True Love | Book 2

Chapter 31

(Josh)

The sound of people talking wakes me up in the morning. I look around me and see Jennifer's parents, my parents, Conner, Jennifer's brothers, and Ava, are all in the room with me. Jennifer's family has been coming to see her everyday and bringing Ava, but my family didn't show up until today. Jens supposed to be going home today and my parents offered to watch Ava for a couple of days for us so Jen can recover. "Josh, you're up." Jennifer says, attracting everyone's attention towards me. I hadn't even noticed her sitting up in her hospital bed talking to my mom. "Yeah. I'm up." I rub my eyes and slowly stand up. "How ya feeling?" I ask, approaching her hospital bed. "Hungry." She says, smiling a little. "You wanna go get something to eat?" She nods. "Yes. Can you help me up?" I wrap an arm around her and help her climb out of bed, her body leaning up against mine. "I'm sorry. It's just hard to get up sometimes." She stands up straighter and holds my hand. "It's okay. Are you sure you don't want the wheel chair?" She rolls her eyes at me. "Yes, Josh, I'm sure." She says. "Okay. Just checking." She starts walking towards the door but I stop her. "Wait." I tell her. "Has Ava ate anything this morning?" I turn to my mom. "She didn't want anything earlier. You could probably try again if you want to take her with you. Or maybe we could if you don't want to." She says. "No, it's okay. Ava can come with us." Blaine grabs Ava and takes her away from where they were playing by the chair and sets her down next to me. I pick her up and hold her in my free arm, while Jennifer links her arm with mine. We walk down the hallway like that, ignoring people's stares, until we reach the cafeteria.

I set the tray of food down on the table and pull out a chair for myself. "Oh, thank god. You got pizza." Jennifer flashes me her smile before taking a big slice of pizza out of the box. "And fries." I say, pointing to the fries. Then I grab the bag of graham crackers and give a few to Ava, whose sitting in a high chair next to Jen. Jennifer barely leaves Ava's side when she's visiting. Although it's faded over time, I know it's still hard for her to be away from Ava, even if it's for only a few days. I'm sure she'll feel the same way about Cole too. I take a piece of pizza and munch on it, gazing out the window. "Can you go get me some ketchup? It's over there." She points to the packets of ketchup on one of the counters. "Sure." I get up, get the ketchup, and sit back down. "Thank youuuuu!" She says, in her sweet voice she always uses when she's trying to be cute. She dips a bunch of fries in the ketchup and shoves them in her mouth, smiling at me. Her attempt at being cute is definitely working.

We get back to the hospital room about an hour later, and Ava immediately runs over to the couch. I follow Jen and ignore her protests, helping her get into her hospital bed. "I don't need that much help Josh. I had a baby. I didn't break my legs." She says, rolling her eyes at me. I ignore her and walk over to Ava, picking up a toy and handing it to her. The nurse comes back in and gives Jennifer more medicine, then leaves again. "What time are you guys allowed to leave?" My mom asks. "I think at eight." I look to Jen for confirmation and she nods. "Yeah, eight." She says. "Okay, I think we're gonna leave soon, so you guys can get some rest. But call if you need us." My mom says, packing up Ava's things. "Okay, love you mom." I say. "Love you too, Josh, and you Jen." They leave without another word and Jen and I both fall asleep.

I get all of Jennifer's stuff ready and mine, before waking her up. "C'mon, Jennifer. Get up." She sits up, rubbing her eyes. "What?" She asks, still half-asleep. "Get up and get dressed. It's time to leave." She gets up and grabs her clothes. "Can you help me?" She asks. "Yeah." I follow her to the bathroom and shut the door. "What do you want me to do?" She turns around. "Untie this." I untie her hospital gown and help her out of it. Then I grab her shirt and help her get it on. "Do you wanna change your pants? Or stay in these?" She put on sweatpants before my parents and her brothers came over. "Stay in these." She grabs her socks and puts them on, then we leave the bathroom and she puts on her shoes. "Ready to go?" I ask, grabbing our bags. "Yep." She nods. She grabs my hand and we walk out to the car.

Once we get home, I set our bags down on the couch and take cole upstairs to his room. I put him in his crib and walk to our bedroom where Jen is waiting. I climb into bed next to her and lay down. She fell asleep in the car twice and barely woke up long enough to walk to our bedroom. The bed shifts as I move and she moves with me, curling up next to me. "Josh?" She whispers, barely awake. The medicine they gave her at the hospital is really strong, so I know she won't be able to stay awake long. "Yeah?" I look down at her. "I love you." She whispers, closing her eyes. "I love you too, Jen." And just like that she's asleep again.

A/N: sorry it took so long to update. Sometimes it's hard to write. I feel like I say sorry a lot but I'm really not that sorry I just want you to know that I'm trying to update as fast as possible and I understand how frustrating it is to keep waiting for an update. But hopefully the next few chapters will be posted soon.