Matthew's POV
I wake up feeling groggy and lightheaded. The lights are dim and the curtains are closed even though it's pitch black outside. The white walls and the array of cots registers in my mind as the hospital wing. I try to sit up, but my chest hurts from the pain.
Did I seriously black out again? Damn you, heart.
Every nerve is now on high alert, and I can feel a hand loosely holding mine. Tess is asleep on the floor with her head on the cot. That looks extremely uncomfortable, but at the same time I don't want to wake her up. As if sensing that I'm awake, my mother on the chair sits up.
"How are you feeling, Matthew?" she asks, stretching.
"Water," I manage to say, the word sounding like it was gargled and incinerated.
Mother nods and gets a glass of water next to me. She helps me sit up, and I notice the infinite things attached to my chest.
"What time and what date is it?" I ask after downing the entire glass. It was lukewarm and it threatens to come back up.
"It's three in the morning of June eighth."
"So I haven't missed the party?"
"Matt, you were literally asleep for twelve hours. The only thing you missed was dinner." Mother points to a tray on the side table. "Would you like some? It's tomato soup, and it's warm...sort of. I could ask a maid to heat it for you."
I smile weakly. "Mother, it's fine." Still, she adjusts my cot to make it upright at a 140-degree angle. "How long has Tess been sleeping on the floor?"
"Well, she's been at your side since you blacked out," Mother replies. "Then she had her dinner here, though she didn't eat much because she was so worried about you. Then she fell asleep some time in between then and now."
"Should I wake her up?" I ask. "I've never been in this situation."
Mother laughs softly. "What situation? Needing to make a girl comfortable?"
"Yeah, having a life-threatening defect then needing to comfort the girl."
It sobers my mother up pretty quickly. "Matthew, please don't talk like that."
"I can't help—"
Tess suddenly jerks up, her hand tightening on mine for a second. Her eyes are wild and frenzied, her hair loose in its braid. She has imprints on her cheek from the creases on the sheet. "Matthew," she breathes. "You're awake."
I smile and bring her hand to my lips. "Thanks for staying with me."
Tess raises her eyebrow and smirks. The Tess Look makes an appearance yet again. "Of course," she says coyly. "I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see your shirt off."
"Ahem," Mother coughs.
Tess's eyes widen again and stands quickly. "Uh, I, uh...I don't have an excuse for that one."
Mother laughs and it's such a sight to see the two of the most important women in my life getting along. Tess pulls a chair for herself, and she stretches. "I had the strangest dream."
"What was it?" I ask, taking her hand again.
"I was a college student again, and I was an intern at this medical lab. They had a cure."
The words hang in the air like a cloud. "Memory or imagination?" she asks. When Mother and I don't answer, Tess says more impatiently, "Memory or imagination?"
"We don't know," Mother says, an assortment of emotion creeping into her voice. "Where was your internship?"
"It was actually here in Angeles," Tess replies. "The medical company had been here for a long time. Like, pre-Illéa. I remember my dad—my adoptive dad—telling me about it because he worked for that company. Actually, if I remember correctly, the headquarters isn't that far from here. An hour or so by car." She says all of this in one breath, and she has every right to be excited about it.
I could get cured.
I could see my children and my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren.
I could live.
"Love, I really hope this isn't an imagination," I tell her.
"Me too," she replies, chewing the inside of her lip. She turns to my mother and says, "Mom, you better get some rest upstairs. I woke up about an hour ago and Maxon was going to carry you upstairs."
Mother laughs. "Why didn't he?"
"He said 'you looked peaceful and he didn't want to bother you.'" Tess uses air quotes while smirking.
"Ugh, that lazy butt." Mother says it affectionately, though, and she stands. "Matt, Tess, you two okay here?"
"Yeah," we say at the same time. We look at each other knowingly, and Mother shakes her head with a small smile on her face. Her red hair disappears behind the door.
"Do you ever have that feeling where you feel like you're awake but not really?" Tess says, staring at the cot across from us.
"Yeah."
"Yeah, I just got that feeling."
"Come here." I move over to make some room for her on the bed. After arranging the wires for a bit, she settles down close to me. "How are you?"
She frowns a bit. "That was random."
"I can't just ask how my fiancee is doing?"
"Yeah, that's not allowed," she jokes. "Um, I'm doing fine. I'm a bit tired still, but I don't think I'll be able to go back to sleep." Her fingers lightly touch my stomach and I suck in a breath. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm feeling like the king of the world. I'm car that just keeps going."
"That's good." She closes her eyes and says, "Can we make the bed back to 180-degrees?"
"That's what I was thinking." I fiddle with the controls on the side of the cot, and we're back to lying flat. Tess takes off her sneakers and rests her head at the crook of my neck. It's so cliche to say this, but her head fits there like our bodies were made to embrace.
"I told your mother that I'd plan Riley and Alexa's birthday," she says quietly.
"Love, don't you have enough to do?"
"Like what? Worry about everything while everyone else does things? Your mother has enough on her plate. It's about time I acted like a responsible princess."
"I love that about you," I mumble.
"What?"
"I love how you end up helping other people when you mean to do something benefiting yourself."
"Matt, stop it. You make me sound like a good person when, in truth, I'm selfish and narcissistic." She pulls back to look in my eyes. "I spend a good amount looking at myself in the mirror."
"It's because you are human and you can't help but admire beauty."
She rolls her eyes but rests her head against my neck again. "See? We're talking about me again. It's always me. It's almost like I'm the main character in everyone's life story. Don't even answer that one. I'm not in the mood to argue how self-absorbed I am."
"Do you want to bake a cake when I get out of this bed?" I ask after a while.
"Sure, what kind?"
"Whatever you want."
"No."
"Fine, I know how to make chocolate, because it's my father's favorite; vanilla with chocolate frosting, specifically, because it's my mother's favorite; carrot cake, because it's my favorite; ice cream cake because it's Xander's favorite." I pause. "And lemon because it was Michael's favorite."
We wordlessly decide we're making a lemon cake.
"What's your favorite, love?"
I can feel her shrug, because my eyes are now closed too. "Red velvet. Do you like ice cream?"
Our questions are like fireworks that have already burst in the air; you won't know they're there until you see them and you won't know where they came from.
"Yeah."
"My favorite is cookies and cream."
"That reminds me of my childhood."
"...Yeah, I guess it does."
"I like dulce de leche."
"Mm, my fancy man."
"Your one and only." I open my eyes to look at her again because I am human. "Will you sing for me?"
She nods and sings softly. I suddenly recognize the song I wrote for her, but she's making it her own and modifying some notes here and there. To be honest, it probably sounds better than the original did. She finishes the chorus, but she continues.
"We're talking.
We're laughing.
I've never felt like this before.
It's so new,
But so right.
Come dance with me in the rain tonight.
Cuz you make my whole world brighter.
I can't go a day without you, oh.
Life drives me crazy.
When you're not around, I go insane.
Please tell me you feel the same way.
Don't go away.
Don't go away."
I kiss her forehead. "I won't. I promise."
"I made that up right now, by the way," she says, trying to change the subject.
"You're a genius like that, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"What time is it?" I ask.
"Four."
"Already?"
"Mmhmm."
"The Alex's will be up by now."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
I hear her softly snoring five minutes later. I, as an insomniac, think that I'll sleep in maybe thirty more minutes. But I'm asleep as fast as she.
I'm loading on the fluff. Sorry?
Question of the day: Favorite ice cream flavor? Oh, and Pentatonix: I love that badass guy who has a super deep voice. He makes the whole thing so well-rounded and it's just so badass how his voice is like *deep voice* OOOOO. My fave is the Daft Punk one. WAIT WAIT HOLD UP: ARE MITCH AND SCOTT DATING?!
Thanks for the reviews!
LittleMissTori- Guy sports are fine! I played football once, but I ended up running into a six footer and land on my back and skin my elbow...And he was my science teacher...AWKWARD! Thank you so much!
ChatterboxChipmunk- YES, I HAVE! *FANGIRL* Everything in books are true :P Thanks so much!
bubble4life- Hehehe. LOVE Pentatonix :) Basketball isn't my thing. I'm too short and I can't catch balls :P Thank you!
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winterprincess- AW thanks for this long review! Maria is 15, the twins are 16 turning 17 in the next chapter...I think. As for a boy or a girl...
*POLL: Who wants the baby to be a boy or a girl? (considering the possibility I don't kill of this baby either...or I make it, like, oddly deformed)*
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Love ya!- AcademicGirl
