Come Back To Me

7

I stayed with Alex for a while after Nick and Lexy left. It was around 6:30, maybe a little after, and the number of visitors since I'd arrived had greatly decreased. There was less hustle and bustle than there was over the weekend, which for some reason didn't surprise me. The halls were quiet, almost silent. The quiet hum of the machines in the room were about the only noise around. Alex laid there, still, as he had been for days. His chest rose and fell slightly with each breath; I could hear each inhale and exhale.

I studied the cuts and bruises on his face. The largest bruise, which occupied most of his left cheek, had started to turn purple. It looked less like a fresh one and more like one that had been around a few days, which it had. The cut running from right corner of his mouth to the left side of his chin had finally clotted over, allowing the healing process to begin. Even all banged up, he still looked beautiful.

'Baby, I know you can hear me. I know that you know what I'm saying. Even though you can't answer, I know that you want to. Do you want me to continue the story?" I asked, even though I knew he couldn't answer It was more of a rhetorical question anyways. "Okay. I'll keep going."

The next week at school I ran into Alex while leaving chem class. It was almost like magic- I'd been thinking about him nonstop since that party, and now he was right here, standing next to me!

"Hi, Alex! I didn't know you had classes down this hall," I placed my hand on his shoulder. When he noticed who was talking to him, his face lit up.

"Yeah, I just came from practical physics. Where are you going next?" He asked, keeping right in step with me.

"Trig. Where are you going?" Oh my goodness, his eyes were so beautiful!

"Calculus concepts. Can I walk you to class?" I just nodded my head and smiled in response. We headed through the sea of students, rushing to get from room to room. I, however, was in no hurry. Alex didn't seem to be, either. "So what did you think of that party Friday night?"

"Well at first, I didn't really want to be there. But I ended up having a good time. It was pretty wild, though." I answered, meeting his eyes. I was smiling like an idiot. "Um, what did you think?"

"I'd agree that it was pretty wild. And I had a really great time, too." He smiled back, before things fell into silence. I wasn't sure if it was a comfortable silence, or if it was awkward. Maybe a little bit of both.

I stole like a hundred glances at him as we sauntered through the hall, and he was looking at me a bit, too. What if this boy is really into me?

The feels. The feels were real.

I was falling in love, without even realizing that I was falling in love.

"So, what are you doing this weekend?" Alex asked, breaking our silence. The halls themselves weren't quiet, as everyone around us was laughing and carrying on. We reached the door to my chemistry class. I stopped walking and pulled Alex over toward the wall, so we could talk.

"I don't have any plans yet, why?" But I already knew why.

"Actually, I uh, I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me and my friend, Matt. Matt's taking this girl out on a date, but for some reason her parents will only let her go on a first date if it's a double date. So Matt asked me to go and told me to bring someone." He blushed, looking down at his feet. "Well, I want to bring you. Well, if you want to go, of course. If you don't I guess that's fine too."

I smiled. "I'd love to go. Just let me know when and where."

"Then it's a date," He murmured, grinning back at me.

"It's a date," I put my hand on his arm for a second. "Now I have to go, so I'll talk to you later?"

"Sounds good to me," He smiled at me again, and I realized my hand was still on his forearm. I quickly dropped it and ran into the classroom, really hoping he hadn't noticed me blushing.

I had a date. A date. I had a date with Alex Henderson, a guy so far out of my league that it wasn't even funny. He'd even asked me on the date, and seemed nervous about it! I guess the universe was trying to make up for the whole "Zane mishap" that I was put through.

A date. I couldn't get over the fact that I had a real date, with a really hot guy, and he wanted to take me out!

I couldn't wait to tell Zoey about this.

Leaving him was hard, even though I knew I couldn't stay all night. Visitors were only allowed from 8 AM to 8 PM, so I wouldn't be able to come by before school.

"Goodbye, baby, I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Just don't ever forget how much I love you. I always have loved you, and I always will." I kissed Alex's forehead squeezed his hand one last time. Leaving him was incredibly hard. It was everything I could do to restrain myself from running back to his bedside and smothering him in kisses.

It was maybe 7:45 when I pulled in my driveway. I could see my mom and dad watching TV through the big living room window. Once again, my mother was probably going to ask a thousand questions. I knew she just wanted to know how he was doing, but it was one of those things I really didn't feel like talking about. I scooped up my backpack and trudged up the front porch steps. My father saw me and came rushing over to open the door for me.

"Hey, hon," He patted my back as I came in the door. "How was school?"

"It was okay, I guess. Same as always." I tossed my backpack on the steps.

"How's Alex doing?"

"He's fine, the doctors say he's fine. I just hope he really is fine."

"That's good. That's real good."

"Yeah. I guess." At that point, I was finished with the conversation. I headed upstairs and drew myself a bath, in the hopes of calming myself down. However, the entire time, the only thing I thought was Alex.

I hope he's not in pain.

I hope he's feeling okay.

Hopefully that fever disappears soon.

If he's lucky, those bruises will heal up real quick.

Maybe he's thinking about me.

Maybe he doesn't think about anything at all.

Maybe he'll wake up tomorrow.