I parked in the nearly empty lot of the Los Angeles Medical Center and hopped out. As I neared the electric sliding doors I saw a tall, slender figure smoking a cigarette as he leaned against the building.
"Aiden?"
"Hey Ash." He said as he quickly threw the cigarette to the ground and put it out with his foot.
"Since when do you smoke?" I asked as I gave him a hug, smelling the odor from the cancer stick he had just outed. "I’m trying to quit." He said as returning the embrace. He turned and began walking towards the doors.
"So is everyone else these days." I said sarcastically, following him. We headed for the elevator. Stepping inside he hit the button marked ’5′. It illuminated as the doors closed. We rode quietly for a few minutes until we felt the elevator shudder a bit as it came to a stop. There was a faint ‘ding’ as the doors slid open. I was overwhelmed with the smell of ammonia or some kind of cleaning solution. Aiden began walking down the corridor ahead and I followed. A few rooms passed and he came to a stop by the one marked ’507′. I breathed a sigh of relief as I took note that there was no sign near the doorway that indicated that the room might be used for ‘intensive care’ or anything else that sounded severe.

Aiden and I stepped slowly into the room. I looked to my right. She was just laying there, a few scratches here and there on her face. There was a large bruise around a part of her jar, probably from the airbag. I lowered my eyes a little and noticed that her arm was in a sling. ‘At least it’s not a cast.’ I thought to myself, hoping that nothing was broken. The room was quiet. It was equipped with all sorts of machines but none of them were hooked up to Spencer. I was relieved because she wasn’t in bad condition. They probably just wanted to keep her overnight to make sure everything was ok. Aiden sat down at a table and motioned to an empty seat beside him. I took sat down and looked back at Spencer. I hoped she wasn’t in too much pain, and from the looks of things she probably wasn’t.
"She’s going to be ok." Aiden said. "The doc just wanted to keep her tonight to make sure everything was ok." I nodded looking at him. He looked tired.
"Long day?" I asked.
"You have no idea." He laughed. "I still have a paper to finish and.."
"Go." I said. "If you think she needs company I’d be glad to stay. Just so she’s not alone."
"I shouldn’t… she." I interrupted him.
"You said she was going to be just fine. It’s not life or death, Aiden. I’m sure you can go."
"Well, that paper.."
"Isn’t going to write itself." I laughed and he nodded.
"Ok. I really appreciate it. You’re sure it’s good?"
"It’s fine." I reassured him. He got up and grabbed his coat and keys off the table. Moving closer to the bed, he leaned down and kissed Spencer on the forehead. He smiled at me as he walked out of the room closing the door. I looked up at the T.V. in the top corner of the room. I wasn’t really interested in what was on, but my eyes stayed focused on the screen. I went off into a daze for a little bit until I heard the sound of sheets rustling behind me. I looked back towards the bed where Spencer had propped herself up with her good arm.
"Hey Ash. What are you doing here?"
"Aiden needed to finish a paper so I offered to stay." She smiled and I smiled back.
"That’s really sweet, but you should go home. I don’t want to make you…"
"I offered. Besides, I owe you for taking care of me while I crashed on your couch last night. This seems like a good way to repay you."
"Thank you. It’ll be nice having some company. Hospitals are so.."
"Creepy?" I suggested.
"Yeah, especially at night when no one’s around." She laughed.
"Well I’m around. So you have nothing to worry about. Do you need anything?"
"No I’m alright. Thanks though." I felt the table shake a little and looked down. A cellphone was dancing across the top as it vibrated. I picked it up and showed it to Spencer.
"Who is it?" she asked. I looked down at the screen.
"Aiden.."
"Just ignore it. I was asleep when he left so maybe he’ll figure I still am."
"Okay. Are things still good between you two?" I moved my chair a little closer to the side of the bed as she elaborated.
"Yeah. He’s great. But more of a friend to me than anything. He does the whole romantic thing once in a while but he’s one of those guys that feels the constant need to take care of me. Show his macho-manliness." She puffed up her chest as she said the last sentence and lowered her voice, making her and I both laugh. "I appreciate it, but I’m a pretty independent person. I can take care of myself. You know?" I nodded at her.
"Definitely. So you guys don’t have plans for after school or anything?"
"No. I don’t even know about the summer. I don’t want to be tied down with something that’s not going anywhere. That probably sounds really selfish.."
"No I totally get it. Yeah, it’s better not to drag things out. He won’t be totally crushed?"
"I don’t think so. We’re both not ready to settle and breaking things off before summer would definitely be for the best."
"Gotcha. Well that’s good." I looked away and back up at the screen. There still wasn’t anything good on, but  it didn’t bother me because Spencer was good at keeping it from getting too quiet. I looked back at her, she had cozied back into the bed, her eyes closed. I took a closer look at her. Despite the scratches, she had really smooth, fair skin. Her dirty blonde hair was tucked back behind her ears but a few strands were scattered near her face. Despite laying in a hospital bed and a sling around her arm she was cute. But straight. And despite that I kept staring. That is until she fluttered her eyes open. I tried turning back to stare at the t.v. but the giggle that came from her side of the room proved that she had caught me red-handed. I turned back to look at her and I felt my face turn red. I smiled and she just stopped giggling and just smiled back.
"I’m really.." I paused and corrected myself. "Me and Aiden are really glad you came out of this alright."
"Me too. But I’m gonna have to take a rain check on tomorrow night..unlesss you want to hang out at my place? I’m sure we could find something fun to do.." she said sounding hopeful.
"Definitely.." I nodded and smiled. She grinned back. She was straight, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate how attractive she was. She was still cute, and had a cute grin to match.