Mark walked Amy to her house and they said goodbye, Amy waved him off and smiled as she closed the door and ran up to her room and collapsed on her back staring up at the ceiling. She breathed heavily and thought about Steven, how a sudden weight had been lifted off her shoulders just because he was able to talk and smile and be in her presence once again.
Every day was like this, every day Amy and Mark visited Steven in hospital and sometimes Mark’s girlfriend, Stephanie Newbury, came along also. They did this for the rest of the week until the day that had been circled on everyone’s calendars came along; the day Steven was discharged from hospital! Amy woke up with a huge smile on her face that March morning; she gladly arose and waited for Mark to pick her up from her house so they could both take the bus to the hospital. They both arrived, with Stephanie, Mark’s girlfriend who had short red hair, hazel brown eyes and full rouged lips; she came up to just above his elbow and had to stand on tip-toes to kiss Mark which Amy and Steven had commented on countless occasions how cute that was. The three of them entered the brightly lit ward for another time and saw that Steven was hidden behind a white curtain,
“Hi guys, sorry I’m trying to get changed but this bandage is restricting most movement... Um, Amy, a little help?” Steven chuckled at his inability to get dressed as Amy popped around behind the curtain. There she found a thin young man; he had soft, pale skin that would’ve been perfectly smooth if it weren’t for a large white bandage that was stuck on just above his hip, she moved her hand to touch it, Steven’s hand met hers, and the coldness from his fingers greeted her hand. Amy looked into his blue eyes as he stood in just his white boxers next to his bed, they both smiled as she ran her hands over Steven’s chest, shoulders and down to his stomach. Steven moved his hand slowly to Amy’s waist and pulled her into a comforting embrace where they breathed in each other’s scents. “Finally I can come home with you, I’ve missed those little things of just lying on your bed with you in my arms, instead of lying on this hospital bed” Steven whispered as they broke apart and Amy started helping Steven put jeans and a t-shirt on. Steven sat on the end of the bed so Amy could bend down to put his Vans on for him. “Thanks, baby, I can’t bend down cos this huge plaster’s here!” Steven said as the curtain was yanked back to reveal Mark and Stephanie waiting, hand in hand, for Steven to appear,
“You took your time” Mark commented as he grabbed Steven’s overnight bag and they all started to move towards the door of the ward,
“Well, it is like dressing a big baby, y’know” Amy joked as she put her hand in Steven’s back pocket and Steven put his in hers. They came to the front desk of the hospital and the young receptionist, not much older than the two couples, with red glasses a mousy brown hair, greeted them with a smile. Since Mark had been speaking with the receptionist for a week as they had to sign in and out to visit Steven, they had become good friends,
“Hey Peter, how are you?” Mark greeted the receptionist happily,
“Yeah, yeah I’m good thanks, I hope you’re okay?” Peter smiled in a cheery voice as he grabbed some papers for Steven to sign to be able to be discharged from the hospital, “leaving day, Steven! Hope you’re feeling well”
“Yeah I’m feeling brilliant thanks, thank the hospital and doctors and everyone who’s helped me get better, I thought that stab would have stabbed a hole in my music career but now I can rock out as much as I want again!” Steven chatted happily as he signed and wrote initials “S.J.B” for Steven John Battelle onto the discharging papers. The four best friends left the hospital and caught the bus to Steven’s village of Allestree.
When the four arrived at Steven's house, Stephanie and Mark sat on loveseat on the porch and Steven and Amy leaned against the railings around the porch, facing the loveseat. Amy rested her head on Steven’s shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her after what felt like ages since he’d been able to do it outside of the hospital. Mr and Mrs Battelle came out and joined the four teenagers on the porch and Mrs. Battelle hugged her son tightly; his parents had been visiting Steven at different times due to work. Mr. Battelle thought it would be appropriate to open a bottle of wine to celebrate Steven coming home.
The afternoon sun was shining, a warm breeze brushed past the little group of good friends, lovers and family who were laughing and smiling with each other, Amy sipped her glass of red wine that tasted sweet and tangy at first but became rather more-ish after the first few sips. The smell of summer was looming in the air, it was fresh and natural, unlike the hospital’s scent of antibacterial wash. Steven fluffed his hair as he smiled at Amy but a thought hit him that made him change his light-hearted tone.
“But wait, now LostAlone doesn’t have a bassist, what are we gonna do?” Steven asked everyone there. They looked stumped.
“Well we’ll just have to look for another one, put some adverts up and stuff, go to gigs and see if anyone’s interested” Mark eventually answered breaking the thoughtful silence.
“Yeah I suppose... hey haven’t we got a gig to go to in a couple of weeks? We could steal their bassist!” Steven laughed
“Now, Steven, you may need a bassist but other bands need their bassist too, you can’t go taking their bassists whenever you need one” Mrs. Battelle said cautiously but this was met with a smirk from Steven who said
“Um, mum, you do realise LostAlone isn’t so irresistible that if we ask a bassist if he wants to join he would just pack up and join us, they’d probably go “ah how about no?”” Mark breathed a laugh and Amy and Stephanie smiled and shook their heads, Mrs. Battelle rolled her eyes and bid the four goodbyes and went into the house to cook dinner with Mr. Battelle.
“You’re going where to see this band in a couple of weeks?” Stephanie asked Mark as they stroked each other’s hands that rested on Stephanie’s lap.
“Ah it’s in Nottingham, we’re going to take a train, we would’ve invited you and Amy too but there were only 2 tickets left” Mark explained, Amy didn’t mind but she would’ve liked to have gone, just in case there was the potential LostAlone bassist there. Steven must’ve seen this thought in Amy’s expression
“Aw, baby, sorry I really wanted you to come but obviously there are no more tickets, you and Steph can have input on the bassist though, seeing as what the last one did to you... last time...” Steven struggled to think back to the move that had caused this whole dilemma in the first place and shuddered.
*2 weeks pass*
The warm sun shined on the freshly mowed grass of the school fields and Steven ran down the path to the corridors where Amy was, his thick, black, soft hair was bouncing and waving about as he ran towards her excitedly. Amy looked up from getting her books from her locker and smiled as she saw Steven bounding towards her eagerly. He exclaimed lovingly as he reached her and gave her a tight hug “Hey Amy! I think we’ve found the perfect bassist!!”
