Chapter Twenty-Six: I Never Knew That Hell Could Get So Cold

Thomas

The next day, we were all back at the hospital again. Theresa and I went in to see Marco together, but she left to give me some privacy a few minutes later. I don't know why I did it, but, I told Marco everything. It just seemed like I'd be able to get it off of my chest, and he couldn't tell anyone.

By the time Theresa was back, I was a mess. She told me she was leaving because Remy had just gotten back again, and she didn't want to be near him. I offered to drive her back to Andrew's, and she accepted. After saying goodbye to Marco, we were off.

The snow was thick by then, and still falling. We only got to the car before we stopped our journey home. Theresa was all over me as soon as the heat was on. Our bodies rubbed together, making us even warmer.

Everything seems so perfect right now, aside from Marco being in a coma and my dad…well…he's never been perfect. But I have Theresa, and she is perfect. The sex is amazing, and I've always been in love with her.

"I love you Theresa," I breathed out into her hair. I heard her muffled reply from against my shoulder.

"I love you too."

Rex

I finished the bottle that I'd been drinking all night.

I have nothing left now in my life.

My boyfriend has left me for good.

My daughter's been ripped away from me.

I could die right now and it wouldn't matter.

It's so…cold. I wrapped my arms around myself tighter, huddled up into a ball. It snowed all night, and just seemed to cover me. All that was sticking out was my arms, neck, and head. I had no motivation to get up. I wanted to be here. And I wanted to die.

Rory

Iwent into Marco's room and sat by him, holding his hand. Nate and Remy were the only ones in there with me. Thomas and Theresa already left, Jesse didn't show up yet, we had no idea where Lindsey was, Craig was obviously at home, Andrew refused to come, and Rex was currently missing.

What great friends Marco has. Do they even care?

This is my fault.

I felt the tears falling, warming up my cheeks. I wanted to lie next to him in the bed, but I was pretty sure the doctors would yell at me and kick me out. And I didn't want to move anything. These machines were keeping him alive.

Instead, I leaned over from the chair and buried my head in his chest, squeezing his hand.

"Marco, if you can hear me, please come back to us."

Lindsey

"Get in the car!" I hissed out of the crack of my window. I saw Sarah and Kate standing there, all dressed up to go to the mall. Kate didn't look pregnant at all, but then again, if she was, she was only about seven weeks along, and she wouldn't start showing until probably around sixteen weeks or something.

"Go away you perv!" Kate yelled at the car.

I rolled my window down a little more and stuck my head out a bit.

"It's me!" I yelled to them. I saw Sarah's eyes widen and she pulled her sister towards the car, whispering in her ear on the way. I moved over to give Sarah some room, and Kate got in up front with my dad.

I instantly kissed her, running a hand through her hair as I did. I had missed her so much.

"Will you two stop that!" my dad said, bringing our attention away from each other and onto him. He drove away from the curb and I put my arm around Sarah.

"Where are we going?" Kate asked. "We're supposed to be going to the mall with Jen. She'll kinda notice we're missing when she goes to pick us up."

"Actually, that was my dad on the internet with you guys," I explained, nodding my head towards him, sort of half introducing him.

"Why are we here?" Sarah asked. "How did you even get out of jail? My dad said he got your bail taken away."

"Oh, I got out. But we need to talk to you guys about helping me get out of this mess. Sarah, you know I don't deserve this; I love you. All I was doing was showing my love," I said truthfully. "Your age doesn't matter to me."

"Just like Thomas loved me right?" Kate yelled from the front seat. I could tell that she had already started to cry.

"How are you doing?" I asked her, rubbing her shoulder, trying to calm her down. She pulled away from me.

"How do you think I'm doing? I'm fourteen and I'm pregnant with some kid's baby who left me. And he just so happens to be eighteen. He told me that he loved me but here I am, by myself," she cried.

"But…," my dad interrupted. "He's not really the father of that baby."

"What are you talking about?" she yelled. "Of course he is. I lost my virginity to him you ass!"

"Do not yell at me while I'm driving Missy!" he yelled right back. But he instantly calmed down, and tried to talk to her in a normal tone. "Thomas is Lindsey's roommate and current best friend. If you say that's his baby, then the court will have no reason to think that Lindsey isn't," he explained.

"I'm not going to lie in court," she stated, looking out the window.

"If you do this, I will make sure you have all the money you need to raise that baby," he said, pointing to her stomach. "Or, I will find a couple to adopt it," he added.

"I'm not giving my baby away," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Besides, my dad won't let me. According to him, he already knows what he's going to do."

"Come on Kate. If you won't do this for Lindsey, do it for me," Sarah said. "I love him. And I don't want him going to prison because of me," she told her.

"Fine," she said, sighing. "What do I have to do?"

Craig

We stepped into the hospital and my palms were sweating. I was afraid to see Marco, and I was also nervous about seeing Nate. He wasn't gonna like this.

Caitlin flew us out to New York City for three days to visit with Marco.

We all walked around the corner, and I bumped right into someone.

"Craig?" he asked, surprised.

"Hey Nate," I said, my voice shaking. "We're here to see Marco."

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" he asked.

"I didn't know. Anyway, where's his room?"

"Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your friends first?"

"Oh, um sure. Nate, this is Caitlin, she's my stepmother," I said, even though she wasn't yet. "And this is Ellie, Marco's best friend from back home," I told him.

"Nice to meet both of you. And you are…?" he asked the other person with us. I swallowed hard and waited.

"I'm Manny. His girlfriend."

Remy

I decided to take a walk and cool off for a little bit. It was really intense sitting in there with Marco. All we could do was wait for the beeps to make sure he was still alive. I walked to the end of the hall and into the lounge.

I was just about to put some money into the instant coffee machine, when someone reached around from behind me and held a cup of it in front of my face. I took the cup and turned around, only to see Kelly standing there, grinning at me. There was no one else in the room.

"What are you doing, stalking me now?" I hissed, glaring back at him.

"One of my students is in the hospital," he said. "I'm concerned."

"Why? So you can see if he wants to fuck you too?"

"Of course not, you're the only one I care about," he said, leaning towards me and kissing me. I pulled back and wiped off my face.

"When are you going to get it?" I asked. "We are over."

"I just can't take it without you. You know how good we are together. I miss you," he said, pouting. "No one else can fix that but you."

"Well," I said, walking towards him and reaching down to his belt. "Lucky you're in a hospital then."

"What do you mean?" he asked as I pulled open his pants.

"There'll be a lot of people to fix you now." I pulled back his boxers then, and poured my coffee down his pants before walking away.

Nate

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. His girlfriend? That's a surprise. Because I thought I was his boyfriend.

"Oh, really?" I asked.

"Nate, can I talk to you for a minute?" Craig asked me before I could say anything else.

"Actually…" but he interrupted me again before I could finish what I was saying.

"Really, it'll only take a minute."

Just as I was about to yell at him in front of everyone, Remy came rushing towards us. He stopped when he saw Craig.

"Hey Craig, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"We're here to see Marco," Craig answered. "Do you think you could do me a favor and show them to his room?" he asked, motioning towards them. "I just have to talk to Nate for a minute."

"Sure," Remy walked off, followed by the small group of women. Then Craig dragged me into the nearest empty room. He shut the door behind us before I started yelling. I forgot all about being afraid of him.

"You're cheating on me?" I yelled, trying not to cry. "After everything we've been through? After you hurt me so much when you wouldn't take your meds? Now you went home to 'tell Joey about us' and you come back with a girlfriend?"

"Listen to me Nate. Don't be like that. It's not true," he said.

"You're seriously going to lie to my face after she just told me she was your girlfriend?" I asked.

"Nate, technically, I'm not cheating on you," he said.

"Well then, what would you call it?"

"I was cheating on her with you," he confessed. "She was already my girlfriend when I came here this year."

"And you never told me?" I asked, still yelling. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nate, don't." He stepped toward me and got in my face. Our lips were so close, but I resisted my urge to kiss him. "How was I supposed to know that I'd fall in love with you?" he whispered. I fought back tears as he leaned in and kissed me softly.

"This doesn't change things," I said coldly. But I wasn't sure if I believed myself.

"I love you," he said, kissing me again.

"I love you too."

He pulled me over to the bed and pulled his pants down, leaning over it. I smiled for once that day, and started to undo my belt…

Marco

I opened my eyes and found myself lying under a tree in Central Park. It was beautiful and sunny, and someone was lying next to me, holding my hand. I expected to see Rory, but it wasn't him.

"Hey Marco," Jesse said, rolling closer to me and wrapping an arm around my waist.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"What? Do I need a reason to lie next to my boyfriend?" he asked, kissing the corner of my mouth; something I used to do with him.

"Your boyfriend? Since when?" I asked, surprised.

"You're funny Marco. That's part of the reason I love you. If you want to pretend like that…we've been together for six months. Ever since you and Andrew broke up. You came to me that day and told me how much you needed a friend. And it just…happened."

"I remember now," I said, kissing him back. "It feels so good to be finally happy."

"You can say that again." He climbed on top of me and started kissing my neck, running his hands along my sides as he did.

"Take me right now," I whispered into his mouth. He reached down and pulled off my pants.

"Close your eyes first," he said, shifting around so his head was at my thigh.

I did as he said, and waited, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes to see what was going on, but he was gone. I was sitting on a bench, pants on, and all alone.

Jesse

I had just gotten done talking to Marco when the nurse came in and told us that visiting hours were over. We all reluctantly walked out, including Craig, his friends, and his step mom.

Still worried about Rex, I dialed his cell number, but still got no answer. Then I called Andrew back at the house and asked if he had gotten home yet. No luck there either.

I was about to leave the hospital when I saw an ambulance pull up at the emergency room doors. I curiously watched what was going on. They pulled a stretcher out and ran inside with it.

I watched them go by me before I realized who was on the stretcher. It was Rex.

"Wait!" I yelled, running after them. I caught up and looked at him. "Rex?" I asked. He wasn't awake.

"Do you know him?" a paramedic asked.

"Yeah. He's my…brother," I lied. "I've been looking all over for him. Where was he?"

"Central Park," the man answered. "Passed out with an empty bottle of vodka and nearly buried in the snow."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"We don't know."

A/N: Yeah, Thomas' POV seemed kinda pointless…sorry about that. Something will happen with him soon. He'll also be going to court with Lindsey but I'm definitely not spelling out the whole trial because that'll take forever. I'm probably just gonna have a chapter on it…if that. Yeah, and I'm not sure now if I'll be able to end this in thirty chapters…we'll see. Oh and Marco's obviously still in a coma. The next chapter takes place a week later. The title is a line from the song "All She Wrote" by Default and they own it.