Chapter 36 : Unexpected Guest

After showering and getting dressed in the bathroom, I run my fingers through my wet hair and stared at myself for a while. The mirror is foggy and the bathroom is steamy. I watch as the droplets race down the mirror, hitting the sink.

This could get better. I thought to myself.

Grabbing my bag with my clothes from before in it, I open the bathroom door, the fresh air colliding with the steam making me shiver.

As soon as I stepped foot out of the bathroom, arms wrapped around my waist tightly. I smiled as he brought me closer towards his body, his nose in the crook on my neck.

"I was worried," He said, breathing in my scent.

"I only took a shower," I chuckled. Damon turned me around and smiled. He leaned down, his lips hovering over mine.

"Still," He whispered before lifting me up. He wrapped my legs around his waist and sat into the hospital bed with me straddling his lap.

After the doctors confirmed that the medicine was out of my system, they went over with my mom about drinking and eating more since that was what caused me to throw my guts up for a while.

I slightly jumped as Damon rubbed his nose against mine softly making my heart tingle. The next thing I knew his arms were around my body forming a hug.

I couldn't help but smile and wrap my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his hair.

"You smell good," He said and kissed my neck.

"And you're obsessed with me," I joked as he pulled away, his facing very close to mine.

"That's kinda true," He shrugged.

"I'm just happy," He smiled.

"And why is that?"

"Because I know I get to call you mine one of these days," He squeezed my waist some.

"When?" I asked suddenly excited.

"You'll never know," He whispered before kissing me slowly. I smiled through the kiss before pulling away.

"Why'd you pull away?" He pouted.

"Because it's time to leave," I rolled my eyes playfully and tried getting off of his lap.

"No, stay," He whined like a baby and I sighed.

"You have to let me go."

"No. Baby stay," He continued to whine.

"Stay with me," He sang and I laughed out loud.

"I'm definitely getting up on that note," I snickered and finally got up from his lap.

"You don't like my singing?"

"No."

"Wow so blunt," He rolled his eyes.

"Learned it from the best," I winked at him.

The door opened causing Damon and me to turn our heads. Harley came in and I cleared my throat, Turning back around to gather my things. There was sudden tension in the air and I couldn't take it anymore.

"Would you two like a minute?" I asked, turning around to face both of them.

"Actually, no," Harley said and that kinda scared me.

"What?" I asked.

"I want you to hear this because I am not going to say it once more."

"Ok?" I said and sat on the couch. Damon sat next to me as Harley grabbed a chair and sat it in front of us. He sat on it backwards and folded his arms.

"Scarlet told me about these... feelings? You two have for each other," He made a face.

Great! Does anybody know how to keep a secret? I mean has anyone been taking notes from me?!

"Okay, before you bite my head off-" Damon started but got interrupted from Harley.

"Shut up."

Rude.

"I don't know how long you've two had these feelings but you could have at least told me," He pointed to Damon, "And you. Out of all people, my best friend?" He arched his eyebrow.

"Don't go there. I heard about the little make-out session with you and scarlet," I folded my arms.

"Okay fair enough," He shrugged.

"What I'm trying to say is... I-I- Scarlet don't make me do this please!" He yelled and turned towards the door. It opened and scarlet popped her head in.

"You will do it and you will except it," She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fine mom," He mumbled and sighed.

"Good boy," She smiled and closed the door back.

"I wouldn't mind if... you dated my sister-"

"Wait, Wait! You still may be my friend, but I'm still going to have the talk with you and I will still kick your ass," He glared at Damon.

"Being your best friend for years, I already know," Damon shrugged.

But Harley ignored him and cleared his throat dramatically, "First things first, I will be watching you at all times. No kissing when I'm around, no touchy feelings when I'm around, no being all cute, no touching, no kissing, no nothing!"

"Then what's the point-"

"I rest my case," He said before getting up and putting the chair back.

"Watch this," Damon whispered in my ear and smirked. He sat his hand on my thigh and rubbed up and down and sighed loudly to get Harley's attention.

"I know what you are doing. I will break those fingers," Damon laughed before getting up.

"We good?" He asked.

"Yeah and I'm sorry but not sorry about your face," Harley smiled as they did their all-time stupid handshake.

"Children," I mumbled and rolled my eyes.

"Hey, I just except your first boyfriend. Don't be mean," I rolled my eyes at him again.

"Most likely I will be the last guy you'll except," Damon winked at me and my cheeks warmed.

"Okay, gross. I'm leaving before I regret it," He gagged before leaving the room.

"He's so embarrassing," I mumbled and covered my face with my hands.

"When has he ever not been?" Damon asked and sat down beside me, removing my hands.

"Peek-a-boo," He said causing me to laugh and push him playfully.

"Don't let me ever stop hearing that sound," He said seriously causing my smile to grow and I tried covering it because I hate it.

"Don't cover your smile. It's beautiful."

"Stop being so cheesy," I chuckled and shook my head at him.

"I'm only cheesy for you," He said before I felt his hand wrap around my neck. He stared at my lips before smashing his onto them. I bit his lip on accident and this caused him to squeeze my neck some.

"I love your lips," He mumbled, tilting my head back with his hand still wrapped around me. He bit onto my lip slowly before letting go and kissing my jawline. My entire body felt out of this world.

I, unfortunately, had to pull away as the door opened again. This time revealing someone I never thought I'd see in my life. Damon pulled away from kissing my neck and stared at me confusingly before turning to face the door.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in an icy tone.

"Could I talk to Hermione?"

Oh look, she remembers my name.

What a shocker.

"No," He growled before grabbing my hand and pulling me up.

"No, wait! P-Please," She stared at me, silently begging. I sighed, hating how nice I am.

"Fine," I sighed and pulled away from Damon.

"What? No," He grabbed my hand again.

"It's okay," I assured him.

Damon sighed and glanced at Joslin before turning back to me. He tilted my head up some and kissed my lips for a few seconds before pulling away and grabbing my things. As he left the room I sat at the edge of the hospital bed and waited for her to speak.

I didn't dare to look into her eyes that always scared me.

"I heard about what happened to you," She started off and I scoffed, folding my arms again.

"Why are you here?" I glared at the floor.

I heard her footsteps come closer. Glancing up, I was surprised to see her in only tights and a long jean jacket with no makeup on. I looked back at the ground and thought for a second.

She's actually really pretty without all that makeup.

I never understood why she always wore it.

"I'm also really sorry for taking that picture and sharing it, really."

I stayed quiet and waited for her to continue.

"I've been thinking about all the stuff you told me yesterday. A lot actually. And I just wanted to say that I am extremely sorry. Sorry may not be what you wanted to hear let alone from me, but I just wanted to tell you that."

"Then why do it? Why hurt me?"

"Because I was jealous," She said after a few seconds.

"You? Jealous of me? Yeah, I find that hard to believe. You hate me. You tell me how ugly I am, but you are jealous of me," I scoffed at her and shook my head.

"There's something you or anyone else doesn't know about me," She sighed and I stopped my foot movement to listen carefully.

"Go on."

I heard her take a deep shaky breath before speaking, "I, um, I'm into girls. Well, boys and girls," She said and this caused me to look up at her. She had tear stains in her eyes as she stared at me.

"Okay. What does this have to do with me? It's okay to be into girls, I don't judge."

"I first found out that I was into girls in eighth grade. But then I also realized that I like both. But my first ever girl crush was a girl who I always noticed. She always had a smile on her face, and friends by her side. We both always smiled and waved at each other in the hallways, but neither of us actually talked. I was the one who always planned on making the first move but I was too scared. I felt like she was too pretty and too good for me and I was definitely right." She paused and sadly smiled, staring off into space.

"Do you know what I liked about her? Her smile, her laugh, the way her nose crinkled when she'd poke her lips out, the tiny smirks that would appear on my face from time to time. I didn't know about anyone else, but that always had my heart racing. But then when the day finally came; the day I was going to talk to her, I heard that a few boys were going to do it before me. I wasn't worried because they were bad and she was good. But then I overheard her in the girls' bathroom talking about someone she liked. Really liked. That broke my heart really. I felt so stupid for thinking maybe she'd be into girls, I felt so stupid."

"And then I started hating the girl. The truth is, I never really did hate her. But she just made me so angry because I really really liked her and I knew she'd never like or will ever know how I felt about her. Every day I had to watch her fall in love with a guy who didn't even like her back. Every day of the year, her eyes would hold so much sadness in them and it broke my heart but every time I'd see her, I'd always think back to the time when she didn't like me back."

My eyes were wide the entire time as I thought about her story. Everything sounded so familiar and I felt bad for her. I knew how it felt to love someone from afar and watch them be with someone else.

"I'm sorry that happened to you. How did you know if she liked both or not?" I mumbled.

"Because I walked in on her making out with the guy she'd been obsessing over," She said and I looked up at her slowly. I shook my head, not thinking about it.

"From there I knew... I had lost her," She whispered as tears fell from her eyes.

"What-"

"It was you. You were the girl from my story," She sobbed and it felt like my face drained color.

"You were the first girl I ever really liked and all I did was bully you. I never hated you, Hermione. It just hurt every time I'd see you and I just couldn't help it. You don't know how hard it was not to kiss you every time I'd see you. I tried and tried to be with other people to get you out of my head but it only made it worse because every time I would wish it were you," She sobbed while shaking her head rapidly.

I didn't know what to do. So I stood from my spot and slowly walked over to her. She stared at every inch of my face before her eyes fell to my lips. Her green eyes were now gray. Joslin shook her head and looked away from my lips as I wrapped my arms around her.

I tried confronting her as she cried.

She held onto me tightly like she never wanted to let go and I felt bad for her.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"I know you won't forgive me. I know this is out of pity and I know you'll never feel the same way," She sniffed as I pulled away.

"I forgive you, but I can't forget what you did. You hurt me. I know you were hurting too, but all those years. You held onto this grudge for so long for nothing. I don't pity you because I know what it feels like," I told her as she wiped her tears.

"I really am sorry Hermione."

"I know."

Silence fell upon us and I made my way to the door to leave but Joslin stopped me.

"If I kissed you, would it change anything?"

"No, no it wouldn't. I'm sorry," I gave her a look of sympathy and she nodded her head before turning around.

I walked out of the hospital room and saw Damon sitting on the couch next to the door.

"I heard," He said and stood up, wrapping his arms around me. I sighed and held onto his waist tightly.

The hospital room door opened once again and I opened my eyes. Joslin walked out, wiping her fallen tears. She stopped in her tracks as she saw Damon and I. Her lip quivered as she looked us up and down before turning around to leave the hospital.

Once she was down the hall, she turned around.

"I'm sorry," I mouth to her.