Apartment 6F

twenty: recovery

2 Weeks Later...

"Well Casey, your progress is good and I don't see any reason not to release you after physical therapy today," the doctor said. Casey sat in the middle of me and his mother, holding both our hands. We each gave a little squeal of excitement. I saw the beaming smile on his face and I knew everything was going to get better. Casey was strong. His mom released his hand and wrapped her arms tightly around his torso. He began fake coughing and said, "Mom... I can't breathe!" Even the doctor had a smile on his plastic face. He handed Casey's mom some papers to sign, then escorted us to physical therapy. I pushed him in the wheelchair that he loathed, his mother by his side. Doctor Burges followed behind me. "Your resilience is truly amazing, Casey. I'm proud to have been on this journey with you." Casey turned around as I continued to push him and said to the doctor and said, "Thanks for the drugs," which made Doctor Burges and I laugh but Casey's mom to slap him lightly on the shoulder as a scolding. He faced her after that. "What? They were good drugs..." He gave me a smirk.

While Casey was in PT, I sat with his mom, who I had become good friends with, in the last few weeks. Even though me and Casey had been more of friends than lovers in the last few days, she treated me like a perfect match for her son, which she reminded me of plenty often. "Ms. Patterson, I was wondering if when Casey was released, I could take him somewhere. If you want to spend time with him, that's okay," I asked. She gave me a smile and replied,"Of course, Noah. Just get him back safely." I nodded my head. "I promise. Thank you," I said with a grin.

We sat after that making small chat and watching Casey's progress. He was almost walking perfectly, except a small limp that the therapist said might never go away. Of course, Casey was determined to prove her wrong, as he always did.

An hour later, Casey exited the room with metal braces on his legs, which he said would help him walk until he was up to full shape. He also had a pair of crutches to use when his legs started to hurt.
We checked out at the front desk, the nurses congratulating Casey over and over on how much better he looked. He smiled and thanked them even though I could tell he just wanted to get out of here.

As soon as everything was taken care of, we began to walk towards the exit. I looked back at Casey's mom who had purposely positioned herself ten steps behind us. She winked and made motions with her hands to scoot along. I smiled at her and mouthed, thank you.
Casey limped out into the parking garage, and I grabbed his hand. He looked down at our intertwined fingers and smirked. "You haven't given up, have you, Einstein?" I bunched up my eyebrows in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?" His face fell and he looked at me. "It means that through all this stuff going on, you still haven't given up on me," he said. I looked up into his eyes and his hand released from mine and traveled to my face. His thumb traced circles on my cheekbones, which made goosebumps travel up the entirety of my arms. Casey stared directly into my eyes and said,"Let's go where we left off." And I knew the exact place he meant. It was our spot after all.

It was still rather early in the morning when we arrived once again at the beach. I drove, since even though Casey was released, he still wasn't allowed to drive for awhile, which he definitely wasn't happy about.

Once we made it to the location, I insisted on helping him to the sand, but he stopped me and instead held onto my hand tightly as he limped slowly through the woods. We eventually made it to the beach and Casey said,"Let's just sit right here, okay?" I could tell he was tired by his shallow breathing. "Why do you still care, Noah? I'm just a burden." He looked deeply at me to which I replied,"The only reason I got out of bed everyday after the accident, was the small hope in the back of my head that maybe you would be awake again. I don't know why I care so much. It's just that... I've never felt this way about someone before." Immediately after I said it, I felt embarrased. My face burned. His face was so full of emotion and he stared at me. I met his eyes and he let his hands travel back up to my face again. He pulled me towards him, and our lips crashed together.
All my embarrassment, my worries, everything faded away. All that mattered was him him him. Our kiss deepened into something slow and intense, and that was when I knew he felt the same way about me as I did him. We finally pulled away, slightly at loss for breath, but we never broke eye contact. The sunlight made his eyes shine, and he was staring at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered. He finally spoke. "I love you, Noah, and even though I know no one can predict the future, I'll love you forever. It's a promise. Forever seems like a decent amount of time as long as it's spent with you." Instead of responding, I kissed him once again, deeper than before, more passionate. I knew he could tell because he returned it in the same way. I pulled away and held his warm face in between my hands and said, "I love you too, Casey. I love you too." He smirked and kissed me on the forehead. We sat in peace as the sun shined off the crystal ocean, and for once, we were finally okay.