Getting to Know You
The Chipmunks and Chipettes story
Part XII
When Alvin came out of the restaurant, he scanned the parking lot quickly to try an isolate where Susan had run off to. He may not have liked her much if at all, but he still didn't want her to do anything drastic because of him. When he didn't see any motion around the lot, he focused on the cars in case she had decided to hop into one for whatever reason. As he looked around, he saw one car with the lights on inside and also the outline of Susan. He felt relieved that she was at least stationary until he also noticed a small metallic flash of light caught in the overhead light. That small flash of reflected light scared him more than anything in the world at the moment. He ran to her car ignoring the horns and angry shouts of the motorists that stopped suddenly as he ran through the traffic lanes.
He reached the driver's side door and saw that she had streaks of dried tears on her cheeks as well as having her eyes closed and her head lolling back sluggishly to face him with her pale, drawn face that looked years older than what she normally looked like. As he shook the handle trying to force the door open, he stared in horror at the small sliver of metal in her hand as his mind registered the fact that she was holding nothing other than the very knife he had seen in a dream just days ago. On the other arm she had a trail of red dripping off her skin as fresh blood continued to flow from the gash she had undoubtedly made herself just moments ago.
When the door wouldn't open for him, he yanked off his jacket and wrapped it around his elbow, reared back, and slammed the glass panel in the door until it gave way after two more tries. When the glass had a decent sized hole in it, he reached trough, hit the unlock button and yanked the door open. The car alarms went off, but all that did was attract the attention he needed to save her life as he dragged her limp frame from the seat and laid her out on the ground, careful to protect her head. She cracked her eyes open slightly and stared up at him confused.
"I thought you hated me. Why would you save me when I want to die?" she whispered as he tried to bandage her arm using a strip of fabric he had torn from his shirt.
"I don't hate you, I hate what you did, and no matter what you may have done, no one deserves to die like this." He told her as he elevated her head and pressed down on the wound until she winced in pain.
They sat there like that for maybe a few seconds before the host came running over and saw what was happening, as he dialed 911 on his cell phone, Simon and Jeanette ran up to them and Simon knelt down beside Alvin and took over the emergency aid. When he saw that Simon had things under control, Alvin stood up and made a call of his own to the Chipettes house. The phone rang once, twice, and on the third time, Eleanor picked up the phone.
"Hello? Alvin?" she said into the receiver.
"Hey Ellie, I need you to tell Theo and Brit that there was an accident with Susan, the pictures are okay and we're in the clear, but Susan cut her wrists and Simon, Jeanette, and I are going to the hospital until we know what to do next. Did you get all that?" he said hurriedly.
"I-I think so, Susan cut herself, you got the pics, and you three are going to the hospital, is that right?" she asked, worry layering every syllable of her words.
"Cool, and tell Britney… tell her I love her and I'll be back at your place with the others as soon as I can okay?"
"Got it Alvin," Eleanor said softly, hanging up.
Alvin slid the phone back into his pocket just as the ambulance pulled up and the EMT's crawled out. One of them took over for Simon and pulled Susan onto a stretcher. When they had her safely loaded, Alvin, Jeanette, and Simon were told to crawl into the back and tell them exactly what happened.
Eleanor hung up the wall phone and looked sadly at Britney and Theo in the living room. Britney had finally started to cheer up and was actually enjoying herself playing games with her and Theo, now this had to happen and ruin it for her. If Ellie ever saw Susan in person, she'd give her a piece of her mind.
"What's up with you Ellie?" Theo called from the living room as he rolled the dice for his turn.
"I just got a call from Alvin." She said somberly.
"Alvin?!" Brit asked excitedly, until she saw the expression on Eleanor's face, "What's happened?"
"You guys may want to sit down for this one." she prompted, waiting for them to make themselves comfortable as looks of worry were exchanged between them.
When they were finally settled, Ellie took a deep breath and started to tell them what Alvin had told her, that the pictures were safe, but when Susan had thrown them at him, he had seen that she was distressed and chased after her to make sure she didn't do anything dangerous, when he had found her, he had to pull her out of her car after breaking a window and then went into a first aid routine until the ambulance showed up to take her to the hospital and that Alvin, Simon and Jeanette were en route to the hospital with the EMT's.
Once she was done telling them all this, Britney was about to break down again, and Theo looked like he was numbed. Just like when he had saved her from Charles just last summer. She knew that it was all a lot to take in, and she wasn't sure what she would end up doing herself, but she knew that they would have to do something or she would go nuts from feeling so helpless.
Eventually Theo asked the question that was on all of their minds, "What do we do now?" he asked, looking around in the hopes that at least one of them would have an idea.
After a few more minutes of awkward silence, Britney spoke up, "I think that we should go and pick up the rest of the group and we'll think about it while we're all sleeping here tonight."
"Whoa, what do you mean while we're all sleeping here tonight? When was that agreed?" Theo questioned.
"I spoke to Dave earlier and Miss Miller said it was cool. It was supposed to be a surprise for when Alvin got back and Simon and Jeanette were here as well, but under the circumstances, I think it's going to end up being less of a surprise and more of a necessity." She answered.
"Makes sense, but how do we know when to pick them up and from where? And what do we do about Alvin's car?" Ellie asked.
"You or Theo can drive me to his car at the restaurant and then head back while I take his car and pick them up at the hospital." Britney replied quickly, getting antsy about seeing her boyfriend and more importantly, talking to Susan face to face and trying to help her.
"Do you have a key for Alvin's car?" Theo questioned, asking the obvious question.
"I have a spare he gave me when I had to use his car while mine was in the shop." Brit supplied, apparently to his satisfaction.
"Well, in that case," he began leaning forward in his seat and trying to put on a brave face, "Tell me when you want to go."
"Okay," she agreed nodding her head, "Just let me call Alvin real quick and I'll know when we need to leave." She told them as she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Alvin's number.
Alvin had just finished telling the paramedics what he knew about Susan's medical history, which wasn't much by any stretch of the imagination, when his cell phone ring. After getting a dirty look from the attendant at the front desk, he stepped out into the main lobby and flipped the front of the phone up to talk.
"Hello?" he said into the receiver.
"Alvin? It's me Brit, listen, I just talked to Theo and Ellie and Theo's going to drive me to your car and I'm going to use it to come pick you, Simon, and Jeanette up as soon as you need me to." Britney said, not even taking a moment to breath. She only did that when she was worried.
"Calm down there Brit, we're all okay. They just got Susan in the OR to stitch up her wrist. They told me she lost a lot of blood but they said she'll be okay after they get her a transfusion." Alvin consoled her, trying to calm her down enough to at least speak normally.
"Are you okay?" she asked after a few seconds of silence, "I mean, she didn't threaten you did she?"
"No, in fact, she just seemed genuinely sorry when she ran out of the restaurant. Then I ran after her and found her with her wrist slit." He told her trying to tone down the horror of the scene, "I think she's more of a danger to herself right now than she is to others. And I know what she did to us, but I'm still feeling bad about what happened."
"Yeah, me too, I was actually wondering if I could talk to her when she was feeling up to it." She confessed
"I think that would be nice, but not right now, she's having some serious mood swings and the doctor said that unless she requests to speak to anyone that they won't let any visitors in that aren't family." Alvin told her.
"That's cool with me. I don't want to even think about what's going through her mind right now without the burden of visitors." Britney said sounding relatively relieved.
"So what's happening back at your place?" Alvin asked trying to steer the conversation somewhere at least semi-normal.
"Nothing much, Theo and Ellie are watching TV until I can get back to the game with them. Other than that… OOOH!" she said excitedly into the phone, "Guess what?!"
"What?" Alvin replied, taken completely by surprise by her sudden excitement.
"I talked to Dave as well as Miss Miller, and they both said that if you guys want, all three of you can spend the night at our house." she answered happily, a glimmer of joy amidst an otherwise sad night.
"That's great babe!" he exclaimed excitedly, yet again drawing dirty looks from the receptionist in the process, not that he cared at the moment, "Does that mean that your mom is cool with six hormonal teenagers that are going out spending the night in the same house while she's asleep?" he inquired eagerly.
"Not quite." She answered laughing, "My mom isn't that naïve and she told me that if she even suspects anything sexual going on that the person's involved wouldn't see each other in face to face for the rest of the year."
"Well damn," Alvin said sounding a little bit sad, he had been hoping that at least they could have caught a break this time and done something. But it looked as if fate was telling them to wait yet again.
"Although," Britney said, trying to cheer him up, "Ellie told me about this one spot in the back yard that is totally shut off from everything else and you can actually see anyone coming outside. So maybe we can still have some fun." She teased
"Okay then. I'll be waiting for you to come pick us up when they're done with us." He told her as he saw the doctor walking over unmistakably towards him.
"Alright then, love you babe." Brit said into the phone sweetly, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
"You too Brit, I gotta go now, I'll call you when I get done with whatever okay?" he answered, reaching for the end call button.
"Kay, see you later." Britney said as she hung up the kitchen phone.
When he heard the dial tone on her end of the call, Alvin closed his phone and looked at the doctor expectantly.
"You're the one who found Susan Taylor this evening correct?" the doctor asked.
"Yeah, I found her in her car with her wrist cut, is she doing alright now?" Alvin answered anxiously, hoping with all his might that he had managed to get her help in time.
"Were you aware of the young ladies condition when you performed first aid?" the doctor asked staring into Alvin's eyes intently.
"Condition?" Alvin asked confused by the doctor's words, "I barely know her, let alone any condition she might have, except for the bipolarity. Is that what this is about?"
"No, not that, normally I wouldn't leak information about a patient to anyone outside their family, but seeing as I cannot contact any of those listed on her medical history report, I figured I should let her rescuer at least know."
"Know what?" Alvin asked impatiently, this guy was taking forever to say a simple sentence.
"Susan is pregnant." The doctor said concisely, "She's actually about three months along and had she succeeded in cutting her veins and artery instead of a simple deep gash, the fetus would not have survived. You saved two lives tonight mister Seville, congratulations."
"Holy shit," Alvin replied numbly, "Should I tell Simon? He helped to do the first aid."
"Yes, I think that would be good for the both of you actually. Also, Susan has come out of the sedative we put her under while stitching her up and she has asked to see you in private. She's conscious now if you wish to step in for a few minutes." The doctor offered, gesturing towards a nearby door.
"Sure no problem" Alvin replied still rocked by the news of Susan's pregnancy. He nevertheless made his way over to Simon and Jeanette who were huddled around a Popular Science magazine.
When Alvin walked over to them, they knew something was wrong by the stunned look on his face. As he told them what he had just learned, instead of being surprised like he expected, Simon and Jeanette just nodded their heads and said that that would make sense.
"What do you mean it makes sense?!" Alvin asked loudly, trying to figure out how anything could make sense at this point.
"Well, she was having mood swings, and that would explain them the most." Jeanette replied matter of factly.
"Okay, however you figured all this out, I don't want to know. I also heard from the doctor that she wants to talk to me in her room right now, so I'm going to chat with her; Simon could you call Britney and tell her to come out here and pick us up? She said she'd show up in my car so just come and get me when she pulls up okay?" he instructed, momentarily resuming his front as the bossy older sibling.
"No problem Alvin." Simon answered, as Alvin walked down the hall to the room that the doctor had pointed out to him.
When Alvin entered the room, he saw that Susan was hooked up to a machine that measured her heart rate as well as her blood pressure. She also had a thick layer of white gauze on her forearm and part of her hand so that her wrist was immobilized. When the door clicked behind him, she turned her head suddenly and stared at him without saying a word.
"Hey Susan, how are you doing?" he asked cautiously, not wanting to upset her in any way lest she do more damage to herself.
"I'm sorry Alvin." She whispered back.
"Sorry? For what?" he asked
"For everything; you and Britney are perfect for each other, and I see now that what I did was so wrong. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, but I ended up hurting the one person I truly loved." She replied sadly, looking through Alvin.
"Yes, I love Britney, and you did hurt us, both of us, by doing what you did. But it's all okay now. The pictures aren't going to get out and right now, I'm more worried about you, and your child." He admitted.
Her eyes focused on him when he mentioned her child, "How did you find out?" she asked, looking scared yet again, as if he would get mad at her or something.
"The doctor told me after you were stitched up. He said that Simon and I saved two lives tonight. Who's the father anyway, if you don't mind telling me?" he asked, trying to look sympathetic, which was hard given the circumstances.
Susan stared off into the distance again for a few minutes, when her eyes finally refocused; she stared dead into Alvin's eyes and spoke, "I don't know."
"How do you not know? Were you with that many guys?" Alvin asked callously.
"No!" she yelled defensively, then suddenly calming down, "I don't know who the father is because… because I didn't see the guy that raped me." She finished quietly
"You were raped?!" Alvin asked shocked, she had gone through more than he had ever imagined.
"Yeah, about three months ago, and when I went to the police, they just told me to stop lying and get out. Then I went home and told my parents and they blamed me, they said that I had been asking for it by dressing the way I did and not screaming loud enough. Finally, they kicked me out when I refused to get an abortion." She blurted out in a torrent of words that made Alvin feel more and more sick that people could do this to her.
"Are you telling me that your own family blames you for something that was done to you against your will?" Alvin asked incredulously.
"Pretty much, yeah, I guess I wanted to feel loved and I went about it all wrong. You and Brit must hate me right now." She said starting to tear up again.
Alvin approached awkwardly and put his arms around her in a rare sign of affection. He had been in her position so many times, hurting those around him trying to do something good. Maybe if anybody could empathize with her, it was Alvin. As he continued to comfort her, the nurse came in and told him that he would have to leave for the night. He broke away from Susan and stood up to walk out the door, but before he left, he looked back at her and smiled.
"I'll come back and visit you soon okay?" he promised.
"Okay then," she replied, smiling through the tear streaks on her face, "just know that I'll hold you to it."
"I will, now rest up and take care of that kid alright?" he joked.
"I will now." She promised herself softly as he exited the room to go home. The nurse then turned off the light and Susan drifted off to sleep happy for the first time in a long time.
Alvin was greeted in the lobby by none other than Britney. When she saw him, she rushed over to embrace him but stopped suddenly after seeing his worried expression.
"Alvin, are you alright? Did something happen?" she asked quietly, trying to keep the conversation private at all costs.
"Yeah," he responded equally cautious, though for what reason, he couldn't say, "I'm just worried about Susan. I know what she did to us, but I truly think that she's a good person. Listen, let's talk about this when we drive over to your place okay?"
"Okay." She agreed seeing that whatever it was that he had just learned was serious.
"Hey Alvin," Simon interrupted, "Are you going to tell her the news the doctor told you?"
"Later Si, not here, this is not something you want to talk about in public trust me on this." Alvin assured his taller, though younger sibling.
"Okay then, in that case, let's get back to the girls place for the night. I don't know about you, but I'm beat." Simon griped jokingly.
"I hear you on that." Alvin agreed as he led the group out the doors of the hospital to the spot that Brit had parked in and drove them all home.
The ride was relatively peaceful, with just an aura of unease hovering over everyone. Though the feelings were quickly dispelled when Britney turned on the radio and everyone listened to a shuffle of Metallica, AC-DC, and Rolling Stones as they drove to the Chipettes in silence. When they arrived, Simon and Jeanette were the first ones to bolt out of the car and run inside. Alvin couldn't tell exactly what was up with those two, but they seemed to have a lot more energy than they let on during the day.
As they entered the door to the home, they were greeted by the soft glow of the television screen that was slowly rolling the credits to a movie that had seemingly just ended. In fact, the only thing missing from the scene was Theodore and Eleanor. They soon revealed themselves however, when Alvin and Britney heard their voices coming from the kitchen where they were debating which kind of sauce to drizzle over their ice cream sundaes.
"I'm telling you Ellie, chocolate sauce is better for your skin and your teeth than caramel!" Theo argued passionately, you would have thought that they were arguing over nuclear proliferation rather than condiments.
"Hey you guys, we're back from the hospital." Britney interrupted before the little tiff could evolve into an all out third world war in the Chipettes house.
"Hey guys!" Ellie replied cheerfully, seeming to forget about the debate she had just been having with Theo who stood in the corner sulking. When Alvin looked at the bowl in front of him, he realized why. Eleanor had just finished dumping a glob of caramel all over his ice cream.
"You know that your movie's over right?" Alvin asked, trying to break the ice.
"Yeah, it ended about five minutes ago and we decided to make a treat before starting on the next one." Theo told him.
"Well? What are we waiting for?" Britney asked happily taking Alvin in one hand and Ellie in the other leaving Theo to trail behind, "Let's find another movie and get started!"
"Where's Si and Jeanette?" Alvin asked Ellie
"I saw Jeanette run into the downstairs bathroom and Simon is in the upstairs one." she answered.
"Ah, okay then, I just don't want them getting in trouble." Alvin justified, somewhat relieved that they weren't getting up to no good in Miss Millers house with her just a few inches of floor and wall away.
When Jeanette showed back up, the small group of four was sifting through the movies in the drawer under the TV, "Hey girls." She called, gesturing to her sisters, "Maybe we should get ready for bed and let the guys pick out the movie."
"That sounds like a good idea." Eleanor agreed heading up to her room.
"Yeah, good thinking Jeannie" Britney agreed heading up the steps right behind Ellie and in front of Jeanette.
While the girls were getting ready for bed, Simon came out of the bathroom and noticed the distinct lack of females in the room.
"Uh, what happened to the girls?" he asked perplexed, "Did you guys scare them off?" he joked, immediately dodging a pillow that Alvin had thrown.
"Nah, they're just upstairs getting into something more comfortable is all." Theo answered, not bothering to look up from the movies in the drawer.
"Well in that case, what are we doing?" he asked sincerely.
"We," Alvin started, "Are trying to find a movie for us to all watch when they come down."
"What about The Mummy?" Theo suggested, holding the case up.
"No, Jeanette has issues with the scarabs." Simon answered, "Do they have Back To The Future?"
"Yeah, but Ellie and I both have a hard time following the story for that one." Theo shot back
"What about The Man In The Iron Mask?" Alvin suggested, having just seen the case for it flash by his line of sight.
"I like that one!" Theo said from his seat on the floor
"Yeah, I don't think anyone would have a problem with that one." Simon agreed.
"Cool, then all we have to do is put it in!" Alvin said happily.
When the girls came down in their modest t-shirts and cotton pajama bottoms in their signature colors, they saw the boys sprawled on the couch every which way. Simon was on the side furthest from the stairs with his back on the armrest and one leg propped on the back with his other one hanging off. Meanwhile, Theo sat on the floor with his legs folded under him as he rested against the base of the sofa. And finally, Alvin was spread out on his side taking up every available inch along the back of the couch that Simon didn't already have.
The girls looked at each other and shrugged. They walked over to the couch and each took her own place against her boyfriend with Jeanette lying out with her back to Simon's front and Britney lying down in front of Alvin on her side. Finally, Eleanor sat in between Theo's legs and relaxed against his chest as he hit the play button and the opening credits rolled with the creation of the iron mask in the background.
After about an hour of the movie, Theo and Ellie were both asleep on the floor, Theo's arms still around Ellie keeping her warm on the carpet. Alvin looked over at Simon and Jeanette and saw that Jeanette at least was asleep and Simon wasn't keen on moving lest he wake her up. Even Alvin could see from the way that he looked at Jeanette that he really did love her. He just never showed it as openly as him and Brit or, god help them all, Theo and Ellie. Then he looked down at Britney as best he could with her back to him, her warmth pressed so close to him that it almost made him physically ache. He saw that she was awake and he leaned in to whisper in her ear gently to follow him into the kitchen, there was something he needed to talk to her about.
When they entered the still lit room that had been a sundae shop a little over an hour ago, Alvin turned to Brit and said, "Baby, I need to tell you something about tonight."
"What is it Alvin?" Brit asked worriedly, she never liked it when he used that tone. It always meant bad news of some kind.
"Before I tell you, I need your word that you will keep everything a secret from Jeanette, Theodore, and Eleanor. Do you understand?" he asked
"Okay, just tell me what it is already." She answered quickly, trying to get him to say what he needed to.
"Tonight at the hospital," he began, launching into the story of everything that had happened from Susan's attempted suicide to the doctor's revelation about her condition to her own confession about her current situation and the reason behind her pregnancy. While he talked, Britney sat in open mouthed silence as she absorbed everything. When he was done he asked her what she thought they should do.
"Honestly Alvin, I've never heard of anything like this." She admitted, "But I know that I want to talk to her tomorrow if I can. Would you be okay with that?"
"Sure, in fact, I was going to suggest that same thing. I just wasn't sure if you would be comfortable with it" Alvin agreed
"Then I guess we know what we're doing tomorrow hunh." She joked halfheartedly
"I guess we do," he agreed, "now what do you want to do? It's about twelve thirty, should we go to sleep?" he asked
"I think we should. I don't know when mom's going to wake us up tomorrow but I don't want to get any less than eight hours sleep." She said leading him back into the living room and back towards the couch.
As he drifted off to sleep with Britney held tightly to his body on the couch, his last thought was just how nice it was to have everything that he did.
Miss Miller came down the steps Saturday morning to find all six of the kids asleep on or around the couch in the living room. She smiled to herself at how innocent they looked. she knew that she should wake them up soon, but that could wait a little longer yet.
At ten o' clock, the kids were still asleep on the couch and Miss Miller decided that enough was enough. She walked into the living room not taking any mind to the sound she made, and flipped the light switch on in the darkened room causing Al of the kids to moan in agony as they awoke.
"Mom…" Jeanette groaned, "What time is it?"
"It's ten right now, and if you don't get up now, don't get mad at me if you miss Saturday completely." She answered in her usual strict manner
"Uggghhhhh" Theo and Alvin moaned in unison as they tried to come to life.
"Stop complaining you guys, let's just get up and go do stuff." Britney said, sounding unusually happy for it being the morning.
"Where do we take a shower?" Alvin asked
"The boys can use the upstairs shower and the girls can use mine." Miss Miller answered from the kitchen as the smell of food wafted out and made Theo's eyes pop open.
"I call first!" he yelled, bolting out of bed and peeling upstairs.
"Okay dude, don't have a stroke." Simon said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he got up from the couch and stretched the cramps out from his torso that Jeanette had been sleeping on and headed for the kitchen to eat breakfast.
"Mom! Do you want any help with breakfast?" Ellie asked, calling into the kitchen.
"Yes please!" Miss Miller called back.
"I'm going to go wash up." Jeanette said to no one in particular as she headed down the hall, grabbing a towel from the linen closet on her way to the shower.
This all left Alvin and Britney alone in the living room, Alvin still half asleep while Britney was up and pacing the floor, looking off into the distance like Simon and Jeanette did when they were contemplating an especially tough problem.
"What are you thinking about?" Alvin asked from the couch
"I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to say to Susan today." She admitted, "I hate her still for what she did to us, but I also pity her for everything she's been through. I've never been in a position like this and I can't imagine, as a woman, what it must be like to be her right now."
"Well, I think we should stop worrying about that and concentrate on enjoying our time with the group. We don't spend as much time with everyone as we used to. Let's just make the most of today alright?" Alvin coaxed, trying to calm her down.
Britney smiled down at him as he looked up at her from his laid back position, "Alright then mister sentimentality, so what do you have planned for after the hospital visit?"
"I was thinking we could go somewhere and have some fun." He answered, smiling back devilishly as he emphasized the word fun.
Britney laughed and helped him up off the cushions and they walked into the kitchen to eat breakfast with their siblings, who had managed to straggle in on their own time while Alvin and Britney had been talking. It felt good just to relax among family and friends.
Later on, after lunch, the six of them were gathered outside the Chipettes door and discussing where they would be the rest of the day.
"I don't know about you guys, but me and Eleanor said we'd go to the track and practice for the big meet on Wednesday." Theo volunteered
"Simon and I are going to the library" Jeanette pitched in
"What are you two going to do?" Britney asked, playing the concerned older sister for a second.
"We're going to study." Simon answered, though his tone and his look said an entirely different story; couple that with the fact that Jeanette smiled and blushed, everyone knew without a word that they would probably end up stuck back in the most secluded corner of the library and make out.
"What about you two?" Eleanor asked, raising one eyebrow at Alvin and Britney.
"If it's any of your business, we're going to go visit Susan for a little bit, then we're going for a drive around town." Alvin supplied, still a little snippy from the wakeup call a couple hours ago.
"So, we'll meet up later for pizza right?" Jeanette asked, looking around
"I don't see why not." Theo responded for the group as everyone else nodded their heads.
"Alright then, one of us will call the others when they feel like eating." Alvin said as they all broke off into couples and walked towards their cars.
Alvin and Britney were walking towards his car to go to the hospital when out of the blue, Britney's eyes grow and she stops dead in her tracks, "Hold up!" she orders Alvin excitedly and peels back inside as fast as she can.
Alvin sat on the hood of his car for about fifteen minutes before she came back out beaming, "What's up with you?" he asked curiously
"I'll tell you on our way there, I just had to talk to my mom for a few minutes." She answered, her smile staying plastered to her face the entire time.
Alvin wanted to ask further, but she had told him that they would talk about it on their way to the hospital, so he figured he'd wait until she volunteered the information.
By the time that they walked through the automatic doors to the sterilized structure, Alvin was also grinning from ear to ear. What Britney had told him had evaporated all ill feelings he had been subconsciously harboring since the night previously. They approached the front desk and asked to be admitted to visit Susan. They were slightly deterred when the nurse told them that only one of them could be admitted at a time, but after a quick glance at each other, they both understood that Britney should be the one to tell her the news.
Susan had been able to sleep the entire night, which was strange for her since it was the first time she had gotten to sleep in a real bed for a month. Throw that together with the fact that Alvin had also been so kind to her last night, she began to feel an emotion she had refused herself for so long, she felt hope spring up inside her. She even had a visit from Alvin to look forward to today! As she remembered this tidbit from last night, the nurse that had talked to her when Alvin had been asked to leave the night before showed up in the door with a smile on her face and told her that she had a visitor.
Susan sat up in her bed and smiled, trying to look healthy for Alvin, when Britney walked into the room staring at the floor.
"Hi Susan, we haven't spoken in a few weeks, do you at least remember who I am?" she asked, trying not to sound patronizing at the same time.
"Yes," Susan answered guiltily, "you're Britney, the cheerleader, singer, and Alvin's girlfriend"
"I heard everything that happened last night from Alvin. I just wanted to talk to you about some stuff that's happened recently." Britney reassured her, trying not to upset her at any cost, I came here to apologize."
This statement caught Susan completely off guard, she started to object, "Why do you have to apologize? I was the one causing all the trouble. I tried to take out my helpless feelings on you and Alvin."
"True, you did cause trouble, but I think that the main fault is mine. I was so mad at you that I didn't stop to think about you were going through. I sincerely thought that you were doing everything to hurt us, but as it turns out, it all could have been avoided and you might not be here if I had just taken the time to talk to you before this."
"Brit…" Susan started to say, tearing up at what was essentially a forgiveness from the person she had hurt, "Please don't do this, everything's my fault, my family made that clear and I'm sorry for all the pain I caused you and Alvin, I just wanted someone close that I could lean on and I didn't…didn't think…that anyone would want to help me if they weren't forced to." Susan blubbered through the tears running down her face.
"Shhhh… It's okay," Britney consoled, leaning over the bed to hold her as her body was wracked by sobs, when the cries began to subside, Susan looked back up at Britney as if seeing her for the first time.
"Britney, I'm sorry, I would never want to hurt you, and definitely not Alvin. Is there something I can do to make it up to you?" she begged, hoping that there was some sort of equalizer for her to truly make amends.
Britney though about it for a second or two, then looked at her and said that there was one thing that would make Alvin and her extremely happy.
"What is it?" Susan asked sincerely
"We want you to start hanging out with us at school. We'll invite you to our sleepovers, you can eat lunch with us, everything. This way you don't feel alone, and we get a new friend." Britney told her smiling.
Susan couldn't believe her ears, "Are you serious? What about when I begin to show?" she asked nervously
"No one messes with our friends, I already talked about this with the others and they all agree that it's an awesome idea. And there's one other thing that I didn't talk about with the others." She teased Susan gently; glad to see that she was at least considering the offer.
"What?" Susan questioned anxiously.
"I talked with my mom this morning, she has a few friends in the battered women's shelter and when I told them your story, the woman in charge, Miss Bryson, even said that she'd take you in as soon as she had a room ready for you. She lives out in the country and you'll love it." Brit explained
"Are you sure?" Susan asked, still a little unsure about the whole deal.
"Definitely." Britney reassured her, "I've met Miss Bryson personally and I've visited her house. It's the cutest place you can imagine with a huge field in back and woods for hiking, she takes in girls all the time and they all say that she's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet."
"Oh thank you Brit!" Susan exclaimed excitedly, throwing her arms around her again in a hug that forced the air out of Brit's lungs.
When she could breathe again, Britney spoke, "I'm glad you like it, and when you get discharged, if your room is still being used, mom said you could live with us."
"Britney, thank you again, this is too much by far." Susan told her, careful not to hug her again lest she break Brit.
"It's the least we could do for you. You've been through so much. Now let's talk about a less depressing topic than the past okay? What have you been up to?" Britney asked, trying to steer the conversation in a new direction.
Susan lit up as she told her how nice everyone at the hospital was and was getting started on what she had done in freshman and sophomore year when the nurse came in and told Britney that she would have to leave now so that Susan could rest.
Britney got up from her seat by Susan's bed and walked toward the door, but not before reassuring Susan that her and Alvin and even the others would visit her when they could.
"You're serious about me living with you in between here and Miss Bryson's house aren't you?" she asked quietly, doubt still lingering in the aftermath of their conversation.
"Absolutely," she assured Susan, "Now, get some rest and take of that baby in the meantime okay?"
Susan let out a small laugh and promised Britney that she'd take care, and she lay back on her bed as she watched her new friend leave the room and head down the hallway towards the main entrance. She drifted off to sleep for the second time in two days with a smile on her face.
Alvin was waiting out in the lobby when Britney came around the corner smiling anxiously.
"How'd it go?" He asked
"I think it went good. She's looking forward to Miss Bryson's place, and I told her about living with me and the girls in the meantime. You're sure that you're cool with that?" Britney replied
"If you're cool with everything, then I'm cool with it as well." He told her, bringing her in for a hug. After a few seconds, Britney cleared her throat.
"What is it?" Alvin asked
"Uh, sweetie, I hate to break this up, but we're drawing some looks from the receptionist." She replied laughingly.
"Then in that case, let's go somewhere more private." Alvin answered, pulling away and leading her out the door by the hand towards his car.
When they were in the car with the engine started, Britney asked where exactly they were going to go.
"Well, if I remember right, you wanted to go all the way a couple weeks ago right?" he asked.
"Yes…" Brit replied slowly, liking where this was going.
"Well, let's go for a drive and we'll see where we go from there. How's that sound?" he asked, nervous that she'd shoot him down.
"Okay," she replied quickly, taking him totally by surprise, "But there's one condition."
"What?" he asked nervously
"You can't stop until I say so." She said smiling devilishly at him.
"Yes Ma'am!" he responded excitedly as he drove off onto one of the countryside roads surrounding the hospital.
I hope that you all enjoyed the Susan Story-arc. The next chapter will be almost entirely a romance scene. It may get graphic and younger readers should either not read it or be very careful about reading it. Also, after Ch. XIII, the next one that is, the story will shift perspective to a Simonette story-arc that I've been working on. Everything transitionally will also be real time.
In between Ch. XIII and XIV, I will also do a one shot Simonette involving loss, not death, romance, and hurt/comfort. I apologize for the long pause in between chapters, but I was cut off from the computer, otherwise this would have been posted days ago. Again, thank you dedicated readers. Please post any questions and reviews on the review page. I will personally respond within 48 hours of receiving any reviews.
Happy Reading,
Musicalreader 4-18-10