Love Lessons

Chapter Thirty Nine: You're The One that I Love

39| Jess

            ~*~ You’re the one that I love, and I’m saying goodbye ~*~

            As soon as we made it to the emergency room, it was pure chaos. Tyler was running through the different waiting rooms looking for a nurse to tell him where Jerry was. I did my best to keep Tyler calmed down but even in this case I knew it was going to be a lot to handle. Not only had he witnessed love of his life is beaten, he was unable to do anything about it. Cole was asking the front desk where Jerry was placed and unfortunately, they couldn’t let us into the room until they had finished looking at him. I coaxed Tyler into an old wooden chair but instead of relaxing, he started panicking even more. His long legs were shaking and his head was still held in his hands. I tried comforting him the best that I could but after a while, I sounded like a broken record and I knew he didn’t want to hear it anymore.

            Cole plopped down next to me and kissed my temple. I smiled at him weakly and rested my head on his shoulder. I wanted to ask him if he knew anything, but Tyler was too close and I knew that if there were negative news he would not be able to handle it. Instead, I thought how we got to this place. I wondered how in a blink of an eye two people could go from perfectly in love to breaking up. I didn’t want them to stay together if they were having problems, but I didn’t want them to be miserable either. I couldn’t compare their relationship to my own- they were completely different and Cole and I had our own issues we were still figuring out.

            “Are you the group of kids here for Jerry?” An older doctor asked, coming out in scrubs and a clipboard.  He had to be about six feet tall and probably the most well liked man here. He looked intimidating as he sat down next to us but as soon as he spoke, he was friendly. Tyler’s head shot up and he straightened himself out as best as he could. I sat up straighter and tangled my hand in Cole’s.

            “Yes, how is he doing?” I asked quietly. Tyler was breathing heavily so I assumed it would best if he didn’t talk.

            “He’s all right.” Tyler gave a sigh of relief and the doctor gave him a small smile. “He fractured some ribs and he was lucky that he didn’t get internal bleeding. He’s going to stay in the hospital for a couple of days because I need to continue running tests on him. He did hit his head hard so when he is awake I will have to make sure he didn’t injure his skull.”

            “How long will he be out?” Tyler blurted.

            “I’m not sure, a day or two at the most.” The doctor shrugged. “There wasn’t any life threatening issues that I detected, your friend is very lucky. I do however; have some officers lingering around so I’ll need you to talk to them.” He told Tyler. Tyler nodded his head and rubbed his eyes.

            “Can I see him?” He asked so quietly I was surprised that we had heard. The doctor nodded his head and gave us his room number. Tyler practically sprinted down the hallway looking for the room and as soon as he found it, he hesitated. The door was left slightly open and a small lamp, leaving half of Jerry to be hidden in the dark, only lighted the room. From what I could see, Jerry was hooked up to a machine and from the sound of it, he was breathing normally.

            “What’s wrong, Ty?” I asked as I stopped behind him. His shoulders were tensed and he clenched his fists together before he spoke.     

            “It’s my fault he’s here.” He said quietly, refusing to face either of us. Cole looked at me and I sighed, knowing that he was never going to let this go. It wasn’t even his fault and he was feeling guilty about what happened! He was going to beat himself up over it for a long time and that was the last thing I wanted for him.