It's a Love Story, Baby Just Say...

Stephen POV

Officers began to crowd around me and all the guys. We were just sitting, staring at the puddle.

"Sir, we need you to move so we can get to the girls." I stood like a zombie, walked 25 feet back, and sat down again. I don't think that's what the officer wanted but I don't give a fuck.

Slowly one by one the guys followed my lead and watched the fire fighters pull back wood. The puddle was getting bigger. Like, the more the wood wasn't blocking flow the more that flew through.

And then blonde hair appeared.

"Taylor!" I yelled running over to the now showing body of her. I knelt down next to her as the fire fighters pulled the wood back faster next to her.

"Taylor?" I whispered pushing back the blood soaked hair off her forehead. There werescratches across her face and down her neck.

"We found the second one!" someone shouted. The others sprinted to my left. I looked over and saw the same thing as what was in front of me. Except it was Ricky not Taylor.

"Ricky, Raquel, sissy please wake up!" Drake cried pushing the hair off her face.

"Excuse us but can you all please move aside. We need to get them to the hospital as soon as possible." a group of paramedics said. I looked at Taylor's still body then Ricky’s.

"Are they alive?" Sam asked standing face to face with them.

"Yes. Barely. Please move." Sam did and I moved so they could get to Taylor. She was so limp, and bloody.

"I love you." I said, kissing her hand before they took her away.

Marc POV

"Sir, can you please move. We need to reach Raquel." I moved and watched, as the lifted a very bloody and Raquel onto the stretcher and rushed away.

"C'mon, we're going to follow the ambulance." Sam said clapping my shoulder and pulling me with him to the parking lot where Stephen and Drake already were walking towards.

"They're gonna be alright." he said. I nodded.

'They're gonna be alright.' was what I repeated to myself the whole way there.

Taylor POV

When I opened my eyes I tried to remember what happened. There was the earthquake, black, and now blinding lights. Beeping noises, and then a person talking.

"Taylor? Taylor, can you hear me?" A woman's voice asked from above.

"Yes." I said, but it didn't sound like me. My mouth was dry, my throat hurt, and it was all scratchy.

"Do you know where you are?" she asked.

"Hospital?" I guessed.

"Yes, good. Now, are you in any pain?" I hadn't realized it until she mentioned it.

"Yes." I croaked out. My legs hurt, like someone was bending them the wrong way, my whole upper body was burning. Uncomfortable and itchy almost. Mostly my face and neck though, as if someone had raked over it.

"Okay, we are going to give you some medication and let you rest. Then when you wake up we are going to ask you some questions, alright." I nodded. And like that, the blinding light was gone and I saw the white hospital room I was in. The woman was a young nurse, maybe late 20's, red hair and a little plump.

"Excuse me?" she looked over at me.

"Yes?"

"Do you know how my friend is doing? Raquel?" the nurse nodded.

"Yes, she is in the room next to yours. I believe she will be transferred in here." she injected medication into my IV and moments later a heavy drowsiness over took me.

Stephen POV

I sat in the hospital room next to Taylor for the whole day after the incident. They said she had been so severely injured internally from
the immense blood loss that she would be kept asleep until they felt it was safe to let her wake up. Marc was in the other room with Raquel. Drake was too and Sam would go between rooms every 6 hours or so.

The next day the nurse said I should go home and get cleaned up because Taylor wouldn't wake up.

But she did, and I wasn't there when her eyes open. Just the nurse. So now, I never left the bedside. Never took my eyes off her.

"She should be waking up soon." the nurse said coming in to check Tay's monitors.

"I'll be here." I muttered, squeezing Taylor's hand. There were at least 30 different scratches on her face and neck. Long, red, raised scratches. The doctor suspects it's from the counters broken edges, that it had scratched when it fallen on them. Ricky had the same thing. The doctor, Dr. Lita, said they covered their entire bodies. He suspects that the amount of pressure put on their bodies also caused them to be susceptible to painful body aches for the next 6 months.

The nurse left again and I stood up.

"Taylor, I don't think you can hear me, but I am gonna say it anyways. I love you. I've loved you ever since you called me a spoiled douche bag sophomore year. I love the way you will have a conversation with your reflection in the bathroom when you think I'm asleep, I love that you sing even after I tell you that your voice is terrible, I love your voice actually. I love that you try so hard to make my friends your friends. Sam absolutely adores you. You and Ricky both. Ricky loves you too. When I was talking to her a few days ago before all this, she said you were already like sisters. And don't worry about Drake and Marc not liking you, because they do. And I know I’ve told you this before, it just takes Drake a while to warm up to people. I love you Taylor Anne Lock, and I want to marry you." I kissed her forehead and hugged her still body.

"You should tell her that, when she's awake." Sam said, leaning on the
door frame.

"Maybe in a few months, or more. It might freak her out if I said I loved her, after a week and a half." Sam pushed off the frame and sat down in a chair.

"Why would it freak her out? As cheesy as it sounds, you two were made for each other. Taylor definitely returns the feelings bro." I stared at Taylor. I just wish she's open her eyes. I missed seeing the ice blue eyes that used to glare at me, but now laugh and smile with me.

"She's supposed to wake up soon. The nurse said so." Sam nodded.

"Ricky just woke up. Drake kicked me and Marc out for the time being. I'm sure Marc's already gone back in, so I came in here. Listened to
you spill your little sparkly feelings and now here we are."

"They aren't sparkly." He rolled his eyes. It was still strange to me, seeing his eyes. Sam got a haircut this morning so you could actually see his face!

"Stephen." Taylor whispered, her eyes slowly opening.

"Taylor." I breathed in relief. She smiled halfway then stopped.

"It hurts to smile." she mumbled looking down at our hands.

"What's today?" she asked.

"The 6th. 8:40 at night." Tay groaned and looked around me.

"Hey babe." She said and waved. Again halfway, at him.

"Hey love, how are you?" he asked walking over to the other side of
her bed and hugged her gently.

"Just peachy." she said sarcastically. I smiled and pushed Sam away
jokingly.

"She's my girlfriend, not yours." I hugged her again and Sam huffed.

"Whatever. Ricky's awake." he said to Taylor.

"So she is alright??" He nodded and she sighed in relief.

"Thank God..." she looked around her and then up at me.

"Stephen?"

"Hmm?"

"Why don't I have food around me?" I smiled and kissed her forehead.

"What do you want?" she thought for a second.

"A subway sandwich. Foot long, Italian bread, turkey, American
cheese, mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, lettuce and a bag of lays. Then a
36 oz water, and finally two Hershey bars for good measure." My eyes
were a teensy bit wide. So were Sam's.

"See, when Ricky woke up, she demanded a brownie. You're demanding two
whole meals." Sam said laughing. Taylor frowned.

"I've missed 6 meals Rainbow. I think two meals is reasonable." she
said crossing her arms, wincing.

"Well Skidget, I think you should stop moving. And Stephen, I believe
you have some food to get." he said looking at me. I frowned.

"Why don't you go get it?" I asked.

"Someone's gotta stay with Taylor." he said. Smart ass. There was no
point in arguing either.

"Fine." I surrendered. Taylor grinned and began humming.

"I'll be back soon." and I kissed her lips briefly before I left.

Before I took off though I went into Ricky’s room.

“Hey!” she greeted when I walked in the door. Marc and Drake turned to face me.

“Can I talk to you two outside?” I asked them. They both hesitantly stood up and followed me out.

“Is everything okay?” Marc asked. I ran my hands through my hair.

“No, everything is not okay. Are you two aware that my girlfriend thinks you two hate her?” I accused. They both just kind of stared at me.

“Hate?” Marc spoke up. I nodded.

“Yes, so both of you are going to take turns and you are going to talk to her. Ask her how she is feeling, and make sure she knows that you two do care about her. Do you understand me?” I made sure my voice was authoritive. Not to frighten them or anything, but so they knew that I was serious and that they are going to do this.

“O-okay.” Drake said looking towards Tay’s room.

“Alright, I’ll go tell Ricky I’m going to talk to Taylor.” Marc said before slipping back into Ricky’s room. Drake looked back at me and I just stared at him.

“Sorry. I mean I just kinda forgot that this is happening to you too. And I’m sorry that your girlfriend feels that way. I’ll talk to her.” He hugged me and went back into the room before I could reply, so I walked out to my car and drove to Subway.

Taylor POV

A few minutes after Steph left the same nurse came in to check on me.

“Good evening, dear.” She greeted.

“Hey.” I said my voice still raspy. Sam sat down on the bed next to me and started humming.

“Alright now I’m going to ask you the questions okay?” I nodded and waited. She looked down at her clipboard.

“Name?”

“Taylor Anne Lock.”

“Age?”

“16.”

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“I was crushed by a counter in an earthquake.”

“What year is this?”

“2009.”

“Who is the president?”

“Obama!” the nurse laughed and so did Sam.

“Who are you dating?”

“Stephen Kole.”

“Do you have any family?”

“My sister Kylee.”

“Parents?” she asked.

“My dad died 2 years ago, I no longer talk to my mother.” The nurse gave me a sympathetic look.

“Alright, you are fine. You will be able to go home tomorrow afternoon.” I nodded and looked at the door when it opened. Surprisingly, Marc walked in.

“Hey Taylor.” He said shyly and sat down.

“Hi.” The nurse took this as her cue to leave.

“I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Don’t stress out, it’s not good for you.” And with that she left.

“Uhm, I think I’m gonna go back into Ricky’s room.” Sam said and left the room, but not before giving Marc a warning glance.

“So, how are you?” he asked me.

“I’ve been better. The scratches feel like my face is on fire, but it could be worse. How about yourself?”

“Stressed. Sometimes Raquel can be so infuriating. She says fine but who would be ‘fine’ after having a building fall on them? I mean. I know the building fell on you too, but at least you said something hurts!” I smiled.

“I know that you’ve known Ricky much longer than I have, but we are very similar people. We put others before ourselves. It puts us in more pain to see people we love in pain, rather than ourselves. Did you know that I’ve learned how to block out pain?” Marc looked at me like I was crazy.

“Really?” he asked sarcastically and laughed. A real laugh, with me.

“Yeah! All you do is imagine it as something else. So right now, instead of my face burning it just feels like I have a…warm heat in front of my face and I downplay it. But as soon as I think of the actual pain, it’s hard to get control of it.” Marc just stared at me.

“Are you serious?” I nodded.

“Ya, I know that’s a really crappy explanation but that’s the only way I can think of it. You really only understand if you can do it. Sometimes it’s difficult though because you have to teach yourself.” Another nod.

“Alright, whatever you say. I just think the pain medication is making you feel a little better.” I sighed.

“Whatever, when I get hurt again you’ll see.”

“Okay. So, how do you like San Diego?”

“I like it here. Much better than stupid Murrieta. It’s better to have a small group of true friends rather than have the whole God damn school know who you are and always get in your shit.” Marc laughed and stood up.

“Mind if I…?” He pointed to the empty space on the bed.

“No, go ahead.” I scooted over a little bit and let Marc lay next to me.

“This is so uncomfortable, how can even sleep on this?” he’s right, this hospital bed was like sleeping on a tile floor. My back was killing me.

“I block out pain, remember??” Marc rolled his eyes.

“I’m gonna call you toughie. Because apparently you feel no pain.” I laughed.

“Alright. You can call me that. So tell me about Soccer? What do you all do?”

Marc and I talked for another hour and a half. Stephen came in when we were talking and handed me my food then left again with a big smile on his face. He is so strange…