What About Us?

I had never been in an ambulance before a car jumped a red light and crashed into the passenger side of Danielle's car. Even though there was nothing majorly wrong with me, they still felt the need for an ambulance. "I still don't know they needed to call an ambulance." I said to the bloke who was stitching my forehead up where a large gash kept bleeding.

"Let's go with you had a car crash and you've spilt your forehead open and have broken your arm." He replied, sending me a smile. I laughed, wincing as the burning in my forehead increased. "Sorry but we are finished here now."

"The other two?" I said, sitting back against the bed. "How are they?"

"They are fine, a little bruising but not as bad as you." He told me. "They followed you here in a police car. They are outside if you wanna see them."

"Please." I replied, smiling. He walked out and both Danielle and Gabby walked in, looking shaken. "Hi, how are you two?" I asked.

"Us? Don't worry about us." Danielle said, sitting on the chair next to my bed. I could see bruising around her neck, where her seatbelt would be. I looked over at Gabby, the same thing around her neck. "Look at your forehead."

"Battle scar." I replied, winking at her. "Anyway, I feel fine. I've been pumped with some beautiful drugs to ease the pain of this." I waved my cast covered hand around. "And I looked hard now, I could join a mob."

"You really have been drugged." Gabby laughed.

"Everyone is on their way." Danielle said. "I called Kevin from the police car. He called everyone else and they are on their way."

"Even Joe?" I asked. They nodded their head. "Doctor said they want to keep me over night, just because of this." I pointed to head. "They want to make sure there is no sign of concussion."

"Shit." Gabby swore. I smiled at her. "You seem fine though."

"I am, it's a just in case matter. Looks like I won't be getting on that flight tomorrow then." I replied, making them laugh.

"I can't believe we have been in a car crash and you are just joking about your flight tomorrow." Danielle rolled her eyes.

"There is nothing majorly wrong with me. I've got a broken arm and a cut across my forehead." I said. "Now pass me my bag, I should ring my mum." Danielle passed me my bag, which I had managed to pull out of the car with me. I pulled my phone out of my bag to see 6 missed calls all from my mum. I rang her back, waiting for her to pick up the phone.

"Are you okay? My mum almost shouted at me down the phone. "Denise rang me, you've been in a car crash."

"Mum." I said, trying to call her down. "I'm fine. I've got a broken arm and cut my head, which they had to sew up, but apart from that, I'm fine."

"You don't know how worried me and your dad have been. Denise knew nothing, they wouldn't tell me when I rung the hospital and you wouldn't answer."

"Really mum, I'm fine. A little tired, but I think that is the painkillers working."

"I don't want you on that flight tomorrow, Aleah. I want you to get better before you fly home. Denise said you can stay there."

"Okay mum." I rolled my eyes, sighing. The quicker I can get better, the quicker I can leave.

"I'll talk to you soon, get well. Your father sends his love." Mum said.

"Okay. Bye." I hung up, throwing my phone on the side table that I had in my room. "Denise had already told her."

"Speaking of Denise," Danielle said. "I think I can hear Kevin."

"Your Kevin instincts are tingling." Gabby said, making us laugh. Kevin burst through the door, everyone apart from Joe. I looked around to see if i could see Joe, but he wasn't here. Kevin pulled Dani from her chair, checking her over. Nick was asking Gabby if she was okay, whilst Denise and Paul looked at me.

"Look at your head." She said, peering at my forehead. "Does it hurt?"

"I'm pumped with wonderful drugs so nothing hurts at the moment." I smiled at the both of them.

"Jesus Al." Nick said, turning to me. "What happened to you?"

"Broken arm and a patchwork forehead." I laughed. "The car hit my side of the car, causing me the most damage. Whereas these two got away with bruises." I pointed at them. They all laughed.

"What did the doctor say?" Paul asked.

"I have to stay overnight. They want to make sure I don't have concussion."

"And you two?" He asked, looking at Danielle and Gabby.

"We can go home. We just have bruising." Paul nodded his head. "We have spoken to your mum."

"Yeah, I've spoken to her as well. She doesn't want me flying home for a few days yet." I told them. I could feel my eyes getting heavier and heavier. I let out a large yawn, making everyone look at me.

"Do you want us to go?" Denise asked, sitting on the end of my bed. I shook my head.

"You can stay longer if you want. Don't worry about it. If I fall asleep, then you can go." I replied.

"So what happened?" Kevin asked. Danielle was perched on his lap, his arms wrapped around her waist. I laid back, letting them tell the story.

"We got stopped at lights and as they went green, some idiot jumped the lights on his side and he hit the passenger side of the car. Gabby was sitting behind me, so it was just Allie who got the force of it. He wasn't going fast enough to seriously hurt her. We called the police and an ambulance for Allie as blood was pouring out of her head. We followed in the police car after we sorted out insurance and boring stuff like that." Danielle said.

"Then they scanned my head just to check, as well as my arm. Then they stitched me up." I could feel my brain getting slower; tiredness was a sign of the drugs they gave me.

"It's okay though. We managed to get the shopping out of the car." Gabby pointed to the pile of bags on the floor. They laughed.

"You got into a car crash and all you care about is the shopping." Nick laughed and shook his head at us.

"Shut up." Gabby replied, poking him in the cheek. "Some of your presents are in there."

"Really?" He perked up, looking over at the bags. "My presents?"

"Stay away from them." I said, laughing to myself. "Dani, in my bag is Joe's present, can you put it into another bag?" I handed her my bag and watched as she put it into the bag with Nick's present. I smiled at her weakly. 

"You look like you are about to drop off, Al." Nick laughed. I nodded my head and shut my eyes.

"C'mon, let's leave her alone." Denise said. I heard scrapping of chairs and footsteps. I heard the sounded of the bags being moved. I felt a kiss being pressed against my forehead and someone grabbed my unbroken hand. "Ring me tomorrow when you know more." I made a noise of agreement before I heard them all say bye before the door slammed shut. I was asleep before they reached the elevator.

* * *

I woke up with a dull pain in my forehead and arm. I groaned, opening my eyes to see it dark outside. I looked around to see if I could see a clock, instead my eyes landed on the figure sitting in the chair Danielle had been sitting in before they left. "Joe." I muttered, my mouth dry. He stood up and gave me a cup of water. I drained it before putting it on the side cabinet. I reached over, flicking the lamp on. "Why was you sitting in the dark?" I asked, sitting up. He shrugged his shoulders.

"You were asleep, I didn't want to wake you. How do you feel?" He asked.

"A little rough. The painkillers have worn off." I told him. He looked at me, then my arm before pressing the button that called the nurse. "You didn't have to do that."

"You're in pain, Allie." He muttered. The nurse walked in, smiling at the both of us. "She is in pain."

"What kind of pain is it?" She asked, flashing her torch into my eyes.

"More like a dull pain in my arm and forehead." I replied, as she took my pulse in my good arm. She handed me two white pills.

"These will take away the pain but won't make you tired like the ones you had earlier." She handed me water and I took both tablets. She smiled at me before turning to Joe. "Make sure that you look after your girlfriend here." And with that, she walked out. I looked at Joe, confused.

"It was the only way I could get in and see you. It's after visiting hours." He said, sitting back down in the chair.

"Why didn't you come earlier when the rest of your family was here then?" He shrugged his shoulders, not looking at me. "What is the time?"

"9pm." He replied. "The reason I didn't come earlier was because I had things to do and I lost track of time."

"Oh." I said, picking at the rough blankets they provided.

"Here." Joe said, picking up a bag from the floor. "I brought you some clothes of mine for tonight and tomorrow." He patted the bag.

"Thanks Joe." I said, smiling at him. He dropped it on the floor and looked around, awkwardly. It was then when I noticed how rough he looked. I reached out and touched his arm with my casted hand. "What's wrong Joe?"

"Was you going to tell me?" He turned to me, his eyes filled with anger.

"What?" I asked him. "What are you talking about?"

"Was you going to tell me? About you leaving?"

"Joe." I said, rubbing my forehead then realising that I had stitches and it hurt. "I was going to tell you, tonight. But this got in the way."

"Was you really?" He seethed. "So you were just going to pop round and say hey Joe, guess what? I'm leaving again."

"Again?" I narrowed my eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"After we broke up. You just run away." He said, standing and pacing. l watched him until he spoke again. "You just left me."

"Joe, you dumped me. Did you expect me to wait around for you?" I replied. He stopped pacing to look at me. "I couldn't stay around, I couldn't even look at you Joe. You broke my heart for no reason. We were fine. I wasn't going to wait around for you."

"If you stayed Allie, we could have fixed it." He said, his voice softened. "That's why I came to see you after, I wanted to fix things. If you didn't run away-"

"I didn't run away, I couldn't be near you. I hated you."

"Don't say that, Aleah!" He raised his voice. "Don't you ever say that to me."

"Sh Joe. This is a hospital." I spat at him. He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "If you wanna have this conversation now, you have to be quiet."

"Fine." He muttered.

"I know you don't want to hear it, but I did. I can't explain it. We spent 3 years together Joe, and then you dumped me like I meant nothing to you."

"You meant the world to me, Allie." He said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "That's why I ended it."

"You couldn't have just told me how you were feeling could you? You had to go and take the most drastic measure and break up with me." I bit my lip, trying not to cry.

"I can't explain it to you. My words aren't coming out right." He said to me. I looked up at him, the tears sat in our eyes. "I have never loved someone like I loved you Allie. Even Rose doesn't compare to it. You made me feel invincible. You made me feel like there was nothing better in the world than your love. I couldn't breathe around you because you are so beautiful and sweet and perfect. I couldn't let you ruin that, ruin me so I made sure I did it."

"Joe." I sighed, letting a tear roll down my cheek. Joe leant forwards, brushing it off my cheek.

"I didn't push you away Allie, I let you go." I felt my bottom lip quiver and the tears rolled down my cheek. I looked at Joe, tears rolling down his cheek. I threw myself forwards, wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling him close. I rested my cast across his shoulder, the most comfortable I could get. "God, Allie. The things we had planned and I threw that all away. I will never get a chance again."

"Joe." I whispered, pulling away from him. I rested my good hand on his shoulder and he covered it with his. "Why did you send that letter? Why did you invite me here?" He looked at me before turning his head, pressing a kiss against my hand.

"I had these doubts. When I proposed to Rose. We told mum and dad and then we started this whole conversation and they mentioned you. And when they did, I felt my heart swell up. I remembered how I felt when I was with you, when you would tell me you love me, or how it felt when I wrapped my arms around you. And then I looked over at Rose, and I didn't feel those things with her." Joe stopped and took a deep breath. I gripped his shoulder, telling him to carry on. "So I wrote that letter, hoping you'd come here, to tell me that I was being stupid. That the only reason that I felt those things was because you were my first love. Then you turned up, a week ago. You were just sitting there, like you belonged in my family all this time. A week Allie."

"A week what Joe?" I asked, rubbing my hand across his shoulder. He looked at me, his eyes filled with confusion.

"It took me a week to fall back in love with you." I sat there, staring at Joe. Was he really saying this? Or was it the medicine playing with my head? He was getting married in a month, a month. And he was telling me that he loved me. "Say something." He put his other hand on my shoulder, shaking me slightly. "Allie."

"No." I said, finally snapping out of my trance. "No Joe, just no." I pulled my hand away from him shoulder.

"What?" Joe's face was a picture of hurt and confusion. "What do you mean no?"

"I mean no, Joe." I replied. Suddenly I was angry at him. I didn't know why. This is what I wanted, but I didn't want it. "You don't mean that. You're getting married Joe. You can't go around tell people that you love them. What about Rose?"

"Why can't you see it, Allie? The last couple of days, I've been going crazy, the same thoughts running through my head. I couldn't sleep, all I could think of was you and how you made me feel. And then I would think about how Rose made me feel. It was nothing compared to you." He went to grab my hand, but I pulled away.

"You love Rose Joe. Stop being so stupid. I knew coming here would be a bad idea, I don't even know why I came." I shook my head, sighing. "It's just because I'm here and Rose isn't."

"If you knew coming here was a bad idea, why did you come?" He climbed off the bed, away from me. "Maybe if you didn't come, I wouldn't feel like this. Like I'm trapped."

"Go Joe." I said, not looking at him. Because I knew that if I looked at him, I'd want to keep him with me. Climb into bed with me and tell me he loved me. Because I knew that he wasn't mine to keep. I had Joe and now I don't. He was someone else's. "I don't want you here, Joe. Can you just leave?"

"No." He replied. I found an interesting spot on the wall, making sure that I stared at it and not Joe.  "I'm not leaving here until you tell me how you feel, Allie." I knew this was going to break his heart, but I had to do it. He done it to me before, so it was my time to leave him stranded.

"What do you want me to say, Joe? That I love you too? That it's you I want to spend the rest of my life with. Because that would be a lie." I turned to him, my eyes avoiding his.

"If that's how you feel." He said, his voice breaking slightly. I bit my lip pretty hard to stop myself from stopping him as he grabbed his coat. He stopped as he opened the door. He looked back at me, a tear rolling down his cheek. And that almost killed me. To watch him walk out of my life. Again.