Love At First Sight / Post Malone

Chapter 6

Austin POV

I felt my heart nearly burst out of my chest as I took a few steps back from the entryway of the room. I swiftly turned away to press my back along the surface of the wall, leaning my head back as I ran my hand down the front of my face.

My breath hitched in my throat as the sudden realization dawned upon me that I could not just casually stroll into Juliana's suite like I had been comfortably doing for the past week or so. I could no longer sit along her bedside and gently hold her hand while I quietly told her that she was going to pull through this horrible accident that I had regretfully put her in. She was finally going to see me face to face and I was honestly terrified of what her reaction would be.

Would she forgive me? Would she be angry? What if she wanted nothing to do with me and blamed me for the rest of her life? Or worse, what if she was a fan?

I groaned under my breath as I trudged my way around the corner, charging to the nurses station while too many emotions ran through me for my own good.

"Austin! Fuck I-"

"Why didn't you call me Casey? She's awake! Why didn't you call?" I nearly shouted as I came in contact with the short blonde woman, my frustration getting the best of me as I panicked in the middle of the unit.

"Austin I'm sorry. I was going to but we-"

"I'm the only person that gives a shit enough to come and see her every day. How could you not call me?" I went on, not allowing her to finish her sentence as her brows furrowed with hesitation.

"I-I didn't call you because we thought it would be better to discuss her condition in person."

"What is there to discuss? She's awake. You didn't think I deserved to know?"

"Mr. Post, you need to calm down. I understand you care about this girl but you will not raise your voice at my nurses." I heard Laura's firm voice from behind me, causing me to spin around to face her.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I just- I don't know what I'm doing. I came here after two days, expecting her to still be in the same condition as when I last saw her. A-and I come here to find out she's wide awake and sitting up in bed and now I have to face her after what I've done. How can I look her in the eye and ask her to forgive me for doing this to her?" I went off on a tangent, the two nurses surrounding me as they studied my outburst with sympathy.

"Austin." Laura placed her hand on my arm, saying my first name for the first time since I've met her.

"We extubated Juliana off of the ventilator last night. She did better than I've ever seen with her breathing trial. We placed her on high flow oxygen like we talked about and she did amazing overnight. The pulmonologist then suggested we place her on a non-rebreather mask which she also did well on. We finally got her down to a nasal cannula which is what she is on now. Throughout all of her rapid progress, we have weaned her off sedation and she finally woke up this morning. She is talking, eating and we got her all washed up. She even took a few steps down the hall with the physical therapist today. Her recovery is truly a miracle." Laura explained in a calm manner as she broke down the series of events that I had missed while I was away in Vegas.

"However, once she was awake, we- we discovered that she has lost her vision."

My heart tumbled to the ground at the sound of Laura's news and I shook my head from side to side as if there was no way I could believe the words that had just come from her mouth. Despite all of the wonderful progress of Juliana's miraculous recovery, I couldn't help the feeling of my conscious sinking downward to my stomach as I listened closely to Laura's reasoning for why they hadn't called me. I buried my head in my hands as somehow I felt like even more of an asshole as I attempted to process this terrible new information.