The Pretend Boyfriend

Chapter 17

Dedicated to Tortoise_girl for all of her lovely comments. <3

            I stared at the blank, white wall in front of me. The smell of antiseptic and bleach was everywhere, trying to cover up the stench of blood and disease. Everywhere I looked was the same. White walls, spotless floors, stainless steel. I hate hospitals, I really do.

            I had forced Ryan to drive me to the hospital, even though he had told me they weren’t allowing visitors. I didn’t care, I was going to go no matter what he said.

            I had been waiting here for two hours now, idly staring at the same wall. The nurse told me they weren’t going to let anyone in to see Ashton until he woke up, so I decided to stay and sit here patiently in the ICU ward. Except, I’m not so patient.

            My parents didn’t know that I was skipping school, but if they found out then I’m sure they’d understand. Ryan waited with me for the first hour before he had to go back and take an important chemistry test, but Lee stayed behind with me. I promised I would call him if there was any news.

            The doors at the end of the hallway suddenly opened and four nurses burst through, wheeling in somebody on a cot. They looked panicked as they ran down the hallway, so I assumed that whatever was happening, it wasn’t good. As the cot rolled past me, I caught a glimpse of a bloodied hand, and I looked away before I would see more.

            I turned to face Lee, who was looking horrified. Honestly, being around all of the sick and dying was not very pleasant.

            “W-what if Ashton-” I started to ask, but Lee cut me off with a stern look.

            “Don’t think about it, Evelyn. He’s going to be fine,” Lee told me.

            “But what if he’s not? Lee you don’t know that he’ll be okay!” I wailed. “If he was going to be okay, he wouldn’t be in the ICU right now!”

            Lee put an hand on my arm. “He’s going to be fine,” she repeated. “And worrying about isn’t going to help. You’re only freaking yourself out.”

            I ignored her, my eyes filling with tears. “And if he d-dies, then my last words to him were so mean and horrible!”

            “Those aren’t going to be your last words to him,” Lee glared at me. “Stop freaking out.”

            I crossed my arms over my chest, still upset, but I stopped talking about it. Lee was being such a good friend, wasting her day to come sit in the hospital with me. If I was here by myself, I don’t know how I’d be able to keep myself calm.

            We waited for another hour before the nurse who I’d spoken to when I first arrive came back. Her expression was grim, and I immediately assumed the worst.

            “No,” I whispered, my eyes filling with tears. The nurse stared at me for a minute before speaking.

            “I have good news,” she announced, smiling at us. Oh thank god.

            “Is he okay?” I interrupted excitedly.

            “His vitals are stable and he just woke up,” the nurse informed us. It was the best news I had ever heard.

            “However,” the nurse continued. “He will be very tired out and cannot deal with any stress right now. So only one of you can visit him today, and only for a few minutes.”