Chapter Thirteen: Siren
Aqualad
And sink in, it did. Heather wasn't my type. No—girls weren't my type. That meant… oh, god. Then… I really did try to kiss Speedy? Did I like him?
No, a voice in my head argued.
But what other reason could there be? And is that why I've been concerned about everything I did, and said?
A blaring siren broke into my thought process, forcing me to push the issue aside. I leaped over the barrier between the beach and the grass next to the road, and as soon as the cruiser passed me, it began slowing down. What? I wondered, stepped quickly toward it, shocked when Bee got out of the back.
"Aqualad, you ass, get in the car!" She was screaming.
"What's wrong?" I asked, although I obeyed and got in on the other side. I knew she would be mad at me for leaving without telling her, but this was unreasonable.
"Drive, dammit!" she yelled at the cop in the driver's seat, who put the siren back on and made a messy U-turn before racing up the road. "What did you do to him? To Speedy!" she shouted, directing her attention to me again. "What idiotic thing did you do?"
"I didn't do anything!" I said instinctively. "Bee, calm down! All I did was go talk to him, like you asked, and then he wouldn't tell me what was wrong, and I—"
"You what?"
"I… I just got a little mad and went back to my room… but he followed me, and then I jumped out the window, and he tried to stop me. But he didn't jump after me." I stopped there, hoping she wouldn't inquire how I got a 'little mad'.
"What do you mean, you got a little mad?"
Just my luck. "I… I did something stupid. I didn't yell at him or punch him or anything. I just did something stupid. Anyway, why does it matter?"
"Because I came into your room, wondering what the crash was, and I found him standing there like nothing happened, with—"
"Why is that a big deal?"
"Because his wrist was covered in blood, and he had a huge shard of glass in his hand, along with a few other little pieces embedded in his skin, and he didn't seem to care! He was just standing there, looking at some ripped picture, and then he fainted from losing so much blood! Aqualad, what did you do?"
I felt my mouth hanging open, but I couldn't close it. Cut his wrists? Not Speedy. No—there must've been a mistake. Why would I have such an influence on him? And he's not an idiot… So why—
"Aqualad!" A sharp slap across the face gained her my attention. "Are you listening? Do you even care?"
"Yes—I care—where is he now?"
"He was in intensive care when I left—the nurses said there was really nothing I could do for him, so I came to get you! They had to take out the glass from his arm—it seems he impaled himself with it, or something—and then they had to go through all of these procedures with the cuts… And he needed a blood transfusion… Will you just tell me what you did?"
The driver took a sudden turn; we had arrived at the hospital. "Really, Bee… I didn't do anything bad to him. I need to talk to him."
"Of course you do!" she shrieked. "But you can't until he's healed enough to be mentally stable!"
"What? Why?"
She rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Because you're the cause of all this! Maybe you're too damn stupid to notice, but he—" She stopped short and groaned, practically kicking the car door open. I hadn't realized we'd stopped, but as I reached to get out she slammed the door shut. Bee tapped on the front window, and the cop rolled it down. "Take him to the dock, and make sure he starts back toward the Tower!"
"Bee? Wait, can't I—"
Her glare silenced me. "You aren't coming. Go clean up the glass in your room. I won't be back until tomorrow."
"But I need to talk to him!"
"Last time you 'talked' to him, he ended up slitting his wrists. You've done enough damage for one day." She whirled to face the hospital entrance and disappeared through the doors.
"Hey, kid, put your seatbelt on. This ain't no bus."
Limply, I sank back into my seat, putting my seatbelt on. I felt heavy, as if the world had suddenly collapsed and it was entirely my fault. Was it? If I hadn't been careless enough to try to kiss him…