The Bodyguard

JONATHAN

We arrived at the same apartment I moved out of a few days ago. My buddy Mason loved to throw a party at least once a month at his place.

It was only 9 p.m., but the place was already packed with people, like always.

Rosalie had on another white dress—more fitted and showing off her figure, but not too much. She had asked me earlier what she should wear, and I told her to wear whatever she felt comfortable with.

Her style was growing on me. I found that it matched her personality quite well. Also, I didn’t want her to wear a crop top and short skirt or other revealing clothes just because that was what most girls wore to parties.

I introduced her to two of my close friends, Mason and Peter. They each took turns shaking her hands while shooting me an odd look like I had done something out of the norm.

All three of us had gone to the same university together, where we majored in the same field—business administration and management. However, we already knew each other before that since our fathers moved in the same circles.

Both Mason and Peter were single and liked to fool around without any thought of settling down with anyone serious.

Mason, who stood next to me, commented near my ear while Peter was having a conversation with Rosalie, “Not the type that you would usually bring. Did your tastes change?”

“Shut up, dude. She’s just a friend and my tastes haven’t changed,” I said agitatedly while Rosalie laughed at something Peter said. She had been shy at first, but after some small talk, she seemed to loosen up.

“Well, looks like Peter is taken with her. I know that look on his face,” Mason continued, as if I couldn’t see his observations for myself.

“I can understand why, though. She’s like a breath of fresh air—different from all the girls here. It’s almost sinful to even think about doing anything else with her besides talking.”

“Anyone ever told you that you talk too damn much?” My voice dripped with irritation. “And stop talking about her like that.”

He was right, though. She did carry with her this innocence that glowed like a halo around her silhouette.

“Woah.” Mason put his hands up in surrender. “Did I just touch a sore spot?”

He smirked at me like he knew something I didn’t, but I didn’t pay him any mind as I kept on watching the scene in front of me.

Rosalie seemed to get along well with Peter. She had a smile on her face as she talked to him, while he did too. Then something Peter said made her signature pout appear.

I smiled to myself. There’s the pout I know.

As I studied them, I noticed Rosalie’s facial expressions changing from laughing, to smiling, to frowning, to pouting, to being surprised, to laughing again. All that happened within fifteen minutes.

I could watch her all day. She was so damn animated. It was so easy to know her mood—she couldn’t hide it even if she wanted to.

“Like what you see?” Mason remarked, still wearing a smirk on his annoying lips.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be or some girl to fuck?” I said with annoyance. His remark and presence had wiped the smile off my face.

Why the hell is he still here bugging me?

“Tsk tsk. Is this how you talk to Rosalie?” he drawled as he put his arm on my shoulder, unaffected by my grumpy mood.

“You need some mouthwash if you want to have any chance with a girl like her. She needs a good guy, and you, my friend, are not him.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I glared at him like he was pulling things out of his ass.

“Dense and clueless,” he continued in his stupid knowing voice while shaking his head. He was starting to get on my damn nerves.

“Are you high?” It was my only response to his idiotic statements.

He ignored me and pointed with his hazel eyes. “Woah. I think Peter is putting the moves on your girl.”

My head immediately snapped in their direction, and I saw Peter putting his hand on her lower back as he guided her toward the kitchen.

I took a step forward, intending to follow them, but a hand on my arm stopped me. I turned to see a pretty face I didn’t recognize.

Like most of the girls here, she had on a thick layer of makeup and a tight-fitting dress that left little to the imagination.

She waited for some recognition and whined when I continued to stare at her blankly. “Jonathan, it’s me. Katie.”

My brain still couldn’t recall her face or her name.

“Last week we met at a party, and you said you’d call but never did,” she reminded me.

As I was about to make an excuse to get away and go look for Rosalie, my phone vibrated in my pants pocket.

“Excuse me,” I said as I took out my phone and exited the room so I could hear better.

Once outside the door, I hit the accept button. “Jonathan here.”

“Jonathan. An ambulance just took your mom to the hospital,” my mom’s housekeeper said urgently.

“I found her overdosed on sleeping pills in her room just a little bit ago. I tried calling your father, but he didn’t pick up.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Ward. Do you know which hospital they’re taking her to?”

“Sorry. I didn’t think to ask, but I’m assuming the one closest to us.”

“Okay. Thank you. I’m gonna go and check on her right now. Keep calling my father for me, will you?”

With that, I hung up and went back into the apartment. I didn’t see Rosalie or Peter, so I went to Mason, who was talking to a different girl.

“Hey, could you or Peter take Rosalie home for me? I have an emergency. Please make sure you take her home personally and not your driver or a cab. And make sure she’s in the apartment safely before you leave.”

Without waiting for an answer, I ran out of the apartment.

I drove to the nearest hospital, parked my car, and entered the emergency room. I went up to the nurse behind the front desk and asked, “Hi. Did you guys just admit someone under the name Summer Jones?”

“Let me check.” The nurse smiled and typed something on her keyboard. Her dark brown eyes moved from one side to the other as she read what was on the screen.

My drumming heart started to get back to normal while I waited.

“Yes, we did,” she said. “The doctors are working on her right now. Why don’t you sit in the waiting room and we’ll get you once they’re done.”

“Okay. Thank you.” I found the waiting area and sat in one of the available chairs. There were a few people scattered around, waiting for news like me.

I took out my phone to see if I had somehow missed a call from my dad, but there was nothing. And my phone was about to die with only 5 percent battery life left.

I sighed and put it away. I leaned my head back against the wall as I thought about what Mrs. Ward had just told me.

Mom, please be okay. If anything happens to you, I’m not going to forgive Dad for this.

I waited for over two hours. Every time a doctor came in, I would stand up thinking it was my mom’s doctor, but it wasn’t. Finally, one came in and asked, “Anyone here for Summer Jones?”

“Yes. I am.” I immediately stood up and he walked over to me.

“Hi. I’m Dr. Nguyen,” he said as he put his hand out for me to shake. “We just performed a gastric lavage procedure on her. This just means that we pumped her stomach to get the medications out of her system.”

“How is she?”

“She’s fine. If she had been brought in a few hours later after the medications had been absorbed into her bloodstream, that would’ve been a lot more serious.

“She’s sleeping right now so you can go in and see her. We’ll have to keep her overnight to see how she does in the morning before we can discharge her.”

I thanked him as he showed me to her room. I sat in the chair next to her bed and watched her sleep. Even in her slumber, sorrow was etched in her features.

I held one of her hands and talked to her, even though I knew she wasn’t listening.

“Mom, why did you do it?” I whispered. “Did you do it to get Dad’s attention or did you do it because it hurts too much? If it hurts too much, just sign the papers and let it go. You still have me.”

I sat with her for half an hour and then got up to grab a pillow and blanket from the closet across from her bed. I lay down on the hard, unyielding pull-out couch with my arm between my head and pillow.

I looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost one in the morning. My thoughts drifted to Rosalie and whether or not she got back okay before sleep took me.