Dare

Twenty Five

EDITED: December 2020

Two days ago I found myself lying in a hospital bed. 

Apparently my anxiety attack had been so bad that I had blacked out completely and Joey had taken me to the hospital. I know right. Girl's boyfriend breaks up with her and she ends up in the hospital. How cliché. 

They had kept me there for overnight observation and Spencer and Joey were there almost all night. The nurses eventually had to force them to leave. My mom and Kendall were there as well and honestly, when I told Kendall what Aimee did, she was livid. I'd never seen my sister so mad before. And it didn't help that Aimee and Liam had also come by and she completely lost her shit with them. 

Right now I'm finally back in the comfort of my bedroom sitting on my window seat in nothing but Theo's AC/DC hoodie that he had given me a few months ago and a pair of knee height socks and shorts. The hoodie still has his scent which makes me want to burst into tears, but it still brought me comfort and warmth. 

"Ella, you have to eat so you can take your meds," Kendall said as she walked into my room carrying a tray with a plate and a glass of water on it. 

"I'm not hungry," I muttered, mentally shuddering at the fact that my doctor had put me back on the anti-anxiety meds that I have to take every four hours. 

"Come on. Mrs J made french toast just for you," She said, sitting down next to me on the window seat. 

"Kenny, I just really don't wanna eat right now," I sighed. 

"Ella, I know it hurts, but I promise it'll get better," She said, putting the trey down and then pulling me into a hug. 

"I got accepted into UCLA's photography course," I told her, ignoring what she just said. 

"What? Really?" She asked looking shocked yet happy at the same time. 

"Yeah," I nodded, showing her the letter that Mrs Jameson had brought up for me this morning that had sealed my future as a photographer. 

"Ella, that's amazing! I'm so proud of you," She said, hugging me tighter. 

"I was so scared I wasn't going to get in, but Theo kept telling me I was gonna. You know, we even made a bet on it. If I got in, he would spend a whole day teaching me how to skateboard," I said with a small laugh. 

"You've always wanted to learn. You were just too scared to," She laughed. 

"I messed up so bad, Kenny," I sighed. 

"Ella, you loved him more than anything and if he really knows that, he'll come back to you," She said. 

"And what if he doesn't? I know I sound stupid and cliché and hormonal, but what if he hates me forever and never wants anything to do with me?" I asked. "How am I supposed to survive that?"

I watched as my sister's eyes filled with sadness and an emotion I couldn't quite explain. 

"He loves you Ella, and he will come back to you. And if he doesn't, well then that boy is just plain stupid."

***

Today I decided to go to school. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. Finals are in a week and I've already missed three days of school. Besides, I'm not staying. I'm just getting my missed work and then going home again. 

Standing at my locker, I was clearing my books and papers from it when suddenly a voice snapped me out of my thoughts. 

"Ella, can we talk, please?" Aimee asked. 

"I have nothing to say to you," I said bitterly as I continued with packing my books into my bag. 

"I'm sorry, Ella. I for real though you were just delusional for liking Theo. I didn't know you actually loved him," She said. 

"Aimee, please just leave me alone," I sighed, not wanting to put up a fight. 

"Ella, I'm your best friend. Please can we just talk this out?" She pleaded. 

"You were my best friend, but after that stunt you pulled, you're not even worthy of resuming that title," I spat. 

"Ella, you know I did it for you and Liam! He likes you so much and -" She began to say, but I cut off. 

"Likes! He likes me! Theo loved me, and I love him!"

"But Ella -"

"Aimee, you ruined my one source of happiness. You took away the one person that means the most to me. Yeah, okay, maybe it's my fault for not telling him the truth in the first place, but you! You're so driven by this need for Liam and me to be together that you don't even notice anything!"

"Do you wanna know why I was so dead set on you and Liam being together?!"

"Oh, please do enlighten me," I said sarcastically. 

"Because I knew that he could never be mine!" She said, throwing her hands up. 

Wait, what?

"I've had a crush on him since the eighth grade and the fact that he's always liked you always fucked with me! I had to move on and the only way I could do that was by seeing you and him together!"

"You have a crush on me?" We heard Liam's voice asked. 

For the first time ever, I saw Aimee's face turn pale and she stuttered. 

"L-Liam I -I um."

"Aimee, you have a crush on me and you never told me?" He asked her, his green eyes not leaving her brown ones. 

"Why the hell would I tell you?" She asked bitterly. 

"Because if you did, then I would have told you that I liked you too," He told her, causing both my eyebrows to raise and her jaw to drop. 

"B-but you like Ella!"

"No, I don't," He said, and then shot me a sheepish grin. "It's always been you, Aimee. I only said I like Ella because I never thought you'd like me back."

"Unbelievable," She muttered. 

Uh, damn straight. As sweet as this all it, the two of them ruined my relationship just because they were both too scared to tell each other the truth? Fuck this. 

"Look, as happy as I am for the two of you, I'm done. I'm done with this," I said. 

"But Ella -" Aimee began. 

"No, Aimee. Thanks to you, I lost the love of my life, and I highly doubt that I can ever forgive you for that," I told her. 

"Ella!"

"Bye, Aimee," I mumbled before closing my locker and then turning around and walking away from them. 

As I walked down the hallway, I wanted nothing than to get home and change into Theo's hoodie again and just study to try and get him off my mind. 

As I looked up, my grey eyes met a familiar of navy blue ones. 

He stood right at the end of the hallway and still looked as handsome as ever in the Fall Out Boy hoodie that I had gotten him as a joke and a pair of black loose fitting skinny jeans. I had to restrain myself from running down the hallway and right into his arms. 

After a few minutes, he broke eye contact and walked into the classroom he was going into, making my heart ache a little (and by a little, I mean a lot).

I was now beginning to think that thanks to that stupid dare, Theo and I would never be together again, and honestly, that broke my heart.