Normal //Ryan Metzger

21: lauren?

The days had passed and Ryan hadn't woken up yet.
    I was at the hospital 24/7 with him, waiting for him to open his eyes. I had ordered him a new pair of glasses, with his prescription, that showed up just a few days later. When they arrived, Jack brought them from the apartment and I slid them on his face.
   "There," I said, throwing the cardboard box away. "He is Ryan again." Jack put his arm around me as we stood at the edge of his hospital bed, staring at him as we hugged.
Thankfully, the doctors had cleared Ryan of internal bleeding and they had approved the final securing of the brain bleed. Now, it was just a waiting game of if and when he would wake up.
Adam, Jack, and them would visit everyday or so, but I would stay day and night, waiting for him to wake up. I slept on the uncomfortable couch they had squished against the far wall and got some reading time with my new book as the doctors and I waited.
"Hey," Ryan's friends John and Eliza said, quietly walking into his now permanent admitted room. They had transferred Ryan from the recovery trauma room up to the regular rooms after his brain bleed was cleared by the neurosurgeon.
I looked up over the edge of my book and saw them enter with a new vinyl record instead of flowers or balloons. I had asked everyone to bring music of any kind instead of all of that so Ryan could have it and listen to it when he wakes. I played some of the records in the hospital room, which the nurses and doctors appreciated.
  "Hey!" I said whispering and I jumped up, giving them all hugs. They handed me a Queen's Greatest Hits album and I set it with the others in the corner by my things that I brought here from home.
"How's he doing?" Eliza asked, looking over at him laying on the bed.
   "He's doing better," I said sighing, sitting up on the hospital couch. I looked over at him as well and reached my hand over to grab his and I gave it a squeeze three time, signaling I love you.
   I was half expecting his hand to squeeze mine back the three times, but it laid in the palm of my hand.
   "Did the doctors say when he's hopefully to wake up?" John said, setting the record in the stack of others and sitting beside me.
   I shook my head, looking down towards the ground.
   "They said it could be tomorrow, next week, next month, never," I said. "It's just a waiting game."
   "Well, how are you doing?" Eliza asked, sitting beside John. "You look tired."
   "I am," I laughed. "Jack and Adam bring me stuff from home like clothes and they brought all of my things that I'd need for long term, like a toothbrush and stuff. Emily brings me leftovers from her and Adam's dinners, too."
   "You're staying until he wakes?" Eliza asked, confused.
   "Yeah," I said, nodding my head. "I know if our places were switched that he would be here."
   John and Eliza nodded and we all looked onto Ryan as he laid there, almost corpse like. A David Bowie album was playing throughout the room in a quiet tone but our silence made it louder than ever.
   I heard a knock on the hospital room door and a familiar face, that was the last person I wanted visiting, walked through the door.
   "Lauren?" I heard her voice say. Natalie appeared from behind the curtain I had pulled out. She held a bouquet of flowers and a Hey well card.
   "Natalie," I said standoffish, standing up quickly. John and Eliza looked at Natalie with a concerned look.
   "John and I are going to run and get food, need anything?" Eliza asked, them both standing up from the couch.
   "I'm good, thank you," I said, not breaking my eye contact. Eliza rubbed my back and the two left the room, leaving Natalie and I alone with Ryan.
   "How is he?" She asked with watery eyes.
   "Fine," I said crossing my arms. "Alive, a beating heart even thought you broke it."
   "Lauren, I-" she said walking towards me, but I stopped her.
   "No," I said, holding up my index finger. "You don't get to defend what you did. To even think you would show up to visit him after what you did? That is defenseless."
   "Lauren, I came to pay my respects," she said.
   "He's not dead!" I yelled while laughing at her incompetence. "Even if he was dead you would pay your respects on you own time, not just show up at his funeral ready to ruin everything!"
   I winced at the idea Ryan laying in a grey coffin with all of us surrounding it. I felt stinging tears at the edge of my eyes and shook the thought away.
   "I just wanted to see if he was okay," she said. "If you were okay."
   "We are just fine," I said as the tears clouded my eyes. I reached for his hand again and squeezed it the exact same way as earlier. "So thank you, but I think it is time to leave."
   I ushered her towards the door as Jack, Adam, and Emily walked through it.
   "Oh shit," Jack said, cowering back in disgust as he saw her. Emily held yet another Tupperware container, this time what looked like lasagna, and set it on the counter and crossed her arms.
   "What's going on here?" Adam said confused, looking back from me and Natalie.
   "I was just leaving," Natalie said, setting the flowers down on the counter and the balloon floating to the air. "But not before I am respected here. Yes, I hurt him but I still care about him because you guys don't know the full story."
   "You guys?" Jack whispered but I barely heard it because of Natalie and I arguing. Jack was fed up and yelled it again, growing pale like he has seen a ghost. "You guys!"
   As soon as he said that, there were three little weak squeezes on my hand.
  
    Everything in the next minutes went in slow motion. My eyes widened as I flipped around to see Ryan's beautiful eyes groggily open.
   "Ryan!" I said, going straight to his side.
   "Nurse?" Adam yelled out into the hallway. "Nurse!"
   "Natalie, you need to leave now," Emily said, quickly ushering her out of the hospital room as doctors and nurses flooded in.
   "Thank god, Ryan," I said as tears ran down my face. "Thank god."
   He weakly looked up at me, his eyes swarming my heart with a warm feeling. I was so ecstatic, I could barely breath as I sobbed of happiness.
   "Lauren?" He weakly said.