Twenty-Three.

“You can’t just hide out at the hospital until your parents say its okay.” Liam said walking into the family room at the children’s hospital.

“What are you doing here?” I asked surprised to see him in the hospital.

“I’m here to knock some sense into you. Its been a week since you got back from your parents and all you have done has been go to class and come to the hospital.”

“So what?”

“So, don’t you think you should tell the other person who this involves about whats going on?”

“I don’t want to hurt Sidney.” I explained.

“Then don’t.”

“I have too. My parents own the place I live. My parents pay for everything. I can’t just say to hell with them.” I said.

“then tell Sidney.”

“Its not as easy as black and white, Liam.”

“Maybe not, but you can’t just hide out in the hospital forever.”

“Bye, Liam. I’ll see you at home later.” I said.

“What was that about?”Mollie asked. She walked in right as Liam was leaving.

“Liam trying to give advice.” I said.

“Are you going to take it?” She asked me.

“Doubtful.” I simply said.

“I have a favor to ask of you.” She said.

“Okay, I’m kind of scared.” I said giving her a look.

“This one family just came in. Their daughter who is 7 just got diagnosed. They also have a one and half year old boy, do you think while you are at the hospital you could just hang around him and babysit him and give the parents a break?” She asked me.

“Of course. I do basically live here.” I said.

“Thanks, his name is Ty. I’ll introduce you to the family.” She said and led me to the family room.

Ty was really cute. I didn’t mind hanging around him while I was at the hospital. He was kind of exhausting though. However, it did take my mind off of Sidney, which was always a good thing.

The next day Ty was hungry so we went to the cafeteria. It was around 5ish so a lot of people were getting dinner at the time. Ty was kind of restless at that point. I was holding him in the line but then he insisted on getting down, so I put him down. Then he just started wandering. I can’t say I was mad because the man he wandered too was quite attracted. Ty just walked up to this doctor and just was looking at him. And when I say walk up to him, I mean like right up to him.

“I’m so sorry. Come on Ty, lets get back in line.” I said picking Ty up. He definitely didn’t want picked up.

“Its not a problem. Looks like you got your hands full anyways.” The doctor said.

“Yeah, you could say that.” I said and walked away. When we got our food, we sat at a table not even close to that man’s table. However, we did catch eachother’s eye. It was kind of weird in a way.

I sent a text to Rose. The one good thing about the medical profession.. cute boys.

Later that night, I gave Ty back to the family. I went to see Mollie. She was just hanging out at the nurses station, it was the end of second shift. She was with her boyfriend, Mark, who is also an RN in the hospital. They were also standing with the doctor from the cafeteria. I didn’t notice because I was so exhausted.

“This is why I don’t have kids yet.” I said putting up my hair. Then I noticed the cute doctor.

“That bad?” Mollie asked.

“What do you think?”

“Oh, Grace.. this is James.” She said referring to the doctor.

“Hi.” I said.

“Hi, you are the girl with the kid in the cafeteria.” James stated.

“Yeah, not my kid. Just helping out.” I simply said.

“You work here?” He asked me.

“Worse.. She volunteers here.” Mollie said.

“Better than the alternative.” I said giving Mollie a look.

“Stop it.” She said.

“Well, I better go. Liam is probably freaking out.” I said laughing.

“Maybe I will see you and..” James started to say.

“Ty.” I said.

“Maybe I will see you and Ty around again.” He said.

“Yeah, maybe. Or maybe he won’t just wander off again.” I said. I was clearly tired and not up for this. I started walking to the elevators and he was walking with me.

“Tired?” He asked me.

“Kind of.” I said.

“I know the feeling.” He said.

“Well I’ll see you around.” I said when I got off the elevator.

“Where have you been?” Liam asked me as soon as I walked into the door.

“The hospital. You act like I have been missing. You know where I am every single time.” I said.

“Next time, take your phone. I don’t want to see Sidney call like ten times.” He said.

“Shut up, Liam.” I said.

“No, Grace. You are calling him. Tonight. Because if you don’t.. I will.” He said. I took my phone and went into my bedroom. Moment of truth. I dialed his number.

“Hey.” I simply said.

“Glad you are alive.” He said. No hello, no nothing. He had a right to be mad. I had been avoiding his calls and texts for over a week.

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Yeah, sorry? That’s all I get.”

“Sidney..” I started to say and then I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it anymore. Then Liam walked in and I knew I had to do it.

“Sidney, I’ve been avoiding you.”

“No shit.”

“I’ve been avoiding you because my parents don’t want me to see you anymore.” I said.

“What are we in high school again?” He asked.

“No, but I am living off their money. They don’t want me to see you, I don’t have a choice.” I said.

“You do have a choice, Grace. You always have a choice.”

“Not really, Sidney. I can’t afford school, I can’t afford rent.. I need them.”

“Why don’t they want us to be together? They don’t even know me.”

“They know of you, and that’s all that matters. They don’t think your lifestyle fits well with mine.”

“What does that mean?”

“They think that I need someone that is going to be there for me when I need them.”

“And I will be.”

“And I told them that. But they are scared that I am going to love you and then if I get sick again, I will need you and you don’t be able to be there. They aren’t doubting that you are a good person, they are doubting that you are the right person.” I explained.

“So because I am a hockey player, I can’t date you?” He asked.

“because you are a hockey player and I use to have cancer.” I said.

“So what does this mean?”

“It means that we can’t be together. We weren’t really together anyways.” I said.

“We were and you know it.”

“No, you could be with other girls and by the conversation we last had.. you have been.”

“Don’t get into that again. You are always the one breaking this off.” He said.

“I don’t want to break it off, I have too.”

“No you don’t. You are choosing too.”

“I don’t think you understand. I can’t be with you because I need my parents money. They are my parents. I love them, okay. I’m sorry that its this way but there is nothing I can do.” I said.

“So we can’t talk? That’s it. We just aren’t friends anymore?”

“I just don’t think we can be. It would be too hard. I don’t know. I want to be friends with you but it just doesn’t feel right.”

“None of this feels right to me.” He said.

“I’m sorry. I just can’t do it. You are free to do whatever you want. Or should I say whoever you want.” I said.

“Fine.” He said.

“Bye.”

“Bye.” He said. I hung up the phone and I just broke down. Liam must have heard me crying because he walked into my room.

“I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t think it would hurt this bad.” I said while hugging him.

“I know, Grace. It will be okay.” He said trying to comfort me.

“I could have loved him, Liam. I just told a boy who didn’t deserve to hear it that I couldn’t be with him because of his occupation.” I said and just continued to cry.

“I can’t handle this. I won’t be able to just not ever see him. It kills me to think that. It kills me to think that he could just replace me. It kills me to think that its not killing him.” I said.

“Its killing him, Grace.” He said.

After about a half hour of crying, I just looked up at Liam with bloodshot eyes and said, “What did I just do?”

“I fucked up. I know I did. I know that its not right. I know that its not what I want, but I had to do it. I just don’t get why my parents made me do this.” I said still crying.

“Because they love you.”

“If they loved me, they wouldn’t have made me do this.” I said.

After about an hour of crying to Liam, he went to his room to sleep. I couldn’t sleep, I just kept thinking of Sidney. After awhile, I just felt sick. I went to the bathroom and just started puking. I know Liam heard me. He had too, but he didn’t do anything. He couldn’t do anything. I did this. My parents made me do this and there was nothing I could. I wasn’t strong enough to tell my parents no. But, I definitely didn’t think it would hurt this much. After hugging the toilet, I went into Liam’s room. He pulled back the covers and let me slide in with him. I don’t know how long I cried with my head on his chest. Who would have thought this would happen? Me laying in bed with Liam thinking of another guy. I was actually crying in bed with Liam over another guy, a guy I could have potentially loved as much or more than I loved Liam. But that was over now. Sidney and I were over. We had to be, my parents made sure of that.