hey guys here's the next chapter. song for this chapter was breathe by taylor swift =] listen to it while you read it, makes it so much better!! fits the mood really well, esp. "feeling like i just lost a friend" at the end for how lily's feeling. and then "i can't breathe" just how she's feeling this chapter. anyways read and review!! please review if you read it, even if you have criticism (especcially if you have criticism! or suggestions) shout outs to everyone who does review, it puts a smile on my face!! =]

Chapter 4

The phone slid out of my hand as I loosened my grip, too shocked to realize what I was doing. It bounced on the ground, kicking rocks out of its way and eventually landing on its top. "Lily? Are you still there?" I heard Mrs. Oken's voice, but I didn't comprehend that it was out my phone. I looked around, searching for the voice, until I saw my phone on the ground and hastily picked it up again.

"Ya, sorry, I'm here." I mumbled, still in shock. Was he hurt? Where was he? Not Oliver…

"I'm at the hospital with him. I think you and Miley should come down."

"I'll be right there."

Miley's red convertible pulled into Oliver's driveway 7 minutes later. I called her, barely able to ask her to come get me at Oliver's before succumbing to tears. I knew she probably thought something happened between Oliver and I, but I didn't care.

She ran out of the car and pulled me into a standing position. I leaned on her, unable to walk without falling over my eyes were so filled with tears. I pulled myself into the passenger's seat before Miley started talking a mile a minute.

"What happened, Lily? Why are you here all alone? Where are we going?"

"Olivers--Been--In--Accident," I uttered, gasping for breath between each word.

"What?!" she screeched, pushing down on the brakes. She pulled into the next driveway, and turned around.

"Wh-Wh-Where are we going?" I asked, wanting to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

"The hospital." Oh. Good thing she knew where she was going.

I knew Miley still wanted to know about what happened between me and Oliver on the beach, if anything happened at all. "Miley…Your right. About everything," I cried, not wanting to say the three words on my mind, not now. "I…I…I'm in love with Oliver," I sobbed.

"Oh, lily!" She exclaimed. She pulled into the hospital parking lot, cutting off some old couple for a parking spot. She pulled me into her arms, and I lost it.

I sat their sobbing for 15 minutes straight, until my eyes refused to cry anymore. I lifted my head and saw that Miley's shoulder was soaked with my tears. "I'm sorry," I laughed-cried, pointing to her shirt.

"Lily, you seriously think I care?"

"Ya. Right…" I trailed off, wiping the trails of mascara off my cheeks.

"Come on," she said as we got out of the car. It took too much effort to walk, I thought. It took to much effort to feel.

We walked into the lobby, and got our badges. We lied and told the security guard that we were cousins--family only for ICU patients. I don't think he believed us, but he let us in anyways, knowing that we may as well have been family.

The elevator ride was dreadfully long; every stop brought on more patients and doctors. I've never been claustrophobic, but the elevator was too small, my head kept pounding with every new person. My heart swelled with relief when we reached our floor. I pushed my way through the crowd to get to the floor, and then stopped in my tracks. I couldn't do this. As much as I hated being on that elevator, I would take it any day over standing in the lobby of the ICU, looking for my best friend's room.

We walked down the hallway, wanting to reach his room but at the same time praying that it would never come, that we were just being punk'd. It took us 3 minutes, 34 seconds--I counted, just to keep my mind off of what was coming--to find it.

The curtains were slightly pulled off, and we stopped in front of the window before walking it. Oliver was in the bed, with tubes sticking out all across his body. There was a single light on in the room, but inside were his mom, dad, and freshman sister, Maddie. She was sitting in a corner, listening to her ipod and reading some book, but she kept glancing over to Oliver every 30 seconds or so. I wondered if she was actually reading or just re-reading the same line over and over again, trying to convince her parents she was fine. She would never admit it, but I had a feeling she was just as worried about Oliver as her parents.

His mom was sitting in the chair on the right of his bed. She was stroking his hair absentmindedly and staring down at his face, no doubt worrying about if Oliver was ever going to wake up. Next to her chair lay an empty coffee cup. Both his parents were coffee addicts, and I could see his dad sipping from his mug in the corner of my vision. Turning to look at him, I saw that he was on the other side of Oliver. Setting down his coffee mug, he leaned over and held his face in his hands. On his face was a white bandage, stretched across half of his forehead. He had minor cuts and scratches on his arms. I knew that he was blaming himself for the crash, asking God why his son had to suffer while he escaped with only minor injuries.

I turned to look at Miley, tears filling my eyes again. A lone tear sliding across her face, she nodded when she saw my look of terror on my face. "We have to go in, Lily."

"I know," I gulped, and led the way into the room.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Oken, " I said as we walked into the room, unsure of what to say or do. I looked at Oliver's vacant face and wanted to scream. "Maddie," I nodded, amazed I could keep myself together.

"Oh girls, thanks for coming. It means a lot to Oliver, I know." Mrs. Oken said, walking over to us. The wrinkles in her face seemed more pronounced, and first time I could see how aged Oliver's mom really was.

As she smiled at us the door swung open, revealing an older man in a long, white doctor's coat. "Mr. and Mrs. Oken, may I have a word?" He asked, and I realized that he must be Oliver's doctor. Mrs. Oken looked at her husband and he stood up. Taking her hand, he led her out of the room to conference privately with the doctor.

I took Mrs. Oken's seat next to Oliver, afraid to touch him should I disturb any of the many tubes. Miley took Mr. Oken's seat and started talking to Maddie as I listened in the back of my head. A few minutes into the conversation, I realized that they were talking about me, but I was too depressed to say anything.

"How's she doing?" Maddie asked Miley, referring to me.

Miley looked at me in the corner of her eyes, concern etched into her face. "I don't really know…She hasn't talked to me much. Mostly she's just been crying. Or like this."

"How come your not like her too?"

"I know how to handle grief better," she replied, as if on cue, and I knew she was referring to her mom. "You know Lily's never been good with people leaving…" she trailed off, unsure of whether to tell Maddie or not. "And…"

"She finally got it?"

"Ya," Miley sighed, relieved that she didn't have to tell her directly. "I picked her up at your house, actually."

"Why was she there?"

"I'm not sure. Like I said before, she's said a total of like 10 words to me since she called me. I think it has something to do with telling Oliver, though."

"But didn't they meet today at the beach? My dad said Oliver was all depressed when he picked him up…"

I zoned out the rest of their conversation. The only thought that could fit in my head was that Oliver was depressed when this happened because of me. What if he never woke up? He would die mad at me, never knowing how I felt. "That's not going to happen though," I whispered to Oliver. "Right?"

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