Chapter 37
"Well, well, well, aren't you staring a little bit too hard?" Lauren grins, "You're like a statue."
Amy scoffs nervously, "I don't know what you are talking about." Amy sips in her champagne glass and finishes it in one swallow. She raises her finger, calling for a waiter.
"Yes, you do. What's with the drooling?" Lauren wipes the corner of Amy's lips with her thumb.
Amy moves her head away, "What the fuck are you doing?" The waiter approaches them and Amy grabs two glasses of wine. The waiter gives her an intent stare.
"Can you please walk off?" Amy rudely dismisses the waiter.
And he did, shrugging. He is not in the mood to deal with any of these snobs bitchiness.
Amy starts drinking one glass quickly.
"Amy, you have to stop drinking like this. I'm not about to handle a drunken you tonight. You'll make a fool out of yourself." Lauren looks at Amy sipping the drink down like it was water.
Amy finishes the first glass, "Who says I'll get drunk? It is just champagne. Who gets drunk from champagne? I am not going to get drunk from simple champagne. I don't know what you're talking about." She starts drinking from the other glass, just as she did the first one.
"Amy, I know how you get when you are feeling angry. You fucking drink and you end doing things you regret. Lauren remembers back in the Dark Ages when Amy lost control and was throwing fits after fits against her mother. "I'm sensing trouble from you."
"Oh shut up!" Amy finishes the other glass. The waiter walks by again and Amy the empty glasses and takes another glasses.
Lauren takes it from her hand as she was about to start drinking from it, "Hell no you are not. I told you I am not dealing with drunken you tonight."
"Stop being such a buzz kill and give me back the glass!" Amy was loud enough. The drink already taking effect on her.
"You're too danm loud," It was a small party so a few guests were witnessing the pitiful scene.
Amy waves her off and makes her way outside the party and leaves. She needed to breathe a little bit and the room was too crowded for her taste. She walks around the big garden, beautifully taken care of by the gardener. The flower patterns were flawless, along with schema of the shrubs and trees. As she walks on the pavements, she felt like she walking in a maze throughout the yard. She wanders about mindlessly within the many trees and schema shrubs until she falls upon a Karma sitting on a ceramic bench. She was holding a champagne glass in her hand as she looks up the sky. Amy traces her stare up to the moon, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of stars. The girl sighs sadly and brings the champagne up to her lips and takes a sip.
Amy grabs a rose from a nearby shrub and approaches her from the side, "For a future bride, you don't sound happy."
Karma jumps at the familiar voice, "Oh. Amy. What are you doing out here?"
Her skin was glowing from within from the translucent light of the moon. Amy was in awe, she hands her the rose, "I should ask you that question. That party is in your honor." Karma grabs it from her hand, "Be careful, I wouldn't want for the thorns to sting your pretty fingers. Can't have you live through a sleeping beauty moment. I'd have to kiss you." She grins, "I wouldn't want to give princess bride doubts."
Karma smiles and carefully holds the stem of the rose in a way that wouldn't harm her fingers, "Thank you." She breathes in the scent of the rose, "I wasn't feeling comfortable. This is really not my scene." Karma chuckles ruefully.
Amy takes small strides towards her until she sits next to her on the bench, "I know. You didn't look too comfortable walking down those stairs either."
"The heels are killing me." Karma reaches down and massage her feet slowly, "I can't stand them."
Amy scoots down in front of Karma and grabs her left ankle and brings it up to her.
"What are you doing?"
She doesn't answer her. She just slowly takes off her sandal and starts running her feet around in circles, until she gradually pushes back, toes pointing at Karma. Karma winces a bit but relaxes as Amy pulls her feet back to her and starts massaging with her hands, "Do you feel a bit better?" she asks, glancing up at her.
Karma nods.
"It looks like you needed it." Amy says, running her hands gently around Karma's foot. "If you don't like heels, you shouldn't wear them."
"It goes with the dress. Sometimes you have to suffer to be beautiful." Karma looks down at Amy touching her foot nicely and tenderly.
"You don't have to put that much effort." Amy quickly glances up at Karma then looks back down at her foot.
Karma blushes, "Thank you."
Amy takes one of her oxfords off and puts it on Karma's foot.
"Amy, you don't have to do that." She reaches to stop Amy from doing it. Amy stops her.
"Hey, it's fine. I'll just wear your sandals." She takes the other foot and takes off the sandal too and did the same thing she did with the previous foot. She then massages it for a bit and then takes off her other oxfords and places it on Karma's foot. "Better?"
Karma shyly blushes then smiles, "I feel better. Thank you." She looks down at the oxfords and the maroon oxfords clashes with the color of her dress a bit. "It doesn't go. An evening gown and rocking some good ol'oxfords. That's new."
Amy laughs then lifts herself up, staying bare feet, "Hey, it is either that or you suffer the entire night. It is better to feel comfortable than uncomfortable any day."
"You are right I guess." She laughs, "But, what are you going to do about your feet?"
"I can either stay bare feet or I wear your heels."
"You hate high heels." Karma says.
"Well, better I suffer than you." She takes Karma's high heels and wears them. And the she stands up, looking down at them around her feet, "It doesn't look too bad."
"You look weird."
Amy nods, "I do."
They both ended up laughing. Amy sits back next to her on the bench and keeps on laughing just as hard as Karma. Several fireflies were flying all around them, the scenery making the moment special and most needed by the two. They ended up talking about everything and nothing; it was as if they were getting to know each other again but on a deeper level than before. They talk about a lot of things. That's all they did. They talked and talked and talked until they lose the track of time.
Karma's fingers get spiked with the thorns on the stem of the rose; "Shit!" she places the rose at her side and starts sucking on the prickled finger.
"You got spiked by the rose princess bride." Amy reaches for her hands and brings it to her, "I warned you."
"You fault for being maleficent and giving me a rose with a stem full of thorns." Karma says.
Amy glances up at her, "I see you've yet fallen to slumber for me to kiss you. What a pity!"
Karma bites her lips. She knows that she shouldn't but she wants to so bad. Her eyes have done nothing but looks at Amy's lips, "Shall I close my eyes then and sleep?"
Amy blinks. She did not expect that. Then a smile deliberately curves her lips, "Then I shall kiss you until you wake up…" Amy's eyes wander down on Karma's lips.
"I then shall…" Karma breathes then closes her eyes, waiting for Amy to kiss her until she opens her eyes again. Amy leans in slowly then breathes along Karma's fevered flesh then grazes her lips with hers. The entire world started making sense again. Everything became clear. Vivid and fleeting images of Karma's face runs through her mind but they stay brief. They bring along with them a sense of familiarity and déjà vu that it just made sense to her. The moment made sense. Everything just made sense. The headache came running back as well and hits her hard, painfully that she had to break away from the kiss and holds her head in pain. She screams as the pain enforces itself deeper in one particular area of her brain and the fleeting images runs through rapidly one by one.
"Amy…Amy…" Karma takes fright. She doesn't know what's happening to Amy, "Oh my God, Amy…what's going on with you?"
Amy screams in pain and falls down on the ground, holding her head still. The images are becoming apparent.
Karma looks around to see if there were somebody but no one was present. She'd have to leave Amy and run back inside the house but she can't. She holds Amy in her arms and started worrying, "Amy, what's hurting you?" she's never been so scared in her life.
Amy lifts her gaze up to look at Karma and gives her meaningful look. She then screams down again when the pain came rushing back. "Lauren, call Lauren so that she can take me home." Amy pleads.
"I can't leave you here Amy." Karma cries.
"It's OK. I'll be fine." Amy keeps holding her head where the pain became more intense. It was so painful that she was on the verge of fainting. "Call…call Lauren…" she feels her eyes closing down on her.
"Amy…Amy…" Karma calls out to her but her voice become fainter and fainter as it now sounds like faraway echoes and everything turns black.
The next night
Amy spends an entire day sleeping and dreaming vivid dreams that felt too true and so realistic. She dreamt of Karma then of Reagan then of Karma even more. She dreams of the time where she saw her at the café, the very first time that she fell upon her. She watches her walking outside with her orders; right by her but Karma didn't notice her. She was walking inside to order the doughnuts and Karma was walking out with her orders and sat at a table under a sun shade. She stops to look at her and then walks in to make her orders. She comes the next day with the sole purpose of seeing Karma again and she did. Karma had already ordered then and was sitting down. So she took a sit at the across, sitting facing her. She was pretending to read a newspaper so it hides her face as she looks over the paper to look at her drink her coffee every now and then and eats her doughnuts. Then she dreams of something else, where she sees Karma falling down the sky. They were skydiving and Karma was scared…she kissed her. And then it stops to when they were at the beach and they made love and then it fast forwards to Karma wearing the wedding dress and then it skips to where they were again at the beach and they were star gazing and talking about Pablo Neruda. It stopped right there…
She then hears voices but she can't tell whether it is in her head or not. But she hears people talking. She hears a male voice then a female voice. It goes back and forth and it seems they are talking on professional grounds. She catches a few words like CT scan, results, analysis, miracle, tests, memory, restored, normal, and a bunch of other medical words that she just doesn't get. Amy forcefully opens her eyes but her vision is blurry; she only manages to see the blurry form of everyone and from what she was able to see; it was two dark figure standing side by side in front of her bed, then a white figure and with a yellow top and gray bottom figure.
She slowly moves her head around to find a gray figure sitting down next to her and another black figure standing near the window. She opens her eyes once more, the light seriously hindering her sight, blinding her. She groans then the silence around the room grew. Everyone looks down at the immobile figure on the bed. Reagan who was standing near the window runs to her side and Lauren sits next to her on the edge of the bed. She keeps mumbling incoherent sounds that no one could quite make out.
Amy now fully opens her eyes, clearly looking at the faces of the people around her. "Karma." She mumbles, "Where is Karma? And where the fuck am I?" She grabs the back of her head, "Shit! That hurts."
"You're at the hospital." Lauren answers.
"Don't move too much. You are still under the effect of the drugs given to you the night before." The doctor quickly runs to her side and starts checking her vitals and IV's, "You gave everyone quite a scare last night."
"What happened? How did I end up here?" Amy looks back and forth at Lauren then Reagan. She barely recognized her mother's presence in the room.
"Well, last night we went to Karma's wedding shower and then you fainted." Lauren recollects the events from before, "We had to carry you to the hospital because you wouldn't wake up."
"Karma's wedding shower?" Amy asks, "Karma's wedding shower. Is it to me?"
"You wish." Lauren scoffs.
Mrs. Cooper walks joins them, "Amy dear, how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine quite alright mother. I need to leave this place." Amy starts taking off the IV's attached to her arms.
The doctor stops her, "you can't leave yet. We are still running tests on you and waiting for the results on the previous that we've conducted."
"Well you can forward the results to me back home. I need to leave." Amy says, getting slightly annoyed.
"Amy, the man said that you need to stay here for another twenty four hours. You are still a bit fragile from your collapsing episode of last night." Mrs. Cooper sternly scolds her daughter. Amy always has been a bit childish when it comes to hospital. She hates them.
She falls back on the pillows and groans inwardly. She remembers the event of last night. She remembers too clearly. It's as if her mind had temporarily black out on her and she is now seeing things clearly. She remembers everything that happened recently and she can't help but scowls at herself at the memory.
"Amy, you called out for Karma." Reagan clearly heard Amy call out for Karma. "Did you…?"
Amy nods regretfully, "I do."
"You should have seen the look on Karma's face when she carried you back into the party." Lauren begins, "She looked mortified. And the fact that she had to carry through that big garden still amazed me. You are not a light person Amy. Only a girl in love can find that much strength and will." Lauren tells Amy.
The way Karma carried her back to the party and the mortified look, her eyes red with tears, calling on desperately to Lauren. She tried waking her up but she wouldn't move. So she drove her straight to the hospital. Mrs. Cooper flew back last night and came early this morning along with Bruce Cooper. He was outside buying them all coffee. Reagan just got here a few hours ago.
"Where is she?" Amy asks again.
Lauren looks down at her fingers, "She couldn't show Amy. I mean, why would she be here? She has her future husband to care for."
Amy's whole world collapsed, "Oh. I see. I understand."
"Amy, that girl loves you. Are you sure you can't recall the memories correctly?" Reagan asks.
Amy sighs, "Last night, I was talking with her. After I walked out of the party, I was walking through the garden and I saw her there. I approached her. I thought she looked sad. We talked for a while and then at some point, I kissed her." The images vivid in her mind.
"You kissed her?" Lauren beams, unable to hide her enthusiasm.
Amy nods, "Then, I don't know. I just felt a whole wave of emotions and sentiments and feelings invading my entire body. It was like everything was getting into place and just making sense. I started seeing fleeting flashbacks of her and I and her face keeps flashing in my mind over and over and over again." Amy explains.
Mrs. Cooper stops her. She knows where this was going and she wasn't going to let it. "That's enough. You need to rest dear."
"She just woke up. She literally just woke up." Lauren looks at Farrah.
"Yes dear but it is night and everyone needs to go to sleep." Mrs. Cooper says, looking at the doctor.
"Yes, Ma'am is right. Amy needs to rest a little bit more I agree. I'm sorry but she'll be in better condition tomorrow morning." The doctor says.
Reagan was the first one to tell her goodbye, "Amy, I hope you do the right thing this time." She smiles at her, and then walks out of the room.
Mrs. Cooper faces the two bodyguards, "I want you to stand guard in front of Amy's room all night. Is that clear?"
The man both nods and then they walk out to stand guard.
"I think I'll stay in here with her." Lauren says, holding Amy's hands in hers.
"Dear, you have to go home and change."
"Antoine brought us change earlier so I'll be fine." Lauren quickly says.
"And I want her to stay too." Amy pleads.
"Fine, you can stay. And Amy, I'll come back early tomorrow morning." Mrs. Cooper says.
Amy nods.
"Sleep tight love." Then she walks out, followed by the doctor.
Mrs. Cooper walks out and comes face to face with Karma, "Well, if it isn't the girl that caused my daughter her dear life?" She snarls.
"Hello Mrs. Cooper, I am just here to see Amy. I know it is late but I need to see her." Karma looks at the woman that never quite warmed up to her. Looking at her makes her treasure her mother even more.
"Well, you can't. Amy's resting and Lauren is with her." Mrs. Cooper spat.
"I won't be long ma'am; I just want to see her." Karma says, keeping her calm and not letting the woman get to her.
"I said no!" Mrs. Cooper was ready to have her men throw her out the hospital, "Don't you understand no?"
"Farrah, be reasonable!" Bruce appears behind Karma holding coffees in his hands, "Let the girl see her. She said she won't be long."
Mrs. Cooper obliges, "fine." she walks pass Karma to leave her way.
"It's Karma right?" Amy asks Lauren. They hear their mother speaking to someone and the only person Mrs. Cooper uses such a harsh tone on is Karma. Amy's heart keeps skipping beats.
"I think it is. She's about to come in here." Lauren says.
"Quick! I have to pretend to be asleep. She'll probably say something to me." Amy says then she looks over at her side, "What is this doing here?"
Lauren looks at the box ring on the table next to her, "You kept asking for it in your sleep so I had Antoine bring it here when he was bringing us spare clothes."
Amy grabs it and hides it under the covers next to her, "alright. Take your seat next to me." The door handle twists, "Shit! Quick Lauren, look normal!"
"Fine," Lauren took her seat next to Amy and just looked normal. Or at least, tried to.
Amy drops down on the bed and pretended to be asleep; she even snored for sound effects. Lauren shots her glare, and whispers under her breath, "shut the fuck up!"
Karma enters the room and finds Lauren sitting on a chair next to a sleeping Amy. Lauren sees then jumps quickly from the chair and walks over to her, "Karma, what are you doing here?" she whispers, looking back at a sleeping Amy.
"I came here to see how she was doing." Karma whispers back.
"She's fine. She just needs to rest a little bit." Lauren says.
"Well, I just needed to speak to her about something. That's all and then I'll be on my way."
Lauren looks back at Amy then turns to face Karma, "Alright, I'll leave you two alone." Lauren walks out of the room to grant them privacy.
Karma walks around the bed and sits of the edge right next to Amy. She extends her arms and gently strokes her cheek, brushing a few errant hairs from her face. Amy was facing away from her, leaving sight to her bare neck which Karma slowly touches as she brings her hand down her face. "Oh baby…I hate seeing you like this." She says, "It's breaking me to see you like this."
Amy turns her face up towards the ceiling but she doesn't open her eyes and listen to Karma's voice.
"I have something to tell you. You don't have to speak to me. I just want you to listen." She lightly chuckles, "Well, even though you are asleep right now; I still want you to listen." She breathes deeply, "I am about to marry Liam, Amy, tomorrow afternoon. I'm getting married to the man of my dreams, thanks to you. I met him through you, the woman of my life – the woman I am hopelessly in love with. I got what I wanted in the end. I got what I've always wanted since the first time we actually faked it. And the second time, things got complicated. But, you understood and saw that you weren't the one that I want." You are the one that I need instead. She couldn't bring herself to say that. "You let me go to the man of my dreams – a mere fantasy; just like you said in that letter…"
What letter is she talking about? Amy thinks.
"…You are letting me fake it again but this time on my own. But I am happy. I have a prince and I am treated like a princess," tears are falling down her face, "And if I am crying now, they are tears of joy. I am happy. So, let me marry Liam Booker, please. Let me marry him."
Karma leans down and kisses her lips. She closes her eyes and silently breaks down as she kisses her, "I guess this is goodbye." The tears fell upon Amy's face as she breaks away. She leaves a few seconds later.
Amy watches her leave the room. She sits upright on the bed as soon as Karma leaves. She brings her hands up to her lips, still feeling Karma's kiss. "The fuck I am Ashcroft. I'm not letting you."