Let Me In

Chp. 19- The Lucky Ones

I woke up to the song 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol. I didn't yet open my eyes, but I could hear the lyrics play.

'If I lay here.. If I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world..'

I fluttered my eyes open expecting the teal blue of my bedroom ceiling. But it was white. I cautiously propped myself up, looking around the room. My eyes adjsted to a figure sitting next to me with my phone, the song flowing from the small device. It was my father. His head was faced down.

Was I in the hospital?

I looked down to my left arm and saw a tube run disappear inside my skin. I ran my thumb over the stitches where my deep cuts took place.

Ugh.. I hate hospitals.

Just as I was about sit up straight, a nurse came staggering through the door. "Oh no, Ms. Parker!" She said as she ushered me to lay back down. "You need to rest, your stitches aren't completely healed yet."

"How long have I been here?" I asked a little groggily.

"3 days now." She replied.

3 days? Oh fuck.

I layed back down as the nurse looked down at her clipboard.

"I'll leave you two to talk.." She said as she left the room.

My dad turned to me with a deeply worried expression. He looked absolutely horrible. Giant puffy violet bags achingly settled underneath his eyes. He turned off the music and continued to sadly gaze at me.

"I'm so glad you're okay." He mumured as he leaned into me, pressing his lips against my forhead.

"What happened? I've actually been here for 3 days?"

He nodded sorrowfully, "I was afraid you weren't going to wake up.. I would have never forgiven myself. I lost your mother.. I don't know what I would do if I lost you too." Tears formed in the rim of his eyes.

"Shh. Shh. It's not your fault." I said as I put my hand over his cheek and gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Oh, your friends are here to see you. I called them today and they came as soon as they could." He said wiping his eyes, and walking over to the open doorway. "Come in," he called out, "she's awake."

Mitch and Dylan came in with balloons and a teddy bear. I started giggling like a little girl when I saw the huge bear. They pulled up a chair next to me and started talking about how lucky I was to miss school.

Yeah, real lucky.

"What were you thinking Avalyn Riley Parker." Mitch said mimicking my dad's deep voice in a playful manner.

I stiffled a laugh as best as I could. No one really called me by my middle name, so it was strange to hear most people say it.

"Yeah, you could have lost a lot of blood if Taylor didn't find you." Dylan added.

"Taylor?" Both of my eyebrows shot up in immediate surprise. Taylor found me? I closed my eyes briefly and tried to remember what hapened before I passed out. But it was a conplete blank.

"Yeah, who do you think got you to the hospital anyways?" Mitch said looking around the room.

"Where is he?" I asked looking out the open hospital door.

"He's in the waiting room." Dylan said, "He hasn't left since the doctors stitched you up. Let me go get him." He stood up and left the room briefly.

A tall familiar figue stood in the doorway, tears brimming in his eyes. He slowly started to walk towards me but was starting to limping on his right leg. He suddenly looked around the room. I could tell he felt uncomfortable showing a vulnerable side of him while other people were around.

"Uh.. can you guys give us a couple of minutes?" I requested, looking at my dad and friends.

They nodded and left the room, leaving Taylor standing over the hospital bed looking at me. "Why are you limping?" I asked him.

He gave a small smile to me. "Someone had to bust the door open to get to you." He said looking at my stitches.

I gratefully smiled back as my eyes traveled from his face down to his hand. His fist was wrapped in gause. "What happened to your hand?" I asked with even more of a concerned look.

"I just cut myself with a peice of glass when I broke your window." He shook his head taking a seat next to the bed.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled as I noticed his appearance. He was wearing a different outfit. He had on a brand new white t-shirt with a grey, black flannel.

Realizing I noticed he changed, he explained, "I got some of your blood on my other shirt when I had to get you in my car and drive to the hospital."

"Sorry again." I mumbled in slight embarassment. He only shook his head and waved off my apology "Don't worry about it."

"Do you know when I'm going to get out of here?"

"They said as soon as your stitches heal a bit more. So maybe tomorrow."

I looked down at myself realizing his girlfriend probably didn't know he was here. We both know how furious she would be if he knew he busted down a door to rescue me. "Does Kylie know you're here?" I said in a low voice.

He chuckled in response which only slightly confused me, "I broke up with her."

My eyes widened and my mouth nearly dropped. He explained to me further, "I told you I don't like her.. I was going to break up with her anyways."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. The rememberance of what he had done was still unforgivable. He wasn't going to recieve my forgiveness right away.

"So.." he said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I know this is a really weird place to ask you out and probably not the best time. But.. would you like to go on a date with me Saturday?" I again gave him a stunned look.

"Sure.." I heard the word escape my mouth before I could realize what I just said. I was just as equally surprised as he was.

A wide, beautiful smile started to overcome his features. Not his usual flirty smirk. The smile that I saw in the family potrait when I slept over at his house. The smile he gave when he was happy. And I couldn't help the feeling of heat radiate in my cheeks.

Before he could say anything else, the nurse peered her head in the room. "Um sir, I'm afraid you're gonna have to leave. Visiting hours are almost over."

"I'll leave, just give me a minute." He said as she nodded and left.

He looked to me once again, his beautiful smile still remaining on his face.

"You should go home." I said putting my cold frail hand over his. "Get some rest."

"Okay, but when you're out of here, I'm taking you out." He winked flirtaciously. I chuckled as I watched him leave the room.

I turned to my side, closing my eyes with a faint smile on my face.