Bombshells ~ Complete

Chapter Thirty-One: Four

To say I was anxious was the understatement of the year. I was freaking out. I was panicking so badly before I went to sleep that I dreamed of Annie, the red haired orphan, singing me Tomorrow. Only this tomorrow had a slight lyric change. 

"The doctor will come back tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be surgery!" 

It went like that for an hour or two more before I woke up, freaking out and humming Tomorrow. Which freaked me out more. It was like an endless cycle. 

When Lila came into my room that morning she sighed at my panicking face. I hadn't even noticed that I was twisting my fingers till she pried my hands away from each other. My eyes widened as I stared at her. 

"What's going to happen?" I asked, my voice wavering with fear. Lila's face dropped from her happy smile. She was sad that I was scared. 

"They're going to put you to sleep through all of it, obviously. They're going to go inside your stomach and see what's causing all the abnormalities in the scan. They think there's a split stitch somewhere making everything more painful than it should be. It's going to take a few hours but it's going to be just like taking a nap." Lila explained. I bit my lip. I knew I had to, but that didn't mean I wanted to be cut open and have people poking around inside me. 

The door opened again and Carter shyly walked into the room, holding a handful of yellow tulips. Some of my nerves eased, just by seeing him standing there. 

"I hope I haven't interrupted anything." He said softly, the tips of his ears going red. Lila smirked knowingly. Knowingly of what I had no idea. All he had done was bring me flowers. My brothers had fought tooth and nail with Lila to wait in the waiting room while I was in surgery, but she put her foot down and told them to go to school. She said she would call them if anything happened.

"Not at all. Why don't you go sit with Ariel while I find a vase for these. She's a bit nervous." Lila told him, making me narrow my eyes at her. I didn't want him knowing I was nervous. Some things people just didn't need to know.

Lila walked out of the room, but just as she was about to close the door she shot me a wink. I cocked my head at her. 

Carter took my hand.

"Are you ready?" He whispered. I shook my head, my cheeks blazing red in embarrassment. Carter's eyes looked me up and down, probably noticing how pale and skinny I had been getting. The hospital wouldn't let me outside for anything, much less just to try and get a tan. And the skinny part, well the hospital food sucked for one. Two, my stomach always hurt too much to actually eat anything. 

"I'm terrified. I mean, it's the first surgery I actually know is happening." I whispered back. I didn't know why we were whispering; it felt right considering the circumstances. 

"You'll be fine." He said as he moved a piece of hair away from my face. I shot him a grateful smile as my cheeks went fiery red again. 

I had a feeling stirring in the pit of my gut. It wasn't bad. But it wasn't anything I had ever felt before. It was something new and interesting. The weird thing was that the feeling only came around when Carter was around. 

"I know that. But that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to freak out a little bit." I bit my lip again. He cleared his throat but didn't say anything. We sat in silence for a minute or two before Carter's phone started blaring. He laughed. 

"It's alright if you need to go." I told him. I said it was alright but I didn't really want him to go. He simply shook his head at my words. 

"The isn't for me. It's for you." He said, accepting the FaceTime call and pushing the phone into my hands. My phone was on the opposite side of the room, charging up so I could look through it once I woke up. 

There were all eight of my brothers, packed into one tiny screen. I laughed loudly at the sight.

"Hi, Ari! How are you feeling?"

"Are you nervous?" 

"Do you want us to come up there?"

"When's the surgery again?" 

"Half an hour, you idiot."

"Why didn't you pick up earlier when I tried calling you?"

"Why haven't you called us yet?" 

"Let me see her! You're pushing me out of the way!" 

Everyone started talking at once and I jumped back in shock before giggling. It was strange to have so many people clamoring for my attention all at once. They stopped talking for a second. 

"I'm fine, just a bit anxious about everything in all honesty. I want you all to stay in school and come see me when school ends. My phone is on the other side of the room charging so I can use it later. Do you want me getting out of bed and walking all on my own to answer your call?" I asked, using my wide and innocent eyes to trick them. 

It worked. 

There was a rushed sound of yelped "Of course not!"'s "Don't you dare!"'s "Don't even think about it."'s.

It was quite amusing, in my opinion. 

I waited for a minute for them to stop talking and when they did we had a very nice conversation. After I stopped all their worrying about me. I laughed them off. When Lila came back into the room, the boys quickly said goodbye, blew some kisses, and hung up. They didn't want Lila to catch them calling me during school hours. 

She would murder. 

My laughing smile fell when I saw the nurse following behind Lila. Nurse Mia followed behind the random nurse, nodding her head with a positive smile. I wanted to believe everything would be alright. 

I really, truly did. 

But I was so afraid something would go wrong. If I wasn't afraid it would be odd. I felt all my worries ease when a pair of warm lips landed on my cheek. Carter jerked back into a standing position, scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, and gave a sheepish smile. 

The tips of my fingers touched my cheek where he kissed me. A faint smile played on my lips as the nurse helped me move into a wheelchair. 

"For good luck!" He called after me as I got wheeled into the operating room. 

I was laid on the table, the smile dropping once more as I saw the mask get lowered onto my face. Nurse Mia was holding my hand, squeezing it with reassurances.

"Count back from ten and everything will be fine." She told me. I took a deep breath of the anesthesia and started counting backwards.  

I made it to four.