"Hi," he said, smiling sheepishly. "Did I come at a bad time or something, because you look like you're in a bad mood."
Nicole smiled back and answered, "No, of course not." It's never a bad time, she thought. "So what's up?"
Nick became serious and said, "I need your help big time. You see, they won't let us see Brian, and the guys and I have been asking and asking. So- I thought you'd help us sneak in," he finished with a sly smile.
"Me? How would I be of any help?"
"Weeell, I don't know... you could ask Ryan Ann to let us in or something..."
"Yeah, ok!" Nicole said excitedly. "I'm sure she'll want to help us here! Ok, then, let's go!"
"Woa woa, wait!" said Nick laughing, then pointed to her bunny slippers she had cozied up on and she blushed with embarassment. Then she laughed and said, "Ok, wait for me, I'll be right back!"
"And they lived happily ever after..." finished Rye the story she was reading to Tammy at the hospital that afternoon. Tammy looked up in wonder and asked, "Do they really live happily ever after, doesn't something bad happen, like she falls down one day and hurts herself, or gets can-cancer like me?"
Rye was stumped for what to say. "No, they are so happy that they don't let anything bad happen to them and... and..."
"Tammy, it's time for your nap," said a cheerful nurse who had just entered the room. Breathing a sigh of relief, Rye quickly got up to leave. Outside the door, she thought about what the little girl said, and then something, for some reason, led her to think about Brian. He seemed to be just as vulnerable, and his life was no cinderella story here.
"RYAN ANN!!!!!!!!" screamed a familiar voice. Rye turned around to see Nicole heading towards her, followed by four other guys, who all seemed to be wearing sunglasses, as if in disguise.
"Hi Nicole, you know, I really didn't think I was going deaf, thanks for reminding me..." she kidded.
"Oops, sorry, I didn't mean to scream, but you looked kind of lost in your own world!" By this time, the other guys were standing right behind, and Rye recognized a blonde head, Nick. She immediately recognized the other 3.
"What are you guys up to?" she asked suspiciously, with a smile.
"Well, you see. They won't let the guys see Brian and I don't see why not when they're all like brothers! So anyway, that's where you come in..."
"Uh-huh, go on," said Rye, "I knew you had to involve me somehow."
"Well, if you could somehow lead us to the room, you know... I mean, you're a volunteer so if they saw us with you, they'd think we asked for some help or something... please?"
Rye sighed and then said, "Fine, but I'm-really busy so you guys will have to stay with Brian alone and manage to get out alone-"
"No! What if some nurse comes in, then?"
"Nicole, let's just go and worry about that later," she said tugging at her friend's arm.
Rye felt really annoyed. Brian wanted to be alone, he told her that clearly when all she'd wanted to do was help so why should she go and bother him still, she thought bitterly.
They finally got to Room 206 with no trouble. Rye didn't need to knock, she didn't feel like it anyway, and she pushed the door open, where a surprised Brian looked up from where he was sitting. He smiled weakly as he saw what he had been missing lately-friends, people who cared about him... Rye. He had seen the hurt in her eyes the other day, but there was nothing he could do at the moment, he was feeling so down after hearing the news of the surgery...
Everyone crowded into the room, cracking jokes, trying to brighten up Brian's mood. Rye didn't feel like getting into all that so she stood near the door to watch for any nurses or doctors coming. She couldn't concentrate, however, her eyes innocently moved to where Brian was. He seemed to be listening to something Nick was telling him, and then he laughed softly. Rye smiled for she was glad he was feeling better, at least emotianally...
She was so caught up in looking at him that she didn't notice a nurse come in.
"Well, I can see there's a party... why didn't you let us know Ryan ann? I'm sure all the doctors would have loved to be invited..." said Lauren sarcastically. The room was really quiet, definitely not like a couple of minutes ago. Everyone was looking at Rye.
"Lauren, look, it's my fault, I-" she looked at the others for some sort of help.
"I asked her to bring them," piped up Brian's voice and everyone turned to look at him. "I was feeling so lonely," he said, putting on one of his charming faces.
"Yeah, and we were just leaving," said Kevin, who hadn't really said much before that. He looked at the rest of the guys, gave them a let's-get-out-of-here-now look. They all understood and walked out, with Nicole following Nick, who was grumbling. Kevin turned to leave, too, but then turned around and looked at Lauren for a sec. Then he said, "Lauren? Lauren Russel?" He had an incredulous expression on his face.
For the first time since Rye was working in that hospital, she saw Lauren blush. She looked up at Kevin and said, "You mean, you remember me?"
"Remember you?" Kevin asked incredulously. "How could I forget you?"
Both Brian and Rye were looking at both of them in amusement. Then Brian softly cleared his voice and said, "I take it you guys know each other?"
Kevin then seemed to remember where he was and turned to Brian and Rye, and with a short laugh, "Know each other? Yeah, of course, she was a senior with me, we were such great friends" he said with a smile. Then he turned back to look at Lauren, who to Rye's amusement, was smiling, too. "Come on, we've got lots to talk about, I remember you once told me you wanted to be a nurse," said Kevin, as they both headed to the door, side by side, and left.
Brian and Rye were left alone then. They both turned to look at each other almost immediatly, and then Brian smiled at her. Ryan ann just stood there, not knowing whether to stay or leave. She decided to leave, and turning around, she felt a hand hold her arm.
"Please stay," he said, with pleading eyes.
She looked back at him, and gave in to her thoughts and sat down on the chair next to him, putting his cold hand on hers, hoping to warm it up with her love for him.
"Man, I'm really bored now," grumbled A.J to Howie out in the halls of the huge hospital. "And hungry," he added.
"Yeah, well the question right now is, how do we get out of this place? I think it was Nicole who led us in here and this looks pretty big to me."
"Nah, that's simple," said A.J. "I can always figure out ways out of places like this. Ugh, I can't believe Kev and Nick ran off somewhere else with their girlfriends and left us starving here," he grumbled again. "Hey wait, that door over there looks nice, follow me, I have a feeling that'll lead us somewhere."
Howie hesitated before following his friend, for A.J's instinctual feelings could never be trusted. Then with a sigh, he followed him along.
********************************
"Nick, wait, what's your problem?" said Nicole, catching up with him.
"It's not fair," he grumbled to himself. "I ought to be allowed to see my best friend, no?" He then looked at Nicole accusingly and said, "You knew that nurse, you could have said something."
"What, now you go accusing me?" said Nicole getting really angry. "Excuse me if I'm wrong, but i did try to help you, no? Without me you wouldn't have seen him in the first place!"
"Not really, I'm not such an idiot, you know. I bet I could have figured out a better way to sneak in. The only reason I asked you was because I wanted to see you again!" said Nick angrily.
Because she was too angry, Nicole ingnored those words and said, "Yeah right. Fine it was ALL MY fault, are you happy now? I'm going home," she said, turning to leave.
"Nicole wait!" said Nick. "I'll take you, ok?"
"That's ok," said Nicole through gritted teeth. "I don't want you to blame me for any accident we might have on the way..."
"Look, don't be so stubborn. I'm sorry I said all that stuff, come on let's go."
Nicole was about to leave when she that she had no other ride back and no money for a cab. Ok, ONLY since he offered, she thought. "Fine," she said. "Let's go now, please."
"Ok," Nick sighed.
"Uh, A.J where are we?" asked Howie, knowing the answer.
"Hehe," laughed A.J nervously. "I have no idea. I really thought that door would lead us to the caf, damn... anyway, this place doesn't look so bad," he said.
"We're in what looks like a basement, very interesting... I am going back up to ASK how the hell you get out of this place," said Howie angrily.
"Hey, hey wait a sec," said A.J, looking at a bunch of plugs and buttons on the wall. "I always wanted to know what would happen if I pulled one of these things out," he said myschieviously.
Nicole kept looking at her watch, as they headed for the nearest elevator. To her surprise and dismay, it was empty. Darn, she'd hoped she could have stood on the other side of some other person, as far away from Nick.
When they got in, Nick pressed the floor number and the elevator came to life again. Either it was Nicole's imagination, or it was really going slowly. She caught Nick looking at her and she said, "Stop looking at me," knowing how childish she sounded, yet not caring.
"Sorry," said Nick in a sarcastic voice. "Do you want me to turn the other side? Or i could probably look down at my feet, which would make you feel better?"
"Oh shut up-" said Nicole, but was interrupted by a loud noise, then the elevator stopped, and the lights went off.
"A.J, what did you do? What the hell was that noise?" asked Howie.
"All I did was pull at this cute little plug over here, I mean it was practically screaming pull me out," he said innocently. "I say let's get out of here, ok?" He walked out with Howie grumbling behind him, and they got back to the hall they had come from.
"So ok, what do you plan to do now?" asked Howie.
A.J looked around a bit and then his eyes stopped somewhere and he said, "Interesting..."
"What, you see an exit somewhere?" asked Howie sarcastically.
"No, but I can tell that nurse wants me," he said with a smile, as he headed to flirt with a blonde nurse, and Howie groaned.
"Rye?" said Brian.
"Yeah?" said Ryan Ann, looking up at him. For the past few minutes, all they did was sit together in silence, and he was the first to speak right now.
"I'm sorry."
She raised up her eyebrows, and then realized what he was talking about, "Really, it doesn't matter. I'm not upset," she lied.
"Yes, you are," said Brian, tightening his grip on her hand. "I'm sorry I put it that way yesterday. I mean, I did want to be alone, but not from you... please understand that. I really feel awful now, because you were only trying to help but you see, I was sort of in shock about the surgery, first of all, it's in such a bad time, and... i guess it scares me."
Rye smiled and said truthfully, "It's ok, it is. I was overreacting, I mean I would have wanted to be alone, too."
"I don't want to be alone anymore now," he whispered.
"Well, don't worry," said Rye, leaning closer to him and placed her lips on his, kissing him softly, and then lightly drew back to say, "Because you're not."
"Are you ok?" said a voice near Nicole.
She jumped up and then remembering Nick was with her, she said, "Yeah, of course I'm ok. Wow, what happened?"
"Well, looks like the elevator's stopped. Don't worry, they're probably fixing it right now."
"I'm NOT worrying," said Nicole indignantly. "Oh wait, now you're going to go say that I stopped this thing? With my super powers maybe?"
"Nicole stop it," said Nick in a quiet voice.
She crossed her arms and sank to the ground to sit down, she was feeling pretty tired anyway. Nick sat down right next to her. She instantly groaned and turned her head to look the other side. They were both silent for a few minutes, until Nick said, "Look, this is ridiculous and childish, ok?"
"Look who's talking..." muttered Nicole.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.
"Nothing, oh absolutely nothing," she said with a sweet smile.
"You know, you are really getting on my nerves..." said Nick shaking his head.
"Oh really?" said Nicole sarcastically. "But I'm having such a great time with you-"
He suddenly kissed her, he didn't know why, but at that moment, that was all he felt like doing. It was a long and sweet kiss, their first kiss, and when he pulled his lips away, Nicole was staring at him.
Wow, was what she was thinking. But she couldn't let him think that, could she? She was too upset with him... oh to hell with that, she thought again, as she put her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
Lauren was looking up at Kevin's eyes as he was speaking. He was telling her about how the group formed, but she was more interested in that little sparkle in his green eyes... the eyes she had always admired from far, as a friend. Kevin stopped talking and noticed her looking at him and he said with a smile, "What, you think I changed a lot?"
Lauren felt her cheeks getting red and she quickly answered, "No not really, well a little, i don't know..." yeah, she thought, he was so much more sexier...
"Do you have a lot of work today?" he asked out of nowhere.
"Uh, me? Yeah, I'm very busy today, i have to stay here all night."
"Oh," he said, looking disappointed. "Tomorrow?" he asked with a hopeful smile.
"Tomorrow?" she said, pretending to be thinking. "Hmm, I don't know... yeah, I am free after 6," she said with a smile.
"Great!" said Kevin. "Well, maybe you'd like to go out with me to dinner or something?"
"I'd love to," said Lauren, feeling happy for the first time in a long time since...
"So you see," said A.J, flexing his muscles to the blonde nurse in front of him, who looked unimpressed, "That's why everyone calls me da muscle..."
"Uh, no," muttered Howie, who was standing behind him. "You probably mean the bone..."
A.J glared at Howie and turned back to his love target and said with a sweet smile, "I don't know him, you know. I have no idea who that guy is, do you?"
Howie glared back at him, and the nurse cleared her voice and said, "That's really nice that you know or don't know each other but you know, I am kind of busy right now..."
A.J pretended to be hurt and said, "We won't bother you, anyway, what's keeping you busy?"
"Some idiot went down to the hospital's basement and fooled around with the plugs there, now one of the elevators has stopped. I think there are people in there, too," she said, shaking her head.
Howie muttered, "I wonder who that could be..." only to receive a nudge on his side from A.J's elbow.
A.J gulped and then said innocently, "Wow, really? Man, some people never grow up, right Howie?" Howie didn't say anything, and so A.J stepped on his foot and said again, "Right Howie?"
Howie grimaced in pain but faking a smile, said, "Yeah, I know..." then under his breath, he muttered again, "Damn right you are..."
Nicole was in true bliss, she was enjoying Nick's sweet lips on hers in that dark elevator, that she didn't notice or care how much time passed. He was such a great kisser, she thought...
She then heard a noise, and light came streaming in. Both she and Nick stopped for a breath at that moment, only to see a bucnh of doctors and nurses staring at them. They jumped from their place and stood up.
One of the doctors cleared his voice and said, "Uh, it seems that there was a problem down at the basement section, causing this elevator to stop. We are sorry for any inconveniences." With that, he turned and the other doctors and nurses went off their own way, too, leaving the two lovebirds in a daze.
Nick slid his hand on hers and she looked up at him.
"Nick, I-"
"Look, I-"
They both spoke at the same time, then laughed to ease the awkwardness. Then Nick stopped laughing and said, "I have to tell you this before you snap back at me, ok? First I want to apologize for acting like a jerk, I am really sorry. You've got to know I'm not like that all the time, I was an idiot for saying that stuff, so sue me... now am I forgiven?" he asked looking at her with a hopeful smile.
She smiled back, and said, "All is forgiven... but next time if you ever go on accusing me like that, I'm not going to take mercy on you, I'll show you my karate femme side!"
Nick held both of his hands in front of him and said, "Don't worry, you've definitely got me scared here! So you still want to go home now?"
"Not until we finish what we started a few minutes ago, I was having a great time!" she said as she pushed him back in the elevator, and it closed behind them.
Rye was feeling really happy that day, for once Lauren wasn't being acting bitchy, hell she actually smiled... she was now on her way to Brian's room, good old famous room 206.
Brian was so bored, he really didn't think he could stand another minute in that hospital anymore. He missed so many stuff, and he'd get so depressed through the day, the only exceptions would be when he'd see Rye. At that moment, he heard someone come in, and his eyes lit up as he saw it was Ryan ann.
"Hello," she said with a smile, coming to sit on the chair right next to his bed.
Brian smiled back and said, "Hi, I didn't expect to see you again until the next century... wow, Lauren has sure lightened up."
"Yeah, isn't that weird? I never quite understood why she found it so hard to smile or be nice to others... enter Kevin and then poof, she's turned into this totally different person."
"Ah, the wonders of love," said Brian with a half teasing smile. "Don't you just love love?"
"That sounds weird," she said with a laugh. "But yes, I do love 'love', although I had somone else in mind..."
"Really? Like who?" he asked with an innocent smile. Without waiting for her reply, he kissed her, and after a few seconds, he drew back and gave a long sigh.
"Are you ok?" asked Rye, looking worried, yet still a little dazed from his kiss.
"Yeah... no... I just can't stand this hospital anymore! Why they decided to keep me here is beyond me, I mean, I'm going to have surgery soon, they don't expect me to drop dead or something if I go out for some fresh air once in a while!" said Brian, looking really angry.
"Well, I hate to sound like this but the doctor did say you'd better, and in this case I am trusting him here... I mean he ought to know more about what's best for your health.." said Rye quietly. "Come on, it can't be that bad..."
"It is..." said Brian quietly. "I want get out of here, at least for a day, I want to take you out on a real date, I want to do so many things..."
There was silence, and Rye didn't know what to say. Then she thought of something and with a smile she said, "Well, I think I can find a way to get you out..."
"Really?" asked Brian hopefully. "No, I couldn't get you in trouble, forget it..."
"No, really! No one would know! Lauren is already off in her own little world, she wouldn't even notice! We can manage to make it tonight, but we have to be back before midnight or something, ok? First of all because of your own health and second because I don't want to get in trouble," she smiled sheepishly.
"Ok," Brian smiled back. "Let's do it, Cinderella."
Kevin pushed through the doors of the hospital, and went in to look for Lauren, who said she'd be waiting for him at the recepetion. She was right there, writing down something, and when he came, she broke into a huge grin.
"Hi! You came!"
"Well, of course I came," said Kevin with a smile. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yup, let me just tell them they won't see my face till tomorrow morning!" and with that she went to speak to a nurse who was standing there. Then she came back, with her uniform off, and they walked side by side out the halls of the hospital.
"Brian, are you ready?" whispered Rye as she opened his door. She found him staring out the window, and gone were the green hospital rags. He had changed into jeans and a blue shirt.
He turned to her and said, "Think I look normal enough right now? To not pass for a patient?"
"You look great," she said with a smile. "Come on, let's go!"
He followed her outside, yet nervously looked up and down the halls for any signs of someone who might recognize him. Rye noticed his nervousness and held his hand tight, and after they got out of the hospital, Brian smiled and said, "Ok, to that new amusement park, whatever name it was!"
"Amusement park?" echoed Rye.
"Sure what'd you think, I'm going to waste my only night out at nothing? Come on, we'll have fun!"
"Ok..." but she did not really have a good feeling about this...
"Wow, this is a really nice restaurant," commented Lauren while they were waiting for their food.
"You like it?" said Kevin looking pleased. "I thought you would, I remembered you loved Italian food and all..."
"That's really sweet," she said with a smile. Wow, she thought, he was just so nice so sweet, so very much different from... visions of her past came back to her at that moment, one that she had wanted to forget about... shaking her head, she looked at Kevin as he asked her, "So tell me, what have you been up to all these years?"
"Wow, Brian, are you sure you want to go on that thing again?" Rye asked, still feeling her stomach doing flip flops from the many times they were on that roller coaster. She had to admit they were having quite a lot of fun. Brian was so sweet, and funny. She looked at the cute little stuffed animal in her hands and remembered how he had just won it for her, and sweetly kissed her....
"Yeah, come on, one last time, I promise!" said Brian with a grin, and holding her hands he led her to the seats.
"That's it, I can't go on one of those things again!" said Rye laughing as they both walked away from the roller coaster they were just in.
"It was nice, no?" said Brian with a smile, quietly, yet something told Rye that he put it just a little too quietly.
She looked at him and said, "Brian are you ok?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he said. "Don't worry, I'm ok-" and with that, his hands shot to his heart, and he slumped backwards as he fell to the ground, and fainted.
Rye got hysterical, and shouted at the people around her to call 911. Tears streamed down her face as she held Brian's head on her lap, and said "I'm sorry" over and over again.
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