*PETE'S POV*
It's been four days...
And I haven't left this chair.
Emily still hasn't woken up and I've lost all feeling in my legs more times than I can even count. I've only gotten up from beside her to use the bathroom or to walk to the parking lot with Dom and Colson a couple times just to get fresh air. Her dad, Dom, Colson, and Leila have showed up everyday at different times, just to check on her and help out, whenever they're not busy. If it wasn't for them I probably wouldn't have even eaten the past four days. Even John showed up a couple of times, but he's been swamped with work and personal stuff so he hasn't been able to stay long, so he just texts and calls me a thousand times a day.
The doctors said they're not sure why she hasn't woken up yet, but sometimes people just take longer to recover from these kinds of things. The bruises are still there, but they're not as dark and purple anymore. It's probably a good thing she hasn't woken up yet, I'm sure she'd be in a lot of pain if she was awake.
I keep talking to her like she's awake though, partly because I hope that she'll hear me and wake up, and partly because I just miss her and miss talking to her. I even got bored and painted her fingernails the other day. I just sat there rambling on about whatever I could think of while I painted her fingernails, hoping she'd wake up even if it was just to tell me to shut up.
It amazes me how she still manages to look so beautiful even when she's covered in bruises and bandages and in a hospital gown, but somehow she pulls it off. The nurses have come in and brushed her hair and stuff a couple times but even without that she'd still be gorgeous. Leila even bought her a new outfit to wear when she gets out of the hospital and brought it here the other day.
I woke up to a bunch of nurses and doctors scrambling around Emily and yelling and a bunch of loud beeping noises. I had no idea what was going on and none of them would tell me what was happening.
"Clear!" one of the doctors yelled before they shocked her with those terrifying paddles.
Then the beeping stopped and all the people in the room seemed to let out a sigh of relief and then slowly dispersed out of the room while Emily's doctor walked over to where I was sitting.
"Her heart stopped while you were sleeping, we got her back and she's okay now, but we'll be keeping a close eye on her for now just to make sure." he says.
I talked to the doctor for a few minutes, thanking him, and then he walked out of the room. I turned back to Emily, grabbed her hand, and started bawling my eyes out onto the hospital bed sheets.
"I'm so sorry. Everything's gonna be okay, I promise. I'm not gonna let anyone or anything hurt you ever again. Please just wake up." I say through the tears flowing down my face, but she doesn't even move a muscle.
"Pete, what happened? Are you okay? Is she okay?" John asks as he walks into the room.
"Her heart stopped, they had to shock her to bring her back. I was asleep and she almost-" I try to say but then I can't keep myself from crying even harder.
"Hey, it's okay. Look, she's fine." he says and we both turn to look at Emily. "She's gonna be okay, just gotta get through the rough patches."
"I really hope so, man. This is killing me seeing her like this, I just wanna fix everything and take her home." I say.
"I'm sure she'll wake up soon, and she'll be really glad you're here and that you stayed with her, but you gotta take care of yourself too, Pete. I mean, when's the last time you even showered? Brushed your teeth? Changed clothes?" he says, concerned.
"I'm fine. I just need to be here with her. I don't care about anything else." I say, rubbing my eyes with my hands.
"I understand that, but you're not gonna wanna have to do all of that when she gets to go home, you're gonna wanna take care of her. So, why don't you take a couple hours and go take care of yourself? I'll stay here with her and I'll text you if anything changes." he says, placing a hand on my back.
"Fine, but only if you swear you'll call or text me if anything even just beeps in here. I'm not missing anything." I say.
"Deal. I'll see you in a couple hours." he says, nodding.
I walk out of the room and down the hall with my hands in my pockets. I walk all the way out to my car and then drive home. As soon as I get there I walk in and go straight to the shower, ignoring the mess that's been left in my house for days. I get out of the shower and get dressed, then brush my teeth. I walk back into the living room and lean against the wall, then I slide down until I hit the floor and I start to just bawl my eyes out.
"Fuck. Why her?" I yell. "She doesn't deserve this shit. Why can't she just wake up?"
I let my head fall into my hands and all the tears in my eyes that I've been trying to hold in finally come streaming down my face.
"I just need her to be okay, she has to be okay. I can't live without her, this isn't fair." I say through my sobbing.
It's been the worst feeling, being without her. It's like I'm missing a part of me and I just feel...empty.
Eventually, I get my shit together and get off the floor. I grab all my stuff and walk back out to my car and head back to the hospital. John hadn't texted me so I felt relieved on the drive back. I got to the hospital and saw Colson's car parked outside beside John's. I got out of the car and walked back into the hospital, all the way to Emily's room.
I got to her room and said hey to Colson and told John thanks for staying with her, then I sat back down in my chair beside John as Colson stood at the end of Emily's bed. Then we start talking for a few minutes.
"You know, it's weird. We've all only known Emily for a few months, but she's already one of us. There's not a thing on this earth we wouldn't do for eachother, she's like a little sister but less annoying." Colson says.
"Yeah, she is pretty great." John says, nudging me with his elbow.
"Remember the first night she came to your house? She got so high she couldn't even walk, shit was funny as hell." Colson says, laughing.
"Yeah, and she still beat your ass at those video games." I say, laughing and Colson hits my arm.
"That ain't even fair. She was just pressing random buttons and shit and still beat me. That don't make any sense." he says, trying to defend himself. "She's ass at baseball though, that was just sad."
"She was pretty bad." I say, laughing.
"She's even worse than me, and that's saying something." John laughs.
"That's true, and I didn't even think it was possible to be worse than John." Colson says, teasingly.
"Hey, I'm not that bad. I've hit the ball a few times." he says, dramatically.
"Yeah, with your face. That don't count bro." Colson says and then almost falls over from laughing so hard.
"It's not my fault you can't pitch straight." John says and slaps Colson's arm.
"It ain't my fault you swing the bat with your entire body so the ball hits you in the head." Colson says, still hunched over from laughing so hard.
We all talk for a couple more hours and then they both have to go to work. They went to the cafeteria before leaving and brought me back lunch so I didn't have to leave Emily. Then the nurses came in to check on Emily and I helped them brush her hair and teeth and everything. I'm surprised all these people messing with her all the time hasn't woken her up by now.
She does look really peaceful for someone covered in bruises in a hospital bed, I wish I could sleep as good as she is. I thought about trying to lay in the bed with her, just so I wouldn't have to sleep in the chair, but there's so many cords and stuff around her I didn't wanna mess anything up. Plus, she looked so peaceful that I didn't wanna mess that up either.
I sat down and grabbed the food Colson and John left me. I started thinking about everything Emily's been through and all the things I didn't notice before.
"I've been thinking, and I know you knew what you were doing when you took all those pills." I say, opening the food. "I didn't really understand why at first, and I was kind of hurt to be honest, but now that I've been thinking about it I think I understand now. You dated Asher, and seeing what he did he couldn't have been much better before either. I can't imagine what being around a person like that for months would do to a person, especially after everything you'd already been through. I get now why you did this and why you didn't say anything the day I told you I love you. You don't know what love means, do you?"
I wait for a second, taking a bite of my food hoping that maybe a miracle would happen and she'd open her eyes.
"I mean, how can anyone expect you to know what love means or even how to love when you've been treated the way you have by the people who were supposed to care about you? That's why you let him get away with everything to protect your dad, and why you decided to tell Leila about him, because you love them and felt like you had to protect them no matter what because you thought they were the only people to ever care about you." I say, taking a few more bites of food before continuing. "That's why you kept pushing me away, because you don't understand feelings like love because of people who screwed it all up for you. I get that now, I didn't at first but I do now...and I'm gonna do everything I can to show you what love is and help you get through this. I'm gonna show you just how many people love and care about you even though you don't see it. I'm gonna show you how love is supposed to be, no matter what it takes. I'm sorry I didn't notice something was up with Asher, I should've been there to protect you, but I'm gonna do everything I can to protect you from now on."
I finish eating the food, sitting with Emily in silence. Then I clean everything up and throw everything away and sit back down in the chair beside her. I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees and bring one hand up to my chin.
"You know, I've never felt this way about anyone before. There's just something about you that I just can't stay away from. When Dom called me and told me something had happened to you, I thought my heart was gonna break into a million pieces right then and there. I'm surprised I didn't crash my car on the way here from how fast I was driving. It was like something was pulling me to you, like my body knew you needed me before I even knew what happened." I say. "I know we haven't known each other for an extremely long time, and I don't know what's gonna happen after you make it through all of this, but I do know that I wanna be there every step of the way. I wanna be with you forever, no matter what happens."
********
hi my loves :) i missed you guys. sorry this chapter took a couple days, and that it's a little short, it's my last couple weeks of school so i've had a bunch of essays and finals and stuff. i have thought of ideas for a second book though, and even some ideas for a couple different books about some different people so that's exciting.
i also wanna thank you guys for reading my story and making it this far with me, i had no idea how this was gonna go when i started but i've loved every second of it. thank you for all the reads and votes and comments. reading you guys' comments literally makes my day, you guys are hilarious. i love each and every single one of you guys and if any of y'all ever need anything or even just wanna be friends, i'm always here :)
i'll stop being sappy now lmao, here's pete and i'll see you guys in the next chapter <3