Nerd // l.h [au] (re-writing)

Chapter 36 ~ "Peachy"

Avalon's P.O.V

I groaned quietly, stirring to try to get comfortable in a not so comfortable chair. It proved to be more difficult than I thought, but I made do.

I'd been at Luke's bedside since he collapsed two days prior. Since then, Calum and some other football guys came by, the kicker staying behind a bit to keep me company before he left. My mom also stopped by to see me because she was worried when I didn't come home. She dropped off some new clothes for me, but I didn't use them except for Luke's sweatshirt. I didn't want to leave and then have him wake up when I wasn't there. I wanted to be the first person he saw when he woke up, no matter how selfish that sounded.

Finally, I was formally introduced to Luke's entire family, including his mom, Liz, his dad, Andrew, and his two older brothers, Ben and Jack. They were all pretty confused as to whom I was, but once I simply mentioned my name, their faces lit up in recognition. Apparently Luke talked highly about me to his family, and a lot. I was shocked at how much they knew about me already, and Liz even went as far as to say "Luke said you were beautiful but I didn't expect you to be this beautiful." I was surely going to tease him when he woke up.

That was, if he even wanted to talk to me when he woke up.

I messed up, and it was honestly my biggest regret. I never should've broken up with him. I should've told him about Theresa and Chad threatening me, then maybe we could've worked together to make them stop. We could've avoided ever breaking up at all and my life wouldn't have been the hell that it was for the past two weeks.

All I knew was I just needed to talk to him, even if he didn't want to talk to me. It wasn't like he could go anywhere anyway. I needed to tell him I was sorry, and that I never meant to hurt him, and it broke my heart when he cried in front of me.

Most importantly, I wanted to tell him that I was wrong and that I was in love with him. I wanted him to know how much he meant to me, and I just wanted to kiss those damn lips that I missed so much. And I wanted to hold his dumb hand and play with his stupid hair and tell him I never wanted to and I never planned to leave his idiotic ass ever again.

Somewhat going back to reality, I realized I also had to tell him about my acceptance to the University of Southern California: Los Angeles. That meant I would eventually have to leave him again, and we would have to say goodbye for four or more years, but I'd cross that bridge when I got there. As of this moment, I wanted to live in the moment and not worry about the future, and right now, I was here to stay.

But honestly, I didn't know if I could handle a long distance relationship, especially when he would be so busy with football. I didn't want to be the reason he stayed up late and was exhausted for the game the next day and played awfully and ultimately got kicked off of the team thus crushing his dreams of ever playing in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Overdramatic thinking, yes, but one could never be too careful about the future.

I'd finally had enough of trying to get comfortable in the damn chair so I decided to get up and try to find something productive to do. Although that was probably impossible, since I didn't think there was anything productive to do in a hospital, but it was better than lying around getting a bigger ache in my back and neck.

I stretched my body out over the chair and let out a loud yawn. I probably looked like a cat, but at this point, I didn't care. I sat up, eyes closed because I was tired, and sat on the edge of the cushion, preparing myself to stand.

I opened my eyes and diverted them to Luke, fully expecting him to still be sleeping. Imagine my surprise when I saw him sitting up and staring right back at me, his crystal blue eyes glaring straight into my soul.