Endless Summers

Chapter 13

Beep. Beep. Beep. I hear the repeated high pitched beeps of what sounds like a heart monitor in a hospital. It's familiar to me because when I was younger (before the twins were born) Mom would let me roam around the hospital while she worked. Slowly, I flutter my eyes open and look around. My eyes are sensitive and I have headache. Now I remember what happened. I cracked my head open.

    I try to sit up and as I do I see a figure walk in the door.

"Em?! Oh my goodness!" Alana steps towards me, Bash following her, "Are you okay? I brought you coffee, here," she exclaims as she hands me a warm cup that despite my throbbing head, smells amazing.

"Ugh. What the heck," I ask.

"You fell, and I didn't find you until after I got out of the shower," Bash states sadly, like he is at fault for this.

"Well it isn't your fault, Sebastion," I say as I look back to Alana. She smiles just as I see two more figures emerge through the doorway to my hospital room.

"I thought I'd drop by before I am paged to go do surgery," My mom says as she walks towards my bed, "How are you, baby?" She grabs my face and kisses my head. Hayden is talking quietly in the background to Alana now. So now he can't even come to me first. He goes straight to Alana. Wow. I think to myself in frustration, totally oblivious that my mom is trying to tell me something.

"Emmaline, I'm speaking to you," She says in a slightly irritated tone. I look at her and then Bash.

"How is the house holding up? Is everything okay, and have you heard from the twins?" She questions me and just as I am about to answer her pager beeps.

"Shit. I mean... well, you know what I mean. I have to go, try not to keep getting hurt, okay," She rushes out the door and looks down the hall yelling, "I need an O.R now!" And I take another sip of my coffee. Just another basic day in the hospital.

"How is your head, Em," Bash reaches to my hair and moves it from my eyes. I know I should feel some kind of electricity when he touches me like I normally do but this time it's absent. I feel nothing. I shake off the feeling and slightly smile at him.

"It's okay," And before I fully finish my sentence he wraps his arms around me and hugs me, the smell of his cologne washes over me. I fall into the hug and sit comfortably, knowing that Alana and Hayden are watching me.

I sit back and everyone takes a seat. We all begin to talk as normal and I flip through my phone, wondering why I am not getting the butterflies in my stomach that I should be getting.. like I used to. I go through the texts that Sebastion and I had sent to each other, every flirty small text.. and nothing. I'm immediately worried and know that there are only two people I can tell this problem to and one of them is in the O.R.

"Alana.. can I talk to you alone?" I nod at the boys, hinting for them to leave.

"Sure thing. Get out, boys," she says standing up and walking over to me.

"What's up?" She looks somewhat worried, possibly because I may have a worried look on my face as well.

"I.. think that I lost my feelings for Sebastion because of the head injury.." I say unsure, because what I am saying could sound insane and unreasonable

"Um.. Em, do you think that maybe you just lost feelings and decided that this would be the best cover up.. you know, the whole, romantic tragedy 'I forgot your name thing' because... I don't know. It sounds very convenient Em."

"No! I want to feel something but I just don't think I am. What do I do?"

    A knock on the door disturbs us and I see my mother, with a questioning look and the boys standing out there in curiosity. She comes in and immediately comes to my bed side.

"You should be able to leave now. What's going on?" And once again I explain my story.

"I.. don't know honey, maybe once the meds wear off then you will be rational and can think correctly. Just go home and get some rest okay? I should be able to come home soon, but there's no telling," She begins walking out and yells as she opens the door, "And for God's sake, keep the damn boys out of my house!"

And with that, she is back to her job and I am back to my life.

We all get in Sebastion's car and head home. I take a nap when I get home and then realize what I need to do.

"Sebastion, I need to talk to you.." I lead him to the kitchen.

"I.. when I woke up, I couldn't feel anything for you. I don't know if I just banged my head too hard or what but, when I see you, I don't feel... anything."

He looks at me and I can see the faint hurt that I have caused him.

"So.. when I do this, it doesn't affect you?" He says placing his hand on my lower back and drawing me closer. I can feel his breath on me and I shake my head 'no', "Or this," He leans in closer and kisses me lightly. I look into his eyes sadly and shake my head again.

"Wow. Well, when you feel something, gimme a call." He walks out of my house and slams the door. I don't know what to do so I go back up to my room and tell Alana what has happened. Soon after, we both fall asleep and when we wake up, we head to the beach. While tanning, our music is cut off by the ringtone of my moms call. I pick up after the fourth ring.

"Hey, Em, do you remember Ellie?" She asks. I do remember Ellie. She was a friend of my mother's and she had two sons, Liam and Landon. We all used to play together when our mothers hung out but on the way to visit their dad, they got in a car wreck and their father and the older brother, Liam, died. Ellie hadn't visited us since the year that happened and it was almost 13 years.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because she and Landon are coming to stay at our house for a while because they are looking for a house near ours. Ellie's mom recently died so she only has Landon now. They will get there on Wednesday, so make sure you and Alana stay at the house that day so they feel welcomed. I love you! I will see you soon. Oh! And you need to visit the twins, they probably miss their big sis! Goodbye, honey." And then she hangs up.

I set my phone down and explain the situation about Ellie and Landon to Alana but I can't even stay focused because all I remember is the massive crush I had on Landon Jacobs.