After a while, everyone was back in the waiting room, waiting to be told whether or not Miley was awake. The parents were talking and drinking coffee in one of the corners. Sara and Jackson were flicking through magazines from the coffee table. Joe and Demi were whispering to each other so softly that no one else in the room could hear. Nick was just staring at the doors that led to Miley's room, waiting.
Joe glanced over at his younger brother. "Nick? You alright there, man?"
Nick glanced at his brother and nodded his head slightly. He looked around and saw Jackson glaring at him from the far side of the room. He saw Demi looking at him with a worried expression. He saw the parents glancing at him every so often.
"I'm fine," he murmured, turning his attention back to the doors.
A little bit later, the doors opened and a doctor walked out, wearing a white coat and jotting something down onto his clipboard. He looked up and around at the people in the waiting room. He pushed his glasses further up his nose and smiled at them.
"I take it you're Miley's family?" he asked.
Billy Ray and Tish stood up, holding hands. "Yes, we're her parents," Tish said, stepping closer with her husband.
The doctor glanced at his clipboard. "Miley should be awake very soon. The twitch of her hand was a good sign." He smiled up at the people around him. "I think Miley should make a full recovery." His smile faltered slightly as he looked at the clipboard. "However, until Miley wakes up, we can't be sure if she'll have any mental problems after the accident. She had a nasty hit to to the head. In some cases, this causes some ... problems for the victim."
Tish bit her lip. "And if Miley has these problems?"
"Then we'll have to assess her and see how bad it is. We'll have to have some talks with her, explaining her situation and such. If, however, it appears that the problems are ... severe, we may need to keep her here for a while." He glanced around. "Without visitors."
Billy Ray nodded. "And what are the chances of this happening to Miley?" he asked calmly, placing his hand on the small of his wife's back.
"It's different with every patient, sir. We won't be certain until she wakes up," the doctor replied.
"Thank you, doctor," Billy Ray said softly, staring at the white wall behind the doctor.
The doctor turned on his heel and walked back through the double doors to see to his patients. Everyone else just stood where they were in silence.
The silence was broken by Demi. "Mental problems?" she whispered.
"What the fuck does he mean by mental problems?" Joe snapped.
"Joseph! Watch your language!" Denise snapped at her son, glaring at him.
"Well, what did he mean? Is she going to be, like, retarded or something?" Joe asked. Everyone in the room turned to glare at him. He raised his hands in defence. "I'm not being mean! I'm serious!"
"No, she won't be retarded, you idiot. That's you," Jackson hissed at Joe.
Joe turned around to face Jackson and took a step closer. "Why don't you watch what you're saying, tough guy?" Joe growled.
Jackson also took a step closer, balling his hands up into fists. "Bring it, kid," Jackson replied, raising his arm to punch Joe.
Sara reached out and lowered Jackson's arm. "Stop fighting," she said softly. "Miley wouldn't want her best friend and her brother fighting in the hospital." She smiled sweetly. So sweetly that everyone in the room knew she was being fake.
Demi stepped close to Sara and narrowed her eyes. "What the hell would you know about what Miley would and wouldn't want? You don't even like her. You just pretend to so Jackson won't dump you on your ass and so you can still drain him of everything he's worth," she spat.
Sara smirked and folded her arms across her chest. "You seem like you know everything, huh, little rich girl?" she goaded.
"I know a hell of a lot more than you do," Demi replied. She smirked, watching Sara. "At least I'll actually graduate high school. You look like you dropped out before you even had the chance to try." She looked Sara up and down. "You don't have a real job, Sara. You just sit around your fucking apartment and wait for Jackson to bring home his goddamn paycheck."
Sara went to slap Demi, but Denise stepped into the middle. "ENOUGH," she yelled. Her voice was firm. She wasn't a woman to be messed with. The woman looked around at the people in the room. "Is this what all of this has come to? Fighting in the waiting room of a hospital while we wait and see if Miley will be okay? This is unacceptable. I don't care about the differences you have, but you can sort it out away from here. I won't tolerate this kind of behaviour while Miley's parents are trying to pray for their daughter."
Tish smiled at Denise. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. Denise knew what she meant.
"All of you apologise to Tish and Billy Ray," Denise commanded. When none of them said anything, she narrowed her eyes at the four of them. "Now," she growled.
"Sorry." The apology was murmured by the four young people as they all looked at the floor.
"Nick -" Joe began, turning to face his brother, but when he looked at the chair Nick had been sitting in, it was empty. "Where's Nick?" Joe asked, looking around the waiting room, but his brother was nowhere to be seen.
"See what you did? You lost Nick," Sara said to Joe and Demi.
Demi opened her mouth to reply, but Jackson interrupted. "Like it matters. He doesn't care about Miley, anyway. He's the reason she's in this situation," he snapped.
Denise opened her mouth to stop the fighting again, but Joe raised his hand to stop her. "Hang on a second, Mom." He turned back to Jackson and took a step closer. "Don't you DARE blame Nick for this. Do you think he wants her to be lying in that hospital bed? Do you think he wants her to have mental problems when she wakes up? You can talk shit to me, Jackson. That's fine. But don't you dare blame my brother for what happened to Miley. That kid loves her with everything in him. If he could go back and step in front of that car, I'm pretty damn sure he would. Maybe you don't know this, since you've been too busy fucking your girlfriend to spend time with your sister, but Nick has been there for Miley ever since you went off with Sara. You think this is Nick's fault? Then get the hell out of this hospital, because no one else will want you here if that's what you think," he said.
Jackson stared at Joe in silence for a few moments. He clearly was speechless. He had no idea what to say back.
Joe smirked, knowing he had won. "Well?"
Jackson took Sara's hand. "Miley is my sister. If anyone should leave, it should be you and your brother," he hissed.
Before Joe could reply, Demi stepped between them. She put her hands on Joe's chest. "Calm down. Let it go. He isn't worth it," she said softly.
Joe nodded. Demi took him by the hand and led him back to the chairs they had been sitting in.
Jackson didn't let it go that easily. He walked over to Joe, pulling Sara with him, and pulled Joe up by the arm. "Listen to me, kid. I won't say this again. Get the hell out of here before I call security," he snapped.
Joe chuckled. "And tell them what, Jackson? There are some mean little teenagers waiting to see if their best friend is alright?" He smirked and put an arm around Demi. "We aren't going anywhere." He looked up at Jackson, the smirk never leaving his face. "And you're meant to be her older brother," he said.
It took everything in Jackson to stop himself from hitting Joe. When he felt Sara tug at his shirt, he turned around and walked back over to their seats.
The room was silent. It was awkward. No one knew what to say after the intense fight between Jackson and Joe. Nobody wanted to say the wrong thing in case they offended someone else.
Nick closed the door gently behind him. He turned his head and saw her. She was laying there so peacefully. He didn't want to get in trouble with Jackson for being there, but he had to see her. He slowly walked towards her, stopping when he reached the bed.
He took her hand and sat on the edge.
"Miley ..." His voice was a quiet whisper. He ran his thumb over her palm gently, wondering if even the slightest touch could wake her. He was wrong. Nick sighed and looked at her. "Miles, come on. We need to talk. I've been ... an ass since summer started. I shouldn't have treated you how I did. I should have just talked with you about all of this like an adult." He chuckled. "Me. An adult. Like that will ever happen, right?" When he remembered that she wasn't going to chuckle along with him, his smile turned into a frown. "Can you please wake up? The doctor said you'll be awake soon, I know. But ... I don't know. We need to sort some things out, Mi. You know we do." Nick sighed and buried his face in his hands. "This is all my fault," he whispered. He glanced at Miley one more time and turned around to leave.
He went across the room as quickly as possible. He needed to get away before he broke down. Before he got emotional again. Before he did something he'd regret.
He put his hand on the handle and got ready to go. He glanced around at her one more time and took a deep breath. He needed to get out of there. He knew he did. What good would hanging around and just watching her lay there do him?
He turned around again and opened the door to leave. He took a step forward, his eyes lightly closed as he pictured Miley in his head.
Just as he began to walk away, he heard a frail voice behind him, gently saying his name. He spun around in shock, not quite sure what was going on. When he saw, his jaw dropped.
"Miley."
WELL HELLO THERE. Don't kill me. I know I'm horrible at updating lately. But I'll try and update sooner next time. No promises, but I'll try. I've just had a lot of work and a lot of personal problems these last few weeks. All sorted now, though. I'm so so so sorry this took like 3 weeks to put up.
ANYWAY. What did you guys think of the chapter? Not my best, I know. I've been working on it gradually over the last two weeks, but it never seemed just right so I always ended up deleting it and heading back to scratch. Eventually I just felt really bad for not posting so I settled on this. Don't hate me for it. Yeah ...
Any new songs/movies/books you guys can suggest for me? I get pretty bored when I'm up at like 4am doing pretty much nothing but homework and talking to my European friends on Twitter/AIM/MSN. So yeah ... suggest some movies and books and music for me.
You dudes can follow me on Twitter - jumpthenfallx. You can also check me out on Tumblr - itsonlylifexx – or ask me some questions on my Formspring - xjumpthenfallx. I'm pretty much always tweeting, haha. I try to answer pretty much everything on Formspring, as long as it isn't one of those really creepy questions. They're really, well, creepy.
I think that's about it. Again, sorry for the really long wait, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) Hopefully it'll be longer next time. Leave me a review and tell me what you think :) Speaking of review - WE HIT 100! Thanks, guys :) I love you. I'll update ASAP :) Bye.