Day 29
Max was on a schedule of later shifts, and took the opportunity to visit Mike Wheeler again. She knew that El Hopper would be there doing his physio.
A few times she would hang outside of his room after one of his friends or family had left and listen to El talk to him. She had to smile. El talked to him like he was awake and participating in the conversation. She talked to him like a friend. Like she'd known him for ages. Max could see that El worked hard on the physio.
"How's it going?" Max said. Her and El were pretty good friends by this time. They spent a number of nights out with Dustin and Lucas. All of them getting to know each other. And El getting to know Mike. Max watched El listen intently to the guys when they talked about Mike. She could see El change slowly over the course of the month. She seemed, not so much to lose her confidence, but to develop a single-mindedness that Max had never seen before in a person. She was focused. Max knew she what, make that who, she was focused on. She worried about her.
"No change, you're the doctor, is this normal?" El said.
"Every case is different. There's no real benchmark for 'normal'" Max airquoted.
"I have to say though, I had to give him a physical yesterday, and you are doing an excellent job of keeping his muscle tone. When he wakes up he should need less help to stand than most patients need. You must be exhausted with that kind of physical work."
"Helps me keep my girlish figure." El said joking. "I'm determined that he's in good enough shape to hang out with his friends again. "
Max looked serious. "Don't get emotionally involved El. it could be weeks, months or years."
"Please don't take me off his care Max," her eyes were pleading.
"I won't. You are doing a great job he's used to your voice now. I'm just looking out for you as a friend. Maybe bending the rules bit. You've heard about this kind of stuff in your classes. Some of the best physio's fall in love with their patient, it happens all the time, and are devastated when that person wakes and they doesn't feel the same way about them. It's dangerous El, you can be pulled off a case. I won't do it, but just be careful ok."
El looked down. "It's too late Max"
"Shit. Well you're in it now. You know he isn't going to feel the same way right? You have to go through getting to know the real him when he wakes up. You know this. And he might not be interested. No matter how nice or pretty you are, you just might not be his type. I'm going against my better judgment. Mike is my first priority here and right now you are the best person for giving him the best care during physio. I don't want anybody new doing this."
"Thanks Max, I won't get you into trouble, I would resign first."
"Don't do that El, Mike needs you, we're a month into it. Don't give up on him."
"I won't give up on him."
After Max left, El read to Mike again. She was halfway through the second book, she managed to read through about twenty pages a night. She gave Mike the same warning she did on the previous twenty-eight days.
"You know Mike, today, I just might make a mistake with the voices. If I do you can just wake up and correct me, ok? Ok then, we have a deal." And just like she did the previous twenty-eight days, she made sure to get someone's voice wrong. When she did she would always smirk over at Mike and wait.
After an hour she stopped reading to him. She talked to him again, instead.
She told Mike about living in the cabin with her dad.
She told him how they would butt heads a lot. She said they would yell at each other. She would scream at him. Sometimes she would break things with her ability. She would never use her abilities on him. Never.
Every single time though, she would tell him she was sorry and hug his middle. Her dad always cried when he said he was sorry. That always made her cry too.
One day she asked him why he always cried when he hugged her and he told her about Sara, and the black hole. El hadn't cried that hard in her entire life. A profound sadness enveloped her. She would be his second chance. El wouldn't take him for granted.
She never yelled at her dad again. She now understood that he only had her best interests in mind. She might not like his decisions but she began to appreciate everything he'd done for her. She made it a point to hug him every morning, and every night and tell him she loved him.
El had to stop telling Mike about her dad. She had started to cry. Today had been a longer day than usual she was tired.
She took a quick look towards the door, and went over and kissed the corner of his eye.
"It's day 29 Mike. Come back to me. I love you."
Day 38
El had finished her usual routine with Mike. The deal, the reading, a story about her life and the kiss. She didn't want to but she might have to stop the kiss. She was pushing her luck as it was. So she stopped kissing him. Probably for the best she thought to herself.
It'd day 38, Mike. It's time to wake up..." She looked toward the door and then back at Mike, "... I love you."
She was wrapping things up when Lucas came in.
"Hey Lucas just finishing up. You're not here to see Mike? It's quite a bit past visiting hours."
"Actually, I'm here to see you, we're taking you out."
"I'm not really in the mood Lucas."
"We know, that's why we are taking out."
On the drive, Lucas said, "so is, um, Max seeing anybody right now?"
"You guys are all friends how come you don't know?"
"We kind of lost touch with the whole band thing going on."
El looked over at him smiling, "I don't think so. But she's really busy Lucas, so not being in a relationship might be on purpose. "
"No, I get it. I was just asking." He looked out the window, smiling.
"...so you remember the time, the chain came off Holly's bike," Dustin turned to El, "Holly is Mike's younger sister, she was probably 3 or 4 at the time."
Max said, "she was crying so much she forgot she could easily walk her bike home, she left it where it was and when she got home, we were all out on the front lawn, and Mike got down on his knees and just hugged her until she stopped crying. Had to be ten or fifteen minutes he waited. When she was done, he took her hand and walked with her to go get her bike to see if he could fix it. The bike wasn't there any more, and Holly cried again only harder. Mike got down on his knees again and hugged her. I swear it had to be an hour. But he wouldn't let go until she'd stopped crying. With all of us searching it didn't take long to find it. Mike was able to get the chain back on and…"
Max stopped talking. El had dual tears trickling down her cheeks. Dustin was sitting closed to her and put his arms around her shoulders. El went into complete meltdown mode. Dustin eyes went wide, he raised his eyebrows and looked at Max.
Dustin said, "you're in love with our best friend." El nodded, head down.
"Just wake him up and tell him." Dustin said. El sobbed, "...I'm trying…."
