Finding Eve

Chapter 14: Confessions from the Past

♕ Eve ♕

Drake sat up quickly, wincing as the movement pulled at his stitches. I pushed my hand on his shoulder to get him to lay back down, but he instead grabbed onto it and held it with both of his hands.

I knew what we were both thinking: Chad's here. He's in this hospital. Officer Haldis stood up from his seat and moved towards the med student. "You're sure of this?" The student nodded his head frantically, and stood up a little straighter, probably afraid of the officer. Officer Haldis ran a hand roughly through his hair, and followed the student out of the room.

Drake and I glanced at each other, and subconsciously held our hands tighter together.

I shifted so that I could stare into his eyes. "You're okay, everything's going to be okay."

By now Drake was clutching onto me, the skin on his hands stretched white and his face ghostly pale. He looked so scared; my god he looked so scared. With one eye swelled shut and the other wide in fear, and his free hand absentmindedly brushing the slit across his chest, he looked just like I did in the days after the incident. I cupped Drake's face, careful to avoid his cuts, and gently pressed my lips to his.

When I pulled away, I saw that Drake's eyes were closed, as if he was trying to hold onto the moment. But his features were noticeably softer, no longer rigid. His eyes fluttered open and he brought my hands to his mouth and kissed my skin, his way of telling me that he appreciated me being there. He squeezed his eyes shut again.

"I tried, Eve, I tried to fight him off." I went to shush him but Drake waved me off, his eyes beginning to water. "But he had this huge knife, huge. It became more of me just trying to get away." Drake choked on the word knife, and I had to nuzzle my face into the crook of his neck so he wouldn't see how scared I was for him. I moved my mouth to his ear, I love you, on the tip of my tongue, but all I managed was "I--" before James and Matthew came bounding in the room.

Drake hastily wiped at his eyes so they wouldn't see that he was about to cry, and sat up straighter. I moved away from his ear and smiled at the boys. Immediately, I could tell that Matthew was angry. James looked concerned for Drake, but Mathew looked pissed.

"Your girlfriend is your emergency contact?!" He yelled, hands clenched into fists, blonde eyebrows furrowed, freckled face as red as a tomato. Drake put his hands up as if to say "Whoa, calm down" but Matthew kept going. "Six years of friendship means nothing to you?! Four years of high school together, almost two years of college together, but I'm not the emergency contact in your phone?! Do you know how I even found out you were here? YOUR MOTHER CALLED ME!!" And at that, Matthew collapsed into the chair next to Drake's bed. He threw his face into his hands, "You son of a bitch. Your mom made it sound like you were dying."

James scoffed. "Yeah she'd like that."

Drake stiffened at that.

"Babe?" I whispered, my thumbs rubbing circles on his hands.

James noticed his discomfort, "Hey man I'm sorry, I know you don't like to talk about her."

I was beyond confused; Drake had never talked about his mother. But there were things that I hadn't told him either, and I wouldn't want him prying into those secrets, so I kept quiet.

Drake shook his head, "It's alright. And Matthew, I have two emergency contacts: you and Eve. So quit whining."

Matthew looked up, his eyes wide. He opened his mouth, probably to say something heartfelt and loving, but I spoke before him. "I'm going to go find Officer Haldis, be right back." I flashed what I hoped was a convincing smile, kissed Drake on the forehead, and left the room.