11:11pm

Ian

I smiled at E's text. He was so sweet... I shook my head to get out of my daze. I sat in a reclining chair in my mom's hospital room, right next to the window. My mom was asleep, and the machines behind her beeped and whirred. I was waiting for a report on what happened to her and why she wasn't waking up. The doctors said she was in a coma, and they didn't know how long it would be until she woke up. After hearing that news, I had cried for hours.

Now, I sat by her bed in the chair, staring at her, waiting for her to wake up smiling. That's just how she was. If something bad happened, she would say "it's okay" and smile at me, even through her own tears. My dad and sisters funeral was the only time I hadn't seen her smiling. The whole time she stared at their caskets, silent tears streaming down her face. Through the funeral I wanted to strangle whoever did this, killing my sweet sister and my crazy dad, and also for making my mom cry.

I sighed, and got up. My uncle, who dozed in the corner, woke with a start from the sudden noise. He relaxed after he saw it was just me. "Hey kiddo, any news?" he asked, stretching.

"No, nothing yet. I'm going to go get some food," I replied.

"Okay. Instead of getting some nasty, expensive hospital food, why don't you go to the McDonalds across the street? Here, I give you some money." He dug through his pockets and pulled out two twenty dollar bills. "I would say try not to spend all of it, but if you do, spend most of it on some good ice cream."

I nodded, and he gave me the money. I waved bye to him as I walked out.

When I got to the McDonalds, there was a short-ish line and I got behind a guy with dark black hair. He was smiling about something, and I heard shouting from across the restaurant. I looked over to where the shouting was, and there he was. I could feel my face grow hot.

He looked as cute as always, and he was surrounded by his friends. He had a gift bag next to him. His friends were teasing him about something, and I thought I heard the word boyfriend.

My heart sank. If he had a boyfriend, does that mean he doesn't like me? I sighed. he probably doesn't like me back anyways.

The guy in front of me turned around. He gave me a look, and his eyes widened. He turned around very quickly and I frowned. Weird. Now the guy was gesturing at E, and the guy pointed at me. E's eyes grew wide, too. He turned as red as I felt, and his friends all started laughing and making weird noises. Then I realized they were teasing him. So maybe he does like me? That might be why his friends are teasing him... The guy in front of me was gesturing wildly now, and E just looked confused. His friends pulled him to his feet, pushing him in my direction. E looked back at his friends, obviously scared. They made a "go on" gesture. He turned back, facing me and slowly walked over. The guy in front of me reached out and grabbed E. He shoved the money he was holding into E's hands, and ran off.

E's stood in front of me, mortified. "H-h-hi..." he stammered, turning red and glancing at me and then glancing away.

"Uh, hey. What are you, um, doing here?" I asked him. I could feel my face grow slightly warmer.

"Uh... I.. we're just here to get lunch..."

Of course. I'm so stupid. I felt my face go hot all over.

"I got you a present!" He blurted out, then turned bright red.

"Oh, you did? Um, that's cool. Thanks?" I didn't really know what to say. My heart fluttered. Maybe he does like me... Maybe...

He order his food, and then turned to me. "You can sit with us, if you want..." he said, blushing.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I murmured.

I ordered my food, and stood over by the side to wait for it. E stood next to me, fumbling with the receipt. When his number was called, he rushed forward, accidentally brushing my arm. He looked at me, embarrassment covering his face, and muttered a "sorry". I smiled at him, and he gave a sheepish smile back as he walked forward. He picked up his tray, glanced at me and trotted over to his table of friends.

When my order was called, I picked up my tray and hesitated. If I just walk over there, they might think I'm weird. But if I sit by myself, they'll think I'm weird, too. I shrugged and walked over to his table.

His friends were messing around at his table. Their weren't enough seats at the table they sat at, so I took the one close to it. E noticed me, and scooched out of their little booth and sat at my table. His friends made some more weird noises, and then started howling with laughter. E turned red, but I just rolled my eyes at his friends and smiled. He gave me a surprised look, then smiled back.

We ate in silence for a bit, and after awhile, he asked about my mom.

"Um... she's okay... I guess..." I said, and picked at my food. Cue awkward silence and cricket chirps.

"Oh... is she hurt really bad?" he asked.

"Um.. kinda... she's in a coma.."

"WHAT?" shouted E. Everyone in the restaurant looked over at our table. E turned bright red again, and muttered "sorry." He turned back to me. "What?!?" he said, quietly, concern etching his face. He looked genuinely worried.

"The accident... it put her into a coma... I don't know when she'll wake up, because the doctors don't even know when she'll wake up." I mumbled.

"Well, um, hey do you want me to come with you back to the hospital?"

I looked up at him when he said this. He was slightly red, looking shy and embarrassed. The best part was, he was so sweet in asking if I wanted him to come with me. I nodded a yes. It be nice to have some other company at the hospital.

After E was done telling his friends that he was coming with me, he met me by the door. He was bright red, again, and he had a small smile on his face. I sighed, but in a joyful way. That smile was to die for...

We walked across the street to the large hospital. The elevator ride up was short, and we talked about things like school and homework and topics having to relate to school.

"Hey, who do you have a crush on?" I blurted out. We were right in the middle of a conversation about History and our favorite part about it when that thought popped into my mind.

He looked at me. E glanced around the hallway, his cheeks flushed. He glanced at me and then turned crimson.

I stopped, shocked. From the way he was acting, I could tell he had a crush on me. "Do... do you.. have a crush on me? That's not a bad thing or anything, pretty boy-I mean, E!- um not that you're not prett- I mean.." I rambled. He reached out and grabbed my shoulders and lightly shook me, enough to pull me back to reality. When I came back, he was looking at me with a strange look. Then he blushed harder, and looked away.

We continued walking, in silence. Our shoes squeaked on the tile. "Here's her room..." I gestured with my hand at the room, and he went in first, and I was close behind.

When we got in there, there was a doctor and a nurse. When the doc saw me, he nodded and brushed past us on his way out. The nurse was fiddling with some machines while E and I sat. Neal seemed to have left the room, maybe to get lunch. I sat back in a small couch in the room and stretched. When I pulled one of my arms behind my head, I heard a loud pop in my arm, and groaned. I had just realized I was extremely sore. My head ached. My arms ached. My legs ached. 

E looked over at me and must have seen how tired I was. "You can sleep. I'll wake you up if anything happens," He said.

I nodded an okay and smiled at him. I closed my eyes and slept.