Chapter Five

I’m not going to lie. I had spent hours if not days daydreaming about hospitals and doctors with well-fitted scrubs and perfect hair. But I’ll be the first to admit that fictional hospitals are very different to the real thing. Not everyone is Patrick Dempsey, and the nurses aren’t nearly as attractive as they are on TV.

It turns out Brendan wasn’t dead, which was a serious relief. I had had to sit down for a few minutes and sip water so I’d stop hyperventilating, but at least my heart started beating normally again when the paramedics assured me that Brendan had a pulse. I kept replaying the moment he went down on the ground in my head; he looked so lifeless just lying there, still clutching onto that bed sheet. I was secretly relieved that Jack was there to take control of the situation, or else I probably would have just sat there staring at Brendan and babbling to myself. I’m the last person to call in an emergency situation. I just make everything worse.

Jack and I were sitting outside Brendan’s hospital room, waiting for Dad to show up so he could yell at me. I had gotten a chance to sit with Brendan for a while, holding onto his hand like it was a float and I was drowning. His parents had been called and informed of the incident, but it would be hours until their plane landed back in L.A. Aria, Veronica, Aaron and the random Italian hottie had come with us, and they temporarily left Jack and me alone together so they could get some coffee from the cafeteria downstairs.

“Do you need something?” Jack asked.

A hug would have been nice. Maybe some chocolate. Anything that would erase the night from my memory would have been great. I probably didn’t need that half a cup of vodka lemonade I had downed while they were loading Brendan into the van. In my defense, I thought it was water. I just didn’t stop drinking it when I realized it wasn’t.

“I’m okay.”

“Gia, he’s going to be fine. The doctors said that it would have been really acute poisoning if it wasn’t for the alcohol already in his system.”

I shrugged. Sure, he was going to be okay. But he was still lying in that bed, poisoned. Like, actually poisoned. Where does someone even get poison? It’s not like you can just walk into Target and say, “Oh, hi. I’d like a vial of your best poison please.”

“I just don’t understand how,” I said, turning to Jack. “I mean, how did Brendan even get poisoned?”

“The doctors said it was from the food, remember?” Jack replied.

“Yeah, but it could’ve been from anything then. There was pizza and those little pie-looking things and—”

“Gia, I don’t need a whole menu. Brendan told the doctors that the only thing he ate were a few dumplings. Weren’t you paying any attention?”

“Uh, sorry. I was kind of busy freaking out over the fact that I may have killed my boyfriend!”

“Hey,” Veronica said softly, returning with the rest of the gang. She handed me a plastic cup full of watery coffee and took a seat next to Jack. “Is your dad here yet?”

“Can you hear anyone yelling at me?” I asked, slumping further down in my chair.

“No?”

“Then he’s not here yet.”

“Oh come on, G. It’s not your fault!” Aaron said, holding a cup similar to mine. “You didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Yeah, but didn’t you see those reporters?” Aria asked, and I looked up sharply.

“What?” I snapped. “What reporters?”

“They were taking pictures outside while the police were getting your statement. Didn’t you see Meghan? She pretty much sprinted out of there, track star style.” Aria laughed, taking a seat next to me.

“I don’t think daddy would be too pleased if she was photographed at a party, getting questioned by the cops,” Veronica sneered.

As hilarious as that was, I was in no mood for laughing. Not only did the coffee taste disgusting, I now had the responsibility of keeping Dad away from any form of media, to stop him from looking at the inevitable pictures that would surface from outside Brendan’s house.

“Honestly guys,” I said. “Thanks for being here, but it’s late. You should head home.”

“Aria’s sleeping over at mine anyway and Aaron’s parents are in the Hamptons for the weekend. He doesn’t have a curfew.” Veronica told me.

Everyone’s eyes awkwardly fixed on the Italian stallion sipping coffee silently.

“Fabio lives nearby,” Aria said with a nod, as if she had solved the problem.

“It’s Marco.” He said, a sigh escaping amongst his accent.

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Aria said, with a nonchalant shrug.

“GIA?”

I groaned as I saw Dad burst through the hospital doors, Kenny close behind at his heels. Goodbye cruel world. It was nice knowing you.

“Sir,” a passing nurse hissed at him. “I’m going to have to ask you to keep it down. Hey, wait. Aren’t you Ha—”

“You’re grounded for life! You hear me? LIFE! No leaving the house until you’re dead,” Dad declared, ignoring the nurse.

I rose from my chair. “But I didn’t even do anything!”

“I don’t care what you did or did not do. No more going out on weekends, and your curfew for every other night is ten.”

My jaw dropped. “Are you joking? That’s so unreasonable!”

“When you have an eighteen-year-old daughter who leaves the house in a heart-attack provoking dress and calls you from the hospital, you can tell me what’s reasonable!”

“Hi Mr. Winters. Nice to see you again.” Aria offered him a bright smile.

Dad eyed her up and down suspiciously; most likely judging her insanely short skirt. He glanced at Marco, who had an amused smile on his face.

“Who’s this guy?” Dad asked, jerking a thumb in Marco’s direction.

“Mercutio,” Aria replied.

“Marco,” Veronica, Aaron, Jack and I said in unison.

“Well we were just leaving anyway,” Veronica said awkwardly, taking Aaron’s hand. “Bye, Jack.”

I watched my friends leave with a sinking heart. Dad was going to go Parenting 101 on me in front of Jack and the star-struck nurse who was excitedly whispering into her cell phone.

“You have a lot of explaining to do, Gia,” Dad said sternly. “Start talking. Now.”

I turned to Jack for some help, but he wasn’t even looking at me. Jerk.

“Well,” I began, still holding my undrinkable coffee. “We went to the party and there was this really pretty bedroom and it was really hot and Brendan was kind of angry and he was holding a tray that had dumplings on it, but I guess he ate all of them, which sucks ‘cause I was really hungry. But then he was yelling at me and then he kind of just keeled over and died. But not really died, he was just poisoned.”

I sucked in some air and exhaled deeply. Wow. What a night. Dad furrowed his eyebrows and turned to Jack for confirmation, as if he couldn’t actually believe any of this had happened. Jack nodded at him, supporting my story, and my dad gave Kenny an exasperated look.

“Teenagers,” was all Kenny said.

“What’s this about a bedroom?” Dad asked, turning back to me.

“Where’s Mike?” Jack asked, finally jumping in to save my life.

“He’s at home with Chris,” Kenny replied. “Should we get out of here, sir?”

“Yes please,” I sighed, completely exhausted from the whole drama of the night.

Dad did some more I’m a very angry father glaring before he and Kenny began walking toward the exit. Jack rose from his chair but I stood in front of him before he could walk away.

“What?” he asked.

“Do I look okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well there are probably people with cameras outside. I want to look good just in case I end up on Perez Hilton tomorrow. Plus, I might be a little drunk. I don’t know, I can’t really tell.”

Jack raised his eyebrows and turned to look at me, clearly amused.

“Let me get this straight. You dragged me to this party so that I could get groped and you could keep an eye on this psychotic chick who’s after your boyfriend, who ends up in hospital because of poisoning. And your biggest problem is what you look like in front of the paparazzi?” Jack asked, his smile widening.

I stared at him silently for a few seconds.

“Wait a minute. You got groped? By who?”

__________

When I woke up several hours later it was just past noon, and I was snugly wrapped between my silk sheets. My head kind of hurt and my eyelids still felt heavy, but my brain had reached the stage where it was wide awake and not willing to go back to sleep without major coercion. I sighed and propped myself up on my elbows, taking in my surroundings. Everything seemed normal enough, but there was something off. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

Famous was sleeping on the edge of my bed as normal, my math books were still untouched on my desk, my walls were still pink, the walk-in wardrobe doors were closed, Jack was asleep on my couch, and my Audrey Hepburn poster was still hanging neatly above my bed. The heels I had worn the night before were lying next to my bed and I was still dressed in the tight dress, so I guess I hadn’t bothered to change. I was way too tired after the whole poisoning misadventure.

Wait a minute. Jack was asleep on my couch? I shot upright and watched him silently, putting a hand to my lips in surprise. He was facing me, still dressed in the outfit he had worn to the party. One arm was dangling across his chest and off the couch, and I winced at how uncomfortable he looked there. He was still fast asleep by the looks of it, his chest rising and falling gently.

I crawled out of bed as quietly as I could, tip-toeing over to him. I carefully picked up a cushion from my bed and clutched it to my chest, eyeing Jack as he slept peacefully. He was in my room! What was I supposed to do? He was just lying there looking like perfection, while I stood there with smudged mascara all over my face. I slowly crept toward the couch, stopping when I was right above him.

“Jack?” I whispered, but he didn’t move. “Hello? Jack?” With the pillow still pressed to my chest, I poked him on his shoulder. “Jack! Wake up!”

His head looked like it twitched a tiny bit, but he was still in slumber land. I sighed and clutched the pillow some more. He definitely wasn’t dead because I could see him breathing. But he didn’t look like he wanted to get up anytime soon. Which wasn’t very convenient for me, or my mission to not fall in love with him. I took a deep breath, raised my hand and slapped him hard across the cheek.

“OW!” He yelled and woke with a start.

I gave a yelp and leapt backward, digging my nails into the pillow. Jack looked a little disoriented as he rubbed his cheek. He looked up at me, sleep still evident in his eyes.

“Hi.” I said.

“Gia! What the hell?”

“What the hell is right!” I said, the moment my heart went back to its normal rate. Almost. It was never normal around Jack. “What are you doing in my room?”

“Well,” Jack said, groaning a little as he swung his legs off the couch. He ran a hand through his hair, stretching a little. “I was sleeping, until you decided to attack me with that pillow.”

“Don’t blame the pillow.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll blame your hand instead.”

I dropped the pillow to the floor. It hit the fluffy rug with a barely-audible thud. “You have a bedroom!” I exclaimed. “Go sleep there!”

Jack looked up at me in disbelief. “Are you kidding? You were the one who asked me to stay until you fell asleep because you felt sick, remember?”

Just as he said it, the memory of me asking him to stay came crashing back into my mind. Oh shoot. It was almost like the alcohol had kicked in after the party, and my brain broke or something. That is the only explanation that would make sense for asking Jack to stay and watch me until I fell asleep.

“I—I may have asked you to make sure I was safe.” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “I didn’t ask you to spend the night!”

“It’s not my fault someone is a lightweight,” Jack replied, rising from the couch with another stretch. He was standing right in front of me, closer than I was comfortable with. “You took forever to fall asleep, and I was tired.”

I took a giant step back. “If you even tried to touch me—”

“Yeah, Gia,” Jack said, giving me the world’s most sarcastic look. “I completely took advantage of you, and then fell asleep on the couch!”

Okay, fine. Not one of my better theories. The memories of last night were becoming a little clearer now, particularly the part when I asked Jack to make sure no one tried to poison me in my sleep. So I had been a little drunk last night, but thankfully not enough to make my dad notice. Unfortunately, just drunk enough to wait until my dad had gone to bed, after another thirty thousand lectures he had delivered when we got home, and practically beg Jack to keep an eye on me. I was wrong. The embarrassment levels had managed to hit a new high.

“Well the sleepover club is over now,” I snapped. “So get out!”

“Hey!” Jack replied, his irritation growing. “This wasn’t a slumber party for me either, you know. That couch practically broke my back in two!”

I gave him a pleased smile and said, “That actually folds out into a huge ass bed.”

Jack looked at me, expressionless. “I really wish you would have mentioned that before you fell asleep.”

“My bad.”

“Yeah. Right.”

I pointed to my room door and said, “Get out before Dad sees you.”

Jack obediently began walking toward the door, as I watched him with a glare that seemed to be perpetually on my face. “Isn’t that ideal for you? That way your dad could fire me and we’d all go back to living our lives?”

“Uh, no,” I replied, coming up behind him and opening the bedroom door. “We had a deal, remember? I need you to help me, especially now that Brendan’s been poisoned. You need to hold up your end.”

“Because you’re doing such a good job of holding up yours,” Jack said as I scowled.

“Oh!” I heard someone say to my right. Nadia, one of the housekeepers glanced at Jack and I standing an inch away from each other, and then looked at the floor. “Sorry to interrupt. I’ll come back later!”

Eyes on Nadia, I pushed Jack away from me lightly. “No!” I exclaimed. “This is a perfect time. Nothing’s happening here.”

“Really, I can come ba—”

“I said it’s fine!” I turned to Jack, who looked like he was having a crazy amount of fun. “Get out!”

“Alright, alright. I’m going,” he said, smiling at Nadia on his way out. “Thanks for last night, Gia!”

“Shut up, oh my God!”

“I can keep this between us if you’d like,” Nadia said, nodding at me understandingly.

“There’s nothing to keep between us, Nadia,” I replied, trying to look as casual as possible. “Honestly, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She looked like she wanted to say something, but instead gave me a sharp nod and began making my bed without a word. I watched her for a few seconds, wondering just how bad it looked between Jack and I. When the awkwardness was becoming too much, I gave up on damage control, locked myself in the ensuite, and did some heavy breathing for a while.

By the time I had finished battling with the tangles in my hair, showering and putting on clothes that made me look like a human being, it was already past one. Nadia and Jack were both gone, leaving my bed neatly made, and the couch looking flawless. The idea of Jack sleeping in the same room as me was giving me heart palpitations. At least now the couch would smell like his cologne. I made my way down the stairs and through the silent hallway into the kitchen, where Mike and Chris were eating lasagne.

“Where’s Anya?” I asked, not bothering to greet the boys with a hello first.

“I don’t know,” Mike said.

“Where’s Dad?”

“Don’t know. He went somewhere with Kenny. He said he’ll be back soon and that you’re not allowed to leave the house,” Mike replied, shovelling pasta into his mouth.

Sabrina, one of older housekeepers, walked out of the kitchen shooting a glare in my direction. I always had a feeling she didn’t like me. She’s always shaking her head around me, although I can’t figure out why.

“How am I supposed to see Brendan?” I asked, turning my attention back to the boys.

Mike shrugged and said, “Take that up with Dad.”

I helped myself to some lasagne and took a seat on a barstool next to Chris. That boy never spoke. Like, ever. It was actually kind of worrying.

“So what’s up?” I asked Chris, attempting to break the ice and show him speaking was actually allowed in the household.

His glanced at me from the corner of his eye and gave a tiny shrug. I raised my eyebrows. Okay then.

“So, you wanna tell me why Jack walked out of your room this morning wearing the same clothes he wore to that party last night? Moving a bit fast, eh sis?” Mike asked, smiling in between bites of pasta.

“You wanna tell me why I shouldn’t squish you like the insect you are?”

Mike turned to Chris and gave him an understanding look. “It’s probably her time of month. Don’t take anything she says personally.”

Jack walked in before I had a chance to reply, catching me off guard with blue jeans and red flannel shirt. I had to actually remind myself to chew my lasagne so that I wouldn’t start drooling.

“Hey guys,” Jack said, without looking up from his phone.

“Oh, hey Jack!” Mike said, a little too enthusiastically. “Anything interesting happen last night after the party?”

“Um,” Jack began, giving me a confused look. “Not really, Mike. How was your night?”

I was going to squeeze the life out of Mike the next time I caught him alone. Chris was going to come in handy if he didn’t stop hinting at Jack and I doing the nasty.

“It was alright,” Mike said. “Probably not nearly as wild as what was happening in my sister’s bedroom.”

“Mike!”

“Okay, I’ve pretty much established that crazy comes along with this family, so I’m going to ignore all these weird comments,” Jack said, and Chris nodded in agreement.

“Lasagne?” I pushed the dish of pasta toward Jack, hoping it would change the topic.

“Thanks,” he replied, serving himself a piece. “So I’ve got some info about last night’s poisoning debacle.”

I looked up from my plate. “What did you find?”

Jack broke off a piece of lasagne and scooped it up with his fork. “The dumpling had Chinese poison in it. Nothing too strong, but it did the job.”

“Was it in all of the dumplings?”

“Nope just one, and that’s why no one else was poisoned.”

“Freaky coincidence?” I suggested, hopefully.

Jack swallowed his bite. “Not likely. That poison was put in there.”

I nodded, still processing the information. Why would anyone want to poison Brendan? “So now what?”

“I called Brendan an—”

“You called Brendan?” I cried, dropping my fork in surprise. It hit the plate with a loud clatter.

“Yeah, why?” Jack said, looking at Mike as if he could answer for me.

“I got nothing,” Mike replied with an apologetic look.

“Did you forget that massive fight I had with Brendan about you last night? He hates you!”

“Damn!” Mike exclaimed, turning to Chris. “As if we missed that!”

“Relax, he was on a bunch of meds,” Jack said, putting his plate down on the marble kitchen island. “I called him, told him I was just checking up on him and made a few lame jokes about mystery meat. He said everything’s cool and that he’s learned his lesson.”

“What lesson?” Mike asked for me.

“Never to get catering from the Dumpling Hospital again.”

“The Dumpling Hospital?” I repeated, making a face. “What the hell is that?”

“Oh, I know that place!” Mike piped up. “It’s in China Town. My friend Dave said that it’s really sketchy! His dad got diarrhea once after eating there.”

I looked at Chris, who was still silent. “You got nothing to add?”

“No,” he replied.

One word, two letters. It was all the proof I needed that Chris actually could talk.

“Anyway,” Jack resumed. “If I were you, I would do some more research on this Dumpling Hospital place. If the name isn’t suspicious enough, their food definitely is.”

“That’s great and all,” I said, pushing my plate away from me slightly so that I could lean my arms on the counter. “But who was that dumpling for? I mean, why would they just poison one dumpling? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well when I asked how the whole thing happened,” Jack explained, “Brendan said the waiter was actually heading in our direction to offer us some food.”

“Offer us food inside a bedroom?” I said. “Sounds a bit creepy, doesn’t it?”

“Bedroom?” Mike said, his smile returning.

Jack paused for a few seconds, as though he was thinking about smiling, and then deciding against it.

“He said he took the tray off him right before he saw us walk into the room.”

“I didn’t see any waiters,” I said.

“Me neither,” Jack replied with a nod. “In fact, Brendan didn’t even hire any waiters. Whoever this guy was, he was planted there in disguise.”

“That,” Mike said, “is some Mission Impossible shiz!”

“No one says shiz, Mike,” I said abruptly. “Did Brendan say what the guy looked like?”

“No, and I didn’t want to ask. I already seemed super suspicious with all my questions. You can ask him later.”

Jack put his plate in the sink, and the room was silent for a moment as everyone considered his story. It was possible that the waiter was out for Jack, but it was unlikely. Especially with the creepy calls and texts in play, I had a pretty good idea that it was me he was after. Jack clearly agreed.

“So what you’re saying is,” I began slowly, “this random guy was disguised as a waiter to potentially serve me a poisoned dumpling from a sketchy Chinese restaurant that gave Dave’s dad diarrhea?”

Jack nodded. “It definitely looks that way.”

“Well that’s just dandy!” I exclaimed, hopping off the barstool. “No, really! As if I didn’t already have enough to deal with! Let’s just throw in some psycho freak stalker who’s trying to kill me!”

“Chill out, sis,” Mike said, pushing his empty plate away from him. “It’s not a big deal. So you’re getting stalked a little! Big whoop.”

I spun on my heel to face Mike, eyes narrowed into a steely glare. “Leave now if you value your life,” I told him, and he slid off his chair.

“Clearly Jack didn’t relax your psychotic nerves last night,” Mike said, shrugging lightly. He turned to Jack. “Dude, try again. She’s going to need a few sessions to crack.”

With that he strolled out of the kitchen, leaving me to stare at his empty seat in shock and embarrassment.

I glanced at Jack. “Don’t say a word. Don’t you dare.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Good, don’t.”

Chris, who was watching us quietly from his bar stool, gave a small cough. I looked at him expectantly, hoping I’d get another word out of him. He just gave me a tiny smile like he was scared of showing any sign of happiness and looked down at his plate awkwardly.

“So,” Jack said, resting his elbows on the kitchen island as he leaned in. “What do you want to do about this dumpling?”

“What can we do?”

“Well it’s not like we really have any proof. So, nothing really.”

How insanely helpful of him. No, really.

“So let’s go get some proof,” I said. “How do you feel about taking a little after-school excursion tomorrow?”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Excursion?”

“I want to check out the restaurant,” I told him. “Go straight to the source.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Gia.”

“In case you forgot, last night my boyfriend was poisoned by some creep who was really aiming for me. I want to know why! I would go alone, but then I’d be depriving you of an opportunity to be crazy overprotective, which I know is your favorite thing to do.”

Jack was silent as he considered his next move. Beside me, Chris ate another forkful of lasagne.

“Alright fine,” Jack said finally, and I gave him a pleased smile. “We can go check it out quickly. And I mean really quickly.”

My smile faltered a little. “Wait, just the two of us?” I said, as the realization hit me. Images of Jack lying on my couch were flashing at the front of my mind like my thoughts were at a nightclub.

“Yeah?” Jack replied with a shrug. “Why?”

“No. Nothing. It’s all good.”

Jack gave me a knowing look. “Are you going to go all British on me again?”

Boy, don’t tempt me.