“It’s okay. You know, I believe that everything happens for a reason.”
“So you think there’s a reason for you getting shot?” I asked, thinking it was absurd.
“I do, and maybe it has to do with me or maybe it has to do with you and Zach. Who knows? Only time will tell,” he said, and if he didn’t have so many wires hooked to him and if he wasn’t still slightly drugged, I could tell he would have shrugged.
“I really hope you didn’t get shot for me and Zach.”
“That would kind of suck, but I’d be happy to take one for the team if it means you two working out whatever has been between you since he moved away.”
Zach returned just as Josh finished speaking, and I felt the tension between us lessening. I stopped trying to avoid eye contact and conversation—it was pointless.
“So Zach, you didn’t try to make a move on my sister in that hotel room did you? Because even with a bullet hole in me I could still kick your ass.” I almost smacked Josh upside the head but I resisted. Josh liked to push buttons, and after all he’d been through, I’d let him, at least for now.
“Nope. Couldn’t if I wanted to. She has a boyfriend after all.” Zach looked directly at me as he spoke. As if he was trying to communicate with me telepathically.
“Josh, sweetie! We’re here!” Mom’s voice was shrill as she rushed into the room, taking my brother into her arms as if he was still her baby boy. “I’m never going on vacation ever again. I will never leave you again. Or you Liz,” she said as she engulfed me in her embrace.
“How you feeling, son?” Dad asked after Mom had recovered herself slightly.
“Like I was shot,” Josh responded.
When Mom’s arms released me, I was taken back into an embrace by Dad.
There was a lot of hugging and a lot of crying.
I turned to find a calming face in the chaos, but I couldn’t find Zach.
He was gone.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, then bolted for the exit.
I searched the waiting room, the vending machine area, and the cafeteria.
As I pushed forward through the revolving door, I thought of what Zach had said in response to Josh’s question: “Couldn’t if I wanted to. She has a boyfriend after all.”
He didn’t
I needed to find him. We needed to talk.
The parking lot came into view and I made myself move faster. I remembered Zach parking on the left side of the building in section G. So I moved quickly until the large white G on the pole was above me. But when I got there the Jeep was gone.
Zach was gone.
Chapter 21
Zach was gone. I thought about calling him, but I didn’t have my cell phone or his number. I could have asked Josh , but the truth was that as much as I wanted to talk to him, I had no idea what I would say.
He had been right again. I had a boyfriend. How could I forget? I wasn’t that type of girl. Okay, maybe I was a tiny bit, since I did kiss Zach in the parking lot the night of the party, but I was pretending that never happened.
Instead of calling Zach, I borrowed my dad’s cell and called Joe. I was sure he’d be worried about me. The shooting was all over the news. He had to have called me a million times to make sure Josh was okay.
But when I called him, it went straight to voicemail. I left a message and Dad’s cell number so he could call me back, and then I called Sadie.
“Oh my God, Liz! I’ve been trying to reach you! Why didn’t you answer your phone? You didn’t leave a note either. And there was a shooting at Josh’s school. Is that why you didn’t come home?” Sadie babbled on. I tried to stop her, but every time I went to say something she continued. “Is Josh okay? Did he get shot? Oh my God, he’s not dead right?”
“Sadie!” I finally yelled. “He’s fine. He got shot in the leg but he’s okay. He was lucky. Really lucky.”
“Holy shit, Liz. Where are you?” she asked.
“I’m at the hospital. I’ve been here since last night.”
“Why didn’t you call me? Wait for me to get home? I could have driven you. Are you crazy for driving by yourself?”
“I wasn’t by myself,” I said hesitantly.
“You weren’t? Did Professor Mulligan go with you?”
“No.”
“Then who?” she asked.
“Zach,” I said, taking my volume down several notches.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” I didn’t have to explain anything to Sadie. That’s why she was my best friend. She could read between the lines even if I didn’t give her lines to work with.
“Did anything happen?” she asked, and I went into the whole story, from the moment he showed up on my doorstep to the moment I discovered his missing Jeep.
“So what are you going to do?” she asked when I finished filling her in.
“What can I do? I’m with Joe now, and I’m happy. I can’t just let him go because my past came back.”
Sadie was silent, and I didn’t need to see her to know she had an opinion she was trying to keep to herself.
“What is it, Sades? And don’t tell me nothing, because I know you’ll be lying.”
“Look, Liz, I love you and I want to see you happy, but Joe’s not always as great as you think he is. I feel like you’re just scared to get your heart broken again, so you let him walk all over you.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? You know what—don’t answer that. Think about it. We’ll talk when you get home. Tell Josh I said hi and to feel better.”
“Okay, I will.”
We hung up and I stood in the waiting room, thinking about what she’d said, trying to find the truth in her words. Eventually I gave up and went back to Josh’s room.
“Great news, sweetie,” Mom said as I entered. “They’re moving Josh out of ICU and into a regular room within the hour.”
“That’s awesome,” I said.
“Josh wants Chinese, so I’m going to pick it up. You want to come?” Dad asked.
“Sure,” I would do anything to get away from the hospital for a little bit. “What’s wrong with the food they gave you?”
“They’re trying to kill me, that’s what,” Josh said, and I cringed at the word “kill.” “It’s disgusting.” He lifted his fork and let what I assumed was gravy drip down in globs to the plate below.
“On that note, let’s get going,” Dad said. I followed him out of the room.
He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close to him. “You did good.”
“What do you mean?”
“Handling everything. Your mother and I weren’t here, but you took care of things anyways. You’re all grown up. You had everything under control. We’re proud of you,” he said, and I felt guilty because it was a lie. I hadn’t really handled anything. I wasn’t grown up. I was still a little girl, who covered it up with college classes and an apartment.
“Thanks Dad, but honestly it was mainly Zach.” I couldn’t lie to Dad. I had to tell him—if not for the honesty, for the fatherly support I needed so badly in that moment. “If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably still be sitting on the couch at home staring at the TV with milk dripping down my face.” He laughed.
