I Could Be Falling In Love, Falling In Love... With Joe Walker...

Chapter 37: Not Alone

I woke up to singing. 

A guitar, and three voices. I was so tired, but I was happy to hear it. 

I kept my eyes closed and pretended to be sleeping until the song ended. Only once it ended did I open my eyes to see a floppy haired guitarist, my short little roommate, and my boyfriend all singing to my unconscious self. I smiled the best I could. Everything hurt, and yet everything felt amazing. I had no idea how many drugs were coursing through my veins. 

Once she noticed that I opened my eyes, Lauren came over to the bed quicker than everyone else. 

"Where's Joey?" I asked the best I could. My throat hurt. There had been a tube down my throat, there had to have been. Nothing else makes my throat feel this awful. Everyone laughed when I asked. 

"He had to get to bed. It's really late, Melody. He had an exam in the morning. I'm sorry, he really wanted to be here when you woke up." Lauren answered. Darren was squeezing my hand and Joe was just looking at me, saying nothing. 

"And my..." I trailed off, not wanting to finish. Lauren's face dropped and looked down at my leg. I wiggled my toes underneath the hospital blankets. Except... I didn't. 

As best I could, I used all my energy to grab onto the blanket and pull it off my legs. 

Leg. 

I sat there, staring down, wiggling my toes. Trying to wiggle my toes. I could feel my toes wiggling. 

I finally broke. 

My sobs came out like wails, my throat still to sore to properly cry. I felt everybody holding my hands tightly, and Darren almost looked like he was going to cry as well. I couldn't stop trying to wiggle my toes. 

"I can feel it! I can feel my toes wiggling!" I screamed through my sobs and everybody just looked down at me with pity. I didn't want pity.  

So I pulled myself together. I couldn't handle breaking for more than just a moment. I needed to be okay. I was okay. I was okay, they got rid of what was hurting me, I'm safe now. 

Nobody said anything after that. Darren just grabbed his guitar again and they sang me to sleep. 

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"I'll race you!" I shouted, laughing as I ran down the hall, Lauren running next to me. We passed the room numbers that I knew by heart by now. I knew how many there were and I knew the numbers and I knew who lived in each one. These hall were my home now and we laughed and smiled as we raced to our room. 

It was that last week of school, and I wasn't running down the hall. I was rolling. 

I was using all the upper body strength I had to wheel myself faster than Lauren. I knew she could have beat me, but she didn't want to make me feel bad. I was still laughing, I was still smiling, but I wasn't running. 

I beat her there, but it was a close call. We both had to catch our breath afterwards before opening the door to our room. All her stuff was packed up, she was moving out for good, graduating in the next few days. All my friends were. 

I wasn't graduating. 

I was just leaving. 

"Are you sure you're ready, Mel? I mean you're not packed at all." Lauren said when we got in the room. 

"Yeah, yeah I think I'm ready. I'll have everything packed by the end of the week. We don't leave until Sunday so by then I'll have made Joe pack everything for me." I half laughed. 

Things were good. 

I was okay. 

We met up with everybody that day. Back in the Arb. Joe had to help me get to the river because my wheels kept getting stuck in the tall grass. He sat me down in the grass by the water gently and sat next to me. 

Everybody was trying so hard not to stare, I knew they were. I was too. 

"So! We're all leaving! Is everyone ready?!" Dylan shouted, somewhat taking charge of the meeting. Everybody cheered, I just smiled at everyone. 

"Joey, Lauren, Rosenthal, Joe, Mel, Corey, Devin and I are all leaving for California on Sunday!" everyone cheered once more, Joe squeezed my shoulders and I just blushed. "The rest of you are going to Chicago with the exception of Darren who's daring to take on New York!" everyone cheered again. 

We were all just so excited to start the next part of our lives. 

Dylan kept talking, but I began my own conversation with Joe. 

"Joe?" I started, and he looked at me before smiling. 

"Yes?" 

"I don't think you should take me with you." I said, calmly. He just glared at me for a long time. Before, 

"Hey!" he shouted, loud enough to get everyones attention. Once everyone looked over, he shouted, "Melody here just said I shouldn't take her to California with me!" 

Everybody booed and I began to blush. I looked up at the group and felt saddened. 

"Guys," I started, "I shouldn't even be leaving! I just can't finish my major now, so I don't have much of a choice. That doesn't mean you guys have to get stuck with a handica-" everybody interrupted me this time. 

"You're no different than you were, Melody." Devin spoke up, everyone agreed. "I mean, you're still a dancer, and you're still one of us." I scoffed. 

"Dev, I would hardly call me a dancer now" everyone booed again. 

"If we know you at all, which we do," Nick spoke up, "Then we know you can work around this. Besides, aren't Ballerinas known for balancing on one leg anyway?" he winked, trying to make light of the situation. 

"Besides, if you leave Joe, I'm pretty sure he'll have to sleep with half of California just to get over you" Holden joked, winking at Joe this time. We both just chuckled and looked at each other. 

None of this felt right, and yet I felt so wrong without these guys, I couldn't imagine not going with them. 

They all turned away from me and began talking again. 

"We're going to be posting HP The Musical on the YouTubes this week so that you can all share it with your friends and families." Nick announced and we all nodded. 

The day was beautiful. Everything was perfect, everyone around me was perfect. 

I started off the year depressed, alone, secretive, closed off, anxiety ridden and nervous about making friends. 

Now, I'm sitting in a field with only one leg, and I'm happy, surrounded by friends, open as a book, and ready for the next chapter of my life. 

I can owe it all to these guys, the only friends I've ever truly made. I owe my life to them, and they remind me every damn day that I'm not alone.