Chapter 7
I don't know how long we held each other like that. I couldn't bear to let him go. His t-shirt was sodden with my tears, but I don't think either of us cared right at that moment. Our security was broken by a nurse coming in.
'He's okay. He's just coming round. He isn't going to want to talk, but it would be good if he knew you were there. He's in room three, just on the right.' She walked out again, looking busy.
'You ready?' Alex said to me. I nodded, took a deep breath and started to walk to Charlie's room. We reached his door, and paused for a moment, bracing ourselves for what we might be about to see. We opened the door and stepped into his room. I looked to the sleeping Charlie in the hospital bed, the bruises on his face disfiguring him, but not enough that he lost his beauty.
'Oh Charlie..' I said, wanting more than anything to go over and caress his face, but I didn't want to hurt him. I sat down in the chair next to his bed, looking at his face with complete adoration. Alex sat in the chair at the foot of his bed, his head in his hands. We waited for about ten minutes, when Charlie started to stir. His eyes flickered open, looking first to Alex and then to me.
'Lily..' he groaned. It clearly took him a lot of effort to. I assured him not to speak with a finger to my lips, smiling just to see him smile again.
'We'll stay, I promise. I won't leave you.' I spoke softly. He smiled and I took his hand, squeezing it as I did so.
We stayed by his side for hours on end, Alex and I covering each other when we had to have a shower or get food. He improved over the days and eventually weeks, slowly regaining movement and becoming more talkative. He was on a morphine high most of the days, but his ribs were still too painful for me to hug him. I had to make do with holding his hand, but that was all I needed. All I needed was for him to be okay.
Finally the day came for him to be discharged. With a final word from the nurses to be careful and to take it easy, he could go home. I helped him into the back of Alex's car and sat next to him, holding his hand all the way home. Charlie and I didn't leave each other's gaze all the way home, our eyes locked together, blue on brown.
I helped him out of the car, into his house and onto the sofa. Alex went to get his duvet from upstairs, and I reclined the seat for Charlie.
'Do you want anything? Tea? Hot Chocolate? Fishcustard?' I asked Charlie. A smile crept across his face as he realised he could once again enjoy a cup of tea while playing video games.
'Just a cup of tea please Lily. Then we can play Tetris on the Wii?' How could I refuse that gorgeous smile.
'Of course!' I said with a smile. I went straight to the kettle, filled it with water and flicked it on. Meanwhile, Alex was finding the Wii controllers. Those things always go missing. I stirred the milk into the tea and added the sugar, then took them through to the living room. I gave Charlie his and he smiled in thanks, and I sat down in between him and Alex, taking a sip of my tea and a controller from him. We put the game on, and soon I emerged as champion, beating both Alex and Charlie several times in a row.
'How did you get so good at Tetris?' asked Charlie.
'A mother who was playing Tetris the night before I was born.' I replied, laughing at their expressions of slight disbelief. 'Honestly!'
'Yeah.. We believe you..' said Alex sarcastically.
We played Tetris late into the night, me getting closer to Charlie after every game, until he was playing the game with an arm around my shoulders. I was incredibly aware of his ribs, so I made sure I didn't lean on him too heavily. Eventually I fell asleep in his arms, dropping the Wii remote into his lap.
