After Hours ➳ Dinah Jane

nineteen

I walked into Dinah's room to see the inevitable. My girlfriend was laying in the bed, hooked up to so many tubes and wires. As I got closer, I saw the fragile and pale Polynesian who was sleeping soundly with her mouth slightly parted. With each breath she took, one machine beeped and another machine made a slight compression sound.

I put my hand on top of hers and it accidentally woke her up. Her head turned to me and a smile instantly formed on her pretty face. I couldn't help but notice the deep, dark circles under her eyes. It's like they've drugged her to sleep so much that she's become accustomed to the drowsiness.

"Baby." Dinah yawned, gripping my hand.

"Hey soldier." I smiled, leaning in to give her a kiss on her pale pink lips.

"Mm. Took you long enough to get in here." She joked, but the back of her throat was so gravely that I could tell she still felt horrible. "I thought you went back to Seattle without me."

"We still have two weeks in this hell hole I call Santa Ana and I definitely will not leave you here." I joked back.

But the joking didn't last long. My eyes journeyed over the fit girl in the bed and I couldn't keep my feelings at bay. The fact that she was even in the hospital bed put the worst thoughts inside of my head.

A tear dripped down my face quickly which made Dinah shoot me a worried expression, "Baby, what's wrong?"

I shook my head in defiance and kept my mouth shut. I reached up to my cheek to quickly wipe off the angry tears that were starting to stream down my face. I wasn't mad at her, I was mad at myself for letting all of this happen.

"C'mon. Please talk to me." Dinah begged, rubbing her thumb over the top of my hand.

I sniffled and looked away towards the machine that was monitoring her heartbeat. The patterned lines kept me at ease. "I just feel bad, D. I didn't realize you were in this much pain. God, how stupid can I be? You could've died."

"Hey, stop." Dinah begged me softly. "This isn't your fault, okay? It's mine. Stop making yourself feel bad. We are okay."

"No we aren't, Dinah. Do you see yourself? You're in a hospital bed and you look sick." I bit at her. "You are anything but 'okay'."

"The doctor did say that I'm a Mira-"

"Stop it, Dinah." I frowned. "You want me to feel content about this but I can't. I told you to get help and you didn't do it."

"You know how I am, Y/N." Dinah exclaimed in a defensive tone. "I just thought it was because of the weather there. I didn't know."

I chewed on my bottom lip and stared down at her. In a way, I didn't believe her. She seemed as though she was trying to go around the topic.

"What?" She asked calmly, still seeing my confused and worried expression.

"Was this because of us?" I blurted out.

Maybe her Mom was right.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, was our relationship too much for you? You obviously did everything you could to make sure nobody knew about us whether it was here or Seattle." I sadly admitted, pulling my hand away to sit down in the chair beside her bed and talk to her. "Was it me?"

"No of course not." Dinah responded. "I mean, there was a little stress here and there but-"

"There was?"

"I mean, yeah." Dinah laughed like it wasn't a big deal. "Keeping a secret like this from everyone you know is really hard. I don't even know how I made it this far."

It kind of hurt me when she said that. I know Dinah doesn't really think before she speaks but this was something she really should've put into perspective before telling me.

"I see." I frowned to myself as the room got so quiet that I could feel the awkwardness set around me. "Then maybe your Mom was right, D." I don't know why I said it, but I was hurt and I knew I couldn't take it back.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your Mom thinks it's best if we part ways." I stared down at my hands in my lap, trying my best to not look up at the broken woman in the bed. "She thinks I caused 'this' and doesn't want me around."

I could feel Dinah's eyes bore into my person, "Is that what you want?"

I shook my head and looked up to meet her pouting brown eyes. I could see the blatant worry written all over her face. "No, that's never what I've wanted, but maybe she's right. Maybe I am just some stupid kid you got involved with at the wrong time."

Not only was she emotional at this point, but the absolute exhaustion was obvious. "Baby, please. Don't listen to her."

I didn't want to. I didn't want to think that Milika was right. Not after all she put Dinah through her whole life. Making her own daughter feel uncomfortable in her own skin because of who she loved. I didn't want her to get away with any of this.

But she did make a point. Dinah even admitted this relationship stressed her out.

I didn't want to hide. Not in a million years would I want to hide who I'm in love with. I mean, I understood that we had to be lowkey about our relationship in the beginning, but now it seems so excessive and unnecessary. I want to be honest because once you start one lie it never stops. And if this hiding was partial to the stress she was feeling, then maybe I would have to admit that Milika was onto something.

I brushed my fingers through my hair and shrugged, "I don't really think I have a choice at this point, D. The way your Mom is talking, I don't think she'll let me be around you anymore."

Dinah was speechless. It was like she knew exactly what came next but neither of us wanted to say it.

I stood up on my feet and leaned close to the bed to give Dinah a kiss on her cheek, "Goodbye, Dinah Jane."

I turned on the heel of my sneakers and began slowly walking out of the room. Dinah exclaimed, "Baby girl, please. Come back." But I couldn't. I had to leave or else I'd never get out of there. I just wanted to pretend like none of this happened. "Y/N, please!" She yelled out once more, but I was already out the door, hurrying to get to Lauren so that I could make a quick exit out of her life.

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a/n:

I know this sounds like the end but it's not. In fact, it's just the beginning. This story may be jam packed with drama but I think you all will be happy with the ending ;)

- agf