Remember Me
Chapter Three: Love Will Tear Us Apart
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Friday morning came and Lizzie woke up with a start. A thin layer of cold sweat covered her body. Looking at the clock, she realized she was awake a half hour before her alarm. Feeling dirty, she decided that she might as well get up for the day.
As she made her way to the bathroom, Lizzie couldn't shake the feeling of dread that her dream, or nightmare had created. She couldn't remember what she had been dreaming and shook it off. She began to wash herself as she thought back to the last few days. She had a boyfriend. She never thought she'd be as excited as she was to learn that it was her own childhood best friend that made her heart beat fast and consumed her most private fantasies. Although they still hadn't been able to do anything more then hold hands, Lizzie was looking forward to that night at the dance.
Heading back to her room, Lizzie pulled on a light blue baby doll dress with spaghetti straps. It had an empire waist and little pink embroidered flowers wound the circular neckline. She finished the look with a white pair of platform sandals. With her hair up in her interpretation of a french twist, she finished her look with small pink flower clips.
As Lizzie made her way down stairs for breakfast, she heard noise in the kitchen.
"You're up early." her mother greeted her as she put a pan on the stove.
"I had a dream and woke up a little before my alarm and decided to get an early start on the day." she said, excepting a glass of orange juice from her mother as she sat down at the table.
"Well you look very nice today. The dance is tonight?" Jo had been excited to learn that Gordo was the one taking her daughter to the first high school dance of the year. It had set both parents minds at ease knowing that she would be in good hands for the evening.
"Thanks. Yes, the dance is tonight. I'm so excited!" Lizzie couldn't help but squeal as her mother smiled at her enthusiasm.
"I would have thought that you would save the dress for tonight."
"I have another dress Mom. I actually hadn't planned on dressing up today, but I decided that I wanted to look nice for school too." she said putting her empty glass in the sink and sitting back down.
"Are you planning on wearing the long black dress?" Jo asked putting a plate of food down on the table.
"Food!" came Matt's hungry voice as he bounded in and sat down at the table. Lizzie rolled her eyes at her brother.
"Yeah. This dress is more day nice, the black one is more evening nice." Lizzie explained as she took a bite of bacon.
"I agree. Well I hope you have a good time."
"Thanks Mom." Lizzie said smiling.
As soon as she was done eating she excused herself and ran up putting the finishing touches onto her make-up. As soon as she reached the bus stop, she noticed Gordo and Miranda already there talking.
"Woah Lizzie!" Miranda said causing Gordo to turn around and stare open mouthed at her.
Lizzie smiled and walked over, gently closing Gordo's mouth for him. "You'll catch flies." she whispered and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"Wow, you look, um.. amazing." he breathed, still unable to believe this was now his girlfriend.
"Thanks." she smiled at him and took his hand as the bus came to pick them up.
Normally Miranda and Lizzie sat together on the bus, but lately Gordo and Lizzie had been sitting together. It was just one symbol of their relationship but it meant the world to them that they had Miranda's support. Lizzie settled against Gordo as he wrapped his arms around her. He couldn't seem to ever get enough of her. In his mind she was perfect. His childhood emotions had been growing in the last few days and were maturing into something he couldn't even put a name on. She completed him.
The day seemed to fly by. Everyone had been high spirits about the dance that night. If Lizzie thought that they had been talking about it a lot the first day of school, today seemed as if it was the only thing anyone could talk about. The teachers even talked about it during their classes.
Lizzie, Miranda and Gordo made their way to the busses that day with smiles plastered onto their faces.
"Today has been the most perfect day!" Lizzie exclaimed while twirling around in a circle. She faced her friends and walked backwards through the school parking lot towards the busses. Lizzie had been too occupied with the look of pure affection written on Gordo's face, to see the speeding car before it was too late.
"LIZZIE!" Gordo screamed as he raced to her side. There, the girl of his dreams laid unconscious and broken.
"Someone call an ambulance." someone yelled as a small crowed surrounded Lizzie and her fear stricken friends. Cars weren't allowed in the parking lot while the busses were loading. The senior that had been behind the wheel stood dumbfounded at what he had done.
Later, at the hospital, Gordo sat nervously bouncing his leg up and down.
"Will you stop that? You are making me more nervous then I already am!" Miranda snapped at her friend.
"I'm sorry." he sighed and looked up as the doctor walked into the room, a clipboard in his hands. Everyone stood up to receive, what they all hoped, would be good news. The doctor wore an even expression, giving no sign to the direction of the information he was about to give them.
"Mr. and Mrs. McGuire?" the two parents nodded, eager to know how their daughter was. "I'll get right to the point. Elizabeth has a concussion. While nothing was broken and her vital signs are good and strong, I'm afraid she is in a coma." he paused, seemingly for dramatic torture. "Although we are still working to find out the extent of her injury, I can assure you that it hasn't seemed to affect her too greatly. We have run an MRI as well as a CT scan and all seems to be as it should. We will know more once Elizabeth wakes up. Any questions?" he looked between the two adults.
"Will she wake up?" Sam asked, squeezing his wife's hand in hope.
"Although, I can't give you absolute confidence that she will wake up we have no reason to believe that she wouldn't." he replied. He looked like he wasn't going to say more, but the desperate looks of his patients family and friends made him continue. "As far as we know, there is no internal bleeding and no swelling on the brain. Those are very good signs. Her body is probably in shock right now and needing rest to recuperate. However, the down side to this is, I can't for sure say that that will happen. I will be back to update you on her condition if anything changes."
"Can we see her?" Gordo spoke up for the first time.
"Of course. She is still being settled into her room in ICU but a nurse will be by to allow two at a time to visit her. I suggest talking to her, she'll be able to hear you." and with that the doctor left.
It seemed like forever before a nurse came to escort all of them to the ICU waiting room. As Jo and Sam followed the nurse to see their daughter, finally all of it sank into Gordo. A lone tear rolled down his cheek and fell onto his tan chords.
"Oh Gordo!" Miranda cried as she leaned on him, his arm instinctively wrapping around her shaking form to comfort his friend. Miranda had been doing this off and on since it happened. It had been four hours already since they had gotten out of school. While they were sitting here worrying about the life of someone they loved, the first school dance had already begun. Somehow it didn't seem fair.
Finally Jo and Sam came back to the rest of them. A look of shock was on Jo's face as Sam tried to comfort her.
"So?" Gordo inquired.
"She woke up!" Sam mirrored his wife's look of shock.
"But that's good right?" Miranda asked, confused and scared of the expressions her best friends parents had.
"She didn't know who I was." Jo relayed the information as if it had been programmed into her and wasn't her own will to say it.
A/N: Ok guys.. you knew this would happen. It's in the summery.. So what happens next? I realize this is a short chapter, but if you haven't noticed yet, I have been titling chapters after names of songs. I will be working on the next chapter "She's Like The Wind" right away, so look forward to that. Also, I'm not a doctor. I don't know if medically what I tried to say is right. But for the sake of the story, it is.. since this is fiction anything can happen.