Down The Road

Chapter 4

A few days later~~

Ella wakes up alone and sighs. She knew Wyatt and Mia wouldn't be there this morning because of school but she figured they would've woken her up and told her bye. She looks over at her table that Wyatt had pulled closer to the side of the bed so she could reach easier and sees a little note on top of Wyatt's folded hoodie and her phone. She reaches out to grab the piece of paper and sees his slanted and slightly sloppy handwriting "I'm leaving school early I'll be back at 12. I have a surprise I love you." with a heart and smiley face drawn next to it. She smiles pulling his hoodie on over her old cheer shirt and grabbing her phone before sinking down into the lumpy pillows. She checks her phone seeing they'd both already messaged her five times, and it was only 10:

W: Good morning beautiful ;)
M: dude wake up I'm fucking bored

W: Williams finally caught Emerald and Tyson in the bathroom! Oh my god I can't believe you're missing this.
M: HOLY SHIT!!! You're missing everything!

W: I miss you this suck.
M: it's so boring today😩

W: Are these people always this stupid?
M: I think there's a full moon or something tonight man this is wild.

Then the last message was delivered five minutes ago,

W: Thats it I'll see you as soon as I get out of this class, I can't deal with these dumbasses anymore. Miss you Darlin❤️

She smiles knowing it's only 10 minutes till the bell and answers him:

to Wyatt: I'll see you soon<3

to Mia: You'll have to catch me up later tonight I need to know everything.

She pulls the table halfway over her lap opening her laptop to start on her makeup work to pass the time until he gets here. 45 minutes later he stops at the nurses station on the way through She lays her head back against his chest closing her eyes enjoying the warmth from his body heat. He wraps his arms around her leaning his head against her shoulder taking a deep breath inhaling the soft scent of vanilla and coconut from her body wash and shampoo. He presses a small kiss to the corner of her jaw and softly says, "hello princess." She smiles settling back farther and answers, "Did you have a good day?" He hums an answer against her neck to preoccupied playing with her slender fingers and pressing small kisses along her jawline to answer with anything else. She giggles as he lightly tickles her sides and says, "You're in a good mood today," and he just smiles at her and says, "of course, I am I've got a beautiful girl in my lap that looks damn good in my clothes by the way loving this little outfit." She blushes and smiles back at him as he traces invisible designs on her thigh, playing with the bottom of the hoodie that's covering her sleep shorts as he adds, "but that's not the reason I'm in a good mood while it certainly helps." She raises her eyebrow at him sitting up to look back at him. He smiles at her as he moves beside her and says, "I talked to Charlotte this morning as we were leaving, they're releasing you tomorrow morning..." Her arms fly around his neck with a squeal of glee beyond grateful to know she's so close to being able to leave. He chuckles and wraps his hands around her waist as he says, "Baby wait that's not all, the school is letting me do online with you the first week you're at the house so I can get you settled and then you should be able to come back with me." She pulls him into an excited kiss, and he smiles against her lips wrapping one arm around her back and bringing his other hand to her hair enjoying the sweet banana taste on her lips from her Chapstick and the way her hair runs through his fingers like silk. She pulls back smiling after a couple of seconds and starts talking about how excited she is to finally sleep in an actual bed again and be able to eat actual home-cooked food instead of hospital food (minus the snacks June would bring for her) She lays back against his chest again as he twists small pieces of her hair around his fingers simply listening to her talk. She settles down after a couple minutes and he says, "Oh I almost forgot your surprise." He slides out from behind her and reaches into his backpack pulling out a stack of three books she's been trying to find for months and a box of her favorite chocolate. He smiles as her eyes widen and her hand flies to her mouth, she looks between him and the cover of the top book before saying, "How did you find them?" He sets them on her good leg climbing back behind her and says, " I may have called in a favor with a family friend in the city and he mailed them down. Mom dropped them off at the school this morning on her way to work." She just shakes her head grabbing him tight into a hug as she buries her face into his neck speechless at the fact no one has ever done anything like this for her before. He smiles into her hair knowing what she means and wraps his arms around her holding her just as close. She settles back against his chest after they separate grabbing the book on the top of the pile as he wraps an arm around her waist smiling down watching her eyes scan the page bouncing back and forth line from line and settles back against her pillows flipping through the channels on the tv before settling on an Adam Sandler movie. After about an hour he feels her relax and looks down to see her peacefully asleep already close to halfway through her book. He gently takes the book out of her hand making sure to mark her page with his thumb before sliding a piece of notebook paper in its place and sets it to the side on her table. He pulls her blanket up over her further pressing the button on her little remote to lay them back. He slides his hand under her shirt to gently rub little figure 8s on her back with his fingertips out of muscle memory from when she takes naps at his house when her head or back hurt and she smiles gently in her sleep nuzzling closer into his chest. She wakes up a little while later to Wyatt trying to move out from under her slowly. She sits up a little bit to make it easier and says, "You're not leaving right?" He shakes his head and says, "I'm just going to the bathroom I'll be right back, go back to your book baby it's almost time for the doctor to come in about your leg." She nods with a yawn, grabs her book off the table, and lays back down while opening to her page. When Wyatt comes back out he lays down beside her wrapping his arms around her from behind with a kiss on the cheek saying, "Is it as good as you thought it'd be darlin?" She nods with a big smile and says, "Even better baby." He nods along as she goes into detail about the characters and storyline watching her full pink lips move faster as she starts getting into one of her theories about what is going to happen, the little line she always gets between her eyebrows forming tight. She looks up at him after she sees the look in his eyes and his smile and says, "What?" He rubs his thumb across the back of her hand and says, "You're cute when you focus on something like that." Her cheeks turn pink and she kisses his cheek as she says, "I love you." he smiles with a chuckle and says, "I love you sweetheart." The doctor walks in before she can say anything, and Wyatt gets up to sit in his usual chair while he starts talking about how her leg looks good on the latest x-rays and tells her he wants her to start moving around with her crutches more. She nods along smiling when he mentions being discharged in the morning and when he leaves Wyatt hands her his phone with door dash pulled and says, "I already put yours in the cart go ahead and order mine for me I'm gonna go shower real quick." She nods and adds his burritos to the cart. He walks back in a few minutes later to see her sitting at the edge of the hospital bed with her crutches propped under her arms. He smiles at her and says, "Want some help?" She nods looking up at him as she pushes some hair out of her face. He walks over to her to help her get steady and then steps back as she moves slowly around the room getting the hang of not putting weight on her leg. He sits back on her bed making sure to watch her closely in case she loses her balance, she smiles over at him after she gets the hang of it and after a couple of minutes she sits back down beside him reaching for her jug of water on the pullover table as she says, "That hurts a lot worse than I thought it would." and says, "It's ok baby they'll give you something for your leg soon." She shakes her head and says, "No the rubber against my armpits is awful." He shakes his head pressing a kiss to her forehead and says, "How about I wrap them tomorrow for you so it's not so bad." She nods her head ok as he sets the crutches to the side and lays back pulling her into his chest with one arm under her head. She lays her cast arm on his chest, and he grabs the tips of her fingers that are poking out and presses a kiss to her knuckles before kissing the top of her head. She smiles and says, "I truly never thought we'd wind up here." He smiles against her hair and says, "I never thought I'd get lucky enough to end up here not after waiting as long as we have." She nods back and says, "I never thought you felt this way for me, I saw you with all those other girls and just never thought I would be your kind of girl." He shakes his head and answers, "You were always my pick. I only ever saw you when I looked at them, I couldn't stop myself from picturing you and wishing it was you instead. They were placeholders and I know how awful that makes me sound but just know that you are the definition of my kind of girl." She smiles at him before pressing a kiss to his chest and lays her head back down before saying, "Did it really have to take this long before you said anything? Our first nights as a couple could've been at the house or on a trip or something." He chuckles and says, "I know princess this isn't my first pick either, I wanted to take you out on an actual date just us. You were going to wear that baby blue flowy dress that makes your skin glow and those tan heels we picked out a while back. I was going to wear that button that matches your dress and my good wranglers." She cuts him off with an even bigger smile and says, "With the one boots I got you right?" He nods and answers, "Yup, I was going to take you to The Honey Tree and then up on the mountain behind the house to that flat by the pond you love so much so that we could stargaze. I was going to have those little bitty Christmas lights granny has hung up in the trees around us and have blankets and pillows and snacks and all our favorite movies. I wanted to tell you how I felt while we were at the spot when I first realized how much I loved you. The first time I saw how gorgeous your smile was or how your eyes looked in the sun. Not the made up you with your hair fixed and makeup on but the you where your hair was wet and hanging down your back and you didn't have any makeup on, and it was just bare you. That's my favorite you." She looks up at him with tears welling slightly in her eyes and says, "I really truthfully love you. I have for a long time, and I think I will for even more." He leans down to her with a hand on the side of her face, kissing her gently before saying, "I've loved you for 3 years now honey, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon." She lays her head back onto his chest scooting closer to him and says, "You really did have everything planned didn't you?" He nods as he rubs up and down his back as he says, "right down to every last detail." And she says, "What was stopping you then?" He shrugs and says, "I would've rather had you in my life as my best friend than to tell you how badly I wanted more and risk losing you all together." She yawns and says, "You never could have lost me." He presses a long kiss to her head before saying, "I never plan on losing you now." She smiles against him and starts drawing little circles and stars on his chest and stomach as he puts on a movie for them. He moves his hand from her back to her hair massaging as he goes when he hears her quiet snores a little while later he reaches behind him for the bed remote laying it back some more and turning off the overhead light. He slides his arm out from under her head and slowly gets up before stripping his jogging pants and walking around to the other side of the hospital bed. He lays back beside her wrapping an arm around her waist gently pulling her back against his chest making sure not to hurt her ribs. She smiles in her sleep and settles back into him, and he simply drapes his arm back across her waist before dozing off to the sound of her breathing.