Live, Laugh, Love

I had always wondered what people in comas saw when they had their eyes closed. I always wondered if there was a huge white light, or if you’d see God.

Well, I didn’t see any of that. I saw black. Only black. In fact, if I was conscious, I would have been really bored.

“Oh my god!” I heard a familiar voice squeal. I jumped internally at the sound. I didn’t think I could hear voices. “Is she okay?”

My mind searched for the name. Ashley. Ashley Greene. My best friend. I tried to flutter my eyes.

There was silence. “Did you see that?” Another familiar voice. Kellan Lutz. Why were they here?

I fluttered my eyes again. “OH MY GOD! Someone go and get Rob!” It was Kristen.

But it wasn’t her voice that I was focusing in on. It was the name that had come out of her mouth. Rob. Rob. My love, my life, my Robert. Where was he? He must be so worried. I fluttered my eyes again and I could barely twitch my fingers.

“She’s waking up.” I heard Kellan say to someone. I held my breath for the voice, his voice, that would send me out of my state.

I felt a warm hand brush my face and I slowly got more control of my body. This was so frustrating! I moved my hand up to touch my face, and the hand that was on my face took it and held it between his. Why wasn’t he saying anything? I wish I could say something.

“Rachael?” he asked, and I gasped. My eyelids fluttered open and for a moment I was blinded by light. I put my other hand up to shield it. “Rachael.” Robert sighed in relief, stroking my face again with his free hand.

I couldn’t see him. All I could see was a blur at the moment. Then my eyes focused in on his brilliant face, his eyes full of relief, but concern at the same time. “Oh, shit.” I croaked, but I started coughing. It felt like it had been weeks since I’d spoken last.

“Baby.” Rob smiled, kissing my hand. I looked down at my other hand and gasped.

There were needles sticking in my arm, the skin at my wrists black and blue from where they tried to find a vein. “Oh my god.” I said, looking away to Rob’s face, trying to distract myself.

He smiled knowingly. “Fluids. It’s okay, babe.” He brushed a few strands of hair away from my face. His touch was so comforting. There was no one I needed more at the moment.

It was then that I remembered the others. I looked around the small but adequate hospital room into the eyes of my friends.

All of them seemed to share the same expression; relief. I tried to smile at them, but even the simplest of movement hurt, and, to my dismay, I still had a headache.

“I feel high.” I said, looking to the bags that were feeding me medicine.

Everyone laughed but Rob. “They gave you a lot of stuff to make you feel more comfortable, Rach. You gave me quite a scare there, sweetie.” He kissed my forehead.

“How long was I out?” I asked, curious.

“About two days, hon.” Nikki answered, coming over to the bed and stroking my cheek.

Rob tensed at what I guessed were memories of the past two days.

“What happened?” I felt like a small child, asking questions about things that I should already know about.

“The headache came back and you blacked out from the pain. We could have woken you up earlier, but the doctor said that he wanted to keep you under so you’d be more comfortable. You’re temperature reached 104.9 and one point.” His face was sad as he told me this. “You were so close…” his voice broke off suddenly, and his face crumpled in pain.

He didn’t have to say it. I was so close to dying.

I reached over and stroked his cheek weekly. “I’m okay.” I said, and at the moment that was true.

Rob looked at me doubtfully. “Jackson, could you go and get the doctor please?” he asked, not paying me any attention when I began to protest. “Shush up.” He told me, but it wasn’t harsh, it wasn’t mean, it was just worried. He was worried. And if getting that asshole doctor was going to make him happier, fine. I would talk to the doctor. I had a few more questions anyway.

The doctor came into the room a few moments later. The skin around his eyes was droopy and his face looked so tired. I automatically felt sorry for him. He must have stayed up all night with me.

“Hello, Rachael.” He said, happily. I could see he was making an effort. “I see you’ve woken up.”

“Yes.” I smiled as he checked over my charts.

I looked over to Rob and I hadn’t noticed before, but his face was also tired, and his eyes were foggy from lack of sleep. He rubbed his eyes when he noticed me staring and smiled weakly.

“When was the last time you slept, Rob?” I asked, ignoring the doctor for the moment.

He got a look of sadness on his face. “I haven’t slept in three days.” He said, weak.

My eyes grew large. “Why?” I asked, mad. “Why didn’t you go home??”

“Yeah, right. Like I would leave you here by yourself.” He took my hand and kissed it gently. He said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Like I was stupid to ask this question.

The doctor interrupted our little conversation. “Looks like you’ll be able to go home in a day or so.” He said.

“A day? Why so long?”

“Well, I want to make sure everything’s okay. Your fever seems to be going down. How does your head feel?”

I still had a little bit of a headache, but it wasn’t anything too terrible. “It only hurts a little.” I said, smiling for Rob’s sake. His eyes never left my face.

“Well, well. If anything changes, tell me.” And with that, he walked out of the room.

After a few hours of boring, my friends eventually left. I wanted Rob to go home and get some sleep, but he refused. I told him he needed to take care of Riley, but he assured me that Riley was already staying with Nikki and Kristen until I felt better. So, in the end, we made a compromise. He slept in the chair next to my hospital bed while I watched the boring-ass TV.

It seemed that Oprah was the only thing on, and I could barely even hear it. It was going to be a long day.

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At about 8:00 pm, the doctor came into my room for the last time. “Your charts look really good. You can go home now. But please, take it easy. Do NOT do anything physical for a little bit. You still have the flu, so you should drink lots of fluids. Your strep throat is almost completely healed. You should be feeling better in a few days.”

After Rob and I were back at our apartment, I sat on the couch. Riley was still with Nikki. She was keeping him for a few more days. So now I basically had nothing to do but watch TV. Just like I did all day. I sighed, pissed.

Rob grinned. “You know, I never really realized how much you need to be busy.”

“What?” he lost me.

“You always need to be doing something or you’re not happy.” He clarified, kissing my forehead.

I smiled. “That’s me. Busy, busy, busy.”

He chuckled and sniffed my hair. I laughed when I saw the look on his face. “Hey! I’ve basically been unconscious for the past three days. I never had time to take a shower.”

He put his hands up defensively. “I didn’t say anything.”

But now that I thought about it, I really did smell. I would feel much better if I could wash up. But I didn’t know if I should chance it in case I fell down or something. I sighed.

“What?” Rob asked.

“Babe… I need a favor… Can you help me take a shower?”

The man in him came out quickly. “Sure. If you’re feeling up to it.” He grinned, his fingers already finding my pants.

“NO!” I smacked his hand. “I mean, I actually need you to help me shower. Besides, the doctor said nothing physical. Sex is physical.”

He pouted like a schoolboy. I kissed his lower lip, smiling.

“Come one.” I said, “Will it really kill you to see me naked without being able to… you know…” I blushed.

“It might.”

“Suck it up.”

And we made our way into the bathroom, him pouting the whole way.