69Oh my God, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this out. I was away over the weekend, so I had no chance to do any writing, hence the epic delay on this. But, alas, here it is: my little chapter twelve.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed and added me to their alerts on the last chapter :D Means a lot, guys, thank you!
Hope you enjoy this. The wait for chapter thirteen shouldn't be as long as this one.
Word Count: 1,794
Feeling a squeeze on my hand, I jerked awake. I immediately looked at Jay and saw that he was starting to come round, turning his head slightly and attempting to flutter his eyes open.
"Oh my God," I whispered, beginning to panic. What should I do? Call a nurse? Or just wait for a second?
Not wanting to let go of his hand just yet, I sat and watched him, wide-eyed. He squeezed my hand again, ever so lightly, and I automatically returned the gesture, positive that he'd be able to feel me.
"Jay?" I said quietly, attempting to catch his attention and make him wake up properly.
He grumbled softly before completely opening his eyes. I waited, tense, as he looked around the room and confusion clouded his features. He looked totally lost. Could he not remember anything?
"Where am I?" he groaned, trying to suppress a yawn. Then he looked down at himself and thought for a moment. "Why the fuck am I wearing some flimsy paper gown?"
I'd have laughed if I hadn't been so nervous. If he couldn't remember anything that had happened, was I going to have to tell him? How could I do that? The last thing I wanted to do was to panic him and I didn't want to see him hurt anymore, either.
Swallowing the lump that was forming in my throat, I blinked a couple of times and looked Jay in the eye. "You…you're in hospital, Jay. You got hit by a…a motorbike," I managed to get out.
That cloud of confusion darkened his face again and he titled his head back, resting it against the railings of his headboard. He let out a little groan and whispered, "Yeah, it's coming back to me, now."
"Jay, what happened?" I asked and my voice cracked slightly.
He lifted his head up and looked at me. Then, ever so slowly, he shakily brushed away a tear that had started to make a trail down my cheek with his thumb. He frowned for a second at his hand, but quickly turned his attention back to me.
"I don't really know where to start," he said quietly, still stroking my cheek. It seemed like he was doing it almost absent-mindedly.
I leant my cheek against his hand. "How about at the beginning?"
He narrowed his eyes at me, but smirked a little bit at the same time. "Shush, smart arse."
I smiled slightly, but it didn't last for long. I felt so guilty. Deep down, I knew Jay's accident wasn't down to me, but I couldn't help but blame myself. More often than not, I'd find myself thinking about what could have happened to him and my stomach turned every time without fail.
"Cheer up, kitten," he said quietly, still stroking my cheek.
My eyes started to water, yet again, and I said, "I'm so sorry, Jay."
His brow furrowed in confusion and his mouth opened, more than likely to say that I had nothing to apologise for, when a nurse came into the little curtained-off bed area.
"Ah, Mr Ewan, you're awake! Fantastic," she enthused, moving over to Jay and beginning to fuss over him. Then she turned to me. "I'm sorry, dear, but you'll have to leave for a little while."
Nodding to myself, I squeezed Jay's hand again and stood up. "I'll see you in a bit," I said, making my way to the curtain to let myself out.
"Okay. I'll talk to you later." He smiled at me, but quickly turned to frown at the nurse when she started poking him.
I giggled to myself as I made my way back into the waiting room. It was then that I realised how relieved and thankful I was that Jay had woken up and was okay. Now I was just curious to hear his story.
Jay's mood had plummeted by the time we were all allowed to see him again. When the nurse had spent some time with him, she'd explained his condition to him. Putting it simply, he was not impressed with what he'd been told.
He'd escaped with no broken bones – just a few bruises and some significant scars on the left side of his face. However, he'd also suffered some brain damage that affected the use of his hands. His reflexes were now almost non-existent…which meant playing the drums wouldn't be happening for him for a while. With therapy, he'd be able to get his hands back to normal, but it'd take quite some time. It wasn't hard to see why he was now in a vile mood.
"Try and look on the bright side, kid. It could be worse," Lance said, trying his best to cheer Jay up.
The look Jay gave Lance said it all: shut up before I beat you to death. Lance quickly closed his mouth and looked at the floor, clearly feeling a little awkward now.
Dom stood up and sighed. "Come on, guys. We should probably get going." One by one, they all stood up and gave Jay friendly hugs, saying goodbye, but that they'd stop by and see him tomorrow. I, however, stayed sitting on the edge of the bed, my hand clutching Jay's.
"You coming with us, Ali?" Aaron asked, pausing by the curtain as he took hold of Cameron's hand.
I hesitated with my reply and instinctively clutched Jay's hand a little tighter; I didn't want to leave, not yet.
"I'm gonna stay a little longer. I'll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?" I said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. This blatantly failed; all five of them exchanged knowing looks.
"I'll see you later, bro. I'll keep Mom away for as long as I can," Greg said, giving Jay the thumbs up and letting the curtain swing shut behind them all.
Shifting my position, I turned to face Jay, still keeping a hold of his hand. I just looked at him for a moment and him at me, neither of us feeling the need to say anything just yet. Didn't stop me from feeling extremely curious, though.
"How come you wanted to stay?" he asked quietly.
"Why would I want to go?" I replied.
"I'm not exactly the most entertaining person to be around," he muttered, looking down at our hands.
"Doesn't matter. There's no one else I'd rather be with." I'll pay you if you catch the double entendre…
A small smile and he looked up at me. "Come here," he said, motioning for me to lie down next to him on the bed. I did so and snuggled up to him, facing towards him.
After a moment I said, "Can you tell me what happened?"
The small smile on his face faded. He draped his arm over my waist and tugged me closer. Nibbling his lip, he seemed to be trying to figure out where to start.
"I was walking home," he started, staring unseeingly at the opposite wall. "I was heading back from Gem's. I'd told her it was over," he said, almost casually.
Fireworks seemed to explode in my head, but I ignored them as best I could and urged him to carry on.
"When I told her I wanted to end it, she said I couldn't dump her and I asked her why. And she said because she was leaving me and it wouldn't be the other way round." He paused, frowning slightly. "She's been seeing another guy behind my back for a few weeks. She said she'd been waiting for a good enough excuse to leave me."
"She what?!" I exploded, sitting up straight, well and truly fuming.
"Oi, calm down," he said gently, attempting to pull me back down again.
"How could she do that?!"
I was furious. How could she have done something like that? It seemed like she'd found another boy out of spite, because she was certain Jay had a thing for me. Okay, so that was sort of the case, but why couldn't she have just confronted him about it and dealt with it that way? Why did she have to do something so ruthless?
Jay shrugged. "It didn't bother me like I thought it would. I mean, I was angry, but it didn't hurt me like it should have done." He seemed almost confused for feeling the way he did.
"Why didn't it bother you?" I asked quietly, looking up at him.
Looking away from the wall, he focussed on me. "Because I realised she was no loss to me. I'd found you and I didn't need, or want, her."
Those fireworks came back into play again, but I didn't push them away this time. Happiness exploded throughout me and I buried my face into the crook of his neck, hugging him.
"I was so busy thinking about…well, everything…that I wasn't paying attention. I crossed the road and then…it's blank after that," he whispered against my hair.
Yet again, I'd started to cry. Never before had I cried so much in one day. But, this time, they were happy tears, so I wasn't all that desperate to stop them.
Jay wiped away my tears as best he could. "Don't. I don't like seeing you upset."
"I'm not upset," I sniffled. "You don't know how long I've wanted to hear you say that."
He smiled. "You don't know how long I've wanted to say it for."
I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, close to the corner of his mouth. Letting myself linger there, I watched him close his eyes and smile a little. Then I moved across and kissed his lips, moving away before he had chance to react.
He groaned a little, his eyes still closed. "Don't stop. That's not fair."
Chuckling, I said, "I'm sorry. I should probably get going…" I trailed off, making no effort to move.
"No, don't go. Please stay?" he begged, opening his eyes to plead with me.
"Where do I stay?" I asked doubtfully, leaning up on my elbow.
"Erm…here?" he said, as though this should have been perfectly obvious.
I wanted to tell him that it was a silly idea and that I'd probably get thrown out at some point…but I didn't. Instead, I lay back down and curled up against him, allowing him to throw the covers over me, too.
"Are you sleepy?" I whispered, suddenly finding it rather hard to keep my eyes open.
He opened his mouth to reply, but a gigantic yawn cut him off. "Would you believe me if I said no?" he finally managed to say.
"Nope," I said simply, leaning up again and kissing him on his nose. "Night, Jay."
Another yawn as he closed his eyes and cuddled up to me. "Night, kitten."