High School Sweetheart

Chapter 24

Ash came in later that night. She brought Ali with her. The two couples at my place made me miss Alex even more than I do now.

The two couples chatted, and I excused myself to go into my room.

At the bedside, I dropped down on my knees and began to pray to God.

"Dear God, please keep Alex safe. If you love me, keep her safe. I want to have her back home alive, and in one piece. She's all that I have left. Perry, Katie, Mom, Dad, Jeffrey, they all left me. Perry hates Alex and doesn't respect me. Please dear Lord, I love you, and I love Alex. I pray that you will bring her home. Thank you. Amen" I did the sign of the cross and sat on my bed. A knock at the door made me shake from my thoughts.

"Tobin, it's me. Can I come in?" Ash asked.

"Sure" I say.

Ash opens the door and walks in, sitting next to me. At first she doesn't say anything, then takes a breath in.

"Do you know what this reminds me about?" Ash asks.

"No. What?" I ask.

"When you were in the coma, and Alex was so worried. She spend every second she could with you. She wouldn't eat until she knew you were stable, and that was a day or two" Ash smiled. "I never saw such devotion in anyone before. It made me realize how powerful you two really are"

"Thanks, Ash, but if you haven't noticed, Alex is missing" I say to Ash.

"I wasn't done, Tobin" Ash says in a warning voice. I nod and let her finish.

"They wanted to unplug you. I had believed you were gone. And I thought you were gone, so I had told Alex it was time. She wanted a moment with you. We let her. Then, she ran out a couple minutes later yelling that you had opened your eyes" Ash seemed to be fighting back tears. "Sure enough, when we walked in, your eyes were open, but you had no idea what the hell you were looking at"

I smile.

"Alex never lost hope. Ever since you opened your eyes, she never left the hospital. She didn't take one step out of that room. She had hope, Tobin. She had hope that you will return to her life, that you were going to get out of the coma. She had hope when no one else did. She believed in your survival. It would do you good to learn from her" Ash tells me.

I just nod.

"Now let's think about it. Who would want to hurt her? Or who would try and hurt her, to hurt you?" Ash asked me.

That's what caught my attention.

"Perry. Tom Jr. Servando. Tom." I listed people, and Ash listened.

"Let's call them" Ash said.

"You mean interrogate them" I say, raising an eyebrow at Ash, small smirk starting to form at the corner of my mouth.

"Yes, interrogate them" Ash grinned devilishly. "So call up someone and put them on speaker" Ash commands me.

I nod and call Servando, the last person I'd suspect to get in between Alex and I.

"Listen Tobin I already told you I'm sorry I-" Servando says immediately.

"Oh cool it skippy" I reply.

"You're not calling me to yell at me?" Servando asks me.

"No" I say. Then Ash looks at me and mouths 'he knows nothing'. I nod.

"So why are you calling me?" He asks.

"Just making sure you didn't forget that I still don't like you" I say somewhat truthfully.