I woke up in a hospital bed.
I saw the TV on the wall was on to the discovery channel and my little sister sitting in the chair next to my bed watching it. My mom was sitting in the small nook by the window reading one of her home improvement magazines and I imagine my father was probably getting coffee or something since the clock on the other wall read 11:03 and it was dark out the window. I felt an out of place weight on my shoulder and slowly cocked my head to the side to see Alannah laying next to me in the bed, her head gentling place in between my neck and collar bone. I cocked my head back even slower than before to not wake her but my sister must have realized my stirrings cause she was looking at me with her chin in her hand. Her face seemed very concerned and I just nodded carefully and she nodded. She didn't go get the nurses like she was supposed to cause she knew I wanted some time to wake up. I looked back up at my mother and realized that she wasn't actually reading and that she was really also sleeping with the magazine in her lap with her head resting on a pillow.
My sister finally spoke after a while. Quietly she said, "You've been out cold since lunch." I whispered back, "Why is Alannah here?" Her face kinda contorted as if she didn't know the answer for herself but finally, she said, "I'm not sure, she was asleep with you when we got here and when she woke up she told all of us what happened, got some coffee from the lobby, then came back and laid back down with you. She fell back asleep around nine-ish." I nodded in return, "Am I allowed to get up?" She shook her head and said that the doctors wanted me to do some of the major healing before I could get up and walk around. We watched some more discovery channel before my father walked in with a coffee and looked at me with a surprised face as he noticed I was awake. "Well, good afternoon, brawler," he said with sarcasm in his voice. I wasn't awake enough at the time to laugh so I just smiled at him and went back to the TV.
Just a minute or two after him, a nurse dressed in the usual white attire walked in with a start as me being awake was very surprising to her. Her start made Alannah turn over and I scowled at the nurse and put my finger to my lips. My sister laughed at us both.
She said was only in to check on us and then she'd be out of our hair, which she was. She went pretty quickly. Checked my vitals, my wrapping, and my stitches and then she asked me if I needed anything. I told her I was okay but then I thought of something. "Uh, Nurse? Come here real quick." She came close and I whispered into her ear, "Was there a ring in the pocket of my jeans?" She said back with a sense of pride in her voice, "Yes, sir." She slid the small diamond ring into my hand before continuing. "I kept it on me so it wouldn't get lost." I smiled at her and she smiled back as she left.
My sister leaned in to ask what that was all about and I shook my head and said, "I'll show you later."
She looked at me with annoyance written all over her face and said, "No, show me now!"
I looked around to see if dad had fallen asleep, which he had, and then looked down at Alannah if she was still asleep, which she was. I then opened the palm of my hand to reveal the gold banded diamond ring and she gasped. "Quinten?! Who is that for?!" I told her the whole story about how Aaron had given it to me as a gift for Alannah. She sighed in disgust, "Ugh, Aaron, he's so weird."
"I know, but it saves me over $50,000 so I'm good with it." She just gaped at me in astonishment. The number was something that was insignificant to Aaron's family. They were filthy rich and Aaron was known for buying one friend something super nice every year. This year, he decided to buy me a ring for Alannah.
"When are you going to give it to her?"
I raised my eyebrows and my eyes widened. "Anna, do you really think that I'll ever even get a chance to? Last time I checked she hates me." Anna looked around me at Alannah and came back to look at me and said, "Last time I checked she hated you, too, but on the other hand she's snuggled up against you dreaming up who knows what." I was the one to look at Alannah this time. Why in the world was she here?
