33 Days To Live (Under Revision)

46

Originally we had planned on leaving New York after the rush hour traffic but after I woke up everyone, trembling in shock, we all packed up like the world was ending and hit the road an hour after I had hung up with Luke's dad.

The entire trip back I couldn't sit still. I kept squirming around, taking shaky breaths and asking my dad every five minutes if we were there yet. I wasn't going to be able to believe that Luke was awake unless I saw him sitting up myself. Luke waking up almost sounded to good to be true, like some gut wrenching dream that seemed true but wasn't when you woke up.

In fact; I was so scared it was a dream that I had Lucy keep pinching me. I feeling a range of emotions and I didn't know which one to act upon, which was making me feel stressed and anxious.

So you could imagine my relief when my dad pulled up to the hospital an I didn't waste anytime getting out and rushing inside. Its been about four hours now since Luke's dad called and the anticipation was welling up inside me like a balloon with to much air.

"Can I have the visitors sheet please so I can go see Luke Reynolds?" I asked when it was my turn at the front desk and quickly they passed it to me and I signed my name before grabbing the visitors pass.

The entire dash from the lobby to the third floor felt like walking a hundred miles in slow motion, I couldn't get up to that room quick enough. I almost wished I could teleport so I didn't have to wait this long to see if he really woke up.

Soon enough though I found myself at the door to his room and suddenly I stopped dead in the hall.

I know he said Luke was asking for me, but how would he react to seeing me? Would he be angry I had talked him into doing that stupid race?

Would he be upset I haven't been visiting him as much lately?

How would he react when I told him about Andrew and the others and how I pretty much abandoned our popular friends?

Would he be sad when he found out Radio Boy might be on its last legs?

Did he really want to see me, or did his dad perhaps just say that so he'd have someone to share the moment with?

All these fears paralyzed me in my spot and I began to wish that I had waited for for Lucy and my family to come up with me. They were probably signing in by now or they might just chill in the waiting room downstairs.

If they were, maybe that was a good thing but a part of me needed them to guide me into the room so the reoccurring guilt I had begun to feel wouldn't suffocate me.

Before I could pull out my phone with trembling fingers though and call them, Luke's dad opened the door and smiled warmly when he saw me.

"I thought I saw you out here, what are you waiting for? Come on in," He said and suddenly my arm was grabbed and I was allowing myself to be dragged into the room. "We were scared Luke wasn't going to make because Sunday night he had a seizure. They think though that might have been what woke him up, its a miracle really," Luke's dad said to me but I was scarcely processing his words as we walked into the room.

Suddenly then, like a wave had washed over me, everything was okay and my fear was gone as I watch Luke sit up on the bed talking to his nurse. When we walked into the room and he saw me though, a wide grin broke out on his face.

"Ben! You jerk, what took so long?" He asked.

Without hesitation then, I practically skipped across the room and I crushed him in the tightest hug I could without hurting him. Instantly as he hugged me back a thousand things I wanted to say rushed to my lips but instead I started crying and blubbering like a baby.

"I m-missed you...I really m-missed you.." I managed to choke out. I did, I really did.

After that everyone decided to clear out of the room and give us a little bit of space, me especially since I had completely lost control of my emotions. I think a solid twenty minutes of me crying on his shoulder passed before I managed to calm down and I pulled away from him. "Sorry...sorry...oh gosh if you tell anyone about this I'm putting you back in the coma.." I sniffled and Luke laughed.

''Oh Ben, everyone is going to know for sure." He teased, making me smile as I lightly punched his shoulder. Luke then sighed heavily. "So my dad tells me you were in New York?" He informed and I nodded.

"Yeah, Rachel is moving up there soon for an internship and we had to find her an apartment," I said, sitting down at the foot of the bed to give Luke a little bit of space.

"That's awesome! I'm happy for her!" He beamed and I smiled once again before sighing heavily.

"I'm so sorry Luke. I've probably said it to you a thousand times already but only this one will count because you can hear me. I'm really sorry. This was my fault," I said, shaking my head as I looked down at my lap.

"No it wasn't. Ben, I didn't have to listen to you. If anything, this was more my fault then yours. I knew Jamie was a dangerous person to race against and I did anyways." He shrugged.

"That just makes me feel worse.'' I mumbled, wishing Luke hadn't mentioned his name.

"Don't let it." He then kicked my knee. "Anyways, I heard every single one of your apologies. I heard everything you said actually. Just because I couldn't wake up, didn't mean I wasn't conscious." He informed, making me look at him in surprise because that was really cool.

"You heard everything?" I asked and Luke nodded.

''Yeah. It was kind of like I was dreaming the whole time, except I heard voices instead of seeing images." He shrugged before smirking at me. "Soooo...this Lucy girl you told me about...from what I can remember you saying...it kind of sounds like you like her," He said cautiously, making me turn red.

"A lot. I like her a lot." I then looked up at him. "She said she knows you and your dad seemed pretty chummy with her. Were you and Lucy Burke friends?" I asked curiously and Luke's smirk shook a bit.

"Oh...um...yeah we did..." He then shifted. "I'm not sure if the situation is my place to tell though." He admitted, which made my curiosity spike.

"C'mon Luke, I probably already know. Please tell me, its been driving me crazy." I begged and his smile became sad. "I use to be pretty close with her...we um...our parents were friends...they met through our dads. My dad did a fundraiser for the towns firemen and Lucy's dad was winning an honor for his duties as head fireman, that was how they met." He started chewing the inside of his cheek as I felt an icy feeling settle in my stomach.

''What happened?" I asked softly.

"Remember...remember how I told you my mom died in that fire in our old house?" He asked and I nodded. That was a secret Luke hadn't told me until we were both in middle school, it bother him to much to talk about it.

"Well Lucy's dad's fire team were the first responders to the fire. My dad had gotten out with me but my mom was still trapped inside. There was no way to safely get into the fire but Lucy's dad couldn't bear the thought of letting her die so he went in anyways." Luke then shrugged.

"Neither one of them made it out." He finished softly and I stood up to take a deep breath.

"So...so what happened to your friendship with her?" I managed to ask after a moment. Luke just smiled sadly.

"We stopped being friends, she couldn't forgive us." He then chuckled. "Lucy could never handle anyone calling me a crybaby though, she'd fight whoever did," He said and then, only then it made sense why she had tripped Victoria in the cafeteria.

Because my psycho ex had called Luke a crybaby.

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Heyy darlings! So everyone seemed genuinely surprised Luke woke up, which made me happy no one saw it coming ;) I hope that means you didn't see today's plot twist coming today either! I think you all had some really good theories about how Luke and Lucy to know each other, but none of you made the connection :D

Also: I saw the new Ghostbusters movie last night and IT WAS FREAKING AMAZING OH MY GOSH YOU HAVE TO SEE IT, I DIED LAUGHING AND THE EFFECTS WERE FLAWLESS THE STORYLINE WAS BOMB AND JUST AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

-Mari.