Chapter Ten.

I could feel a pinch in my arm but I didn’t know what it was. Probably an IV. I could hear voices, muffled, but voices nonetheless. I couldn’t open my eyes to see who the voices belonged to. I could only make out that they belonged to guys. And they were far away. Most likely outside the room. “It’s my fault,” one said.

“How,” said another.

“I called her. I heard the whole thing over the phone.” Joe?

I could hear someone crying now.

“I just hope she wakes up. I can’t imagine losing her.” This time it was a girl speaking.

All of a sudden there was a voice right next to my ear. “Hey Char. It’s me, Miley. Girl you needa wake up. You cannot leave me here with Demi and Selena.” Leave it to Miley to make even a situation like this funny. “I’m not going to ramble on and on cause there are lots of people who want to talk to you. I’ll see ya lata girlie.”

Next was a boy. Of course one of the Jonases. But which, I couldn’t tell.

“Hey Charlie.” He took my hand. “They sent me in here to try and get a rise out of my girlfriend.” It was obviously Joe. “Come on Charlie. You’ve got to wake up. Our whole family is a wreck. Give us a sign you’re still in there.” Nothing. “Alright, Nick is dying to see you. I’ll try again later.”

After Joe let go of my hand I could feel his body heat leaving. Then I heard the door close.

“Hey Char.” Nick’s voice was coming from far away. But as he continued I could tell he was moving closer. “Listen Charlie,” he took my hand just like Joe had, “I know that there’s a really good chance you can’t hear a word I’m saying, but I need you to know I hate that you’re with Joe instead of me. Don’t get me wrong, he's a good guy, and if I had to see you with anyone else I would want it to be him, but you should be with me.” My heart began to beat faster. “Charlotte, can you hear me?” I definitely couldn’t speak, so I did the next best thing. With all of the energy I could muster, I squeezed his hand.

“DOCTOR! NURSE! SOMEBODY!”

“Nicholas what is it?” I could hear Denise and Paul inside the room now.

“Excuse me, but you're going to have to leave while we run some tests.”

The beeps on the monitor began to slow again. They brought Nick back in the room. They made him keep grabbing my hand and letting go again. My heart was going up and down. Nick was holding my hand still so I took the energy I’d been gaining and started tracing letters on his hand.”

D-O-N-T-L-E-A-V-E-M-E

“She said don’t leave me.”

“Charlotte we have to run some tests, is it okay if Nick goes outside for like ten minutes?”

O-K-A-Y

“Alright Nick, just wait outside.”

NICK’S POV

I left the room and stood right outside the door. I checked my watch every thirty seconds. I was getting anxious. Then the door swung open and the doctor began yelling.

“GET ME A DEFIBRILLATOR!”

A nurse rushed in. “CLEAR.” There was still the long beep indicating her heart was still stopped. “CLEAR.” Still nothing. “CLEAR.” And this time I heard the steady BEEP BEEP BEEP. “Thank you God.”

The doctor came out and told my family that Charlotte had an allergic reaction that caused her heart to stop. They said chances are it wouldn’t affect her. She was sedated now.

I was allowed to go back into the room. I waited there until Charlotte woke up.

“How long have I been out?” Were her first words.

“A month and a half.”

“I missed Joe’s birthday.”

“Yeah but you're awake. That’ll be good enough for him. He doesn’t care that he spent his birthday here with you.”

“Shouldn’t you get the doctor?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Welcome back, Ms. Calderbrooke.”

“When can I go home.”

“Two days. But you have to take it easy for a while.”

“As long as I get to be in my own bed, I don’t care.”

KNOCK KNOCK

“JOE!”

“Can I talk to Charlie alone Nick?”

“Of course.”

“How ya feelin?”

“Alright, considering.”

“There's still something we need to talk about.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“We need to break up.”

“I expected that.”

“You need to be with Nick.”

“I was not expecting that.”