No need to worry anymore guys, an update is here!
Almost got 100 comments last chapter-wow! Please keep it up! Almost to 1K comments!
Here's what you guys have all been waiting for-Nate and Alison's first conversation together.
Hope you like this!
COMMENT
VOTE
READ
SHARE
Thank you
DANA
________________________________
NOT EDITED
_______________________________
“N-Nate?” Alison asks in disbelief.
I continue to smile, walking a little closer to the bed. “Hi,” I say once again. “It’s nice to see you’re awake.”
She blinks a couple of times, probably wondering if me appearing in her room is real or not. At this, I chuckle softly. “W-What are you doing here?”
I walk all the way to her bed and lowering into the chair. She’s self-conscious, I realize as I look at her. Alison looks at me from the corner of her eyes, but when she sees me looking back she reverts her eyes. She’s playing with her fingers in her lap, her hair slowly falling forward so it hides her face.
“I’ve been visiting you since,” I stop, rewording my sentence in my head. “Since what happened.”
Alison nods. “No wonder why the nurse kept whispering about ‘where’s the boy that has been visiting her’. I just, I hope I don’t sound rude, but I don’t know why you would visit me.”
“It was weird not seeing you around school,” I start. “I realized how much you affected my day and I was curious so I decided to visit you.”
“And my family was alright with that?” she asks, bewildered.
I smile softly at her face—her wide blue eyes staring at me and her mouth slightly ajar. “Your brother was okay with that. Your parents didn’t know until a few weeks after I started visiting you.”
She nods. “I just can’t fathom you—of all people—coming to visit me.” Alison leans her head back and rests it against the pillow, her eyes shut. “This must be a dream,” she murmurs.
“Nope,” I respond. “I know you’re still wondering why I’m here, and I’ll answer them, only if you promise me to listen until the end.” My heart starts to pick up. I suddenly feel the need to vomit.
“Okay.”
“Well, um, after your accident I felt odd, like it wasn’t real. I mean, I would always see you in the hall in the morning, at your locker. I did notice you by the way,” I add and I see Alison’s eyebrows narrow. “Anyway, Josh approached one day and handed me your, um, your journal.”
I wait for her protest—a scream maybe—but nothing came. I look at her face and see Alison watching me intensely.
“I didn’t know what to do at first,” I go on. “I didn’t want to just take it and read it like Josh wanted, but he insisted. I took the journal to please him, but I didn’t just read it right then. Josh, just in case you didn’t make it, wanted me to read how you felt about me, to make me realize I had such an amazing girl in front of me and I needed a kick in the butt to realize that.”
“Josh said that?” she asks softly.
Even though I told her to not interrupt, I didn’t mind when she did. I chuckle. “No, I added that reason because it’s true.” I clear my throat and continue. “I went to visit you that night. I don’t know if you heard because I know someone people in comas can hear what people are saying around them.”
“I had a feeling,” she says.
I bring my eyes to meet hers. “Huh?”
Alison smiles softly. “I-I had a feeling you were with me when I was in the-,” she closes her eyes like it’s painful to say, “coma. I didn’t know, per se, that you visited me, but my mind did I believe. Otherwise why would I have this inkling of you and me?” A small blush appears on her cheeks.
My stomach flutters at the site of her blush. At least she’s not mad at me.
“You can continue,” she says, looking down at her lap in embarrassment.
I nod and sit up straight in the chair. “Okay. So, I visited you that night. I talked about how uncomfortable I felt about reading your personal thoughts. I thought that was wrong.”
“As you should,” I hear Alison mumble.
I chuckle again. “Anyway, I asked you if it’s alright. I wanted a sign and I got it.”
Her face snaps up and her eyes are wide again. “What sign?”
“After I asked for a sign a machine started going off. I was worried that you’d—yea—but a nurse came in a fixed it. I took that as my sign so I read your journal entries and I’m sorry. I know it was an invasion of privacy, but somewhere in my gut told me it was a good idea. I’m glad I did though. And you’re wrong.” I meet Alison’s gaze again. “I did notice you. I sometimes watched you at your locker, hiding your face. I know that sounds like a stalker, but yea. I did notice you. We should’ve talked more than just that one time I helped you with your books or when I held the door open for you. We were both to blame for not being more than classmates.”
Alison covers her face with her eyes. “I can’t believe you read my journal. Those were my personal thoughts!” She takes the covers off her legs and sits up; her face contorts in pain until she’s sitting straight. “I’m so embarrassed. I can’t believe Josh will do that.”
“Don’t blame him,” I say, coming to Josh’s defense. “He has been worried sick about you since the accident. We all are.”
She sighs. “It’s weird seeing you here,” she admits. “You’ve been my crush since freshman year. I was so used to just admiring from afar, but now—now you’re here, talking to me.” She turns and looks me in the eyes. “How is everything? At school I mean. I know graduation was almost two weeks ago.”
I let out a sigh of relief. She isn’t mad I read her journal.
“When everyone first heard of the accident people kept posting on you Facebook page.”
She rolls her eyes. “Like they even know me.”
“That’s what I was thinking. By the end of the year people were so worried about prom and graduation it kind of blew over.”
Alison picks at a string hanging from a tear in her jeans. “I can’t believe I missed graduation.”
“And prom,” I add.
“Like I care. I wouldn’t have had a date anyway.”
“So?” I ask. “Some people go to prom without a date.”
She gives me a pointed look. “Like you? Any girl will be lucky to go with you. So, who was the lucky girl?”
Alison’s talkativeness surprises me. I always thought she was a shy and quiet girl, but I guess once you know her she doesn’t hold anything back.
“I didn’t go to prom.”
Alison chuckles humorlessly. “No need to spare my feelings. Just let me.”
“I’m serious. I didn’t go to prom. I didn’t feel the need to ask anyone out and I didn’t want to.”
“Huh,” she says.
I nod. “Anyway, how’s physical therapy going?”
Alison shrugs. “Alright I guess. It was hard last week. It was like my legs were made of mush. This week is better though. Josh is bringing me my laptop when he visits so I can work on assignments.”
I raise an eyebrow in question. “Already? Shouldn’t you be relaxing right now?”
“I want to be able to attend college this fall,” she says seriously. “I’m not going to waste a single second.”
She’s driven, I take note.
“I heard your dad came home from the service?” she asks softly.
I nod. “Yeah, the day of my last baseball game. How did you know?”
“It was in the newspaper,” she responds, looking at one resting on her bedside table. I see my dad’s smiling face in a military hat, smiling, as he embraces Mom. This must’ve been taken when she picked him up. “I’m-I’m happy for you. You must be relieved.”
“I am,” I say, my smile widening. “He came back early. He was supposed to come back a day before my graduation. I just hope he stays a while after I leave for college. I don’t want my mom all alone.”
It’s odd how I can open up to Alison so easily. Since I’ve been talking to her for almost two months while she was in a coma, I guess I figure she already knows what happened with me.
“I’m sure he will,” she adds. “How did the last baseball game go?”
“We won. And I got a scholarship to play next year at Northern.”
Her eyebrows rise. “Congratulations. You’re going to Northern?”
I nod. “I was going to go to community college originally because I didn’t respond back fast enough. But then Northern contacted me with a scholarship to play with them so I changed my mind.”
“Northern is a good school.”
“Where are you going to go this fall?”
“Hopefully if I finish my assignments, I’m going to Northern too.”
I gape at her in shock. Alison is going to Northern too? What are the chances? Slim to none. Someone up there must me on my side. I can’t believe my luck on this one.
“Seriously?” I ask in excitement.
“Yeah. Why are you grinning like a stalker?”
I burst out laughing; surprised Alison will say something so bluntly. “I’m just happy you are. After reading your journal and coming to terms with my feelings, I wanted to become more. It doesn’t have to go straight to dating, so don’t panic on me. We can start off as friends then, if you want to, we can go into a relationship.”
Her expression is frozen in shock and bewilderment.
I suddenly start to freak out. I lean back in the chair, creating more distance between us, and run my fingers through my hair. “I scared you off,” I ramble. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. Forget I said anything about a relationship.” I feel like an idiot. An absolute, rambling, idiot!
Alison starts laughing, catching me off guard.
“Why are you laughing?” I ask, playfully glaring at her.
She keeps laughing before answering, “I always thought you were so cool and collected and untouchable. But in reality you’re just—normal. It’s nice to see.”
I smile at her explanation.
Alison and I may associate with different people, me being popular—whatever that means—and Alison in the background. However, at the end of the day rather someone is popular—and may seem untouchable, or someone who is quiet we’re all human. We are all normal.