~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ryan!" I exclaimed as I quickly found another towel to wrap up in. 

"Oh wow…I mean, oh my god.  I'm so sorry," Ryan said, wide-eyed but embarrassed.  He fumbled for the door and closed it quickly.  "I just wanted to know if you were in there.  And you definitely are," Ryan stated quietly from outside the door.

I quickly managed to get my clothes on, completely embarrassed that he had seen me in almost all my glory.  After folding up the towels around me, I shut off the lights and went out into the room.  I found Ryan nervously flipping through the channels on the television. 

"Oh Lisa," he stated, turning off the TV, "I am so sorry!  I had no idea."

"Didn't you hear me singing?" I asked.

"Singing?  No…no, I didn't.  When I came back from getting a snack, I didn't see you anywhere and I didn't even hear the water running, so I thought you were out for a walk or something."

"Well, I guess it was a silly mistake.  It's not like you haven't seen those before," I joked, trying to make light of things.  "Don't worry about it.  It'll be awkward at first, but we can work past this, right?"

"Oh man, I hope so!" he said with a smile. 

"Now Ryan," I started, "we've had our share of…awkward moments between us lately."

"You're telling me!" Ryan said with a wink and a smile.

"So…what do you think of all this?"

"I don't know.  First off, I think it's weird how we seemed to have hit it off in the past few days we've known each other.  Maybe the awkward moments just come with the newly formed so-called friendship."

"Do you consider what we have a friendship?"

"As opposed to what?" Ryan asked, confused.

"I'm not sure.  I'm a little confused with what's going on between us.  To me, these awkward moments mean…something else…ugh, I don't know.  I'll shut up now."

Ryan laughed, "Aw, I just think this comes with a newly budded relationship.  Let's just see where it goes for now.  It's nice just where we are."

I nodded as I grabbed my shoes from my suitcase.  "I'm going to go out for a walk, maybe do some window shopping," I expressed with a smile.  It felt good to finally smile.  I was finally feeling like I was meant to be here.  "I'll be back in a while."

"Okey dokey, have fun!"

I walked out of the hotel with a spring in my step.  The sun seemed to be shining down unusually bright that day as I crossed the street to begin my shopping spree.  I needed some new clothes to wear if I was going to go and get my certification for California and then to start interviewing. 

I reached the end of the block and the sign before me read "Don't Walk", so naturally, I waited on the corner for the light to change.  The traffic going across the street I wanted to cross seemed abnormally heavy for mid-afternoon.  It must have been one of those timed lights because it didn't take long for the light to change.  I didn't bother to look both ways when crossing due to the fact I now had the right of way.  I took a few steps into the street when I suddenly heard a roaring noise getting closer and closer.  I looked up quickly to see a gray grille of a car heading in my direction at a tremendous speed.  My heart began to pound rapidly as my instincts seemed to be inhibited. 

Before I could think of where to go, the car slammed on its brakes and with the screech of the tires, swept me up on top of the hood with the force of hitting a brick wall.  I slid over the hood and landed hard on my back by the sidewalk next to the car, slamming my head into the gravel below me.

*************

The world I had been in for a time unknown was interrupted by a light shining into my face.

"Lisa…Lisa, can you hear me?" a voice asked me.

I nodded, not being able to speak.  My head was killing me and I just could not put together two sounds to say something.

"Do you know where you are?" the same voice said.

I looked around me.  I was in a white room surrounded by people in white lab coats.  To my left I noticed an IV hanging with tubes running in and out of me with machines humming and beeping.  My bed was reclined in a somewhat upright position and two white pillows supported my head.  I nodded to this stranger's question, figuring I was in a hospital.

"You were hit by a car this afternoon and suffered some pretty bad bumps and scrapes.  You've got a pretty nasty concussion, which could explain your headache, you broke one of your ribs, and you got a good gash on your leg from what was apparently a shard of glass you fell on top of. But we've taken care of that with a few stitches"

I grimaced at the description of my injuries and only hoped I would heal up soon so I could get out of this creepy place.  I had always hated hospitals since I was a child. 

"Is there anyone you would like us to call?" the doctor asked.

At first I thought of my family, but my mother would only worry if she knew I was in a bad state and she was so far away.  I couldn't say much, but the first word that came out of my mouth was "Ry-an".

"Ryan who?"

"Stiles…he's uh…staying at my hotel room." I managed to say.

"Uh…Ok, we'll contact him to come down to the hospital.  We do need someone to help fill out some paperwork, seeing as you'll be here for a few days."

I groaned and rolled over to get some sleep.  While I was asleep, I felt something or someone gently take my hand and stroke it softly.  I groggily turned over and opened my eyes to see Ryan watching me with a hint of concern in his eyes.

"Hey there," he said, "you alright?"

"I'll be fine," I said, moaning as I adjusted myself in bed.

"You had me scared there when you didn't come back to the room for awhile."

"Sorry about that," I said.

Ryan smiled, "It's alright now…I'm just glad you're okay.  Oh, I saw the woman who hit you waiting outside by your room.  She looked worried and asked about you when I came in.  I told her that I didn't know too much only that you were going to be fine."

Both of us sat in silence for a while while the machines around me beeped and hummed.  I watched as he began to take long blinks.  Poor thing, I thought.  He must be exhausted.  As I watched him doze off, I suddenly began to feel nauseous.  I hated to wake him, but the feeling was quite strong.

"Hey, uh, Ryan?'

Ryan sat up quickly.  "What? What?  Is something wrong?"

"Actually, I'm feeling kind of nauseous.  Could you help me quickly to the bathroom?"

Ryan took off my covers and slowly helped me out of bed and into the bathroom.  I bent over as he held back my hair.  I vomited into the toilet but apparently what was bothering me wasn't something I ate.  I opened my eyes to see a bloody mess around the rim.

"Oh shit," Ryan said as he ran out to get some help.  I managed to find my way back to my bed and gingerly climbed in as my leg began to throb uncontrollably.

"She's right in here," I heard Ryan say as he led a doctor and nurse into the room.

"Lisa," the doctor began, "what's happening? Your friend here told me you vomited blood?" 

The doctor began to examine me, poking and prodding me as Ryan led the nurse into the bathroom.  As I inhaled and exhaled for the doctor, his face turned perplexed and he turned to the nurse.

"I think her broken rib has caused some internal bleeding in the stomach!  We need to get her into surgery stat!" he yelled as the nurse ran out of the room. 

"Surgery?!" Ryan and I both yelled as the doctor gave me a shot that would knock me out.

"Lisa, we need to take care of this.  You have a very serious problem we need to fix."

I nodded as I began to feel very groggy.  Ryan held my hand as two guys ran wheeling a gurney into the room.  They slowly lifted me up on to this bed.

"Lisa, I'll be right here when you get out.  Don't worry, you'll pull through this."

I looked up at Ryan from the gurney and his figure was now blurry.  As I was being wheeled out of the room, Ryan walked along with me.

Ryan leaned down next to me and whispered in my ear, "You can do this."

The men reached the elevator with Ryan still next to me.  The doors opened.  "Sir, we need to go up to the OR now."

"Ok," he said hesitantly.  He looked at me, smiled, and winked.

Not sure whether it was the drugs or not, I looked up at Ryan and very groggily whispered

"I love you."


Part Six