Sweet returned to the kitchen holding a note crumpled in his hand. A sinking feeling of worry swept through me.
"What is that in your hand?", I questioned tentatively. Sweets face shifted into a perculier expression. He didn't look angry or sad but a mixture of both with a bit of worry swirled in.
"Alister…", he paused perhaps collecting his thoughts, "he wrote you a note", he face twitched as if he was suppressing a snarl.
"Can I see it it", I asked gently holding out my hand for the note. He looked from the note to my hand and back again. He was clearly struggling to make up his mind.
"Here I'm probably just reading too much into it", he relented shrugging as he passed me the crumpled note. I flagged out the note and began to read.
Days,
It was nice seeing you today, maybe we can hang out again some time.
Ali
At the bottom of the note Alister had drawn a beautiful flower. He was clearly a talented artist I thought. Sweet watched me intensely as I read the note, his eyes narrow with suspicion.
"That's nice, guess he does want to be friends after all", I said brazenly trying to calm the growing tension.
"Yeah, friends you're probably right", he said shrugging his shoulders, his face still rather twisted and annoyed. I slid the note into my pocket to stop the thoughts of it entering Sweets head.
An air of strange feelings lingered between us for the rest of the day. I tried to get things back to normal but our conversations felt forced and awkward. A little after 7pm we were cleaning down the restaurant and Sweet disappeared for 10 minutes. When he came back, he seemed still out of character and still quiet. I decided to break the awkward tension.
"Where did you get off to?", I said softly as I situated myself beside him. He glanced at me for a second then away again.
"I just..", he paused and sighed defeated, "needed to think", his words were covered in a sadness, his eyes looking away from me completely. My heart sank and I wanted to touch his arm but his signals were giving me the feeling that I shouldn't.
"What's wrong? you seem so sad, are you upset with me?", I said with a quiver in my voice. I was breathing shallowly as I waiting in anticipation of his reply.
"I'm not upset with you, I'm more disappointed in myself then anything else", his frown deepened and his eyes where focused firmly in the direction opposite me.
"Why are you disappointed in yourself?", I asked gently placing my hand on top of his, barely touching the back of his hand. He placed his other hand over mind and finally turned his head to face me. His expression was distant and I could feel my heart sink in my chest.
"I.. don't think I'm okay with you being friends with Alister", he turned his head away again as he spoke. I felt a frown grow onto my face.
"I thought you two worked things out?", I said, my heart thumping hard by the converstation. He continued to not meet my eyes.
"We did but, I just don't think I can let this go", he spoke with a somber tone as I place my free hand against his chest. I took a deep breath in, about to speak when a crash came from the kitchen.
Without a thought we both rushed in to the kitchen to find Al clutching his chest on the floor. Horror stuck me in stomach as I held my breath. Sweet rushed over to Al in an instant and yelled frantically for me to go tell Layla what had happened. I rushed hpstairs and screamed for Layla. Looking shocked and terrified Layla bolted out of hers and Als bedroom. Sobbing and spluttering I incoherently explained what had happened. Like lightening Layla ran downstairs crying she called for an ambulance.
Sweet was sobbing looking to me with terror filled pleading eyes. I was frozen where I stood tears streaming down my cheeks. Sirens outside bellowed loadly as the paramedics rushed to Als side. They worked quickly and Al stirred as they began transporting him to the ambulance. They loaded him into the back, Layla jumped in after and sat herself next to Al who was drifting in and out of consciousness. Through her tears and cries Layla asked Sweet to look after the triplets and she'd call him later.
The ambulance doors slammed shut and off it speeded to the hospital. Sweet stood staring out in the direction the ambulance had gone. I touch his arm and he flinched spinning his head to me still sobbing heavily. I put my hands behind his head and pulled him towards me. He crumbles into my arms resting his head on my shoulder as he cried into me. I rested my cheek on his head and cried silently as I felt him hiccup and wheeze. I squeezed him tighter, he buried his face into me harder and I felt his pain envelope me. We stayed like that for some time until he was ready to go back inside.
His brothers were awoken by the sounds of shouting and were scared. I told them that Al and Layla had an emergency but Layla would be back tomorrow so not to worry. They asked if Al would be back and I didn't know what to say so I said maybe but don't worry he'll be okay. That placated them enough and they took themselves back off to bed.
I found Sweet in his room sitting on the end of his bed, he had a bewildered vacant expression sunken into his face. I perched myself next to him on the bed, not making a sound. I could tell if he knew I was there or not, he just kept staring.
"Sunny", his voice was deep and croaky, I jumped at the sound as it broke the silence without warning. I took his hand hand in both on mine on my lap, stroking it gently with my thumb. He turned his head to me his eyes full of tears, his agony apart.
"Would you.. stay here tonight?", he sobbed, his lip quivering as he spoke. "Please I just, don't want to be alone tonight", he squeezed hold of my hand desperately, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Of course I'll stay, I'm here for you", tears escaped my eyes as I spoke, wiping his away as I did. I texted my mom what had happened and that I'd be staying over. She was concerned and offered to help out tomorrow, I thanked her then left my phone on the end of the bed. I stood up taking his hands and led him to his bed. I told him I needed to use the bathroom and I'd be right back.
I'm the bathroom I washed the tears off my face and brushed my hair. I was still sniffling but went back to Sweet as quickly as I could. When I opened the door he was laying in bed in his pj bottoms and a T-shirt. He looked at me sorrow and pain still flooding into him, he pointed to his desk chair a T-shirt draped across the back of it.
"I got you something to sleep in, sorry about them being so big", he rested his hand over his eyes to shield them from the light. I scooped up the clothes and took them to the bathroom. I took off my tight fit T-shirt and jeans, climbing into his shirt. It fell over me like dress and luckily because he was tall covered up to my mid thigh. I pulled on the shorts but they were far too big and slipped off my hips almost immediately. I decided the T-shirt covered enough so left the shorts in the bathroom.
Creeping back into the room I made my way over to his bed, tugging at the shirt to make sure it stayed down. As I reached the bed he uncovered his eyes and gave me a sorrowful smile. His eyes drifted to my bare legs and I blushed as his eyes lingered.
"The er shorts wouldn't stay up, so I figured this will do", I blushed as his eyes trailed up me slowly as a heartfelt smile sank into his lips. He sat up on his bed gesturing towards me with open arms. I crawled into his arms and felt him trembling all over. I curled up resting my knees against his chest. He squeezed me tightly, pressing his face into the top of my head. I slid my hand up the back of his neck and stroked the back of his head to calm him.
"Shh I'm here, everything will be okay", I whispered, he kissed my head as tears dripped into my hair. We stayed like that for hours until we both fell asleep from exhaustion still cradled tightly in each others arms.