Saving Rose

Crash

The ride to the hospital is absolutely silent. I'm unable to speak, both physically and mentally. My voice doesn't work. I'm terrified.

Mike told us, very slowly, what had happened, on our way there. I don't want to hear it; I want to cover my ears and close my eyes and curl up and pretend it never happened. I can't, though.

They were walking over to the beach to hang out with us. They were bored. Jaime missed me. Just as he stepped into the street, a car flew around the corner. They didn't even see him in time. It was too late. He was already lying on the floor with 3 broken ribs, a broken leg, multiple bruises, and a huge gash across his stomach. He lost a lot of blood. Too much.

After that, Mike had to stop explaining, because I couldn't take anymore of it. Not another word. I'm scared, I'm sad, I'm angry. It shouldn't have been him. It should have been me. He's the better one! It wasn't fair. I just hope he's okay. My thoughts are a jumbled mess.


Finally we pull on, skidding into a spot immediately. Oli's an excellent driver. We all file out as quick as we can, and I try to take off towards the entrance, but Austin stops me, grabbing my arm.

"I'm not letting you go alone. Wait for us," he says softly, and I nod, as a fresh wave of tears comes. I start crying again, and Austin wraps his arms around me comfortingly, stroking my hair softly.

"Shhh, it'll be alright. Everything will be alright," he whispers soothingly to me, and I calm down a little, not shaking as much as before.

We walk inside, and Oli, the one who's the most emotionally stable, walks up to the front desk and talks to the lady. In this moment, I'm thankful for Oli.

The hospital scares me. It brings up bad memories. My suicide attempt. It's too white. I start to feel sick, and look at Austin with a hopeless expression. Oh, no.

"Austin-" I start, then my stomach starts to lurch in slow motion. My eyes widen, and I bolt to the bathroom, which we just passed, luckily. I barge into a stall and throw up the contents of my stomach: not much since I never got to eat my breakfast. It still makes me feel terrible, though.

Instantly, I feel hands carefully lifting my hair away from my face, then rubbing my back gently. I smoothly sit up, taking slow breaths. With one swift movement, Austin pulls me up and I lean on him as he leads me to the sink. I quickly wash out my mouth, which doesn't help very much. The taste still lingers in my mouth. My stomach still feels queasy.

"I don't feel..." I say in between labored breaths, "too good."

Austin just nods understandingly, putting his arm around me protectively as we walk out of the bathroom. "It's nerves, darling."

I wrap my arm around him, leaning into my literal support system. Austin is so much taller than me, it's comforting. We'll brave this together.

We reach Jaime's room. It still feels strange thinking that. I wish this was a bad dream. Somehow, I know it's not, though. This is real.

The others waited for me while I threw up. We all walk into the room together, Oli in the lead once again. I'll have to thank him later. I gulp as the bed comes into view.

He's hooked up to a few machines, and has a thick bandage around his stomach/chest area. His leg is bandaged tightly, to keep the bone aligned. His eyes are dim. He doesn't look very good. He looks like he's in pain. I'm not sure if I can be okay with him being in pain. I hate it.

"Hey,' he mutters weakly, barely raising his head. He looks worn down. I wonder how much sleep he got.

"Hey," I reply, sounding equally weak. Actually, it comes out as a croak.

I immediately go to his bed, brushing away a few tears before I grab his hand tightly, clinging to it for dear life.

"It's okay. We're gonna be fine," he murmurs to me, reaching up and stroking the side of my face lovingly. I let out a whimper, holding on to his hand a little tighter.

"I'm scared."

Jaime looks at me, then gives me a wobbly smile. "I know, baby, but please try to be happy. I-I'll be fine."

I sniffle. "I know... I was just so scared... When Mike came..."

Jaime looks up at me with tears in his eyes. "Look. Look at me," he commands, and I obey, taking in the image of his body. Not too broken. I guess.

"I'm okay. See? I'm alive. It's okay. Breathe. I know you panicked when you heard I was in the hospital and got hit, but you overreacted. I'm fine."

His words help so much. He knows all the right things to say. I feel a lot better now than I did a few seconds ago. I can feel myself calming down.

"Thanks," I say, my voice a little steadier. That makes him smile. He notices even the smallest things about me. I smile back, glad to have him.

"I love you." I say suddenly, not even thinking. Just talking. Speaking my mind. I have to tell him. I have to let him know. Because someday something like this could happen, only it could be worse, and I could lose him, and I want to make sure he knows how much I love him before it's too late.

"I love you too. So much. You're beautiful and amazing and imperfectly perfect and that's why I love you."

His response brings back the tears, and I lean down and give him as soft of a hug as I can. He kisses my forehead, my cheek, my chin, my nose. I smile a little, even giggle after he finally gets to my mouth and kisses me, and his entire face lights up in happiness. He seems to get a dark thought for a split second, though, because his eyebrows narrow a little.


"Don't hurt yourself because of this, okay? Don't blame yourself."

His words stun me, but I know they're legitimate. Deep down, I'm kind of blaming myself. But hurting myself would hurt Jaime, and there's no way I'm going to do that to him now. I mentally make a promise to him, myself, and everyone I love that I'm not going to hurt myself at all because of this.

"Okay." I say with complete confidence in myself. I'm not going to let him down. Not now. And I wish I could say I'll never hurt myself again, but I'm not sure if that's possible yet.

He gives me a reassuring smile, then lets go of my hand. "Thanks for coming and being there for Rose," Jaime says to Oli and Austin. They both give him smiles in return.

"No problem," Oli shrugs.

"It's fine. Rose threw up, but I think she's better now!" Austin says, sounding like a caring parent. I know he always tells Jaime how I am whenever we're together and Jaime's not there. Right now, I'm a little upset he told, though, because that might make Jaime worry.

"You're better now, though, right?"

I nod at Jaime's question. "I was just really scared."


We talk like that for a long time. More than an hour. We talk about everything under the moon. Touring, writing new music, fans, parents, plans, memories, everything. Vic, Mike, and Tony go get themselves food, but Austin says that we can go somewhere soon, like the three of us were planning earlier.

Finally, a nurse comes in and gives us a stern look. I internally groan, but don't want to seem impolite, so I keep my mouth shut. I barely got to spend time with Jaime.

"I'm very sorry, but Mr. Preciado's visiting hours for this morning are over. He needs to rest. You can come back anytime later on between 3 and 8pm if you would like," she says, smiling apologetically. I try not to complain.

I don't waste any time rushing over to Jaime and giving him a hug and planting a kiss on his forehead. "I love you."

He repeats the phrase back to me without hesitation, making me smile. "Love you too."

I stand up straight and look at the guys. They all nod reassuringly. Then, we start heading towards the door.

"Thanks," the nurse says cheerfully, but I can hear Jaime's upset grunt in the background. I don't get too upset, though, because I'm so glad he's going to be okay. I don't know what I'd do if he died. I think that I'd probably die too.