Jony: A Love Story

A Dream Come True...

Jess woke up, drowning in sweat. She felt each drop roll down her back and on her face, soaking the hospital bed with the sticky fluid. Martha, the nice woman from the front desk opened the door, and told Jess that she was getting Carrie, the nurse, to change out the sheets and get her a new hospital gown. Jess was so frazzled that she couldn't even remember where her whiteboard and markers were, so she just nodded to say thank you.

She was shaking like a madman, freaking out because she couldn't handle the stress the nightmares had given her. She frantically reached for her phone to text Tony. Jess had to be sure that he and Amanda weren't together for real, not that it would be a problem for their friendship, but Jess did have a crush on Tony, and it would kill her if he was with someone else. Only the fact that Amanda was totally not Tony's type kept hope in Jess' heart. So, she sent the message.

"Hey, thanks for the food last night! Um, I have an important question to ask you... so get your butt down to the hospital ASAP! (;"

She waited for what seemed like forever before the reply, "I'm on my way! Ashton is coming too, if that's okay."

"That's fine, but he'll have to leave the room when I ask you."

"Okay? I'll see you in 5."

Just as he had said, Tony pulled up in front of the hospital 5 minutes later, Ashton riding shot-gun beside him. He looked up, and winked at Jess through the window, and Ash smacked him in the back of the head because he had blown Jess a kiss. Jess didn't mind of course, and naturally Ash only hit him because he thought he was being rediculous, so there wasn't any harm in it. Something about the way Tony blew her a kiss bugged her though. It was too friendly, alomst as if he was acting like they were dating..

Ashton burst into the room first, and tumbled over several wires to reach Jess and hug her at an alarming rate. The door to the room slamed behind him, and he jumped a little, as if he were a little kid watching his first horror movie. He was so adorable. As she pulled him into a tighter embrace, she realized that he was wearing cologne, which was something that Ashton never did. He really wasn't acting himself lately. But it had been 6 and a half weeks since they had seen each other or talked, and she definitely missed him tons, so Jess couldn't care less.

Ash pulled out of the hug to look into Jess' eyes. His eyes were absolutely gorgeous, Jess had forgotten how hot he was. His hair was spiked ever so carefully to raise just above his hairline, and his dazzling white teeth made her want to kiss him forever like she used to. That was before Tony, though. Tony! When she looked away from Ashton's captivating face, Jess saw Tony, sea green eyes and all! He had the smile of heaven radiating off of his strong facial features, as if he was glowing.

"I missed you soooooo much!" He yelled straight into her face, and looked around to make sure that no adults were in the room. When he saw that there were none, he picked her up, arms around her waist, and spun her around the room until Jess saw stars. Tony gently put her down, and gave her a quizzical look, as if he had just been snapped back into reality after the best dream he'd ever had.

"What's wrong? Aren't you glad to see me?" His smile faded into a glare of concern. Jess felt incredibly guilty for not answering, so she said all she could think to say, "I love you." But what she thought sounded like her never ending devotion to Tony, came out as, "Ahhhh eh ooohh" And she broke down into tears. She had forgotten that she couldn't talk. Tony looked at her like she was some circus freak, and stormed out of the room. Jess silently cried for as long as she could take before her nose became unbearably runny.

She looked to her right, seeing that Ashton was still sitting on the hospital bed where she had left him when Tony ran in. He looked in her eyes, his face barely visible from the angle it was at. He simply asked, "Are you okay?"

Jess looked away, and when she saw her markers and whiteboard, she dashed over to them and wrote,

No.

"I'm sorry." was all Ashton replied, and the two of them sat in silence until Jess could feel the awkward in the air.

Can I trust you? she held up the board so he could see.

"Of course you can, Jess. I love you." If it weren't for the look of sincerity in his face, Jess would've thought that he was playing her, but she knew Ash too well, and had too much history with him to allow him to lie to her. One question was bounding through her mind, one that Jess had to ask. In her best hand writing, Jess wrote:

Real or not real?

"Unconditional." That was when Carrie finally came in.