Chapter 5

I sat hunched low in the uncomfortable, plastic hospital chair, my leg bouncing up and down rapidly against the floor, and my thumb in my mouth with my teeth grazing against the hard nail. Letty paced back and forth in front of me, mumbling incoherently to herself; obviously debating the reasons for her to be here. She waved her hands around every so often as she sized up her reasons.

My eyes darted between Letty, the nurses behind the desk who seemed so relaxed and calm, and the main doors to the ER room. The hazy drone of music hummed in the large waiting area, the stereo tuned in to the radio. Other people sat with us; maybe 5 people, seated randomly. They were all lost in their own thoughts, seated as nervously as I was.

"Letty, go home. You don't have to be here." I hadn't realised I said it until she looked at me and raised her brow. We both knew I wouldn't be able to sit there alone, yet I knew that if she kept pacing the way she did, I would have forced her to leave whether I needed her or not.

"Sorry. I don't even know why I'm nervous." She sat on the empty seat next to me and looked straight ahead, letting out a long sigh in attempts to calm herself down. "You're the one who should be nervous." She pulled her feet up on the seat and wrapped her arms around her knees and glanced over to me.

I did a pathetic shrug and leaned my head against the back of the chair. I heard Letty shuffle in her seat, before I felt her legs on my lap.

"Just making myself comfortable"

I looked at her and laughed as she crossed her ankles on my lap.

"So..." she started, trailing off slightly "...how long do you think we'll have to wait here?"

"I dunno. The nurse is giving us dirty looks, so I don't think we'll go anytime soon."

Both Letty and I glanced over at the nurse typing away behind the front desk.

"Screw her," Letty scoffed and slumped lower.

"I rolled my eyes and shifted in the seat. "If we don't get to go in, in the next 10 mins," I said and looked at my watch, "we're goin' home."

"Hmmm. And what about your dad?"

"Eh" I mumbled and shrugged.

There was a period of silence between Letty and me as we watched the other people around us. I saw Letty staring at me from the corner of my eye and turned to look at her. "What?"

"Move in"

"What!"

"Move in"

"Move in, where?"

"With us." She shifted and sat up straight in the seat, "I mean, c'mon, you're already like family. Not to mention you already have your own room downstairs where the guys are, and you spend more time there than you do in that shithouse you spend a fortune in rent on. That, and you'll always have us around if--"

"Letty," I cut her off, "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because, it just isn't. What if something happens between us? What about the other guys? You already have an overload of people living there."

"We'll get over it, we always do. And the others don't mind. We've already talked about it. And you're right, there's a shitload of people living there, so what's one more?"

"What about the stuff I already own?"

"You can sell it, and save up the money. Or put it in storage."

"What if--"

"I have an answer for every question you have, Cass. It'll be easier to just move in."

I sighed and scratched the back of my neck subconsciously. "I dunno, Let ..."

"C'mon Cass." She moved closer to me, and made a baby face at me. "Last night, after all that shit, you came straight to our place, rather than goin home. Knowing that Leon would be more than happy to drive you there. Isn't that sayin something?"

"I'll think about it." I said finally, with a long sigh. Letty grinned, showing her happiness.

Suddenly, the doors to the ER swung open, and a tall man dressed formally, calmly walked out. He looked straight at Letty and me, and started walking over.

I nudged Letty and she turned back around on the seat, and went into protective mode.

"Cassandra Dunn?" He extended his hand as he stood in front of me.

"Who's askin?" I looked up at him, but didn't move an inch.

"Are you, or are you not?"

"Yeah, I am." I said in a slightly forceful tone, and gesturing for him to get on with it.

He dropped his hand when realising I wouldn't accept it. "I'm Max Hany. I work for your father. He wanted me to come out and see if you were here."

"Does he want me to come in?"

"Um ..." he paused for a second, and shifted his eyes away from mine.

"He doesn't want me to come in." I said, more as a statement rather than a question. "Fine. I don't care. Let, let's go." I got up, followed by Letty and we headed out the door.

Max quickly headed out after us, as he tried to apologize. "Look, I'm sorry about that. I don't make the news, I just deliver it."

"Don't apologize, please." I turned around and crossed my arms across my chest. "Just tell him that when something else happens to him, make sure I'm not called, so I don't have to waste my time waiting for no reason. Frankly, I just don't care anymore. I don't know why I did in the first place." I spun back around, and headed straight to the car, not letting Max get another word in.

When I got to the car, Letty was already waiting, her car roaring, ready to go. I got in and she sped out of the lot.

"You ok, babe?"

"Yeah. Could be better though."

"Do you wanna go straight home?"

I looked over to her and smiled, "Is that a trick question?" She grinned again and I shook my head. "I dunno. I just wanna take my mind off it."

"OK. I got the perfect thing for that. We're goin out tonight."

"Sounds good."