Dessert - Jack Hughes

40

A few days go by with Elyssa waking up every so often. She doesn't acknowledge anyone or anything. While she's awake she stays quiet, just observing. She doesn't stay awake for more than two hours at a time.
It was late at night, Jack asleep in the chair next to Elyssas bed. Megan sitting on the other side, on her phone.
Elyssa opens her eyes, rubbing them with the back of her hand.
"Ah my head" she groans.
"Lyss?" Megan looks up from her phone.
"Hey megs" Elyssa smiles weakly at her.
"Hey" Megan smiles in disbelief.
"What's been happening?" Elyssa asks, her voice raspy.
"You got into an accident a couple weeks ago." Megan tells her.
"Did I die?" Elyssa jokes weakly.
"No" Megan smiles, happy Elyssa is talking, "How do you feel?"
"Like I got hit by a bus" Elyssa chuckles.
"Well it was a car. But you're not far off" Megan jokes. The girls continue to talk quietly. Megan doesn't want to wake up Jack. Neither of them had been sleeping much and she doesn't want to disturb him. After a while, Megan goes to get a doctor. The doctor takes her vitals and tells Elyssa and Megan what is going to happen over the next few weeks. The doctor tells Elyssa that she should eat something and stay in bed.
"I'll go get you food from the cafeteria. Want anything specific?" Megan asks after the doctor leaves.
"Surprise me" Elyssa tells her. Megan leaves the room, heading to find food. Elyssa leans to the side table, picking up her phone. She notices all the notifications over the past few weeks. Texts and calls and all kinds of social media notifications. She browses Twitter, seeing all the things she got tagged in. She reads the messages, most of them kind, some of them harsh. She then looks at her texts. She reads get well texts from all her friends and family. She checks the date, realizing it's the middle of October. She realizes that she missed her little brothers 17th birthday. Tears start to roll down her cheeks, not being able to think of anything else to do. She cries, feeling horrible that she missed it. Megan enters the room with some soup, rushing to Elyssas side when she realizes she's crying.
"Hey what's wrong?" Megan asks.
"I missed teddys birthday" Elyssa huffs through her tears.
"Oh hun. Here call him now. I'm sure he'd love to know you're up and doing good" Megan helps her. Elyssa clicks on her brothers contact, calling him.
"Hello?" Teddy answers groggily.
"I'm sorry I missed your birthday" Elyssa whimpers through her tears.
"Lyss?" He sounds more awake.
"I missed your 17th birthday. I feel awful" Elyssa says.
"You're ok!" Teddy laughs.
"I missed your birthday" is all elyssa can say.
"Dude I couldn't care less about my birthday. You're not dead!" Teddy cheers.
"I'm gonna make it up to you" elyssa tells him.
"You already have. You didn't die!" Teddy laughs. Elyssa laughs as well, feeling better about the situation. "Mom!" Teddy yells on the other end. Their mom comes running to him, not knowing what was going on. "It's elyssa" he smiles, handing his mom the phone.
"Elyssa? Honey?" Lisa cries.
"Hi mom" elyssa cries as well.
"Oh sweetie I'm so sorry I'm not there. I have so much going on and I couldn't leave or id get-"
"It's alright mom. Megan's here. I'm not alone" elyssa cuts her off.
"You have no idea how happy I am to hear your voice" Lisa says. They talk for a bit before they hang up. Elyssa eats her soup while she turns on the tv. Megan makes sure the volume is low, trying not to disturb jacks sleep.
"After you're done eating why don't you sleep?" Megan suggests.
"Dude. I just slept for three fucking weeks" Elyssa laughs.
"Alright. Good point" Megan chuckles. They both sit in silence as they watch tv for about an hour.
"Hey megs?" Elyssa breaks the silence.
"What's up?" Megan looks at her best friend.
"Who's that?" Elyssa points over at Jack.