It had seemed to take forever for the monotonous ringing to stop. He couldn't get his mind off of Peyton. Was she going to be okay? What if the injury to her head was really bad? What if she didn't wake up? The logical part of his brain reacted with the unlikelihood of her never waking up was slim but what if she didn't want to see him when she woke up?
"Hello?" Brooke's voice snapped him out of his estranged thought.
"Brooke..." he began, unsure of what to say.
"Lucas I don't want to talk to you so stop calling me! So you can go and - "
"It's Peyton!" he blurted out, not giving her the chance to finish her sentence, despite knowing that what she had been about to say would've been nothing positive about him, "She's in the hospital."
Lucas could almost hear the emotional struggle that Brooke was going through but he said nothing. He wouldn't know what to say. He would probably mess it up. It would be better to say nothing. He heard Brooke sigh in frustration before replying, "Is she okay?"
"I don't know." Did his voice seem as choked as it had sounded to him?
"I'll be right there." Her voice was soon replaced by a dial tone.
As he waited on the uncomfortable hospital chairs that made up the waiting room, He wondered if this was what it was like while he was in a coma. Had it always been so frustrating? Did it make you want to scream and shout for someone to tell you if the person you cared for was okay? Had his friends, his mother, Keith and the rest of them feel so exhausted because they just didn't know. Did they get their hopes up when a doctor came close to them, only for it to be someone else's doctor?
Had waiting always been this hard?
It was at that moment he realised how selfish he had been the last few weeks. He couldn't decide between Peyton and Brooke and when he finally did decided, he didn't have the courage to do it properly. He moaned about not being able to play basketball and overstrained his arm with basketball when his mother only wanted him to rest it so he would be able to play basketball properly. He had almost slept with a girl he didn't even know at a bar. Just because he was wallowing in self pity.
--
Lucas woke to someone shaking him. He blearily opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings. Hospital. He was at the hospital because of Peyton. He sat a little straighter at the reminder of Peyton. How long had he been out of it?
"Lucas..." he heard a voice say to his right. Turning his head he saw it was Brooke and, despite the anger he knew she felt for him, she didn't let it show. She was more concerned for her friend. "How is she?"
He sighed. "I'm not sure. I'm going to go check now."
He stood up, ignoring the pain in his arm. He must have been leaning against it again. A bad habit to get out of. He heard the sharp click of Brooke's heels beside him as he walked to the nurses station.
"May I help you?" said the nurse politely to them. She smiled a smile that didn't reach the eyes but one Lucas figured she had been using for a while now. At least in this job.
"Is there any news about Peyton Sawyer?" asked Brooke.
"And your relation to her is?"
"I'm her sister?" lied Brooke.
"Really?" Brooke nodded. The nurse raised her eyebrows in suspicion but said no more on the subject. She turned to Lucas. "And you are?"
"Her friend. I brought her in."
The nurse began to type on her computer before saying, "Room 216. Her doctor should be in there."
They both smiled gratefully. "Thanks."
To be continued…