Waiting for News (Brittany Attn any at hospital)

[Brittany Barnes]

Brittany looked liked something out of a movie as she wandered down the halls of the hospital. She was still wearing the cheerleading uniform that Aly had switched out with her normal clothes, only she had blood speckled all over it. She'd washed the blood off her hands in the bathroom but there was some in her hair still.

Aly was in surgery...they were getting the bullet too. She'd found Ian at the hospital too. Zac had been shot in the chest and was in critical condition. Ian was a mess...so was his parents...and Brit's parents although they'd at least gotten the news that Aly should be fine. Still...with surgery you never knew...so many things could still go wrong.

The waiting room was like a morgue, filled with family members of her peers. She didn't want to be there. She'd offered to go find some coffee for the parentals...perhaps get something for herself too. She didn't drink coffee really but maybe she could get herself a soda or a hot chocolate. She didn't even care...she really didn't want anything. She just felt...drained and out of it.

The doctors had x-rayed her head, when she mentioned she'd hit it, but they said that she should be fine. They didn't think she had a concussion but her mom was supposed to wake her up every hour during the night just to make sure. But Brittany doubted any of them would be getting sleep. Aly would probably be in the hospital overnight and no one showed any signs of leaving.

She pushed her way through the doors of the cafeteria, almost a little disappointed that she'd found it so quickly. She had kind of liked wandering about...now that she'd found what she was looking for it would mean she'd have to return to the waiting room once she got it and Brittany wasn't sure she was ready for the depressing atmosphere of the waiting room again...or the thought of possible bad news.

Tag Any

[Evan Hughes]

The very first moment he could, Evan had left the school and made his way to the hospital, not surprised to find it was pretty busy. It did make him worry more though, wondering just how many people had been hurt, made him wonder just how many of his friends were inside, fighting for their lives. He still had yet to get a hold of Patch, he’d been ringing his friend’s mobile almost continuously, and he was starting to worry a little more than he would have liked.

And he’d been at the hospital for over half an hour now. But his mum was also there, it was her shift, and he thought it only right that he go see her before checking in on his girlfriend. He’d never been fussed over more in his life, not by just his mother, but all the other nurses who knew him, and the doctors.

But eventually he was able to break away, making his way to the waiting room with two lollypops hanging out of his mouth. To find that Brittany wasn’t there. He wanted to ask around, find out where she was, but the rest of the occupants clearly had much more important things on his mind. So instead, he decided to look where he would go. Where there was food.

Luckily for Evan, great minds think alike, and he found his girl wandering the cafeteria. She didn’t look good, far from it, which was pretty damn understandable given the situation. He figured she wouldn’t have a change of clothes, and all he had at home that could do was a long jacket, so he had brought that with him. He draped it over her shoulders now, directing her to a seat as he sat down beside her, wanting to cheer her up, make her smile. “You would have made the hottest cheerleader ever.” he grinned softly. “How is she doing?”

[Brittany Barnes]

Brittany threw her arms around Evan the moment she saw him. "I'm really glad you're here," she said, smiling a little as he draped the coat over her shoulders and led her to sit down. Sitting was probably a good thing anyway. She took a deep breath. "This sucks," she mumbled in response to his question, adding, "Yeah, I bet all the other cheerleaders will be envious of my blood stains," she smirked a little.

"Aly's still in surgery," she said. "They said she'd be okay...but we haven't heard anything since she went in. I ran into Ian...I don't know where he is now...but Zac...Zac was shot...he's pretty bad I guess. He's in surgery too...but I guess they said he's critical...they got him in the chest...he'll...be out of commission for awhile...if he makes it," she said, kind of looking away and focusing on the table in an effort not to cry. She wasn't usually one to cry. Evan had certainly never seen her cry. After all, crying was rare for her...she didn't get that upset over things most of the time...but this was pretty bad...

"Have you heard from anyone else?" she asked. "How is Patch...and Mallory...Ian said he was with J.J. when it all went down but that he doesn't know about Mal or anyone else...he came straight to the hospital like I did cause of Zac. I didn't see any of their families here...so I'm hoping that means they're all okay," she reasoned. "There are a lot of people here though...kind of creepy." She pushed her overgrown blonde bangs out of her eyes. She was really glad that Evan was okay and with her now. It made things a little easier to deal with and well, there was a lot to deal with.

[Evan Hughes]

There was a slight moment of confusion for Evan, when Brittany stared at the table, he turning his own gaze to where she was looking, wondering what at. He didn’t see anything besides a boring table, but it took a few more seconds for it to click, women were hard to understand, after all. She wasn’t so much looking at the table, but looking away from him.

He figured that meant she was getting upset, which wasn’t hard for him to guess. He wasn’t that good at consoling someone, nor had he had much practicing doing it. He was the epitome of a class clown, if someone wanted a joke or a laugh, if someone needed cheering up by something stupid, well, he was the man. But, the whole being a shoulder to cry on, he was new, and quite uncomfortable with.

But, Evan decided, he could give it a shot. After all, he gave everything a shot. And this was something where he wasn’t risking injuring himself, which was new. And she was his girlfriend after all. So he just moved his hand to take her own, squeezing it gently.

“I’ve been trying to get them both, but, Patch’s phone rings out and Mal’s was engaged last time I tried. They’ll be fine though.” he told her, sounding confident, hoping that sounding that way would make him feel it. “I talked to Mum, and neither of them had been admitted to the hospital, so they’re safe.” She had enough to worry about already, he wanted to help her feel better about what he could.

It didn’t sound good about Zac, the way Brit was reacting. He knew that she and the guys in the band loved to tease each other, but if something serious happened to one, the others would be gutted. He always saw them as a kind of cool musical family. Like the Jackson Five, only less weird.

“Hey, they’ll be okay, Aly and Zac.” Evan told her softly, moving an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him as he propped up his feet on the chair opposite. “Can you imagine, what Aly’s going to say, when she finds out you’ve been worried about her? She’ll never let you live it down, you know your sister.” he chuckled softly. “But, I’m thinking about doing something for her. Like a thank you, you know. Maybe make her a card, write her a poem. Something she can frame and hang on her bedroom wall.”

[Brittany Barnes]

"That's good," Brittany said. "If no one else we know has been admitted...then that's good." She nodded her head. After all, no one could possibly still be at the school...could they? No, they were sending everyone to the auditorium...they must have released them all if Evan was here now...which meant no one would be left at the school. It made logical sense at least.

"They're probably just with their families or something," Brit reasoned, smiling as Evan comforted her. "I know...they doctors told us Aly would be okay...I really home Zac is too...even if it means he can't drum for awhile..." She shook her head. "It's weird...ya know...I should have been the one who was shot...and if it had been me...I wouldn't have been quite as lucky as Aly if you can call her lucky. The gun was pointed at my back and I'm guessing the guy probably had decent aim. I bet it was because I was dressed like a cheerleader...everyone hates cheerleaders after all," she said getting side-tracked for a moment before getting back to her point, "but the weird part is, that half of me just wants to stay here and mope...wait for good news...but the other part of me kind of wants to run out and do stuff."

The more she thought about it...the more invincible she felt. Life was short...one second you could be arguing with your step-sister and the next you could have a gun pointed at you and just be gone. Brittany knew that she still had a lot of things she wanted to do before she died and although she wasn't planning on getting involved with anyone with guns...she still wanted to go out and do those things. "I want to like go and travel...which I guess will have to wait till I graduate or at least summer...and do something fun like skydiving or cliff diving or drive up to Coachella--I've never been," she said. "There's just so much stuff I still wanna do..." She trailed off, not mentioning the one in particular she was thinking of.

She knew Evan would have no problem if she wanted to...after all, what she had been thinking was that she didn't want to die a virgin. What guy wouldn't be happy with his girlfriend coming to that conclusion? But she still didn't say it...not yet at least.

She smiled when Evan went on about Aly saving her and wanting to make her something. "I'm sure she'd love that," she said with a laugh. "And no, she probably won't ever let me live it down which I'm sure I'll be annoyed about in the end but for now, I'm okay with it," she grinned. "Maybe you could make her a necklace out of macaroni or make her a collage or something," she suggested, picking too crafts that sounded suitable for a kindergartner--it wasn't that she didn't think Evan could do better--she just thought it would be funny to show up with stuff that looked like it had been made by a kid.

[Evan Hughes]

Evan had to fight back a grin at the very quick change in his girlfriend, from down to almost hyper. Maybe he was even rubbing off on her. Which, might not be a good thing, he thought with a grin. Still, as long as Brittany was smiling, he was happy, glad that he must have said something right. And she was coming up with some great ideas too, he might even tag along for the ride. Especially if he could convince her to give the cheerleader outfit a wash and keep it. It might come in handy, for Halloween, for a Christmas present to him. A guy could dream. And dream was exactly what he knew he would do.

“I can understand that, the feeling.” Evan reasoned. “Well, count me in on your plans babe, you know I’m always up for some fun. And skydiving would be awesome! I wonder if they would let me pull the shoot. And we so have to get it filmed!” He was quickly getting a little too carried away with the idea. “We should so do a nudie run too! What? You’re the one who said you wanted to do stuff, just giving you valid ideas!” he laughed, trying to get their minds off what was going on around them.

“Coachella would be great though. Reckon we could get a few of us to go to that, know Patch would want to.” Evan suggested, his smile faltering just a little as he reminded himself to try sending Patch a text. “We should go for the whole thing, bring sleeping bags, camp out, get Mal to film us while I try to talk you into a nudie run.” He would start working on his mum to say yes that night.

At her suggestions, Evan’s eyes went wide, and he reached out to gently grab Brit’s arm. “Oh. My. God. I’ve just had the best idea. Ever! Get ready for this Brit, this is going to knock you off your seat. Ready? Paper mache! We should so make a paper mache statue of Aly! She would love it! It’s not creepy at all!” he cracked up.

It was only then that he realised he could smell something, seeing how that they were in a cafeteria, and it was actually a decent smelling something, not like what they got at school. Which reminded him, they’d all but forgotten lunch. “Want me to get you something to eat, drink?”

[Brittany Barnes]

If it was one thing that Evan was good at, it was taking Brit's mind off of the pain. She loved his enthusiasm in her ideas. And as he went on about how great they are, she found herself smiling, now thinking about the fun things they would do in the future rather than the unfortunate instances of the day. And that's what Brit needed. After all, she could worry all she wanted but it wouldn't change anything. When the doctors brought out the news containing the fates of her step-sister and friend, they'd be what they were whether she was crying about it the whole time or not. It felt good to concentrate on something else.

"I don't see why they wouldn't let you pull the cord," Brittany said. "I know you have to do tandem with someone who knows what they're doing the first time, but if someone is strapped to your back there is no reason they can't tell you when to pull the cord, right?" she reasoned. As he went onto his next idea about the nudie run, it caught Brit by surprise. Considering that she'd been thinking about having sex, his suggestion about the nudie run made her blush more than she would under other circumstances. She gave him a look. "Where do you want to do this run?" she asked, not quite agreeing with it yet. She didn't so much have a problem with Evan seeing her naked as she did with everyone else seeing her.

Brittany had never been completely comfortable with her body. Sure she was thin, but she'd always been self-conscious of her lack of curves. Evan seemed to life the way she looked so she was getting more comfortable with it as far as he was concerned but that by no means meant she was ready to start stripping down for everyone. Brittany didn't even like wearing swimsuits in front of people.

"Yeah--I bet Patch would like that," she agreed about Coachella, glad for the subject change. "I wonder if he's been before. I've always wanted to go but my mom always said I was too young. I think she'd let me know though--especially if I had a good group to go with. I've never been camping either...so that sounds like fun," she smiling giving him a look when he mentioned the nudie run again. "There is no way I'm letting Mal film us running around naked!" she snapped, although she was cracking up as she said it so the words didn't come out angry at all.

"Geese, if you wanna see me naked so bad, just ask," she said quickly, slipping the words in before going on about the paper mache. "Paper mache! That's a great idea--and a statue! That's perfect. Aly's really into herself so I think a sculpture of her would be perfect!" And there is was, a way to annoy her step-sister without being considered mean for doing it. That was what she needed. She could get Aly back without pranking her. After all...how good could a paper mache statue really turn out?

"Food yeah...that is probably a good idea. I'm not really hungry I guess because of the shock of everything...but now that I think of it...I haven't eaten all day...." she admitted. After all, Brit had never really been one to eat breakfast, and obviously had skipped lunch.

[Evan Hughes]

Evan wasn’t quite expecting Brittany’s reaction to his nudie run suggestion. The blush was obvious, he figured, but he figured she’d say no to the idea flat out. He certainly didn’t expect for her to seem like she was thinking about it. And now that was the case, he wasn’t sure how keen on was on streaking. Not so much with him, he didn’t care who got a good look at his pale white ass as he ran past them. But the idea of people doing the same with Brittany, checking out his naked girlfriend, especially when he hadn’t yet seen his girlfriend naked, was making him feel jealous. And he wasn’t one to ever be jealous. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea after all. It would be hilarious though, he knew.

“Camping is fun. Heaps of fun. You get to lie around in the dirt, eat cold stuff out of cans, act stupid with no one around to stop you. You’re going to love it Brit!” he enthused. It had been ages since he had gone camping himself, and the last time was with his dad, so he didn’t feel like he could act too stupid. But, with his friends, and no adult supervision around, Evan knew he was going to have a blast. And possibly return home with a concussion. It was going to be awesome!

“Come on! No one films nudie runs, they usually never have time to get the camera ready. So it’ll be brilliant! Just imagine, you, me, no clothes and a whole crowd of hyped up people to admire us in all our glory.” Evan laughed, before changing his mind again. That really was a lot of people. “Okay, how bout this. You can assist Mal with the filming, all while watching me and my very sexy body entertaining the masses. I’m real generous that way.”

Before he could react to her comment, about seeing her naked, a smirk forming on his lips, she quickly brought the topic back to paper mache. “That settles it then, tomorrow afternoon, you, me and a heap of soggy paper. See, can’t say I don’t treat you real good.” he sniggered.

Her naked comment got Evan thinking though. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about her naked before, he had, far too many times actually, just not when she was around to see him grin stupidly. And of course, thinking about naked Brittany was often followed by thinking about what he would do with naked Brittany. But, he was patient, sorta, so he figured when she was ready, she would tell him, and he’d just wait until then. And continue thinking about it.

He couldn’t help himself though, leaning just a little bit closer while he stood up. “Okay. I want to see you naked.” he grinned, before quickly ducking off to grab some food. That would distract her from the fact that they were in a hospital, he thought.

Evan returned around ten minutes later, he had gotten a little too excited at the sight of all the food. He placed the near overflowing tray he carried onto the table, grinning at his girlfriend as he plonked himself back down. “Well, got a couple of cheeseburgers and some fries, got some fried rice, some salad that actually looks like salad, and some chocolate pudding. Help yourself. And, to wash it down, a couple of cokes, m’lady.”

[Brittany Barnes]

Brittany could see Evan's apprehension to the nudie run. As soon as she hadn't flat out said no, he didn't want her to do it anymore. She supposed she could see his point though...normally she would have flat out said no between the joking but she was in a bit of an adventurous mood at the moment, thanks to her near death and Aly getting shot...Zac being in critical condition.

"Yeah, camping always seemed like fun," Brit agreed, " do we should totally go sometime--perhaps Coachella would be the perfect time, then again that's not for awhile--maybe we could find a time to go before that," she suggested. "Me and Mal film you...yeah I dunno about that," she said. "I think leaving the camera out of the nudie run in general would be a good idea...." Although the more he talked about it...everyone staring at them...the less Brittany thought she could do it. Maybe she should let Evan see her naked before she started thinking about letting random people she didn't know do it....

"Tomorrow night it is!" she agreed about the paper mache. "We should do it at your house though--I don't know when Aly will be home and you know...it should be a surprise," she reasoned. "That and she didn't want her mom or Aly's dad seeing the creation. They could tell Aly after all and she wouldn't want that.

Another blush came over Brittany when Evan admitted to picking up on what she'd said and told her that he wanted to see her naked. But he did it right before he went to get food so she had 10 minutes to think it over. Was she nervous? Yes--that was a given. But so what...she was always going to be nervous the first time. If she waited until she wasn't nervous anymore...it would never happen...

Evan returned with the food and Brit smiled. "Thanks!" she said, not mentioning the naked comment, she started to dig in. As she started to eat, she realized just how hungry she was, devouring her burger first. "Man--actually having food makes me realize the fact that I didn't eat all day," she said, digging into the rest of her food.

As she started to feel full, she looked over at Evan and smiled. "Do you think there are any empty rooms around here we could duck into or is it too risky?" she asked. Either that or if tonight was bad for obvious reasons she could always suggest naked paper mache is Evan's mom wasn't going to be home...but she thought she'd save that idea for later.

[Evan Hughes]

“Sure, reckon we could get plenty of people up for that. Don’t need an excuse for stupid outdoorsy fun. And I think I’ve got some fireworks still somewhere in my room. Probably hidden under candy wrappers and clothes.” Brittany knew better than most that Evan wasn’t always the tidiest of people. Unless it came to his DVDs, which were all neatly organised, to the extent he could not only tell you what he had, but where exactly it was in his collection. He really, really loved movies. “And I’ll talk mum into feeding our babies. Maybe not live mice though, might freak her out. She denies it, but I reckon she’s warming up to them.” Who couldn’t though, snakes were awesome!

Evan stretched out his legs a little, playfully knocking Brittany’s under the table. “Good idea. Probably best not to film me streaking.” he said soberly. “I mean, after all, you and Mal will probably be too busy perving to focus on holding the camera, it wouldn’t be very good footage. Maybe we’ll hold off on the run.”

He had no idea how to actually make paper mache, after all, the last time he’d done it was when he was more interested in Power Rangers than in arts and craft. So, the internet would save the day again. He’d do a bit of research before they made Aly’s ‘present’. “Sure thing, I’m pretty sure Mum’s working tomorrow, so we’ll have the place to ourselves for the masterpiece. If I know Aly, and I think I do, very well, she’s going to love it. She’ll be very touched.” he decided, the smirk barely contained. The girl would come through fine, he was certain of it. But, getting shot was sure to be a downer, and he did kinda owe her for saving his girlfriend’s life possible, so, annoying her to get her mind off things was the least he could do. And maybe Aly wasn’t all that bad then.

Following her lead, Evan grabbed his own cheeseburger, practically inhaling it before moving onto fries dipped in chocolate pudding. Hospital cafeteria food was so much better than school cafeteria food, so he was taking advantage while he could. If he had stopped to think about Brit’s question, he may not have been as cool, calm and collected as he was, but, he just took it she was asking because she was still upset, wanted to be alone for a bit. Alone with him, at least. That was understandable. Her sister was shot and one of her closest friend’s was in critical condition.

“Too risky? Come on, it’s me you’re talking to here. See, you should have realised by now. There are many, many benefits to dating me, and one of them is my talent for sneaking into places maybe I shouldn’t be. Be easy to find a quiet place.” he promised, chugging down half a bottle of coke. “Think of it as a sort of spy mission.”