"Beca. Beca, wake up, but don't move." Chloe kept her voice as quiet as possible, whispering into her girlfriend's ear. She had been awake for nearly two hours and although she was trying to be patient, she desperately wanted Beca to wake up before Jaiden. To her delight, the small brunette's eyes fluttered open and she stared at her girlfriend in tired confusion. Chloe watched as Beca's attention turned to the head on her shoulder and her eyes widened.
"I'm sorry I woke you. I just wanted you to see." Chloe explained quietly. Beca nodded in understanding, her eyes still fixed on her sister. "Do you want me to take a picture?" The redhead offered.
"Oh my God, no. You are literally so embarrass-" Beca was caught off as the 18 year old next to her stirred. Cursing the volume of her voice, Beca watched, frozen, as her sister sat up and blinked away the sleep in her eyes. She and Chloe were silent as they watched Jaiden slowly register where she was and who she was with.
"Shit." The freshman mumbled, bringing a hand up to her pounding head and wincing. The soft sunlight streaming in through the window seemed impossibly bright. She clenched her eyes shut, hoping to avoid the light and keep herself from having to address the fact she had just woken up on Beca's shoulder.
"Are you alright?" The older girl's voice was laced with hesitancy and Jaiden fought back the guilt she knew she shouldn't be having over how hostile she had been. She was allowed to be cold. She had a right to.
"I'm fine. I need to go." The 18 year old replied quickly, sliding off of the opposite side of the bed and getting to her feet. It was then that she realized that whatever she had ingested last night hadn't yet worn off and she stumbled forward, barely managing to catch herself on the nearest wall.
"Woah, sit down. You're not okay to go anywhere." Chloe left no room for argument in her voice as she crossed the dorm and helped the younger girl steady herself. Jaiden reluctantly allowed herself to be sat back down on the bed, fighting back the building nausea in her stomach. Noticing the significant paling of her features, Chloe mouthed the word "trashcan" at her girlfriend. Beca sprung up from the bed and grabbed the garbage can on the other side. She hurried to place it at Jaiden's feet.
"I'm good. I…I'm fine." The youngest of the three waved them off and got a hold on her stomach.
"I think you need to eat something. I'll make some breakfast, you two catch up." Chloe smoothly exited the room with a decent motive and winked at Beca before she made it into their tiny kitchen. The two young women sat awkwardly in silence for a few moments, with Beca growing more and more nervous by the second.
"If you want to do me a solid, help me sneak out of here without your stalker of a girlfriend stopping me." Jaiden propositioned finally. Beca looked up from her clasped hands in her lap and tried to hide the hurt in her expression. Venturing out and standing her ground, she shook her head.
"No. I know you don't like me, but I'm still going to try to look out for you and my stalker girlfriend is right; you're not okay right now." The older girl replied firmly. Jaiden locked her jaw, but remained on the bed.
"Can you just stop trying to play the hero? You're not. Stop acting like you care and you just want to look out for me because if that was even remotely true, you would have done it when I actually needed you." Jaiden's voice rose in volume and she shook her head at the older girl. This time, Beca didn't bother to mask her reaction and she dropped her eyes to the floor.
"You are never going to hate me for what happened more than I hate myself. But you need to listen when I tell you that I tried to talk to Dad. I was young and stupid and I didn't know what else to do. And then when we got the call that you were in the hospital-"
"Don't. Don't talk about the hospital. Of course I fucking turned to you after he beat me half to death. I was hurt and scared still and I was younger and stupider than you were." Jaiden cut her off the second the word 'hospital' left her mouth and then grimaced at the flare of pain in her head. She didn't notice the fact that her sister was struggling to keep herself composed, much less avoid running out the door.
"I love you, Jaiden. You don't believe it, I know, but I do." Beca choked out finally. Jaiden squeezed her eyes shut again, willing the rest of the drugs in her system to dissipate so that she could bail as soon as possible. The pang of guilt in her chest was only getting worse the more her sister spoke, especially after the hospital was brought up. Jaiden fought against the threat of memories in the back of her hazy mind.
"Jay? Can you hear me? Please wake up." A voice broke out from the steady sound of beeping Jaiden had been lost in for God knows how long, bringing her up from her state of half consciousness. The teenager forced her swollen eyes to open and squinted against the florescent lights above her head. Eventually, her vision focused on the figure beside her and she recognized her sister.
"I'm so sorry. Oh my God, Jaiden, I'm so sorry." Beca apologized through the tears streaming down her face and tightened her hold on Jaiden's bruised hand slightly. The younger girl sucked in a deep breath as the pain she was in started to push through whatever medication was dripping through her IV.
"Where's…where's Mom?" The younger of the siblings asked weakly. She struggled feebly to sit up, but was forced back into laying still as her body resented the small movement.
"She's down at the police station with him." Beca answered. Her voice was filled with disgust and she watched her younger sister's bruised face for her reaction. The younger girl didn't give away any signs of what she was thinking; only worrying her further.
"The doctors say you have to stay for a few weeks. It's not visiting hours anymore but they promised I could stay with you all night. I'm sorry, Jay." The older Mitchell stifled a sob and hoped that her words were at least some sort of comfort.
"Can we just sleep?" Jaiden requested exhaustedly. Seeing Beca like this wasn't usual for her and she wanted nothing more than to slip back into the sleep she had just been roused from. To her relief, her older sister stood up from her chair and carefully slid into the hospital bed next to her. Jaiden relaxed, giving into the painkillers in her system, and let out a deep breath as Beca carefully wrapped her arms around her.
"What do you want from me, Beca? Honestly, what? Do you think we could ever actually be normal again?" Jaiden demanded, breaking out of her flashback. Beca looked taken aback by the question and stammered for a response.
"I just want you in my life again. I miss you and I don't really talk to Dad or Mom anymore. Not after what happened. You're my only family and we were so close. I miss you. But I know I'll never be able to make this up to you or make things normal again." Beca answered finally. Her voice was desperate and her eyes searched Jaiden's for any sign of pity.
"You act like I don't miss you or whatever, like I'm some heartless monster. You can't blame me for wanting to get away from anything that makes me think of what happened. You can't blame me for hating the fact that you got the easy life with Dad and I got stuck with them." Jaiden replied defensively. Beca shook her head immediately, praying that she wasn't pushing her away even further.
"No, I can't blame you for that. I blame myself that any of that happened. And if you would have known me the past few years, you'd understand why I sound like a huge hypocrite right now, but please let me in." Beca begged, taking a chance and sitting down next to Jaiden on the bed. The younger girl tensed immediately and studied her older sister's face. Beca hadn't changed much in the past few years, physically anyways, which made choking back the nostalgia very, very hard. Not to mention, the last time the two of them had been face to face was when she woke up in the hospital.
"Please." Beca murmured. She reached up quickly and wiped at her watering eyes, still fighting to keep herself together. The situation had built into an all or nothing one more quickly than she had imagined and she knew that this was likely her last chance to plea her case.
"Whatever. We can be civil." Jaiden's reply was still, reserved, and seemed reluctant at best. Nevertheless, it was more than what Beca had expected, and now she found herself struggling to suppress her relief.
"Who wants toast and eggs?" Chloe appeared in the doorway holding two full plates of breakfast food and grinning. The two siblings were pulled out of their conversation by the sudden interruption and Jaiden was immediately relieved for the distraction. She managed to get on her feet and walk in a crooked path towards the redhead, trying to hide how truly intoxicated she still was. Beca walked behind her worriedly-noticing her stumbling, and then looked at Chloe. The three of them made their way into the dorm's small kitchen and the youngest of them collapsed into the first chair she saw. Her vision swam in front of her and she attempted to fight back the lingering disorientation.
"Eat up; it'll help. Here's a cup of coffee. I hope you like hazelnut creamer because it's the only kind we have left." Chloe offered, grabbing the steaming mug off of their counter and setting it down at the table in front of Jaiden. She quickly followed with one of the plates of food and a fork. The 18 year old nodded gratefully and stabbed at the food on the plate. Despite the queasy feeling in her stomach, she started to eat, hoping that the food would help to absorb whatever was left in her bloodstream.
"So, what're we going to do for the rest of the day?" Chloe asked excitedly, looking between her girlfriend and her younger sister.
Thanks for the great response I've gotten so far on this story. Please let me know what you think so far/what you'd like to see in the next chapter. Thank you