When I first started to drift from the land of dreams, I heard whispering voices sneaking back and forth between the door and somewhere in my room.
“What are you doing?” I asked without opening my eyes.
“Shit, we better finish this later! She said she didn’t want anyone in here,” a voice whispered.
“But we’ve only got one more load!” another protested.
“Well, hurry it up!” the first person said.
When I first tried to open my eyes, the glare from the window forced me to close them again. Gradually I became used to the light, and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I sat up in the uncomfortable hospital bed, momentarily forgetting the sling my leg was in.
“Oww! Shit!” I screamed after accidently moving my ankle slightly.
“Are you okay?” Mark asked worriedly as he rushed in the door. I could see a couple other faces at the window who had been alarmed by my scream.
“Oh just peachy keen!” I whined, laying back down and stuffing a pillow over my face.
“Come on Laura, get up. You have several people who really want to see you,” Mark said taking the pillow off my face.
“I’m not allowed to wallow in self-pity?” I whined.
“No! Now look how much you’re loved,” Mark said, pointing towards to window that was letting in the sunlight that felt like hurting my eyes. There were several long tables lined up against the walls. They were all convered with balloons, flowers, stuffed animals, get well cards, and assorted other items.
“What the heck? How long was I asleep?”
“Only for about two hours. Things have been pouring in in hordes ever since you arrived,” Mark laughed.
“How did it get in here?” I asked. Mark pointed at the guilty faces in the window, and I laughed.
I waved Sayde, Chris K., Justin, Ani, and JC in, and the rushed in the room.
“I thought I heard Chris and Ani’s voice when I woke up,” I laughed.
“I told you she’d wake up because of you,” Ani poked Chris.
“Hey, it’s not my fault that I can’t be quiet!” he laughed.
“You’re not mad, are you?” Justin asked.
“Why would I be mad silly?”
“Because you said you wanted to be left alone.”
“Well, I needed some time to process what happened, but I’d rather have people around than be alone!”
“Excuse me? Can I please talk to Miss Ford alone?” Dr. Parker asked from the doorway.
“Sure, come on in!” Justin smiled.
“Justin, that means we have to leave,” JC laughed.
“Oh, right, we’ll be back soon Laur!” Ya can’t escape me!” Justin cackled.
“Bye Justin,” I laughed while Mark shooed him out the door.
“Miss Ford? I have your x-ray results back.”
“Please, call me Laura. What do the results say?”
“Well, I’m afraid your ankle definitely is broken, but it’s not too bad a break, and as long as you stay off of it for a while, it’ll be as good as new in no time.”
“How long will it have to be in a cast?”
“Well, you’ll be in a cast for at least three months, but we’ll check up on you every couple of weeks to see how you’re progressing. You’ll have to walk with crutches until the cast comes off. You’re 6 feet tall, right?”
“Yes. One more question. How much longer will I need to be in here?”
“We need to keep you over night to get everything ready for you, but you’ll be released tomorrow morning. Also, do you have any color or design preference for the crutches? One of our interns is a huge fan, and said that you needed to have stylish crutches, and she’ll do anything you want on them. She’s a wonderful artist, so you’re not limited in choice,” she laughed.
“Hmm..could you get her to paint them midnight blue? And then paint yellow stars and moons? That would be so cool!”
“Okay, I’ll go tell her,” she said walking to the door.
“Oh, one more thing! Could you have her bring them up? I’d love to meet the maker of my cool crutches!” I smiled.
“I’m sure she’ll love you forever,” she laughed. “I’ll be back in a couple hours to see how you’re doing.”
“So, what’s the verdict?” Sayde asked walking back into the room.
“Well, I’m going to be in a cast and walking with crutches for at least three months, but I get designer crutches!”
“I can’t believe you’re being so positive! I’d be crying my eyes out if I had to be on crutches for that long,” Ani admitted.
“Yeah, well, sadness never gets you anywhere! It’s not as if I’m going to be bed riden for that long! I’m being released tomorrow, and I’ll be right back in the studio!”
“True! Hey, did you look at who sent you things? It’s amazing! It’s all over MTV news right now, and you’ve received stuff from people on the east coast! Rosie O’Donnell had someone pick up a koosh thingy and flowers! MTV has sent you tons of stuff! And a million people are in the waiting room waiting to see how you are! And there are tons of fans standing outside with get well signs!” Ani said.
“Wow, that’s so cool! Who else is in the waiting room?”
“Well, there’s Chris, Joey, Lance, Brian, Kevin, AJ, Howie, Nick, Brian McFadden, Quddus, Carson, Alex Bands, Mandy Moore, and even more!” Sayde answered.
“Nick’s here? Why does he care?” I asked sadly.
“I think he feels really guilty,” Chris shrugged.
“Well, he should!”
“Yeah, none of us can believe what he as doing. It’s like he was purposely trying to hurt you!” Justin said getting angry.
“Calm down Justy. He was probably still hurt, and he wanted to get his revenge. I doubt he wanted something like this to happen,” I sighed.
“What are you going to do?” Ani asked.
“I dunno. I don’t know if he’s going to listen to me. I’m not absolutely sure if I really care anymore. After his actions today, I don’t know if I want to be with him. I dunno. I guess it depends a lot on his attitude, I shrugged.
“Well, as long as you’re happy!” Sayde said.
“You don’t think I should get back with him, do you?” I asked Sayde.
“Well, all I’m saying is that if I was in your shoes, I’d kick his ass!” she laughed.
“I can’t really see Laura kicking anyone’s ass!” Chris laughed.
“Hey, watch it old guy! I’m trained in the defense arts. Yes, I’m usually a peaceful person, but if you do something to me and deserve to get your ass kicked, I won’t hesitate to follow through!” I smiled at his cowering form.
“Mental note: never make Laura mad!” Chris said.
“You’re a dork!” I laughed.
“Don’t tell me! At least you don’t have to tour with him!” Justin whined.
“Like you’re one to talk!” JC laughed.
“Oh shush Mr. Perfect,” Justin retorted.
“Hey! Let other people see her!” Brian laughed at the door.
“Fine! Fine! But remember, as I said before, you can never get away from me!” Justin smirked.
After the five left, Brian, AJ, Kevin, and Howie came in.
“How are you doing?” Brian asked walking over to the bed.
“I’m okay for now,” I smiled.
“We’re really sorry. We feel really guilty about what happened,” AJ said from the foot of the bed.
“Hey, you four didn’t do anything to cause my accident! Things like this happen every day. I just happened to be lucky,” I smiled.
“But still. We should have made sure that Nick stopped.” Kevin frowned.
“Kevin, there’s no way you can stop someone from doing something they’e set on doing! It’s really not any of your faults. Now, Nick on the other hand, has some explaining to do.”
“Yeah, he wants to apologize, but he’s kind of scared to come in here,” Howie sighed.
“Well, I’m going to have to talk to him sooner or later.”
“Hey guys? Could I talk to her alone for a little while?” Nick asked from the door.
Brian looked at me and I nodded to show it was okay.
“We’ll see you later Laur. Don’t kill him,” Brian whispered while giving me a hug. They walked out of the room and Nick walked in. I looked down at my hand, and fiddled with the ring on my finger.
“Hi,” he said quietly.
“Hi.”
“Look, I just want to say that I’m really sorry. I acted like a two year old. I never meant for this to happen. I mean, I wanted you to be hurt like me, but not like this. Brian told me what you said about the other day, and I’m really sorry I didn’t listen to you. I just concluded that you were exactly like all the other girls who have cheated on me before, and I wouldn’t listen to reason. I…I know I don’t deserve you, but please give me another chance. You’ve already become so big a part of my life that I don’t want to lose you. Please give me another chance,” he begged.
I took a deep breath and sighed.
“Before today I would have said yes in a second. But I can’t. I don’t think it would be the same anymore. Not after your actions today. I’m sorry.” I took off the ring and placed it in his hand. I squeezed his hand before he got up and walked out the door.
Chapter 19
Chapter 21
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