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Chapter Three
Lizzie
“Hemoved!Iknowhe moved,” I yelled at the nurse, then pointed at Drey and Sarah. “I felt it.”
“I believe you, girl.” Sarah put her arm around me, but I stepped away.
I turned the can of soda, then took a sip. My hands shook, and it wasn’t from the caffeine. I was so excited that Damon had finally moved.
“I was cuddling with him during the movie, talking to him about the story, describing the picture.” Like I did every day. Either I was reading to him or describing a movie. I knew almost every single line to my movie library and could have recited them to him. “His head turned toward me.” And had completely rocked my freaking world.
He’d finally moved! Sure, it was a fraction of an inch, but it was movement. His cheek connected with my forehead, and he took a deep breath.
I’d frozen in place, doubting he’d done it. I didn’t trust that I’d felt it. But then this morning, he did it again. I’d fallen asleep, which Ineverdid, and ended up staying the whole night here.
I almost had a stroke when I’d been scared awake after the best night’s sleep I’d had in years. It was like he’d sensed I was scared and turned to me.
The door creaked open, and Dr. Mandrake stepped in.
“What’d the EEG show?” I asked, stepping around Drey and Sarah.
“Activity. There’s always been activity, but this…things are lighting up more. You said he moved?”
I told him the story, my heart clamoring to get out of my chest for some reason. I’d been waiting for so long for that guy to wake up, and now that he might, I was so nervous. What if he didn’t like me? What if he thought I was a freak? What if—oh crap, I needed to settle down.
I stepped to my purse and unzipped, zipped, and unzipped it three times, then reached into it for my sucker stash. Blow Pops. Only a couple left. I was running low.Crap.
Sarah cleared her throat, and I looked up as I folded the wrapper into a square. Needed to crease it nice and firm. Nice and firm. Then I could breathe again. Deep breaths.
“We’re okay, Lizzie,” Sarah said, then focused on the doc. “So, Damon’s waking up?”
“Could be.” The doctor nodded at me. “Keep doing what you’re doing, Lizzie.”
Drey winked at me. “You always said you thought he could hear you.”
“He can. There’s research out there showing that.” I shoved the sucker in my mouth. “Right, Doc? I’m right, right?”
“There are schools of thought.” He dipped his head. “Drey. Let’s talk about what could be a possibility when he wakes up. There could be memory loss and a host of other issues. You never know how the brain is going to react to the severity of his wounds.”
Drey swallowed hard. Sarah threaded her fingers with his and kissed his shoulder. That chick was all kinds of awesome. The guy who had enslaved her had come all the way up here from Mexico to snatch her. Almost got her to the Canadian border before she broke free and shot him.
She did what she had to so she could be free. So she could get back to Drey.
She’d overcome her shitty life. I could, too, right?
Staring at their connected hands and how they leaned in to each other as the doc discussed the next steps, made me want that, too. A connection with someone who knew me so completely and didn’t judge me. Loved me for my quirks—which were monumental—without condition.
I spun my mom’s ring on my forefinger, breathing with each swipe. Heat crept up my neck and settled on my cheeks as I envisioned Damon’s fingers melding with mine. What I wouldn’t give to see his eyes and hear his laugh. What would he think of me?
I was slated to start community college when the summer courses began in June, I didn’t have a family, I was a recovering agoraphobe who turned OCD, and I lived next door to my best friend, Angelina, in an apartmentsheowned.
What would Damon want with someone like me? What could I even offer him?
“Thanks, Doc.” Drey slapped his shoulder. “Tell Edith I’ll come see the babies in about ten minutes.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Drey rocked crack babies down in the NICU almost every day after spending time with Damon. He did it because he, himself, had been a crack baby. Such a big, tough guy, who could plow you over with a glare, holding those tiny, screaming babies. My chest warmed.
Hopefully Damon was something like his older brother. I wasn’t getting my hopes up for two reasons, though. One: that’d be too lucky, and I wasn’t lucky. Second: I was sure he wouldn’t want anything to do with me once he was awake.
