She Is Love

"Come on, D, it wasn't that bad," Rhys hustled behind me as I power-walked back to the hospital in my very wet attire.

I snorted. "They spent most of dinner feeling sorry for me, Rhys. And then, when we finally got comfortable around each other, Tyler spills his drink on me! Trust me, it was that bad," I said, not caring that she was barely keeping up.

Up ahead I saw the hospital. I let out an internal sigh of relief when I realized that this was the end. I heard Rhys sigh as she kept trying to catch up. I would bet anything that she was thinking of ways to get me to go out again. Maybe not with those people, but just out.

"But Doe," she said, grabbing my arm before I walked through the doors ," you can't tell me that in those few moments when everyone forget about the fact that you have a fiance in a coma, you didn't have fun." I winced at the word fiance. "Because I saw it on your face, Doe! Admit it, you had fun."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll admit, I had fun. But that changed when he spilt his drink on me! His drink! And that one guy kept looking at me," I tried.

She scoffed. "Max? Why didn't you just ignore him. That's what everyone else does."

"He was staring at me the whole time, Rhys. That's kind of hard to ignore."

She shrugged. "But didn't you have a good time? Despite the pity, despite the spill, and despite the perving?"

I sighed. "Yeah."

She smiled. "Then what's holding you back from meeting new people?"

Your brother, I thought.
_____________________________

I sat beside Eli's bed the next day, reading some crappy magazine and watching some crappy day time TV. This, sadly, was as exciting as my days got. Some days Rhys would come and hang out for a few hours, or one of Eli's nurses would come and talk to me, but usually, this is what I did.

I sighed as I read about Lohan getting put back and jail. After a few words, I threw the magazine onto the chair next to me. I flicked through the channels, hoping that something would catch my eye. When nothing did, I turned it off. Then, I turned to him.

I felt my heart clench as I watched him lay there peacefully. I remember when I first saw him like this, I thought that he was sleeping because he was just that calm. He didn't look like he was in any pain. My stomach sank when the doctors told me that he was not sleep, but in a coma.

I played with the ring on my finger, going back to the day that he had proposed to me.

"Baby," I whined," I can't see." Eli had blindfolded me.

He laughed. "No shit. That's the point."

I pouted as he pushed me farther along. After throwing me in the car, we had got out and started to walk. We had been walking for about five minutes now. The heels I chose started to bruise my feet. A few moments later, after I tried to get him to take off the blindfold and him denying me, we stopped. "Okay, we're here."

"Where's here?"

He didn't answer. I felt him move away from me for a moment before he was back. The blindfold loosened and I pulled it away from my eyes. I left out a breath of air when I saw that he had brought me to the park where we first met. I gazed at the sparkling trees, lit with lights.

Soft music was playing from the stereo sitting on the ground a few feet away. I listened closely, laughing when I realized that it was the song we danced to at one of our friends wedding. That was the first time we said I love you.

I looked down as Eli bent to one knee. I heard someone sigh behind me, turning a little to see that it was Rhys with a goofy smile on her face. She just giggled and turned me back around as he started to speak. "Baby, I love you. When I first saw you, I just knew that one day, we would be here. I knew that one day, I would be taking that second to last step at making you mine forever. I'm not good at this romantic stuff, and I'm losing my nerve. So, before I lose the courage, will you marry m-"

I jumped on him, knocking him to the ground. The rest of the question was swept away in the wind as I kissed him. Rhys giggled in the background, probably texting everyone she knew. I pulled out of the kiss. "Of course I'll marry you. What kind of question is that?" I whispered.
He smiled as I brought my lips back to his.

I sadly smiled as I then thought back to a few hours after that, when we had gone home.

We laid in the bed, sweaty and out of breath. Eli chuckled as he rolled onto his side and wrapped an arm around me. "I.Can't.Believe.That.You.Said.Yes," he said, punctuating each word with a kiss.

I giggled. "Of course I said yes."

We cuddled a few more moments before I spoke again. "Hey, what's the last step to making
me yours forever?" I asked, not really knowing. The answer was hiding in the fog of sleep.

He kissed my ear. "Marrying you," he whispered in it.