she was till adjusting her camera. Once she finished Lizzi, Nikki, Greg, and Mason all came into view.

    "Oh hey everyone!", I giggle and they all laugh loudly.

    "We can't wait until you get back!", Lizzi says, her voice having a hint of whining.

    "I'm excited, too!"

    "So how's your mom?", Mason asks quietly.

    "Oh... I-I don't really know. I'll explain some things when I get back, but I overheard her saying she only has about a month...", my voice cracks and I bite my inner lip to keep the tears from falling.

    They're silent for a minute, clearly not knowing how to respond. I don't blame them. I don't even have anything to say.

    Finally Lizzi speaks, "I'm sorry, Aria. Are you okay?"

    "I'm fine.", no I'm not okay. Please notice I'm not okay. I am dying on the inside. How would you feel if you knew you only had so long with your mom but, you weren't even going to be there for it? Help me learn how to be okay.

    Of course I couldn't say that.

    Lizzi opens her mouth to speak but instantly closes it when the door to the balcony opens. Put steps Liam, of course it had to be Liam. I've been trying to act normal around him since I know, but he doesn't know I know, and I don't know what to do.

    "Hey Aria, can I talk to you?"

    I gesture to my phone and his face goes red, "oh uh sorry...", he trails off while scratching the back of his head.

"It's okay Aria, go ahead. I'll pick you up tomorrow!", Lizzi chimes.

"Okay, I love you guys!! Can't wait to see you!"

They all coo a 'love you too' and I hang up. I turn to look at Liam and he gives me one of his award winning smiles. I smile back and sit atop the railing.

    "So... You're leaving tomorrow?"

    "Yeah..."

    "When will you be back?"

    "Christmas break."

    "I'm going to miss you."

    "I'm going to miss you too."

    "How about when you get back, I'll take you on a date?"

    I'm silent for a moment. This is what my mom wants, but what do I want?

    "I'd love too.", did I make the right decision?

___________________________

Hey everyone!

*dodges everything being thrown at me*

I'm sorry it took so long for an update! Writers block.

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TATA lovelies!