𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 (1)

𝟸𝟿. 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚎

☆ • ☆ • ☆

they waited for what seemed like days, but in reality was only for a few hours. audrey would survive. that's what they all had to believe.

gabbie and jack had joined the group in the waiting room, hoping baby lavender, who was proudly wearing the onesie that audrey had bought her would lift up their spirits.

she didn't.

christina was cuddled next to corbyn, the armrest in between the uncomfortable seats pulled up as corbyn wrapped an arm around her. she was scrolling through pictures of her audrey in her camera roll, a small smile escaping her lips every once in a while, but tears following right after.

daniel sat frozen, eyes cast downward as he stared at the floor, his blue orbs seeming to be miles away. zach and kay tried to get him to drink some water, jonah tried to get him to wash his face and freshen up, but he refused, sitting still, waiting for some good news.

tate, on the other hand, wouldn't stop moving, as her and kay both walked around the hospital, asking for audrey, and trying to figure out exactly what had happened to her.

three hours later, someone burst into the waiting room, his eyes meeting christina's.

she stood up, fire in her eyes as she asked, "what do you want, julian?"

the last word made daniel stand up, and grab julian's collar, pinning him against the wall.

"you fucking psycho," daniel spat, eyes hooded in anger. "why are you here, huh? gonna kill her this time?"

"hey, daniel, let go of him," jonah said, pulling the boy away, trying to calm him down. "hey! stop it, daniel."

"i'm here, because one of the nurses called me. i'm apparently one of audrey's emergency contacts," julian replied, panting as he fixed his shirt. "i wanted to make sure she was okay."

"she would be okay, if she didn't have a crazy ex boyfriend who wouldn't leave her the fuck alone!" daniel shouted, his voice echoing through the building. "she would be okay, if you weren't chasing after her and manipulating her all the time!"

"i love her, okay!" julian screamed back, moving closer to daniel. "she means everything to me."

"i'm sure she meant everything to you when you were fucking that girl right when audrey walked in," daniel hissed. "i'm sure she meant everything to you when you broke her heart and didn't even care."

"excuse me? last time i checked, you did the same exact thing," julian replied. "you think i don't know you fucked that blonde this afternoon? you're no fucking better than me."

"that's enough!" jonah shouted, his voice loud. "sit down, and wait for audrey to wake up. we aren't arguing about who's better, because right now, in my book, you both don't deserve someone like audrey."

the two boys froze, and sat down, as far away as they could from each other.

and they waited.

two hours later, the doctor walked inside, calling out, "anyone here for audrey juniper lee?"

everyone in the room immediately stood up, looking at her hopefully. the doctor sighed, and introduced herself. "i'm dr. buckley."

"hi, i'm christina," the brown haired girl introduced herself, shaking hands with the doctor. "how is audrey? do you know what happened?"

"there was a drunk driver, who collided into the uber that audrey was in. the uber driver, steve, is in stable condition, with a broken leg and some internal bleeding, but he should be okay. the drunk driver, is also okay, only with a broken arm. audrey was right where there would have been most impact between the two cars.

she has a punctured lung, three brusied ribs, broken arm, fractured ankle. we don't know when she'll wake up, she became unconscious soon after reaching the hospital. i'm sorry, but we'll keep updating you. we just operated on her lung, so there should be no danger to her life."

daniel dropped back down to his seat, motionless. "can we do anything at all for her?"

"i always like to think that my patients can hear me at any given time. i would go visit her, and talk to her. just have a conversation, talk about your day, anything. it might help," dr. buckley said, smiling sympathetically. "i know this is very hard, but you all need to be strong for her."

everyone nodded, wiping away tears of their own.

"can i go see her?" julian asked, breaking the silence.

"no, i want to go see her first," daniel said, standing up again. "i- i really need to talk to her."

the boys were about to argue, but dr. buckley quickly intervened. "actually, i would rather have this gentleman first, if you'll come with me, daniel."

they walked down a long hallway, where dr. buckley asked, "are you audrey's boyfriend?"

"something like that," daniel muttered. "i was gonna ask her but this happened."

"oh, daniel, i'm so sorry," dr. buckley said. "she's gonna be alright, and i'm sure that as soon as she wakes up, you could ask her."

"i- we kinda got in a fight, i don't know if she would wanna be with me anymore." he mumbled back in response.

"daniel, before she, um, before she went under, the last thing she said was 'i want daniel, please' and i'm pretty sure she was talking about you."

daniel froze, mid step. "she asked for me?" he asked in shock. dr. buckley nodded. "after everything i did, she asked for me?"

"daniel, if there's anything i've learned after being a doctor for so long, it's that one mistake doesn't always last a lifetime. you can always fix your mistakes. so whatever you did, i'm sure audrey's already forgiven you. coming this close to death can do that.

so go talk to her, ask for forgiveness, and i promise you, everything is going to be okay."

with those words, dr. buckley opened the door to audrey's room, and daniel walked in.