Take It Back, My Friend (Ronnie Radke)

The Release

I woke up to the sound of voices. I felt exhausted.

"Welcome back baby girl!" I knew that voice anywhere.

"Mom." I tried to say but it came out more as a groggy moan. 

"All you've been doing is sleeping! Doctor says it's good for you! Meds are supposed to knock you out and if they don't then they aren't very good meds." She laughed and came up to my bed. "They say you can leave soon but you'll need bed-rest for a few days when you get home. Now, I would feel more comfortable with you at my place so I can look over-" 

"Mom." I said again with a little more power. 

"Yes baby girl?" 

"Please slow down." 

She laughed and shook her head. "Of course. How are you feeling?" She put a hand on my arm. 

"Better then I remember but still feel like roadkill. Where's Ronnie?" I asked.

If her smile could have gotten any bigger, I swear it would have. 

"I believe he ran off to get food. I'm sure he'll be back soon. It's good to see that boy finally got his shit together. I was worried for a bit that he wouldn't."

"I know." 

"You scared me, honey bee. You scared all of us!" My mom said to me. 

"What even fully happened?" I asked her. All I remember is light. 

She opened her mouth to speak but the door swung open with a loud bang. 

"Sorry!" A very flustered looking Ronnie said. His hands were full with a bit of everything. He had a bag of food and two drinks and a stuffed bear with his phone balanced in one hand. "Here you go Sher." He said handing my mom a cup of coffee. 

"Oh thank you dear!" 

He walked over and put everything down and then grabbed the bear bringing it to me. It was just a simple teddy bear but the stomach read "get well soon" in bright stitching. 

"For the pretty lady." He said bowing while handing me the bear. 

"Wow Ronnie, you went all out." I laughed and took it from him. "Thank you." I smiled. It was so simple and cute and I just couldn't help but smile ear to ear. Maybe that's the only medicine I needed: Ronnie. 

We talked, the three of us, for a while and I eventually noticed all the love I had received in flowers and get well soon balloons and cards. Everyone in the band got me flowers, which I thought was the sweetest. Pat sent things and I guess often checked up on how I was doing. Obviously Dana and my co-workers sent their love. 

At some point the doctor came in and said I was recovering well and they were just going to monitor the next few hours and then depending upon that they would discuss my leave. 

Eventually after what felt like days the doctor came in to talk to me about me returning home. I took note of all the details and they lost me describing all the meds I needed to be taking.

When I was sitting up and getting ready with the help of Ronnie and my mom, it dawned on me that Ronnie and I had never had a moment together. There was always someone else in the room with us. That didn't stop him from being his usual flirty self but I wanted more. 

Walking out after signing way too many papers was surreal. My mom was on one side and Ronnie was on another. Everyone else was giving me space, which I was grateful for. 

We got to my moms car and I stopped. Both her and Ronnie looked back at me and then shared a look between themselves. 

"Are you okay, deary?" My mom asked me. 

"Uh...Yeah yeah! I'm good." I told her. "Don't worry about it."  I could have sworn Ronnie rolled his eyes. "I'll sit in the back." I said. There was a lot of room in the back and space was good right now. 

"Of course!" my mom shouted and I think she silently understood why. 

I honestly don't even really remember the ride home. I kept my eyes closed for most of it. I wasn't really scared I was just not in the mood to be in a car, you know? Oh, who am I kidding. I was slightly terrified. 

With some convincing my mom drove me to my house instead of hers. It took me some time to get up the stairs but Ronnie was right there helping. 

"I'll get you some water and maybe some food that's not from a hospital kitchen!" My mom said and disappeared down the stairs and to my kitchen. 

Ronnie helped me in bed and laid down next to me. He reached over and gently touched my hair. 

"You scared the hell out of me, Soph." 

"How long are you here?" I asked because I knew it was too good to be true. 

"We leave tomorrow." I nodded. Like I said, to good to be true. "Don't worry about that though!" 

"You shouldn't have canceled shows."  I told him. Before he could answer my mom was in the doorway knocking. 

"You have absolutely nothing worth cooking in your kitchen which is no surprise to me so I am going to go get you some nice and greasy fast food because you deserve some! So what would you two like?"

"You don't have to get me anything Sher." Ronnie said. 

She scoffed. "Nonsense, I'm getting you food whether you give me an order or not." Ronnie laughed. 

"Okay okay!" 

McDonald's sounded like heaven so I asked for that and she left with our requests. She also said she was going to pick up all the medicine I was prescribed. 

"I'll check up on you everyday." Ronnie said and he sat up and sat in the middle of my bed. "You know, for taking a car head on you're still looking pretty damn good."

"You don't think that compliment was in poor taste?" It may have been but I still smiled. 

"Potentially. But it's true." He leaned forward and kissed me. I could tell he was incredibly timid as to not hurt me. Which I couldn't lie, I was in some pain. 

He got up and grabbed the remote. "What are we watching, beauty?" 

"Channel surf until we find something." I told him. He clicked through until he landed on one of the house-wive shows on those girl networks. 

"Ugh, really?" 

"I used to watch these religiously but my work schedule prevented me from it."

"Really? Huh." He said and then he turned and looked at me. 

"What? Why are you staring? Please don't stare. I'm not feeling my best." 

He rolled his eyes. "I was thinking about when we were younger. No need to get worked up." 

"What about when we were younger?" I asked.

"When we would just sit in the basement and watch cheesy horror movies and a lot of garbage TV." 

"And smoke a lot of weed." I snicked. 

He smiled, "Let's not go down that path." 

My mom returned and brought our food up to my bed and gave me all my meds. 

"Thank you mom." 

"Ron, you are in charge while I run back to my house and set a room up just in case you need to stay over. 

I wasn't going to protest. I knew once Ronnie left I wasn't going to want to be alone a lot. 

Eating garbage food in bed with Ronnie felt like a dream come true and I didn't want to think about tonight or tomorrow when he would be leaving. Just the thought broke my heart. I was not looking forward to the future.