Buttered Popcorn

Chapter 20: June 6, 1987

Jimmie felt sick to her stomach.

She could vomit at the sight of his frail figure— the thin plastic tubes running across his face and arms. Steven's blue eyes were shut in an unsettling slumber, clouded by purple bags of distress. He had been in a coma for the past three days and none of the band had bothered to visit, save for Duff who briefly came in when Steven was admitted.

Jimmie hadn't left his side since Duff followed Steven's ambulance to the hospital. She had tucked him into the thin blanket once, and hadn't since.

No need, he hadn't moved.

She'd lost track of time in the bland, depressing room laying beside the blond and gripping his hand, waiting until his larger one gripped back. He hadn't.

The same channel had been playing since she was able to walk into the room, and she didn't bother switching it. Days would be spent staring at him as if the image before her would change. A faint, almost unnoticeable, stubble began growing along his jaw. His blond hair had lost it's signature style of thick teasing, and had reduced to a flat, knotted mess. Sometimes she'd talk to him in hopes of him listening. She had read somewhere that people in a coma can hear you. She wished that were true.

It seemed as if the thoughts wouldn't leave her alone. Cramped onto the uncomfortable couch beside the hospital bed and still holding Steven's hand, Jimmie shut her eyes and waited to fall asleep. She couldn't seem to allow herself to succumb to her dreams- which were starting to warp into nightmares at this point.

She was beyond furious with the band for not visiting, but quickly concluded that she had no time to be angry. Being there for Steven was her only priority, and she would dedicate all of her time to do so.

-

Day four.

No squeeze from his hand yet.

Anxious thoughts of whether or not Steven would even wake up penetrated her consciousness by the second. She desperately wanted them to stop. Desperately.

A morning nurse had taken a few vitals for him and replaced his IV bag. Jimmie released his hand for 6 minutes while the nurse worked around the stretch of thin bed.

"Honey.."

The nurse waited until Jimmie lifted her head to continue.

"Maybe you should go home and get some rest. He'll be alright here. I can promise you that."

Jimmie's eyes held exhaustion. Her eyelids were irritated and puffy from sobbing for days on end. Bags begun to grow under her beautiful eyes.  The nurse knew this look all too well. She had seen it endless times in her field, unfortunately— the look of desperation in a stranger begging for mercy. They said nothing else while the nurse finished.

Once the room was empty again, she grasped back onto his hand and spoke for the first time in three and a half days.

"It's been four days."

Her dry lips barely moved with her words. While both of her hands wrapped around one of his, she bowed her head in her hands. As she thought about her next words, her eyes began watering. Tears flooded her line of sight, the white tiled floor contorting in her vision. A lump in her throat swelled and she began to choke back her words.

"I miss you, Steven."

The bitter remains of her hospital orange juice rested on the back of her tongue.

"You're not gone but I miss you."

Her lungs couldn't seem to inhale a big enough breath to settle the nerves in her stomach. God, she wished to badly that he'd just fucking squeeze back. Just one goddamn squeeze.

Again, her voice trembled with a whisper.

"Please."

The first words spoken from her lips in three and a half days were pleads to Steven. First words spoken and no one to listen.

Hunched over the bedside while resting her forehead on his steadily- and eerily slow- beating heart, Jimmie fell back into a much-needed, and incredibly uncomfortable slumber.

It was interrupted with the same nurse from hours earlier, who didn't expect Jimmie to still be waiting in the room. That nurse had actually seen Steven in and out of the same hospital a few times before for the very same reason, and assumed this girl was just another one of his 'friends'.

After seeing her still body next to his own, the nurse figured maybe Jimmie wasn't as competent as the man's other past partners. Silently, she hoped it would stay that way. She sighed and shook her head, whispering.

"Oh, honey.."