Hey Guys! Sorry for the late chapter, between not having school Monday and everything else I've lost track of time! To make up for it I've made this chapter pretty long with plenty of LOVE and drama! You guys will get to see the more flirtatious side to Bee in this chapter but also "normal" side. To Bee this basically just means how she was before the accident. I hope you all enjoy! Maybe I'll post an new chapter this weekend to make up for not posting Monday.
I guess Hayden is supposed to act as my escort to group because Nurse Jackson leaves us to find our way ourselves. I kinda hope our common trait of poor direction leaves us in a sectioned off supply closet somewhere. I know I've already gotten lost in his eyes, just a matter of time until my lips might just need a little guidance.
Sadly we arrive in the group room without any delay and take two seats beside each other in the circle of chairs. There are people scattered around the room, a few picking at the refreshments at the table on the other side of the room, some stuffing their pockets with tissues for the emotional roller coasters to come. I groan.
"Have you ever been to one of these?" I turn to Hayden.
"No, but from your incredible enthusiasm I can only guess how awful this is going to be." He rolls his eyes and I give out a laugh.
"I don't know," I begin testing the water. "This might be somewhat bearable with a cutie like you beside me." I side glance at him to see how he reacts. I'm greeted with a bright smile, a small twinkle in his eye.
"I couldn't agree more." He states making me blush. A woman clears her throat and everyone takes seats around the room.
"Hello everybody, my name is Harper. I hope you all have come prepared with your notebooks, if not then who cares I'll just give you a piece of paper." She let's out a hearty chuckle. She's young, late twenties early thirties with plain brown eyes, shoulder length length brunette hair and big oval sunglasses perched on her head.
After passing out pens and paper to those who need it she settles back in her seat. "Alright so I know some of you already have been instructed to write feelings and other stuff in here." She gestures with her hands. "But I personally think that's stupid, so I've come up with some fun writing prompts for us to do! Who knows, some of you may be poets and you don't know it, or just like deep but your creativity is asleep." She laughs again before scrolling through her phone. "Alright first things first, I want you all to write an introduction. Introduce yourselves."
"This is so stupid." I whisper to Hayden flipping open my notebook.
"I don't know, maybe it could be fun? At least we don't all have to sit and talk about our feelings." True, true. I lift my pencil and think a moment before writing.
"Alright," Harper speaks up after a moment. "Anyone care to share what they wrote?" No one volunteers. "You're all chickens." She giggles before eyeing the crowd. Her gaze lands on me. "Phoebe! Why don't you share your's!" She exclaims. I force myself not to let out an audible groan as I read from my notebook reluctantly.
"My name is a Phoebe Johnson, but everyone just calls me Bee. I'm almost fifteen and a half so technically I'm fifteen and a fourth if you like to do math, which I do not." I finish, getting a laugh from everyone, even Hayden. I crack a smile because I didn't really intend for my statement to be funny.
"Very good!" Harper cries. "Thank you for sharing with us Bee."
The rest of the meeting is uneventful, a few more people introduce themselves but no one is really around Hayden and I's age. Harper's given us all a list of writing prompts to 'inspire' us or something and sets us loose to write freely. We have to have at least three put together before the next meeting. Surprisingly a few are kinda intriguing, but not as much as Hayden. We talk for the rest of the meeting, pretending to discuss topic ideas when Harper would come around.
Turns out he's not much older than me, a little over 16, which I probably should've know considering him and Hunter are twins. He plays soccer and baseball and is on his Class Committee which I can compare to my Student Council. There are a few flirtatious comments made here and there but mostly we just have a great time.
"How come Hunter's never said anything about you?" I ask wiggling my pencil in front of me. His face falls making me instantly regret asking.
"We aren't very close." He states looking away sadly.
"What happened?" I ask without even thinking. Damn concussion. Hayden chews on his bottom lip a moment.
"Something happened when we were kids.. Ever since nothing's really been the same between us. I even convinced my parents to apply me to a private school just so that we could be even farther apart." His voice breaks for a second but he plays it off as he's just clearing in throat. "Now I regret missing out on all that time we could've spent together." He blinks hard a few times before shaking his head and giving me another bright beaming smile.
A shock comes over me, we are just alike. I know the art of fake smiling anywhere and it's obvious he's doing it now, hiding what's really eating him alive inside. I'm about to pry on the topic even more but after forcing my brain to slow down and think I know that's not what I would want someone to do to me.
"I feel the same way with Claire, except I don't have the opportunity to make things right like you do." I comment softly. Hayden's eyes soften with sympathy as he reaches out to touch my shoulder.
"She's already gone?" He asks gently. I nod as he pulls me into a hug. He smells amazing, and I take a deep breath into his scent before pulling away. "I'm sorry Bee." He says.
"I've heard more of those three words this past month then in my entire lifetime." I state with a dry chuckle. "Don't worry about it. I don't like to dwell on the past too much."
"Then being in all these groups and therapy sessions must kill you." Hayden comments.
"Yeah." I scoff. "That's for sure."
After the meeting I ask him if he wants to come hang out for a little bit in my room before he has to go meet the rest of his family. He accepts, luckily my room is actually clean for once. We both scatter our stuff on my floor, throwing pillows off my bed to sit on.
"We should probably do a few of these prompts considering we got nothing done during that meeting." Hayden laughs.
"Yeah, you're probably right." I smile back pulling out the list Harper gave us. After scanning through the paper I peek up at Hayden. "Okay. What about this one?" I say. "Write about your first love." I dramatize and we both laugh. I set a timer on my phone for 3 minutes, then we both start writing furiously. The alarm rings and I let out a slow breath.
"You first!" Hayden shouts beating me to the chase.
"Darn!" I exclaim before sighing and reading from my notebook with a few added in dramatizations. "My first love: Toby Lee in 6th grade. Oh man he was an absolute heart-throb. Still is. With his blonde softly spiked hair, ice blue eyes and chiseled jaw line any preteen girl would be cooing all over him. He was the Zack Effron of Mrs. Ellis's 6th grade class. I was the lucky one who got to be his girl, that is until he started ditching me on the playground for Lexi Owens. I ended that real quick, but not before I stole his kiss virginity."
"That's awful Bee!" Hayden laughs rolling over. "You little lip slut! And in elementary school too-boot!" He exclaims.
"Hey!" I shout chucking a pillow at him playfully. "So how old were you when you had your first kiss?" I ask, this is actually another prompt on Harper's list but neither of us bother writing it down.
"4th grade." He replies without hesitation before eyeballing me suspiciously. "What about you?" He asks as my cheeks grow warm.
"I may have stolen Toby Lee's kiss virginity but that doesn't mean he took mine. By then I was halfway an expert. Sure Toby was my first love but that doesn't mean that I didn't have other "Boyfriends" in my elementary school days." I state laughing lightly at the memories beginning to surface.
"Phoebe!" Hayden gasps. "Please do spill about the love life of your youth!" He laughs.
"Well, my first kiss was Elliott Howell in third grade. I guess you could say I got the cooties virus at a young age, my friends would always tell me I'd be the first to get Herpes too. That kiss didn't end up being a bad thing though. Little Eli went around to all of his buddies telling them that I was the best kisser ever and next thing you know I was locking lips with Jake Bates under the swirly slide." Hayden is absolutely hysterical by now.
"Oh my gosh Bee! You've gotten around quite a bit on that playground." I laugh with him now, my head hurting a little from doing do but I ignore the dull ache.
"Hey, experience is experience and I've become quite a pro if I do say so myself." I claim locking eyes with him for a moment. He bites his lip and lowers his gaze before drawing a little bit closer to me.
"Maybe I could learn a few things from a master like yourself." He says softly.
"Possibly," I murmur before his hand finds my face and gently pulls me towards him. His lips are soft and gentle as we touch. This is my time to show off I guess. I intertwine my hands into his hair and feel our lips begin to move in sync. He catches on quick and although he played dumb earlier, it's obvious he knows what he's doing.
There is electricity buzzing around us, and I feel dizzy, in a good way. This kiss transports me back to when things were normal, when making out with a guy was more of a hobby than a lifeline. He pulls me back to normalcy, back to what I'm missing. There's no other way to say it except that I feel like my actual self with him. That fun, popular, flirty girl begins to emerge instead of cowering in the corner of my old life before everything happened.
We finally pull away slowly, him resting his hands on the back of my neck pulling my forehead forward to lean onto his as we both slowly catch our breath. He smiles at me gently, his slips sliding apart to perform the action.
"How's that for a lesson?" He sighs.
"I think you were a much better teacher than I was." I give a small grin. Ours eyes connect once more and we are about to kiss again when we hear someone clear their throat at the entrance of my room.
"Jordi," I gasp gaping up at him. How long has he been standing there? I quickly get up from me seat beside Hayden and rush over to him. "I didn't expect anyone to come visit." I state sadly.
"I'm not here to visit you." He answers coldly. "Nurse Jackson sent me, it's your mom." He finishes his voice taking on a more concerned tone. My stomach jumps into my throat as I push Jordi aside and race down the hallway to a nurses station where Nurse Jackson is waiting. Beside her, my crying aunt.
Oh boy! Lots of drama! So basically Jordi just walked in on Bee making out with Hayden, which is obviously going to cause some tension. On top of that embarrassment she gets the news something bad has happened to her mom, aka her only surviving family member whose been in the Hospital (not Ocean Park) since the accident. I'm not going to spill too much about it but instead today's QOTC is: Are you guys pro Haydee (Bee/Hayden) or Beedi (Bee/Jordi) Haha sucky couple names I know but I really want to hear you guys' opinions! Let me know. Also I'm ruining low on some ideas so please please please PM me or comment any ideas you all may have.
Lots of Love: - Britt
P.s. Special shout outs to Hiway202 , Rae-bear , RbsCdc , and Love2liveurlife ! You guys are amazing!