“Ted, oh my God, you’re awake.” There is a sadness to her tone.
“Oh my God, you crashed your motorcycle outside my house. Do you remember anything? It was awful…”
I was running… I do remember that. Stix got shot but I didn’t.. I got on my bike and rode. I couldn’t go to my parents because they are too far away now, so maybe I went somewhere familiar to my past. Home. Only it isn’t home anymore, but apparently, it’s still Chloe’s. I don’t know how to feel about that.
Us seeing one another again… is this a sign? I can’t imagine the universe, or even Chloe would want me anywhere near her anymore after all this time.
“Are you okay?” she asks me again. “Ted, do you need something? How are you feeling”
I am in a lot of pain, but with this woman staring at me, it’s almost tolerable. With Chloe staring down at me, nothing matters to me. She is literally the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Based on my racing thoughts, I guess my feelings for her never went away, I just buried them with the rest of my past.
“I’m okay,” I manage to rasp out. “Thank you for helping me.”
“What happened?” Oh my God, is that her hand in mine? “Why did you crash?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. Obviously, it’s because I was in shock and driving too fast in my attempt to get away, but I can’t remember exactly what caused me to crash. “I can’t remember.”
“Well, I don’t know if your bike survived.”
Urgh, that’s bad news because it means that I can’t get away if I need to… but it could also be a way to identify me on the off chance that those guys wanted to find me. I don’t know if they even knew that I lived there. Maybe if they knew, they assumed I just wasn’t home. It’s not like I am the one who stole something. Fuckin Stix.
“Okay, well there isn’t anything I can do about that now,” I reply, trying to sound like I’m not falling apart here. I can’t see her for the first time in years and be a fucking mess. A criminal mess at that. No, the Chloe Smith that I remember won’t have that. I’m sure that she has an idea of what I have been up to over the last few years, she knew about my uncle’s work, sort of, so I’m surprised she is here. She could have easily left me in the middle of the road.
I guess her caring side won out. It doesn’t have to mean that she is interested in keeping me alive, just that she is nice. Taking care of people is in her DNA, it’s one thing I always loved about her.
“Why did you come back here?” Chloe asks me softly. “You know that your parents aren’t here, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” I tell her sadly. I don’t tell her that they left because of me though. Because I broke their heart by going in the wrong direction in life and they didn’t want to witness me falling apart like my uncle. If only I listened. “I know, I don’t know why I headed back to the house, to be honest.”
“Right.” I can see her screwing up her face in confusion. I guess I’m not making any sense. “So, you were coming back even though your parents aren’t here any longer, but you don’t know why?”
It sounds dumb so I give her nothing. There is no way in hell that I will tell Chloe what happened. She doesn’t need to know that Stix is dead. There are so many ways she can say ‘I told you so’ and I don’t want to hear any of them right now.
“So, what’s your plan?” she shrugs. There’s no point in acting like I have any sort of plan, so I shrug back.
“You’re a nurse?” I spot her uniform, I don’t know how I missed that. That makes sense. “That’s really great, Chloe. I’m happy for you.”
She gives me a sympathetic smile which speaks volumes. She couldn’t be proud of me or any of the decisions that I have made, and I can’t blame her for that, she doesn’t even know me anymore. I just hate that look of disappointment. It seems like everyone I actually care about feels the same way.
Chapter 5 – Chloe
It’s morning by the time the doctor gets in to see Ted. I can’t believe that I’ve been sitting with him all night long, just watching him. I suppose it’s helped that he has drifted in and out of sleep, so we haven’t had to force conversation, but it’s still so strange. Suddenly, back into each other’s lives.
Ted Landon has always been tall, dark, and handsome. That’s why I was always infatuated with him when I was younger, but now he’s even better looking, if that’s possible. Of course, it’s my luck that he ran out on me, and came back Ted 2.0, hotter and chiseled like a Greek God. He has that rugged bad boy look about him as well these days, which makes it even more impossible not to stare at him like a stalker. Talk about not fair, I just decided dating was a good idea, then he drops back into my life. Too bad he rejected me as soon as he accepted me when we were little. So the petty part of me would love to reject him, let him see how it feels. But instead, I’m dreaming about kissing his soft, plump lips.