It had been three days since I woke up, and I was almost ready to leave the hospital. I had learned that many of my friends and family and even Ryan's parents had brought me flowers and balloons and cards, but they were told to only bring the cards into my room in the ICU. After I was moved to room 234, everyone who had already visited me brought the flowers and balloons they had wanted to give me days before. Tasha came to visit me after I forced my parents to go home and get some sleep before we left.

"Hey," Tasha said quietly after knocking.

I looked at her sadly and said, "Hi."

Tasha slowly walked towards me with a huge bouquet of yellow roses in her hands (my favorite), taking in my healing cuts and bruises and the cast on my arm. She had tears in her eyes and her cheeks were turning red. "I'm so sorry, Care." Her tears fell out of her eyes in big, wet drops on my blanket.

I reached my arms up to her and she hugged me tightly. "Ow," I said. She held on too tight for my neck to handle.

"Oh, sorry," she sniffled with a slight giggle escaping with her words. There was an awkward pause for a minute or two, and then she said, "Please forgive me? I wasn't thinking straight and it's not like I even like Ryan like that or anything; I have Logan. It was just some stupid thing that I would never think or want to do again. It's nothing that I should have done as a best friend. I'm so, so sorry."

Tasha paused so I could talk. I looked at her, seeing the sadness and the guilt in her eyes. "Alright," I said finally, releasing the breath I didn't realize I was holding. I did believe in second chances and karma, so I took my best friend back and was going to let the higher powers take care of the rest. The two of us talked for a bit, catching up on the past three weeks. She talked about how she and Logan had officially started dating and had asked her to his homecoming a few days after we had gone shopping. I told her about the crash and my injuries and what was going on with Ryan, even though I was probably just as clueless as she was. Tasha went to the nurses' station and asked for a vase for the flowers. After she took care of that, she told me she had to go to work. Tasha hugged me again, this time gently, and left.

I looked at my table and saw a few magazines my mom had brought me. I had already read Seventeen, and had skimmed through People. I picked up Cosmo and started reading. After about fifteen minutes, I heard someone knock and then clear their throat, and I knew it was Ryan even before he pulled open the curtain.

I felt my stomach tie itself in knots, partly because of the love I still felt, and partly because of images of Tasha and Taryn. It had been a month since I had last talked to Ryan, and I missed him so much. I couldn't bring myself to smile when I saw him, though. In his hands, Ryan held a large bouquet of all sorts of yellow flowers (already in a vase), a stuffed elephant (my favorite animal), and an envelope, which most likely contained a card saying, "I love you, you're beautiful, get well soon, blah blah blah." A very perfect, very nervous smile was plastered on his face.

Of course, I loved what he brought. But instead of saying anything to do what his gifts, I said, "So what's up with you and Taryn?" His smile faded and his facial expression turned from nervous to even more so. "Yeah, I saw you two." My voice was harsh, harsher than I wanted it to sound, but I couldn't make it sound better no matter how hard I tried. I realized I was angry, even though I hadn't felt angry at him in more than a week.

"It wasn't what it looked like, Caroline, I swear."

"Then why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous. I just hate seeing you like this." His eyebrows flattened out. He was frowning.

"Do you hate seeing me like this because I'm getting better and I'll be back at school soon? Because when I'm back at school, you won't be able to flirt with Taryn at all? Oh, wait, you already did that and you didn't care that I was watching."

"Shit, Caroline, you're acting like I don't love you!" His eyes were like fire now. He shuffled over to the door and closed it. Then he turned to face me again.

"Do you really still love me? Or is that gone too, along with the trust I used to have in you?"

"You never trusted me, you told me that yourself!"

"No, I did trust you for a while, but you kind of ruined that trust when you cheated on me with my best friend. How could you ask me to trust you after you cheated on me?" Ryan stopped arguing. He looked at his feet. We both knew I had won. "I thought so."

Ryan walked over to the window sill where all the cards and flowers were. He set his presents down and then sat down in the chair in the corner. He rubbed his eyes and pulled his fingers through his hair, which I now knew was something he did under stress. "There is nothing going on between me and Taryn," Ryan said quietly.

"And how can I believe you?" I asked him. "I obviously can't trust you."

And then, tears began to pour out of Ryan's eyes. I immediately felt bad for what I said, but then I thought about it for a second and I no longer felt sorry. It was about time he felt sorry. After all the tears I cried for him, he needed to cry for me. Ryan cried for another few minutes. When he stopped I was so exhausted from the day and from my pain medications that I fell asleep. I woke up about an hour later and Ryan was gone. He had placed the envelope on my lap. It had my name written in the middle in his sloppy boyish handwriting. It was square and white and had little musical notes in two of the corners. A music card, I thought. I opened it up curiously and saw the card. There was a huge picture of Neil Diamond on the front, and he was winking. I instantly knew what to expect, although I didn't want to hear it. I opened the card slowly, but still heard the song.

"Sweet Caroline! BAH BAH BAH!" I slammed it shut, not wanting to hear the song that Ryan sang to me that day at the diner. But, because I was still curious and interested in reading what Ryan wrote to me, I opened the card again and read on.

Caroline –

I know that you're reading this after you kicked me out of your room because you were right,

and I was wrong. I know that I was and still am a complete idiot for ever hurting you. I just want

you to know that I'm still completely in love with you, no matter what you think. I know you

don't trust me and you won't for a long time. Just please know that even though I brought you

your favorite flowers and a stuffed elephant because I know that elephants are your favorite

animal, there's still more to come. And I know that I can't convince you to forgive me just by

giving you presents. Making out with Tasha was definitely not something that I had planned out

of anger or anything, and that I didn't want to do it. It didn't feel right doing it, and I'm not

sure why it happened. Nothing ever will happen like that again, because I love you. Plus Logan is

way bigger and stronger than me and he would kill me. But please just think back to all the

nights at my house and that first night and remember I love you. All I want for you to do is give

me a second chance. I know you're going to forgive Tasha before you forgive me, and I'm sure

you already have, which means you're that much closer to forgiving me. Just think about it. I'm

sick of fighting with you, you're so much better at it than me, and you're right. Please. I love you.

I almost cried when I read his note, and I was dangerously close to reading it again, but because of the music, I didn't. The fact that Ryan knew me so well was amazing to me. He knew that I would kick him out of my room and that I'd love his gifts. And he knew that I would forgive Tasha before him. He was right about being wrong and that I would forgive him. How he knew that, I don't know. As I was contemplating this, my parents arrived with a nurse. She was going to prepare me to go home. She took the IV out of my skin, along with the heart monitors. She made sure all my vitals were back to normal and that my cuts weren't infected. She covered them with Neosporin and gave me instructions to do so twice a day. More instructions were given for my ribs, neck, and wrist. She went to get a cart for all my flowers and helped me into my own clothes. The nurse gave my parents information about physical therapy for my neck and sent us on our way.