145 - The chapter with Rose's panic attack

Christian

Sky covered her mouth with her hands, and Theo pinched the bridge of his nose when he heard that. I couldn't believe they would stoop so low to hit her, but that's what they did. I entered the room, asking my friend for my cell phone in a silent way, he frowned but didn't deny.

" Wait a minute," he asked my mother-in-law, handing me the device.

" Addison…”

" Where is my daughter, Christian? " the furious tone in her voice made me surprised at how calmly Liam was dealing with the woman.

" Addison, tell me you didn't watch that video! " I took a deep breath.

" WHERE IS SHE? " she shouted in response, making me shut up.

I could imagine the despair they must be feeling at that moment, but what Rose needed least was more of that news.

" She's with us, but…”

" 'She's not answering her phone,” Jack's voice came on, making me remember my encounter with the man in a similar situation at the end of last year.

" I take her cell phone, look…”

" DID YOU TAKE MY DAUGHTER'S CELL PHONE, YOU SON OF A BITCH? " he shouted in response, causing my friends to give me worried looks.

"I had to do that so she wouldn't see the messages everyone was sending," I lowered my tone, trying to calm the man down.

" 'We're on our way, and I'm going to kill whoever did this,” he growled.

I took a deep breath, knowing that this time I would hardly be able to keep things from getting really bad.

" Jack, if she knows you watched that video, she'll be devastated," I tried to convince him like last time, but I regretted my words right away.

" What did you say? " I widened my eyes when I heard Rose's voice.

I turned to the door, feeling my heart racing as I found my girlfriend standing there, considerably pale.

" 'I want to talk to my daughter,” Addison was emphatic.

"I don't know if... ROSE!”

I saw the girl's legs fail me and rushed towards her, grabbing her waist and narrowly preventing her fall. Everyone in the room started moving, Liam grabbed the cell phone from my hand, while I picked her up, taking her to my bed, placing her there, tapping her face.

“Rose, wake up," I called as Liam left the room still talking to my in-laws.

" We don't know who did it " I heard Liam say.

"It wasn't me, they have to believe me," Rose began to sob as she came to.

I lowered my head and I could see that I wasn't the only one, each of the people in the room looked away, trying to disguise their own desire to cry.

Liam held out his cell phone to me again, taking my place next to Rose, I moved away from her, putting the phone back to my ear.

" Davis, are the others there? " Jack asked in an effort to keep his tone controlled.

" 'Yes.”

" Get away from her now,” he ordered.

I shifted my gaze between my friends, unsure of what to do, but decided to follow his instructions, leaving the room and heading downstairs.

" There you go.”

"Who did this? We want to know everything you know," Addison warned.

" I don't know, I can't even leave my cell phone on. I got the video in the middle of class " I took a deep breath " it seems they spread it all over campus, it's kind of viral.”

" Was it her? " jack growled.

" 'I don't know, I suspect it's her and the sorority girls I told you about the other time, and....”

" The other time? WHAT OTHER TIME? " Addison raised her voice

" Find out everything you can, keep my daughter away from any contact with the outside world, we're on the road, we'll be there in an hour tops," Jack instructed me before ending the call.

I sighed, wondering what that visit would mean in our current circumstance, but soon, I frowned as I saw Sky run down the stairs and head towards the kitchen while everyone seemed agitated upstairs.

" Rose, look at me, what are you feeling? " I heard Liam's voice, causing me to hurry.

I went up the steps in twos, finding Rose curled up on the floor leaning against a wall in the middle of the hallway. Liam was next to Theo, looking lost while Cam was kneeling next to her, trying to help her breathe, since she was clearly having trouble with that task.

" My... chest... hurts " she cried.

" What does that mean? " Theo looked like she was about to panic.

"Rose, look at me, Sky's gone to get some water," Cam called to her, "you're fine but you need to calm down, have you ever felt like this before?"

" Great, the nearest hospital is in Waterfall, at least half an hour from here! " Theo warned Liam.

" There must be a clinic in Grayfox Mills " Sky said, walking up the stairs with a bottle of water.

"Guys, not for nothing, but I don't think everyone being on top of her is going to help her breathe any better " Cam scolded, making everyone move away " you've been here longer, do you know any place?".

"All the times I've needed it I've just used the campus clinic, but I don't think it's a good idea to take her there." Theo shook his head.

"You think it's not a good idea to take her to the place where everyone thinks she's a porn actress? " Liam rolled his eyes.

Everyone seemed lost in that situation, talking at the same time not knowing what to do while my girlfriend was agonizing on the floor.

" What the hell are you doing? " I muttered, recovering my reasoning that seemed to have been momentarily lost with the situation, approaching her, taking her on my lap " Rose, look at me!”

" Chris! " She whimpered as I moved, heading towards the bedroom

" We'll get you help, okay. But you need to stay calm. I'm going to put you to bed and find a doctor to see you, okay?" I said slowly.

Cam followed me, sitting next to her on the bed while I walked away, thinking about how to find someone to attend to her at that moment. That's when one person came to my mind, an unlikely person, but for her sake, I had to try.

" Stay with her " I asked Cam.

I turned on Rose's cell phone, ignoring the notifications that jumped on the screen, searching for the number I needed, then calling.

" Rose? " Joshua's voice sounded uncertain, after all it had been two months since they last talked, but I didn't care.

" It's actually Davis…”

" 'Davis…” he sounded even more confused, “why are you calling me?”

I took a deep breath, walking down the stairs, feeling a little disconcerted to be talking to him, but he was the only person off campus I had the number of at the moment.

" 'I suppose you know this area better than I do, Rose isn't well and I need to get her to a doctor, but it can't be the campus doctor,” I took a deep breath.

" What's wrong with her? Why can't it be the campus doctor? Is she hurt?" he seemed alert to the possibility.

" NO! I think it's a panic attack and..." I tried to organize my explanation. " Can you help me? I promise to explain everything later, but right now I need your help. “

" Are you still living on campus? I can take someone to see her," he suggested.

" 'We moved, I'll give you the address,” I said.

" 'Davis, I advised her to come back with you and sort things out, but if she's hurt in any way,” he threatened me.

Great, all I needed at that moment. Someone suspecting me of assaulting her!

" She's physically fine, I would never do anything to her," I growled in response, "and I wouldn't resort to the guy who fucked my girl if that was the case. I want the best for her!”

"Send me the address, I'll be there in a few minutes," Joshua sounded convinced by that.

I ended the call, texting him the address before leaning on the balcony railing, lowering my head, feeling the weight of everything that was happening on my shoulders.

Deep down I felt like a coward, because I knew I needed to go back there and calm her down, but I didn't want to go back to that room. I didn't want to see her so vulnerable. And when her parents arrived....

"Dude, are you okay? " Theo's voice caught my attention.

"No. She's falling apart and I don't know what to do, when in the end, I just want to fall out with her and I know I can't,” I admitted, turning my face to face him.

Theo came closer, leaning next to me on the guardrail, watching the street.

"You were exposed in that video too, Christian. It can't be easy,” he commented.

" I got someone to see it. I called the tattoo artist she went out with, he... he's bringing someone," I decided to change the subject.

" The tattoo artist? " Theo was surprised.

" The only person outside of this mess that I knew here " I justified myself " I gave him the address, he said he knows a doctor at a clinic and he's bringing him here. Addison and Jack are on their way. I don't even want to see the pandemonium that will come with the two of them.”

" How did things get to this point? Everything seemed so calm, even the girls seemed at peace, I didn't see any sign of any of them trying to get close after Liam's party, maybe Savannah, but nothing that could indicate anything " Theo sighed.

" Alicia stopped trying to talk to me since I asked her to leave me out of this crazy competition between them. I wonder if that made her focus on Rose for good," I commented.

"Maybe it was my fault," Liam's voice sounded from the doorway.

I couldn't remember ever seeing my friend as crestfallen as he was at that moment, and for a second, his appearance startled me.

"Your fault? " Theo frowned " why did you come down?”

" The Cutie thought it best to give Rose more space. She's trying to calm her down," he explained, moving closer, "A few weeks ago I had a... discussion with Audrey... a big one. She said I was going to regret the things I said to her.”

" What discussion? " Sky surprised us.

We watched her standing by the open door, looking suspicious of the tenor of the conversation.

" The day I got my license, she showed up here, she was very upset and not very sober. She told me she was in love with me and I never valued her, not like I value the girls and a few other things " Liam tried to deflect.

" What other things? Why didn't I know that? " Sky stared at him.

" Is it really important for you to know? " Liam returned.

Theo and I exchanged an uncomfortable glance at Liam's answer to Sky, and as much as I was curious to know the content of that discussion and why he was so sure to say that was the reason, we chose to remain silent.

" Let me think for a second, I just found out that everything that happened to my best friend was because of a supposed argument my boyfriend had with his ex and I had no idea it had happened, so what do you think?". " she crossed her arms facing him with a serious expression.

" Sky, you're overreacting " Liam sighed.

" 'Bad choice of words, man,” Theo grimaced.

"I want to know how it happened too, but now I'm going to see Rose, we'll talk about it later," I warned, deciding to give the two a little privacy, followed by Theo.

We left the couple behind, passing by Sky who kept her arms crossed, not looking away from her boyfriend.

" 'I wouldn't want to be in his shoes,” Theo commented.

" 'I'm going upstairs, let me know if the tattoo artist arrives,' I sighed, heading for the stairs.