Chapter 24

Out of the Car

It all happened so fast- the ride to the hospital in the ambulance, holding Max's hand and stroking his hair as he hung on the edge of Life and Death; the mountains of prayers I prayed, my blood-soak shirt in my lap; The nurse telling me I have to stay in the waiting room and she gives me one of those gowns that paitents wear to put on so people don't see my bra.

Now I'm here, staring at the blank white wall, waiting for any news about Max, who's still in the ER. I've lost track of time for good, my tongue feels like it's about 100 times bigger than it should be, soaking up all the spit I have left. The nurses at the nursing station are making maddening calls to paitents' families, Max's brother, Mitch being one of them. I think they called Dad and Kane- I'm not really sure at this point. All I know is that numb

A doctor comes out of the ER and walks toward me. I stand up, knocking back the chair into the wall and to the floor. The doctor shakes my hand, eyeing the chair warily.

"Well," Something thumped behind my back. I ignore it as the doctor drones on. "he's suffered some blood loss, but he's going to be okay in a couple of days." The doctor said slowly. "He's going to be in alot of pain, that's for sure." Mitch, Neil and Kyle burst through the doors from the outer world and ran up to the nurses' desk, slamming into it. Some of the nurses squealed as some folders fell from the force of the slam.

"Where is he?!" Mitch roared.

"Is he okay?!" Kyle blubbered.

"What happened?!" Neil practically barked as Kane and Dad walked in right then.

"Wends." Kane ran over and hugged me close to him, not even caring that I couldn't even gather the energy I had left to hug him back. Dad sat down next to me and took my hand, stroking my fingers. He didn't have to even say anything- I could see it in his eyes that we couldn't stay very long.

"I..." I swallowed. "I just need to see him before we leave, Dad...please." Dad nodded.

"I know, honey." I felt Kane's eyes on my profile as I stared at the grey-specked tile on the floor. The tears never seemed to stop coming as I pawed weakly at them. Micah and Kyle came over, Kyle slyly avoiding my empty gaze.

"Wendy..." Micah kneeled down in front of me. "Look at me." I swear I could feel metal clanking as I brought up my head to meet eyes with the boy in front of me. Neil and Kyle looked at me sympathetically. "Listen," Micah continued, taking my hand. "I'll call you when Max wakes- and he will," he finished, cutting me off from starting my sentence. "When he does, I'll call you. Get some rest. You look exhausted." Kane nodded in approval of Micah's speech and helped me to my feet, along with Dad.

"Just..." I stopped the men from dragging me off. "Micah." Micah looked over his shoulder at me. "Tell him..." I took a deep breath. "tell him he better get better." All three boys shook their heads and went through the ER doors to see their family.

"Take a shower, a nap, and whatever else you need, okay?" At home, Kane and Dad helped me into the bathroom, handing me a towel.

"I-" Slam! Well, so much for thanking you. I stripped my body of my clothes, which felt like running steel tips across my skin and slunk into the shower, turning on the hot water.

As the water trickled down my breasts and to my stomach, I closed my eyes and imagined who I really like to feel sliding down my skin. Those warm masculine hands, marred with scars, were the only hands I could imagine on my body. I heard my moan of forbidden pleasure echo throughout the shower. As time went on and my body loosened, the water started to turn into an extremely provocative image. It was as if I could feel him behind me, his hands grazing my body, gentle and light.

I laid my head against the shower wall and felt a part of the popcorn ceiling fall on my head. Damn house...through all of the worry, I realized that no even bothered to ask the all-lingering question...

Who shot Max? And why would they do such a thing?

It couldn't have been Kyle...be that he may be a cheating bastard, he has Lauren, so revenge on me through Max didn't make sense...

Could it have been Neil? No. He was out of town until he heard about Max.

Definately not Micah. Why would he want to harm his own brother unless he suddenly fell in love with me? Unlikely.

Shit...I have no one else left to accuse...what am I, a judge? Wait...a judge...MY GRANDAD!! I hopped out of the shower and put on a shirt and jeans, bolting out of my room and down the stairs. If anyone could help me figure this out, it would be my crime-loving grandad. Grandpa's an expert on writing about crime and punishment (hell, he's won honors for it); who else could help me?

I picked up the phone and dialed Grandpa's number.

"Grandpa?" I said when he picked up. "I need your help."

Grandpa French poured a glass of sherry and sat down across from me at our kitchen table. He sighed as his bones adjusted to his sitting position in the wooden chair.

"Damn age..." he muttered, fixing himself to get comfortable. "Okay." His glass of sherry sloshed to a stop. "You say that Micah, Neil and Kyle couldn't have done it." I confirmed it by explaining what I came up with while in the shower.

"You're right about that, I guess." Grandpa said, tapping the table with an aged finger. "Hmmm...who else have you come in contact with since you've met Max?" I shuffled through a mental list.

"Jade and her posse...naw, not her. The cows out there have better aim than she does...Lauren...but she's with Kyle..." I settled eeper in thought about it. "I honestly can't really think of anyone...so many things have happened since Max and I have met..." Grandpa nodded as the front door open and the village idiot and his fool (aka Kane and Jack) entered, dragging along grocery bags. Jack set his bags down and took a swing of his chocolate milk.

"Hey dudette. Old man." He saluted to Grandpa. The man across from me grunted in insult and continued to hum in thinking. Jack plopped down next to me. "'Sup?" Silence. "I guess nothing." He hoisted himself up and started to help Kane put up groceries.

Grandpa French stared at the paper by his hand.

"By the way, Wends," Kane said from inside the pantry. "Someone called for you today. Name was...uh...Tray or something." I looked up and at the pantry door.

"Troy?"

"Yeah! He said he wanted you to meet him by the school at six tonight." I nodded slowly and looked at the clock. 5:30. "Better get there then..." I brushed off my jeans and stood up. "I'll call you when I think of something, okay?" I kissed Grandpa's head and Kane took my seat with Jack in tow, chocolate milks in hand.

"See ya later, sis." Off I went to meet Troy.

"Where is that boy?" I burned gas driving all around campus trying to find this boy, but he was just nowhere! Frustration strikes me in the face and so I must live with it. I parked in a parking space and reached to call Kane...

Until the door opened and I felt the cold metal of a gun at my head.

"Get out of the car."

OKAY! I AM BACK! TO FINISH FOR GOOD (I PROMISE)! Well, if anyone cares, here hath be some trivia for ya!

Trivia

In the original draft, Wendy and Kane were 3 years apart, but as the idea started to develop, I choose to have them much closer in age.

Kane's character is based off of a mix of two people: My ex, David Clary and a guy from the school choir, Taylor Drake.

Wendy's character is based off of a mix of me and my ex's sister, Tiffany.

The scenes with the Jazz Choir are almost all real in the sense of my school really does have a Jazz Choir and Taylor (mentioned above) is in Jazz Choir and he's extremely good, just like Kane. All the things that usually happen with the Jazz Choir really happened in some form or fashion.

Wendy's love and talent for art is based off of a dude in my class named Keegan who does the most amazing art ever.

Where did I get the idea for this? A number that I actually called when I found it on a mall bathroom stall (it led nowhere).

Grandpa French reminds me of a mix of James Patterson and Peter Boyle.

If you notice, in almost every chapter, Jack is drinking chocolate milk. I got this idea because even though I love it, I'm allergic to milk.

For some reason I forgot to add a supporting character for Wendy (big mistake). Her name was going to be Charlotte -Charlie- Franklin. She was Wendy's age, had red hair and green eyes and was in love with Jack. Like I said, for some reason, I forgot her. If I ever redraft this story, I promise to include her.

And that's it! YAY! I am off now to sleeeeeep.

BFQ