Reunited
Third Person POV
Laurel stared at the white tile floors of the hospital's waiting area as she waited anxiously with the rest of the girls to hear news about Liv. Laurel, Julia, and Mel were escorted back out to the waiting area when the crash cart was rushed into Liv's recovery room. And since then, everything had been radio silent.
Laurel was coping well enough with not knowing what was going on. She didn't like it, but she was coping. Mel, on the other hand, sat between her and Julia, vibrating profusely with uncalm nerves. Mel's elbows were on her knees and her head rested in her hands as her right leg bounced up and down, causing her whole body to shake.
Trying to in some way, comfort her best friend, Laurel reached out to touch Mel's back but the moment their bodies came in contact Mel jerked away.
"Please...don't." Mel agonized, never even lifting her head up as she continued to shake.
Sighing, Laurel slouched back into her seat and resisted the urge to bite her nails.
"How long has it been?" Mel asked, her voice strained.
"About 30 minutes." Laurel checked the time on her phone.
"Someone please see what's going on!" Mel exclaimed in frustration.
"I will go." Hope offered quickly, getting up from her seat.
Mel nodded but before Hope has a chance to move, the elevator dings, grabbing everyone's attention. The doors slid open and out poured the rest of the family. Laurel notices Grace and Steph among the bunch and she tried to remember if she could recall Grace ever leaving the floor. No memories came but obviously, she did. Everyone had been so wrapped up in their own worries that she'd slipped out unnoticed.
Snapping back to the scene in front of her, Laurel watched silently as Steph started in her direction.
"Hey," Steph sighed, pushing her hands into the back pocket of her jeans. "Can I talk to you?"
"About what?" Laurel asked, sounding ruder than she'd actually intended.
Steph's response was hesitant as she looks around at everyone else in the room.
"How about we go somewhere private," she suggested in a quieter voice than the one she was using before.
"I can't leave this waiting room." Laurel folded her arms defiantly.
"Why?"
"Why?" Laurel tilted her head to the side as she repeated her girlfriend's ridiculous question. "My friend is in there fighting for her life and you're asking me why I can't leave the waiting room where they could update me on what's going on with her at any given second?"
"You standing in here isn't helping or hurting Liv's condition! But you standing here, doing what you're doing right now is hurting ours." Steph states, her face turning the slightest tint of red.
"Hey," Janet says softly as she appears at the arguing couple. "Maybe right now isn't the time to do this. Look at where we are."
"Janet, stay out of this." Steph snapped at Janet.
"You two need to take this somewhere else," Julia interjected. "You can't do this in here."
"Julia! Butt out!" Laurel rebuffed loudly.
"I'm trying not to get us kicked out of the hospital! I'm not going to butt out!" Julia shouted, immediately losing her temper with all the stress she was under.
