I wake up to the sound of Ty's heart monitor beeping steadily, with my head resting on the side of his bed. I look up and apparently its a little too fast for my head to handle because it starts pounding so I close my eyes tightly and wait for it to be over then I look at Tyler. He's so peaceful and I don't want to wake him up but my hand is falling asleep. I gently and slowly pull my hand out of his and shake it repeatedly. I pull my phone out of my pocket and see that it's 7:10 and I wonder if I should wake him up. I decide against it and leave him to go to the bathroom and then head out to get food. I don't feel like hospital food so I walk across the street to Wendy's then walk back within 20 minutes.
When I get there, Ty is awake and looking around the room. I walk in and he smiles at me. "Hey."
"Hey. How'd you sleep?"
"Meh. Fine I guess. I always wake up really confused." he glances down at my hands. "I see you got food without me."
I make a face and pucker my lips then hesitantly hold the bag out to him. "You want a fry?" I say quietly.
He smiles brightly at me and accepts my offer graciously. "Thanks, " he says digging into the bag. He starts eating all my food. I don't stop him, I just let him eat and lean my head back and wait for him to be done. When the rustling of the bag finally stops I look back at him and he has a fry sticking out of his mouth and his hand still in the bag. His eyebrows are knitted tightly and he looks at me intensely.
"Tyler...? What's wrong?" I look him up and down "Are you in pain? Do you need the doctor?" I get up and start to walk quickly toward the door before he starts to snap out of it.
"Ros, I remember. Everything." I take my hand off the door handle and turn to him.
"What?"
"I remember. You're staying with me and my parents. I've known you forever and Skylar is dead. I remember."
-
I'm pacing back and forth in the lobby waiting for Ty's parents when my phone buzzes in my pocket.
Hey -Christian
I sit down on a chair and write back. Hey.
He responds almost immediately. What's up?
Just sitting in a hospital lobby waiting for some good news. Wbu?
I'm just waiting for my sister to be done with her violin lessons. Once again I got stuck as her ride. What are you in the hospital for? Are you okay? Or is it Tyler?
It's Tyler. They thought he had amnesia but he just remembered everything. The doctor is checking up on him to see if he's safe to go home yet, after the surgery and everything he had earlier.
He doesn't respond for a while so I just sit and wait. A few minutes later I hear heels clicking down the hall and I'm relieved when I look up and see that it's Avenlea. I stand up to greet her.
"Is he okay? I didn't hear much of your voicemail but I know you said it was urgent and I heard 'hospital' and-"
"He's fine Mrs. Penn. He remembers everything. He's getting better. He had some surgery this morning on his heart. They pulled a piece of debris out and when the initial dopey-ness of the drugs wore off he slept. I left and shortly after I came back he said he remembers everything. We called in the doctor and he pulled in a few nurses and they've been doing a check-up for the last 15-ish minutes."
I grab her hand and gently pull it down and she follows as I sit her down. She seems to be in some kind of daze and doesn't seem to notice she's sitting down for a few seconds. She absentmindedly puts her hand to her chest and lets out a breath that if I had to guess, I'd say she's been holding for the last day or so. She finally looks up at me.
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure. What's up?"
"Can you please give me a moment to process things? There's been a lot going on in the last day or so. I can speak with you about it later but right now, I would like to be alone." She stands up and walks away, still holding her chest as if her heart might beat out of it.
My phone buzzes again and I let out a small breath of my own when I see it's Christian again.
Damn. Sounds like you probably have your hands full for the night then. But that's good right?
I think before I respond. Yeah, it's great. Whether or not I'm busy for the whole rest of the night depends. Did you have something in mind? Are you okay with a late night tonight?
Absolutely. I was thinking we could go grab some dinner and hang out for a little while.
Sounds good to me. I'll be over after I'm done. Where do you want to meet up?
-
