Let Me Go

Chapter 11

Austin smiled right as I walked into his hospital room.  I noticed he looked me up and down and then closed his eyes and laid his head back.  As he was resting his head back on the pillow I came up and kissed his cheek.  He opened his eyes and turned his head to look at me.  

"Paige," He said, grabbing my hand.  "I can't wait until I get out of here.  We can spend time together again."  He said before kissing my hand.  

"I know, hun.  Don't worry about me, just focus on getting better."  I said before he kissed my hand again.  He stared up into my eyes and I knew he wanted more.

Then we heard the door open and we both turned to look at it.  In came Austin's mom, smiling at us.  

"Paige, hello Dear!"  She said happily, pulling me in for a hug. 

 She had never been so excited to see me before as she was in that moment.  She liked me being with her son and that...that was a good thing.  I didn't need a mother-in-law from hell in the future. 

 "Mom, I feel fine.  Can I have some time with Paige?" Austin asked, interrupting my thoughts.  His mom sighed.  You could tell she was under a lot of stress.

 "No kissing in here you two."  She said jokingly before leaving the room again. 

 I smiled at Austin when she left and he patted an empty part of the bed, right beside him. 

 "I miss being close to you."  He said as I sat beside him.  He grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers. 

 "I miss that too.  I will wait for you though...I mean, you can't be in here for much longer."  I replied, trying to bring up his mood.  Austin closed his eyes and shook his head.

 "I don't know, Paige.  All I know is...I can't lose you again.  This girl right here, she's mine."  He said before squeezing my hand tighter.  

"You're not going away again and neither am I."  He promised. 

 "I love you,  Austin."  I said before he slowly pulled my hand up to his mouth and kissed it again. 

 "I love you more than anything."  He replied.  Then we heard a knock on the door before his dad opened it.  

"Hi, Paige." He said, smiling at me. 

"Hello, maybe I should get going." I said, getting up off the bed.

"Doctor Reynolds needs to come in to speak to you."  Austin's dad said before the doctor and Austin's mom came in through the door. 

 I took that as my signal to leave so I told Austin I'd be back later and left the room.  I shut the door behind me on my way out and went to the waiting room.  Thoughts of Austin and I before the whole accident kept running through my mind.  I said I would wait for him to come back from college but...I didn't.  Maybe this was all my fault.  No, it couldn't be.  I shook off that thought and looked at the time on my phone.

It was 10 o'clock pm already and that meant that mom and dad were asleep which meant I should be getting home soon.  Luckily, fifteen minutes later Austin's parents came into the waiting room and told me I could go see him if I wanted to speak with him more.  I went in there and Austin had his hands covering his face.  

"Hun, it's me." I said softly, crouching down and rubbing his shoulder. 

 "Paige, this isn't good." He said, grabbing my hand off his shoulder. 

 "What?  What's not good?"  I asked.  He shook his head, not able to look at me.

"The doctor...he said I will be having.....complications when I get out."  Austin stuttered.  He finally made eye contact with me.  "Austin, I still won't be going away agai--" He cut me off. "Paige, I might not be able to walk!" He said, raising his voice a bit.  He was frustrated.  I looked at his legs and covered my mouth as my eyes got watery.  "I might not be able to have kids, and if I do they may have disabilities."  He said, staring down at our hands.