Treat You Right (Troyler AU)

Chapter 11 // Blank stares

"Welcome back Tyler!" My family yelled, awakening me once again. I swear to God I cannot get any sleep in this hospital.  Aren't you supposed to rest in these places? Rubbing my eyes, I groaned and stretched my arms.

"Sleep." My voice was still not one hundred percent...somehow, probably from talking to Julie for so long. So instead of the word sounding like an actual word, it sounded more like a grunt. I cleared my throat and tried again, "Sleep. I need sleep. Body still hurts." My families faces all dropped to a frown, signaling that I had ruined the moment entirely. Luckily they did not know how much I didn't care, but of course my mom had to butt in and save everyone from the embarrassment of how rude her son was after a fucking car crash. She walked over to my bed and placed a hand on my leg, slowly rubbing it in attempt to calm or comfort me.

"Aw c'mon Ty baby. Half of our family drove or-" Jackie motioned to my distant cousins I didn't recognize, "flew in from very far away to see you!" I sighed impatiently. Now was not the time for me to be seeing people. She coughed under her breath to get my attention once more. "Hun, the least you could do is acknowledge the effort these people brought forward to see you. Appreciate what they did just for a few minutes." She leaned down by my ear and whispered, "Plus they have some very expensive gifts! I just know you're dying to open them." My eyes immediately darted to the boxes in my family members hands, improving my mood.

"I gue-" I croaked, my throat pulsing with pain causing me to cough. Jackie reached over to the small coffee table beside me and gave me my dry ice and water with a concerned look on her features. I nodded in thanks and smiled at her, she returned with a smirk and a kiss on the cheek. "I guess I can say hello." I fake smiled with my teeth to the group of Oakley's in front of me. My words were greeted with ecstatic cheers and multiple cousins and aunts coming up to my bed.  The first women to greet me must've been a distant relative because I clearly did not recognize her at all. She didn't even look like an Oakley. She had red hair, white teeth, bright red lips, dark grey eyes and an almost too slim figure.  Quite odd I must say, maybe even iconic.

"Hello Tyler! Uhm sorry about what happened earlier..." She fidgeted with the box in her hands, rubbing the red ribbon that matched her lips perfectly. I answered her words with a slight nod and mouthing of thank you. "Ok well I decided to give you this because I thought since your injuries are pretty serious-" Hmm, she oddly put a ton of emphasis on the word pretty. "-you would have a ton of free time, so yeah here you go! Hope you feel better." She bent down and kissed my cheek, most likely leaving a red mark behind and dropped the present in my lap. As soon as she turned her back I wiped the side of my face with my non-IV hand in disgust.

A sudden surge of energy aroused me from the thought of new things; I ripped open the box in my hands with a few strokes and revealed the mystery rectangle object inside. It's a...a...a notebook. Really. A notebook. I get in a car crash and all I get it a notebook? Okay Jesus... my materialistic side is coming out way too much. Let's try and tone that down a bit.  Out of fake courtesy, I gave a thumbs up to the mysterious red-lipped woman and smiled. In return she waved and blew a kiss in my direction.  Meanwhile, more and more groups of people emerged from my small doorway, until finally around mid afternoon everyone was gone. My dull, cold looking room now had colorful balloons and flowers surrounding the dusty furniture. Giving the room an almost alive feeling. 

Alive...

Where have I heard that before? I feel like I had something urgent to do and it involved that word. I rubbed my temples, trying intensely to focus on my memory.