Chapter Seven: Not The End
"Calm down, calm down. Ellie blew up in my face earlier and Logan is out with her," Hadley says putting her hand on his arm.
"Don't touch me. Leave me alone! What's going on?" James winces and puts his hand on his chest and screams in pain. The doctors and nurses come rushing in, followed by Logan, Ellie, and Shelby. Shelby unconsciously grabs Logan's hand in fear and holds it tight. Logan looks down at their joined hands, but takes his thumb and rubs her hand with comfort.
"What did you do to him?" Ellie yells at Hadley as she cries.
"NOTHING! Kendall knows I did nothing to him. Chill out. God, I knew it! James hates me. I should have killed myself when I had the chance." She runs out the door.
"He needs to be rushed into emergency surgery," says the doctor, "one of his broken ribs is poking at his lung and irritating it.
"OHMYGOD, James!" yells Ellie. Kendall and Logan try to hold her back, but she breaks free from their grasp and hugs James. "Don't leave me," she whispers. Kendall grabs Ellie around her waist and pulls her from James, who is whimpering in fear as the doctors roll him out the door.
"Where's Hadley?" asks Shelby, who gets a dirty look flashed at her by everyone still standing in the room, "n-n-not that I care or anything," she finishes.
"Someone find her," Ellie says looking down at her feet.
Kendall and Logan exchange looks and Logan decides to go because of the interaction between Hadley and Kendall earlier.
"You gonna be okay?" Logan asks Shelby.
"Oh, yeah. I'll be fine," she smiles softly.
Logan smiles and ventures off to find Hadley.
Karlee kisses Kendall's cheek and walks over to Ellie who had dropped to her knees in the same spot James' bed had lived. Ellie runs her hand through her hair and looks at Karlee, tears streaming from her eyes. Karlee helps her to her feet and pulls her into an embrace, joined by Kendall.
Logan finds Hadley sitting outside with her face buried in her hands.
"He's in surgery right now," he says.
"What happened?"
"When he moved all around, one of his broken ribs loosened and it's irritating his lung."
"Oh my gosh," she says as she gets up and rushes inside to find everyone in the waiting room. She glances around the room to find that it is like a scene from a movie, but this was no movie. This was reality.
Ellie is crying profusely with her arms wrapped around her body. She is shaking uncontrollably. Logan is jittery and scared, but manages to keep Shelby calm. Her head is on his chest, but she makes funny faces because the material on his sweater is rather…funny feeling. He plays with the tousles at the ends of her hair to keep himself occupied and to keep his mind from worrying about what is going to happen next. Karlee is sound asleep in Kendall's criss-cross lap in the floor at Ellie's feet. Kendall talks quietly on his phone to Carlos (who is in Florida with his family) and explains everything that is going on. Hadley was just about to take a seat when the doctor emerges from the big white doors that lead to the operating room.
"He's going to be fine," the doctor announces.
"Oh thank, God," Ellie says as she brushes her tears off of her cheek. She gets up to give the doctor a hug and accidentally taps Karlee's shoulder with her foot.
"Wh-what time is it?" Karlee asks with a yawn.
Kendall takes the phone from his ear, "2:15 am," then puts it back and continues talking to Carlos.
"Where is he now?" asks Logan.
"He's in recovery," the doctor replies.
"Can we visit him?" Hadley asks innocently.
"Not while he is in recovery, but once we transfer him back to his room, we will be sure to let you know," he reassures.
"Ok, thanks so much," she turns to Ellie, "I know you kinda hate me, but I don't think it's fair that you're getting all of James' love. We both obviously love him, but you're making him favor you."
"I'm making him favor me? Oh no, no, no. Why was he rushing over to my house? Why did he crash his car? I'm not making him favor me. I'm just being there for him," says Ellie calmly, but straightforward.
"So am I! If I'm not trying to be there for him, then why am I even here? I want him to love me, but he doesn't anymore."
About 2 hours later, James is back in his room. Everybody has gone home, except Hadley. She sit by his bedside with her eyes on his monitors like a hawk. She sees James eyes flutter open
"James? James, are you okay? Can you breathe?"
He cringes his face, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel like a truck ran over me , but I'm good, I guess, considering."
"I'm sorry for the way I acted. I'm sorry for all the bad things that have happened and for all the horrible things I called you. It's all my fault. I just, I love you so much and I never thought I would be this close to literally losing you."
James sits there for a moment completely silent.
"What? Is there something wrong?" she asks anxiously.
"I'm just thinking," he responds.
"Take your time, sweetie," she says placing her hand on his head.
"Where did everyone go?" he asks purposely moving his head to remove Hadley's hand from his hair.
"They went home to rest. I stayed here overnight. So, do you still hate me?"
"Hadley, I appreciate you being here, but can we talk about this tomorrow? I just got out of surgery. I need to rest some more."
She looks at him with teary eyes. "Anything for you."