Chapter Four
Nick and Gretchen entered Leighanne’s hospital room just as the doctors
were leaving. The two of them joined in the huge mass of people standing
around Leighanne’s bed and questioned what was going on.
“Doctors say that it will be awhile. Her contractions are still a little
far apart.” Brian informed the crowd. Even in this joyous time, Gretchen could
see how upset Brian was about the absence of the rest of his family. Gretchen
moved next to him and gently put her arm around him to let him know she
understood. He just gave her a weak smile in return. Gretchen looked up at
everyone who had broken apart and were now strewn throughout the room.
Leighanne’s sisters and her parents were in one corner quietly discussing the
names of the baby, Nick was sitting by himself in one of the chairs and was
examining his hands, and AJ and Amanda were whispering quickly back and forth
to eachother and smiling. Amanda spotted Gretchen looking at them and motioned
for her to join the two of them in the hall. Gretchen followed them. Once
outside the hospital room with the door closed Amanda let out a
giggle.
“What’s going on??” Gretchen questioned intruiged.
“Guess who called AJ while he ran to the bathroom...”Amanda said
excitedly.
“Who?” Grethcen asked.
“Kevin.” Amanda answered as AJ nodded his head.
“I told him what’s been going on and he and Kristen chucked their stuff
in a bag and got a cab to the airport. He called to tell us the flight info,
they are both on a plane here now. They should be arriving in about 7 hours.
Which means that they should be here in time for the baby.” AJ finished
smiling.
“What did Brian say?” Gretchen questioned.
“He doesn’t know. Kev just called about 20 minutes ago and the doctors
were around and Leigh was having another contraction, we didn’t want to
interrupt him.”
“Well, are you gonna tell him??”
“I’m not sure. I know that this is doing a real deal on him, but I kinda
wanna surprise the guy. You know? Just have Kev and Kris waltz into the room
while Leigh is having a contracion and have Brian break out into a huge smile
and start jumping up and down. Do you think that’s too mean?” AJ
asked.
“No, actually I think that it would be fun. Sure he’s upset now, but
that will totally change once the two of them get here.”
“So, not tell him??”
“As much as I think he’s hurting now, don’t tell him. It will make it
all the more special once they get here.” Gretchen finished as more doctors
came down the hall and headed into Leigh’s room. The three followed the white
coats into the room to see Leigh laying back holding her stomach.
“What’s going on?” Gretchen asked no one in particular.
“She’s in a lot of pain, and the doctors think something may be wrong.”
Gretchen heard. She turned and faced Nick, who had spoken. Since the moment in
the elevator, neither one of them had really said anything to eachother.
Neither knew what to say.
“Is everything going to be okay?” Gretchen asked Nick, even though she
knew for a fact that he had no idea. She just wanted him to comfort
her.
“Yeah, everything will be fine.” Nick said as he looked down at Gretchen
who was gazing worridly at Leighanne, Brian, and the doctors. The feeling
began again in the pit of his stomach. Ever since the elevator, everytime he
looked at her, really looked at her, things stirred inside of him. When she
had asked him if Leigh was going to be okay, he felt the need to hold her and
tell her that everything was going to be perfect, just to make her feel
better. He was so frustrated. When the two of them got back from an extreamly
silent lunch in the hospital cafateria, Nick had sat and thought. He went over
everything that had happened in his and Gretchen’s relationship. From the
minute they had met at that party, to the indepth conversation they had had
that night. He told her everything, his feelings, fears, dreams, wishes, and
felt completely comfortable expressing his darkest thoughts to her. He thought
about every letter, email, phone conversation and meeting between the two,
trying to figure what had happened. He could only remember feeling deep
friendship towards her, and nothing else. Now, all of a sudden, these feelings
sprung up on him out of nowhere. One minute he was thinking about what to eat
for lunch and the next he was thinking about how pretty Gretchen looked when
she laughed and her brown eyes sparkled. It puzzled him. In his entire life he
had been in love once, or so he thought. Her name was Dawn and she was a girl
he had met and fallen for when he was on a break from the group three years
ago. He remembered, he fell for her from the start. He met her one day and the
next they had their first date. Their relationship only lasted three months,
but in that three months, Nick believe he had fallen in love with her. The
feelings he felt with her were so different from the ones he felt with any
other girl he had dated. He just assumed that what he was feeling was love.
But now...Gretchen had just popped up on him. Sure he loved her in a best
friend sort of way, but what he was feeling now when he looked at her was much
different from the ‘love’ he felt for her before, and much more intense than
the ‘love’ he felt for Dawn.
Gretchen watched as the doctors examined Leighanne over and over again,
taking test after test. The more time they spent on her, the more nervous
Gretchen became. What if something happened? what if there really was a
problem and it was a serious one? The ‘what if’s’ flew through Gretchen’s mind
as she kept watching the drama before her. She couldn’t tell what the doctors
were doing, or what they were saying, but she had a bad feeling in her
stomach. She knew Nick was still standing next to her, and that made her feel
a little better. Just having him near made the bad feeling lessen a bit, but
it was still there, gnawing away inside her.
Nick sensed that something was going on inside Gretchen’s head. She
looked uncomfortable, and a little scared even. He slowly reached his hand
towards her, but then hesitated. What would happen if he touched her? Would he
get that warm feeling again? He saw the pain in Gretchen’s eyes and it was too
much, he could not just sit there and watch her go through whatever she was
going through with out helping her. He reached his hand towards hers again,
this time not stopping, and gently laced his fingers with hers. She didn’t
look up at him, but lighlty squeezed his hand in a silent thank you. Nick was
in a daze. Something was going on...his fingers seemed to burned, and it felt
like he had electricity shooting up his arm from her touch. His head spun as
he watched her. His stomach tied in knots and he could feel his face becoming
flushed. What was she doing to him?! This was Gretchen, his best friend. She
was only 15, still in high school, not as experienced as Nick in anything, yet
she still had the power to make him feel as though she was the most
experienced, mature girl he had ever met. He had no idea how to stop what he
was feeling or whether or not he even wanted to stop what he was feeling.
Chapter Five
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