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The light is blinding at first.
White. Harsh.
Then my eyes slowly start to adjust and my ears start to tune in.
Beeps. Wheels rolling in the hallways. A general silence.
I soon realize where I am and then the confusion hits in. I'm in a room. I look around me.
A monitor. Wires. A window.
I look down.
I'm in a bed. A hospital bed.
Then I look to my immediate right and see a chair. I see him sitting in it.
Connor.
"Connor," I struggle to speak. My voice is hoarse and sounds nothing like me. When I swallow, it feels like sandpaper. He lifts his head up slowly from his slouched sleeping position in his chair. His eyes open slowly, but when he sees me, it hits him.
His eyes snap open, he gets up quickly and rushes over to me. "Jo," He whispers, holding my face in his hands. "Oh my god. Jo, you're awake."
Awake?
"What happened-"
"Jo, I'll be right back. I have to get the doctor," He says, and I feel him pulling away from me, but I get a grasp on his hand. In pulling him back towards me, I feel a searing pain in my ribs and grab it immediately.
"Connor, please. Stay for a minute," I say softly because I'm unable to speak any louder. My hand is covering my rib because it still kills. He turns back towards me and his eyes speak volumes. "Water, please."
He hands me his bottle of water and I drink it, immediately feeling relief in my throat.
God, I missed him.
What even happened? Why am I here? Why is he here?
"Con, what happened? Why am I in the hospital?" I ask him, not able to look away from him. I take in his every feature, as if for the first time.
His eyes feel softer than they used to, bluer even. He's let his stubble grow in more than usual and even his hair is a little grown out, a little more raggedy and in his face. I wonder if it's the stress of his last year of med school, or my being away, or the whole me in the hospital thing.
"You don't remember?" He asks. "You were in a car crash. A driver took a turn too fast and lost control over their car and slammed right into the side of your cab."
"Oh my god," I try to recall the crash, but only bits and pieces are coming to me. I remember getting in the cab, driving away and then it just all goes dark. I look up at him quickly. "Is the cab driver okay? The other driver?"
A brief smile crosses his face. "I missed you," He says, running his hand over my hair. "Only you would wake up from a coma and ask if the other people were hurt before you even know what happened to you."
Coma.
"I missed you too, but-"
"But the other drivers?" He finishes for me. "The cab driver is okay, just a broken arm. The other driver got away with some bruised ribs and a concussion. Somehow, you were the lucky one that got the brunt of the impact, huh?"
"Lucky me," I say with a sigh of relief, glad to know no one was seriously injured. "But wait, a coma? I've been in a coma? For how long?"
"Ten days, Jo. I flew out here the second I heard," He explains to me, leaning over my bed. "You also have some bruised ribs and a fractured wrist, but we had to wait for you to wake up to go in for a CT scan and make sure there was no permanent brain injury. God, Jo. I've been worried sick."
"I know, I'm sorry."
He smiles, widely and for longer this time. "If you're about to apologize for falling into a coma from a car crash then I really might have to put you back in one," He says and I smile too and then we're laughing. My ribs are unbelievably painful as I laugh, but I continue to because it feels like forever since I laughed with him. "Will you let me get the doctor now?"
"One second," I say and lift my hands up to his face to pull him close to me. Our lips touch and a calm washes over me. He's my comfort. Kissing him gives me peace of mind. Even though I can barely register what just happened, I'm here with him and that's enough for now. I pull away slowly. "Okay, go ahead."
He grins and kisses the top of my forehead before running off to fetch the doctor. I lean back into my bed and try to relax my ribs that I've clearly already overexerted. For the first time, I notice the splint on my hand. That must have been the fracture. At least no real casts.
Wow.
A car crash? A coma? This is insane all of it. I don't remember any of it. It's like a blank part of my memory and no matter how much I try to remember it, I can't. Even during my coma, I have this feeling like I saw something, but I can't put my finger on it. I can't remember any of it. The last thing I remember is-
The call. Greyson's call. Greyson. The whole scene at the art gallery.
How could I forget? That's the whole reason I got into the cab. And now Connor is here, and I'm kissing him like I wasn't just confused about my feelings for Greyson ten days ago. Like I wasn't just crying in an alley about Greyson not coming back for me. I feel awful.
"Ms. Spencer," I lift my head up and watch the doctor, a man in his late fifties with my chart in his hand, walk in with Connor trailing behind. "I'm so pleased to see you're awake. You gave us quite the scare there."
"Yeah, sorry about that," I say.
Connor gives me a look for apologizing again. The doctor glances at the monitor and back down at my chart. "Your vitals are completely stable and you have some fractures, but-" He stops and makes his way to me, examining my splints for a few moments as well as my ribs. "Everything seems to be healing quite nice. We're going to get you in for a CT now to see if the coma caused any permanent damage, but for a girl that survived a car crash and a ten-day coma, you're looking pretty dang good, if I may say so."
I watch the relief flood Connor's face. It must have been impossible to sit here for ten days, not knowing when I was going to wake up, or even if I was going to wake up. Some nurses come in and wheel me out towards CT. On the way down the hallway, I find myself scanning around the hospital, but a pair of eyes find mine.
Greyson.
He's seated in the waiting room, but seeing me, his eyes light up immediately. He must not have known I was even awake. I can't speak to him though because I'm being wheeled in the other direction. For the glimpse I got of him, he looks awful. Like a nervous wreck that hasn't taken a shower in a week.
Has he been here this whole time?
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meant to post yesterday got sidetracked but enjoy :) i'll be sure to post again soon
