Expiration || M.C

17 || Different

Luke

It has been hours since we have arrived at the hospital. It's quiet, which isn't strange seeing as it's about 3 in the morning. Spencer and I rushed over here and nearly ran over a dog on the way there, which caused Spencer to freak out even more.

I look over at her. She is biting her nails and staring at the floor as she's moving her leg. "Spence," I say, clearing my throat as it sounds like I haven't spoken in days. She pulls the sleeves of the sweater over her arms. "Yeah." She blinks and looks up at me. I smile at her. "This is good. You know this is good, right?"

She shrugs and stares at the floor again. "Yeah. I know. It doesn't matter, I don't really want to talk right now. Alright?" She sighs. I nod and stand up from my chair. "Sure. I'll get you something warm to drink. It's cold here." I put my hand on her shoulder and walk away towards the cafeteria.

I get back after around ten minutes. I decided to get her some hot chocolate since I know coffee makes her anxious, and she absolutely hates tea.

I see Ashton has finally arrived, as he's sitting bent over in front of Spencer. She doesn't really look at him as he's talking to her.

I walk over to them and hand Spencer her drink. "Here," I say, making sure she grabs the part of the cup that isn't going to burn her hand. "Ashton, hey. Can you come with me?" I pat his shoulder and he follows me to the hall.

"What took you so long?" I ask as he starts to lean against the wall. He sighs and takes his glasses off to rub his eyes. "I know, I know. I turned my fucking phone off. Fucking idiot, I know. I'm sorry. I'm here now, though, so let's just forget it." He says and shrugs.

I frown. "Ashton? Forget it? You are hours late, do you know that? Why the hell did you turn it off?" I say.

He puts his glasses back on his face and his curls cover up his furrowed eyebrows. "Listen, I don't want to talk about it, alright? I got a letter," He looks up at the ceiling and sighs. "You know what, it doesn't even matter. Let's just get back to Spencer, alright?" He says, pushing past me.

I grab his arm. "Hey, you can talk to me, alright? You don't need to right now, but you can. Also Spencer wants some space. It's her way of taking things in. She's kind of freaking out." I say, taking a step to the right so I can see Spencer, who is drinking her chocolate milk and talking to Michael and Ashton's parents.

"Fucking hell, my parents are here. What even took them this long? Why is no one having a reaction to whatever is happening? Why are you not freaking out? Spencer actually seems like the only sane one right now." Ashton says, standing behind me. I look at him. "C'mon," I say and we start walking back towards the place to wait.

After another few hours, nurse Hood comes to greet us and tell us some news. He looks tired but I'm guessing that's what working at a hospital does to you. You take a lot of emotional baggage from other people.

"So glad you could all make it. How is everyone holding up?" Nurse Hood asks us as he puts down his notepad. Everyone mumbles something along the lines of 'fine' and 'tired'. Nurse Hood smiles.

"Yes, I understand. But I'm here to bring very good news," He says, telling us to sit down by sitting down himself. "Michael just woke up," He says, grabbing his notepad again.

I see Spencer's head shoot up and I look over at her. She is crying. Really hard. But she is smiling. I grab her hand and look up at Michael's parents and Ashton. Ashton looks like he's at the verge of tears, his mother just looks like she's been ran over, but she's smiling, and his dad looks happy. I bite my lip to stop tears rolling down my cheeks that are stinging in my eyes.

"But don't get too excited yet, his eyes are opened, but there is nothing else that he can move yet, besides his eyes. We are not sure when he will. We are pretty sure that it will happen, though, almost completely sure. It could take minutes, it could take months. Three people are allowed to see him in a few minutes. I'll pick you up when he's ready." Nurse Hood says, smiling at us one more time before he leaves.

I look over at the rest. They're all looking at me and Spencer. "Luke, Spencer, listen," Michael's mother starts. "I know you want to see Michael. You probably want to seem him almost as much as we do, but we're his family. You understand that, right?" She says, already getting her purse to find nurse Hood.

"Yes, we do. It's okay. If it seems right, let him know we love him." I say and squeeze Spencer's hand.

She nods at us and takes Ashton's hand and the three of them walk out of the room towards the hall.