Chapter 5

"Hey Lezlee...." AJ said quietly to me the next day at school.

"Hi," I said shyly to him.

The two of us had pretty much dropped what had
happened the other night at my mouse and were slowly easing into being
friends again.

"Well, uh...I gotta get to chemistry..." he said as he grabbed his books
from his locker.

"Yeah, and I have to get to class too."

"Ok, well bye."

"Bye." I said as I slammed my locker shut and threw on the lock. I was in
no mood to talk to anyone, and as if Ashley and Carly knew that and were
trying to spite me, they came over.

"Well, you seem to be getting a little friendly with AJ." Ashley said he
voice flat and completely unemotional.

"No, we're just friends. That's all," I replied hotly.

"Well that's good, because he's mine." Ashley replied while glaring at me.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me right. Look Dawson, I like him. So back the hell off."

"You bitch, you can't do that! He was my friend long before he was your
love interest." I yelled. I could feel my eyes welling up with tears. Please
don't cry, please don't cry I though to myself.

"He's mine and if I see you two together again I'm gonna come over here and
raise hell with you. Understand me?" Ashley said, snarling every word that
came out.

"No." I said firmly.

"Fuck of Lezlee, I'm warning you. I don't want this to get ugly." She
retorted and walked off with Carly trailing behind her. The second they were
out of sight I burst into tears.

"E? You ok?" a voice asked behind me.

"Nick...I....I....." I couldn't talk, I was sobbing to much. Nick wrapped
his arms around me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Don't worry about them. I heard the whole thing, and trust me, AJ doesn't
like Ashley," Nick said trying to comfort me.

"But, even if he doesn't like her, he still doesn't like me," I cried.

"Look, Lezlee, you'll be all right. Trust me. Would I lie to you?" I looked
at Nick and raised one eyebrow.

"At a time like this!" Nick said rolling his eyes. I shook my head.

"See! It'll be ok," he said as he gave me one last hug and then we both
headed off for our classes.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

When I got home after school that day I just ran up to my room and flopped
down on my bed. I didn't want to see anyone, or talk to anyone. I put in my
Brandy cd and cranked up "Have You Ever" and let the tears flow down my
face.

"Have you ever been in love, been in love so bad,
You'd do anything, to make them understand,
Have you ever had someone steal your heart away,
You'd give anything, to make them feel the same"

I began to sing along with the music. I pulled out one of my old photo
albums and started flipping through the pages. I saw pictures of friends and
family but none were what I wanted to see...finally I turned to the last
page in my book and there it was. It looked up at me; my picture of AJ and I
from our grade 9 grad. He looked so cute in his black tux with the mock
necked oxford underneath his jacket and me beside him with my purple satin
dress. Everyone said we looked like the perfect couple, but him and I just
laughed it off then. I would have never though
that one day I'd be completely in love with my best guy friend.

A knock on my bedroom startled me. I opened it. It was Brian.

"B-rok, what are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Come quick....AJ's been in an accident..." he said so quickly I had
trouble understanding him.

"What?" I asked him my eyes were filling up with tears again.

"AJ was crossing the road and some asshole came speeding through the
intersection. He's in a coma right now...." Bri said grimly. I couldn't say
anything. I just started crying. Brian gave me the biggest hug I think I've
ever received in my life and then dried my eyes.

"Come on now little lady," Bri said in his cowboy accent trying to cheer me
up, "Y'all can't cry now! We gotta go see AJ." His attempt made me crack a
small smile but it reality it was nothing. The two of us ran down stairs and
out the door, headed for the hospital.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

"Can I go in?" I asked Dr. Johnson after he informed us of AJ's condition.

Critical yet stable...kept running through my head.

"Of course you can. What AJ needs right now are his family and friends to
talk to him. We want to try to stimulate as much brain activity as possible
in hopes that he'll wake up from this coma" he told Brian, Nick, Kevin,
Howie, Jess and I.

"Guys, can I go in with Jess?" I asked quietly. The guys all nodded. With
their consent, Jessie took my hand and the two of walked into the ICU to
where AJ lay. Jess started sobbing hysterically when she saw AJ. His head
was bandaged, he has a breathing tube in his chest, he had scrapes on his
arms and he had a cast on his left arm.

I was too in shock to cry.
All I could do was walk over to his bed side and sit down. Jessie was crying so
loudly that one of the nurses had to take her back out to the boys where
they tried to calm her down.

I looked at him. He looked so sweet and innocent lying there. Still the
same AJ to me, just that he was now in a lot of pain. I decided to talk to
him.

"AJ, I know you may not be able to hear me but I need to tell you this
anyway. I...I....the other night in the kitchen when we almost kissed was
the most amazing moment of my life. Do you know why? It was because I
finally had the chance to kiss the guy I love. It was finally a chance for
me to hold him in my arms and tell him I loved him, but I didn't take that
chance and now you're here. I should have taken the chance and told you I
loved you because now you're in a coma and you may never hear the words I
wanted to say to you, so I'll say them now. I love you. And I need to be
with you. You're my world, my heart....you're my everything." I was choking
up now and it was all I could do to squeeze out the words.

"I love you and I promise that I'll never leave you AJ...never...I want you
to say you'll love me to and that you'll wake up from this and that you and
I can be together but I don't know if you will. AJ I love you...don't leave
me" I cried as I took his hand in mine.

"You're all I've ever wanted..." I took one last look at his face and I
couldn't bear it any longer. I gently leaned over his face and gave him a
tender kiss on his lips. I pulled back and two of my tears fell on his
cheek. I sat down again and gently rubbed his hand over and over and sang to
him "Everything I Do (I Do It For You).

"You know it's true, everything I do
I do it for you.
There is no where, unless you're there...
All the time, all the way..."

I must have sounded awful because I had tears all down my cheeks, my nose
was plugged and I was just squeaking out the words rather than actually
singing them. I stood up, gave AJ one last slow, tender kiss good bye and
got up and headed out of the ICU.

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