Hospital Beds and Memories

I couldn’t remember anything after being hurriedly rushed into an ambulance. Everything was a blur and was going so fast. Several things had been poked into me and fluids were put into my body. I seriously had no idea what had been going on around me. Images were blurry, but I could make out Jack running into the room, being held back by nurses. All I had been able to hear was a high pitched sound mixed in with white noise. Doctors and nurses had been running around everywhere, looking at all the screens showing my levels.

Now, everything was cleared up. The room was empty and a buzzing filled the silence. I actually felt really calm instead of panicked and confused. It was like I already knew. The door opened and a young nurse walked in.

She looked at her clipboard and back up at me before giving me a big smile. “Your fiance is here to pick you up.”

Fiance? What? When?

“Oh, um, thanks, I’ll get ready then.” I gave her a shaky smile back and started sitting up.

“Do you want me to send him in?”

“Umm, yeah, sure.”

She walked back out and I slowly got out of the hospital bed. Just as I was putting on my shoes, Jack walked in. I looked at him and grinned. “You lied to the hospital?”

He chuckled and kneeled in front of me to help me with tying my laces. “Yeah, what else would I have done? Your brother had to leave and couldn’t sign you out before he left. I stayed and decided to lie so you could leave earlier.”

I let him help me up. “Wait, what day is it?”

“Umm, Saturday, why?”

“I stayed here for a night?”

“Yeah… You didn’t know?”

I shook my head, grabbed the bag Cameron also brought along when I had to stay at the hospital, and took hold of Jack’s hand, pulling him to come with me, “I don’t really have any memory of after the paramedics came, it's all a blur and I was dealing with some major blood loss.”

“Oh, umm, about that. They are doing some more blood tests, they said you’ll get the results in a couple of weeks.” Jack intertwined our fingers. “I also have the new medication they want you to take.”

I felt bad for making him go through all of this. He used to be the carefree guy that would party all night long and fuck random girls every night. Now, he was stuck with me and my health problems. I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke up with me because of that.

“Hey, Jack?” I quietly asked. “Can I stay over at yours tonight?”

“I actually had plans, but I can cancel them.” He looked down at me.

“No, it’s fine. It’s just that Cam’s gone for the weekend with my mom. They had this important thing to go to that they couldn’t miss, which is why he had to leave. I don’t mind staying at home alone.”

“Nope, not happening, no way you’re staying alone. I am not going to leave you alone. No fucking way. I’m sure Alex and Rian will understand.”

----

“Yeah, no, Rian and Alex did not understand,” Jack signed as he fell backward onto the bed, next to me. “They still don’t believe you exist… But I got to raincheck on our plans, well, after some arguing.”

“That sucks,” I rolled over so I was half lying on top of him, “I’d like to meet them sometime.”

“I’d like you to meet them as well… Speaking of meeting, I was on the phone with my mom yesterday and I set up a lunch date for you to meet my parents. It’s tomorrow, but I can push it back, if you want.”

I giggled, “why do you want me to meet your parents?”

“Just cause.”

I moved over more so I was now lying completely on top of him, my chin rested on his chest. “Tell me,” I peppered butterfly kisses on his jawline, “there’s no rush if you don’t want to tell them yet.”

Jack chuckled, causing his chest to rumble. “Of course I want you to meet them, I love you.”

We both froze and stiffened up. What did he just say? I shot upright and looked him in the eyes. “Did you just…”

“What? No.”

I frowned at him, “oh.”

“No wait, yes, no, I dunno, maybe.”

“What?”

“Ok, yes. I said it. I love you. I really do. You’re the most amazing girl I ever met; you’re beautiful, funny, and just simply astonishing. I hope to call you mine for a long time to come.”

I couldn’t find any words to reply with. Jack’s mini speech really caught me off guard. He just confessed his love for me and I was looking at him like a retarded seal. I was probably freaking him out by taking so long to answer. So I said exactly what was going through my mind at the moment, “the Jack Barakat just confessed his love for a girl, and he isn’t drunk and out of it? I just witnessed something truly amazing.”

Jack pouted at me, so I continued with what I wanted to say, “as amazing as that seems, I also think it’s pretty special to see me say ‘I love you’ back.” I leaned forward and pressed our lips together but pulled back before it could go any further, “I love you too.”

“You really had me worried there for a second.”

“I’m sorry. I was shocked and I didn’t know what to say.”

“It’s ok. Now I get to say ‘I love you’ as often as I have been thinking it.”

“How often is that?” I smirked, lied back down, and shuffled up so our faces were just inches apart again.

“Very often,” he leaned forward so our lips touched and I quickly got into the rhythm he had started. Knowing that our lips would stay in contact, he slowly relaxed back down again. I went to hold his face to give me more control, but he grabbed my wrists and flipped us over. Things were going really fast. His kisses became more sloppy and needy. My heart started beating faster and faster. His shirt came off.

And the doorbell went. Once again our make out session was being interrupted. But there were surely more to come.

“I’ll get it,” I was desperately trying to catch my breath.

“Ok,” Jack’s voice sounded similar, “I’ll be down in a sec. I just need to put my shirt on.”

He got off of me and I was free to leave the bed and go downstairs. I was sort of skipping my way to the door. Who knew Jack saying he loved me would get me in such a happy mood. I didn’t know he felt that way about me, let alone knew I felt about him that way. But I was sure of it. I did love Jack and was intending on doing so for a long time.

I opened the door without looking through the window first. My jaw dropped when I saw the person standing in front of me. What were they doing here?

“Baby, who is it?” Jack came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He looked over my shoulder and had a similar reaction as I had. I felt his arms drop from their tight grip around me and his mouth opening wide. “Abagail, what are you doing here? Are you ok?”

I couldn’t take my eyes of the crying girl in front of me.