It took a little while for Rebecca to process what was going on. She had a hard time accepting it. Not the part where Nathaniel was apparently both bisexual and polyamorous, but the part about the specific men he had chosen to date, AND the fact that Trent, who had only ever had eyes for her, was somehow okay with this. Was this some sort of trick, or another one of Trent's twisted "love tests"? Or was it just the fact that Trent was in a full body cast, on powerful painkillers, and therefore made an easy target for Nathaniel's machinations? Whose idea was this? There was no way it was real, right?
"I never thought I'd actually feel sorry for Trent," she muttered one day when discussing this with Paula.
Paula was sick to death at this point of hearing Rebecca constantly complaining about men. "Why don't you go and talk to him after Nathaniel leaves?" she half-heartedly suggested.
So she tried that. She staked out the hospital and waited for Nathaniel to leave, but she didn't see him. She was about to go in to see if she'd missed him— but George was already storming in and Rebecca didn't want a confrontation with him right now.
George came out with Nathaniel ten minutes later, furious with him for missing another date night.
"You don't understand," Nathaniel was saying. "He needs me."
"And I don't?! Nathaniel, you met when he tried to kill you! I've been waiting for you to notice me for two years! Now we're finally together and it barely feels like I'm a blip on your radar. I'm sick of you blowing me off to spend more time with him. He could find someone else, if he wanted to; no one's exactly beating down my door."
"Wow," Nathaniel deadpanned. "You know, George, you have friends you could spend time with instead of waiting up for me all night. He doesn't have any other visitors. No family in town, no friends."
"Gee, yeah, I wonder why. Nathaniel, that guy is creepy."
"Hey! Look, I don't expect you to like him, but the least you could do is try to get along with him. He's not going to be in there forever and we will eventually have to reconfigure our dating schedule."
"How romantic. We all know that once he gets out, your entire life will revolve around taking care of him and making sure he's fully recovered, and he's going to milk that for everything he can get. You won't have time for me anymore, not like you really do now anyway."
Nathaniel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. I get it. I've been neglecting you. Well, what do you want to do?"
The two of them walked off together, discussing their plans for the night. Once the coast was clear, Rebecca went in. She knocked at Trent's door and called out to him before letting herself in.
Trent had been settling into a nap after George had dragged Nathaniel away, and he really did not want to get into it with Rebecca right now. He had had a lot of time to think about the time and energy he had spent, loving her, trying to get her to love him back. At first she had been grateful to him for cooking and cleaning and helping her with work; then she had been grateful to him for helping free Paula from her collapsed bathroom, and had even had sex with him, and complimented him on his natural talent; but the next time he saw her, she had claimed to be disgusted with him as a person? He had felt— he still felt— so abandoned, so used, so….
No, he didn't want to think about it, and he didn't want to deal with it. So he kept his eyes closed and didn't acknowledge her. He willed himself not to cry, not to react in any way as she sat down next to him in Nathaniel's chair.
"Hey," she said softly. "Listen, Trent…. I've been meaning to come by and tell you… I'm sorry, about the rooftop incident. I didn't mean to hurt you."
Broken bones are the least of my pain, he thought. They don't even compare to the agony you've caused me over the years. I loved you so much, and for what?
As if reading his mind, she continued: "I know I've hurt you in other ways too, but dude, you can't just waltz into my life and expect a place in it! If you'd really been stalking me from the second I came to Wear Covina then you knew I was already in love with someone else. I was not available!"
You're one to talk. Didn't you do exactly that to Josh, when he was with that girl?
"And okay, I know I asked you to pose as my boyfriend to make Josh think I'd moved on after he caught me lying to him, but I made it very clear we weren't going to be a thing for real! And then you blackmailed me? Who DOES that?!"
I just wanted to make you a nice meal and take care of you. What's so wrong about that? Again, Trent had to will himself not to let tears fall.
As Rebecca was gearing up to speak again, the nurse came in.
"Visiting hours are over, sweetie," she said gently. "Unless you're family?"
"No," Trent said, before Rebecca could speak. He really couldn't take any more of this. "I don't know her. She's just some lady who wanted me to pretend to be her boyfriend. It didn't work out, and now I'm here."
His words prompted the nurse to take a good look at Rebecca. "My God," she said. "You're the Rooftop Killer. You have some nerve! I don't ever want to see you near this room again, do you hear me?"
xoxo
Rebecca was in shock the whole drive home. The world felt like it was upside down. Trent had thrown her under the bus. She had been barred from ever visiting him again. She had been scolded by an ICU nurse.
"Wow," she said to herself, stunned. "I guess he really is through with me." She thought she should feel relieved, but instead, she felt… disappointed? Saddened? Why was she feeling like this? She hated Trent, didn't she? Shouldn't she be glad he wasn't obsessed with her anymore?
Then what was this sense of… loss?
xoxo
Once Rebecca left, Trent broke down and wept freely. The nurse was sympathetic; she thought he must be crying because of the trauma from seeing the person who had tried to kill him.
"Can you please call Nathaniel?" he asked between sobs. "He should be my emergency contact."
xoxo
"No. No! You are not picking up your phone right now! Seriously?!" George rolled his eyes. They had just picked a movie and settled into bed together.
"This is Nathaniel…. Is everything okay?... Actually, she was acqui— never mind, is he okay?"
George rolled his eyes. Of course this was about the two people guaranteed to distract Nathaniel from him. Why wouldn't it be?
"Should I come over?"
"No, you should not go over there!" George snapped. Nathaniel held up a hand.
"Please, if it's what he needs, I'm happy to…. Yes, I'm his only family in town…. Okay. I'll be there in 15." Nathaniel hung up and looked over at George. "Apparently Rebecca went in there and traumatized him. He's really shaken up and he wants to see me. Are you coming or are you staying here?"
George grimaced. He hated this, hated it! But if the only time he could get with Nathaniel was in Trent's presence, he would have to take it. At least Nathaniel wouldn't be kissing Trent again with George in the room, or with that nurse on duty since she thought Nathaniel was Trent's relative.
"I guess I'm coming with."
