tulips | grayson dolan

TWO.

TULIPS—TWO.
( WAKE UP... )

it's been a week since grayson's been in the hospital. seven days. grayson has been in a coma for seven days. my heart breaks every time i look at him. my handsome boy that always could breath on his own now has a machine to do it for him.

ethan's been here every day too. one to see his brother, and two to keep me company. he treats me like his sister, and that makes me feel a little bit better.

i decided to make a playlist before going into his room this time. i thought to myself that maybe, just maybe if i play him our favorite songs, he'll just wake up.

"hey baby," i smile. even my smiles are hard to produce. grayson's eyes still remain shut.

i take his hand into my gently, trying not to mess any of the wires up. i press play on my phone and let the sound of the music flow through the room.

i hum to the song "hey there delilah" by plain white t's.

as soon as the lyrics reach "i'm right here if you get lonely, give this song another listen" i feel grayson's hand squeeze mine. what?

i look up towards him. his eyes are still closed. this could be just a coincidence, but maybe he can actually hear me.

"ethan, did you see that?" i look behind me.

he squints his eyes as he leans up against the wall, "see what?"

i smile to myself and look back to grayson, "he squeezed my hand, ethan. he can hear us."

ethan widens his eyes. i smile. he hears us.

________

a few more hours go by. no more movement. the doctors said that grayson moving is a good sign, it means he'll wake up soon.

"a-alex, look!" ethan suggests, i look up from the floor to see a beautiful pair of hazel orbs glaring towards me. "grayson?" i slowly get up from my seat.

"grayson! oh my god!" i speed closer to him. ethan walks out to grab a nurse to let her know that grayson's awake.

something was off though. grayson didn't look at me the same way he usually does. his eyes aren't filled with that glaze of love.

"ms.conan, i'm afraid you need to step out for a moment." a nurse grabs my hand, signaling that i should leave.

"what? b-bu-" i stutter. "please ma'am. just for a moment." the blonde adds.

i walk out and stand behind the door, peaking through the small window.

"holy fuck." ethan breathes out. holy fuck is right.

after a few minutes, grayson's doctor runs in the room, and i peep through the window to see him asking grayson questions. he only answers with nods up and down or moving his head from side to side gently.

after what seems to be ages, the doctor opens the door with a frown plastered on his face, "ms.conan, mr.dolan, can i speak with you two for a moment?"

ethan and i nod and follow him to a corner away from grayson's room. the doctor begins to tell us the obvious, that grayson has finally woken up from his coma, which is the good news. "but apart from the good news, the bad news is that due to the damage from the accident, and possible to coma, grayson's going to suffer from a tragic memory loss."

no. no. no.

"after questioning him we found out that it seems like he doesn't remember the last four years of his life."

my heart drops. four years. the same amount of years he's known me for. this cant be real. it can't.

ethan slowly shuts his eyes and tilts his head up. "fuck."

the doctor takes a moment of silence before letting us know that we can see him again.

before i open the door the doctor suggests, "oh and maybe you shouldn't mention your relationship with him. not until he's ready."

i look down. great, now i have to pretend like the last four years never happened. i'm just another face in the background of his life. what the hell do i even say? i'm just his friend?

"hey buddy," ethan's shaken voice says as he approached grayson.

grayson's body is still laying down, but his eyes are open now, and there's a little bit more color on his face.

"hey man, you look older." grayson chuckles, his voice a little raspy. oh my god. that voice. i haven't heard his voice in a week.

i stand behind ethan's broad shoulder's, maybe grayson can't even see me.

"who's that?" his head moves a little to the side to stare at me, behind ethan.

wow. i broke. "oh my god." i run out of the room. tears staining my face. i try not to make so much noise to not draw attention to myself.

i lean against the wall and slowly fall down. i sit with my hands covered in my face.

the sound of footsteps approach me, i look up to see ethan kneeling down towards me, "alex..."

i sniffle, "i can't, ethan. i can't. he doesn't fucking remember me. he doesn't know who i am."

ethan sighs and sends me a genuine frown. "i'm sorry alex, but please just try. do it for grayson. you know it's what he would've done for you."

he's right. i can't be a little bitch right now. grayson needs me.

i dry up my tears with my finger and walk back with ethan. "hey gray..." i whisper.

grayson looks at me, still confused. "hey-" he doesn't even know my name.

"alex," i fill in. he nods his head. "and we're?"

"friends. just friends." i lie. god this hurts.

"oh. okay" he looks back towards ethan.

"dude. i had the craziest dream," he widens his eyes.

ethan chuckles, "you've been sleeping for a while bud, what was your dream."

grayson goes on to explain the whole car accident in detail. "there was also this really pretty girl with me, but i cant remember what she looked like."

me. i'm that really pretty girl.

my lips form a line as i fake a smile.

AUTHOR'S NOTE...
tbh if i was a reader i would be skipping all of these first few chapters and just get to the part where grayson is mainly in cause 😳💀🤚 but im almost there