Growing Up Neighbors

by Frances Hoelsema

“Well, I’m going to go. Bye, Nick.” She waved at him and then glared at Alex, who responded with a smile that said, “Ha ha,” before taking off.

  Deborah was so livid with her brother and his accusation that she was glad to leave. However, she was disappointed that she couldn’t spend time with Nicholas alone and felt bad that the whole time she was there she didn’t get the chance to talk with him. All she did was argue with her brother instead. The only thing that made her feel better was that she was glad Nicholas had other visitors and that he wouldn’t be alone for a while.

  As she got into the car her phone rang. She saw that it was Felicia.

  “Hi, Felicia.”

  “Hey, what are you up to?”

  “Just got done visiting Nicholas in the hospital. What about you?”

  Deborah and Felicia talked for a few minutes when Felicia finally asked Deborah what was bothering her for she could hear it in Deborah’s voice.

  “Oh, it’s just my brother.”

  “What did he say or do now?” Felicia asked half curious and half annoyed that Deborah had yet another problem with her brother.

  It seemed to her that Deborah was overly sensitive to the things her brother said and did sometimes. She also knew that Deborah’s brother could be a jerk too so it was hard telling which way this situation would go.

  “He’s saying that I love Nicholas, you know, as more than a friend, all because I’ve been visiting him in the hospital every day since his accident. I mean, just because I want to see my friend, who I have a lot in common with, in the hospital doesn't mean I'm in love with him.”

  “Well, you do love him don’t you? I mean, I thought you always did the way you talk about him and the fact you guys went to prom and everything.”

  “So you’re taking my brother’s side? Nick is just a good friend. That’s all!” Deborah said in defense.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to take his side or to make you upset. I just thought you did love Nick. I mean, I know you never said it, but that’s just what I figured from all that I’ve seen and heard. Besides, why does Alex saying that make you so upset?”

  “Because it’s a lie. I hate it when he accuses me and then teases me about things. I just know he’s going to tell a bunch of people about this.”

  “So what? Just ignore him. If you say it’s not true then I believe you.”

  Deborah let out a huge sigh in hopes to calm down a little.

  “Thanks, Felicia. Look, I’m sitting here in the hospital parking lot and I have to get home so I’ll talk to you some other time. Okay?”

  The two girls said their goodbyes and Deborah started heading home so she could get ready to go out for dinner with her sister and mom. The whole way she thought about what her brother accused her of and then what her best friend thought all along.

  I don’t love Nicholas, do I? Deborah asked herself. I mean, of course he’s the best guy friend I’ve got. He’s nice to me, he listens to me without judging, we have tons in common, he asked me to prom, he’s always been there for me and I guess he is cute.

  Deborah thought about all those things when it finally hit her that she in fact just may have feelings for Nicholas.

  Why else would I be so worried about him and wanting to see him all the time? Or so defensive over Alex’s accusation?

  Realizing she may love Nicholas was a strange mixture of excitement and fear. She always wanted to marry a guy that treated her like Nicholas did, but never thought of Nicholas in that way before. And what she feared most was that she was almost completely certain that he didn’t share the same feelings about her. For despite his special smile and wink that he reserved only for her, which he hadn't done in a while, he's had girlfriends before and he's shown no interest in dating her. Also, when Deborah came to think of it, she was afraid that this whole time Nicholas could have been just acting the way he did because she was Alex’s sister, that maybe it was all for show or that he was just this way with everyone.

  There’s no way Nicholas or anyone else can know how I might feel, Deborah thought. The last thing I need is for Nicholas to turn me down and then for our friendship to be ruined.

  ---------------

  A couple of days had gone by and not only did Deborah stick to her routine of visiting Nicholas each and every day, but her feelings towards him had grown from thinking she may be in love with him to knowing without a doubt she was in love with him. However, she never let it show or spoke of her true feelings to anyone. Deborah especially made sure to avoid Alex at any cost, which wasn’t all that hard to do because he wasn’t around that much anymore anyway. She knew that if she saw Alex that he’d probably tease her, or worse yet, say something out loud that others could hear, something she definitely didn’t want to put up with.

  On this Tuesday Deborah took the liberty to sleep in, a rare treat. She took things slow all day, having visited Nicholas first thing in the morning knowing that no one else would probably be there. The rest of the day she spent at home taking time to organize a few things, clean up a bit and do some laundry. She made dinner for her family, an Italian feast complete with a pizza casserole, homemade bread sticks and salad. Finally, she insisted she do the dishes even though both Robyn and their mom said they would do it. Staying busy was Deborah’s way of handling the stress of the situation that Nicholas was in and the emotions she was feeling.

  Now that it was summer, Deborah and Robyn had a lot more free time, which they used to play board or card games with each other. That Tuesday night when Deborah had finished the dishes, her and Robyn got out The Game of Life and played a couple of rounds. The two sisters talked casually with one another, often mentioning how the board game Life wasn’t like real life at all.

  After getting bored, Deborah decided to take a shower and read in bed before turning off the lights and ending another day. She was excited for each new day to come around where she could go and see Nicholas, hoping he was awake. But since Nicholas’ accident, each new day took forever to arrive, no matter how busy Deborah kept herself.

  And each new day Nicholas was still in his coma.

  As she was lying in bed re-reading the book that Nicholas had gotten her for her sixteenth birthday, she just felt this overwhelming urge to go and see him. She tried telling herself that it was because she was excited about the next day or that it was only because she was reading the book she got from him, but nothing worked. No matter what she thought or how hard she tried to read, something was telling her to go to the hospital. Even when she had put the book down and turned off the lights, trying to sleep, she laid there wide awake.

  That’s it. I’m just going to go to the hospital, Deborah decided.

  She got dressed and headed downstairs where her mom and sister were in the living room watching TV.

  “Where are you going?” her mom asked, puzzled.

  “To see Nick at the hospital.”

  “It’s kind of late, don’t you think? They may not let you see him.”

  “Well, I’m going to try. Something is telling me I have to get there,” Deborah explained.

  After Ms. Harrington watched her daughter putting shoes on quicker than she’s ever noticed and hearing the urgency in her voice, she let her go, telling her to be careful.

  This is so unlike Deborah. I hope everything's okay, Ms. Harrington thought, as Deborah headed out the door.

  Deborah got to the hospital and parked as close as she could get. She walked briskly down the hall, up the stairs to the third floor and then again down the hall to his room. She didn’t notice anyone at the nurse’s station so she figured she’d help herself to Nicholas’ room. No one was in there either and Deborah figured that if she got caught and wasn’t supposed to be there then they’d tell her to leave.

  At first Deborah just sat down next to Nicholas and held his hand, sitting in silence and watching the monitors. She didn’t know why she felt the need to be there, but she decided to listen to her gut instinct. Seeing his model car still on top of the
table by his bed reminded her that there was a comic book and CD somewhere. The CD player was still there so she looked for the CD and put it in and turned it on, letting the peaceful music play softly in the background. She also got out the comic book and decided to read to him.

  “I know I was here already today, but something told me to come back. I figured I’d just start reading this comic book to you since I haven’t done so yet,” Deborah told Nicholas.

  Why didn't I do this before?

  Deborah began to read the comic book, still holding on to Nicholas’ hand with one of her own. When she had gotten half way through she felt his hand move in the slightest bit. Shocked, she put the book down and turned the CD off so it would just be her voice Nicholas could hear.

  “Nick, did you just move your hand? Are you going to wake up?” she asked in excitement.

  She kind of figured that he wouldn’t respond, but waited for any other type of movement. It also occurred to her that it could have just been her imagination or something that coma patients did once in a while. Therefore, she waited a few minutes before picking up where she left off.

  I guess not, Deborah thought disappointedly.

  When finished with the comic book, Deborah began asking Nicholas if he liked the music she was playing and what she just read. It was then that she felt his hand move again. This time she witnessed it with her eyes as well. It was a far bigger movement than the first one. This gave Deborah the encouragement and determination to continue talking to him.

  After ten minutes of Nicholas occasionally moving his hand, sometimes giving a small squeeze, Deborah saw what she had longed to see since the first hospital visit: his eyes began to flutter until finally they opened.

  Nicholas was awake!

  10

  Nicholas’ eyes opened and quickly shut again; the room being brighter than he was used to. He tried opening them again, this time slower, shortly thereafter. When he had gotten used to the intensity of the room’s light he was finally able to keep his eyes open long enough to try and figure out where he was.

  Deborah was extremely thrilled but gave him the time and space to awaken a bit. She held back from saying anything until Nicholas had become aware of his surroundings. What prompted her to speak was his confused and puzzled look on his face, especially when he took a look at the person sitting next to him.

  “Nicholas? Can you hear me? It’s Debbie!”

  He tried to speak, but having not done so for quite some time made it difficult.

  “It’s okay. You don’t have to talk right now. I’m just so glad that you finally woke up!” Deborah gave Nicholas a small hand squeeze.

  “W-wha-what ha-happened?” Nicholas stuttered in a raspy voice.

  Deborah could tell that saying those two words alone had taken a lot of wind out of him.

  “I’ll tell you everything, but do your best not to say a whole lot. Okay? I want you to relax and save your energy.”

  Nicholas slightly nodded his head.

  “Okay," Deborah sighed. "About a week ago you were in a car accident. A drunk driver hit you head on. You have been in a coma since then. You’re in Bayview Hospital right now and everyone’s been taking really good care of you.”

  Upon hearing this, Nicholas faced showed one of fear and disbelief. He tried to think back to see if he could remember anything, but all he remembered was that he was on his way somewhere from his new apartment. That and realizing that he’s missed almost a full week already troubled him and started to bring on a headache.

  When Nicholas winced a little bit, Deborah decided to call in the nurse. She didn’t know if they could tell if one of their patients had woken up or not. She knew they had a computer at the nurse’s station that monitored everyone, but was unsure if they showed when a person came to from a coma.

  Having pushed the call button found on Nicholas’ left side of the bed, she assured him that help would soon be on the way.

  Nurse Anne, who had to work a double shift, was sitting at the nurse’s station when she saw a light go off for Room 312.

  That’s Nicholas Michaels’ room, she mused as her face took on a puzzled expression. Is he awake? Or does he have a visitor at this late hour? I never saw anyone go that way though. Maybe the button got bumped somehow.

  All of those thoughts and more were going off in the nurse’s head as she traveled the hallway to get to Room 312.

  When she got to the room she noticed right away that a couple of her scenarios were at play: there was a visitor and Nicholas was awake.

  “Well, this brightens up my night. It’s good to see you awake, Mr. Michaels!” Nurse Anne said with a smile.

  “Nurse Anne, I’m glad you’re here. Nicholas woke up maybe five or ten minutes ago, but he seems to be acting like he’s in pain or something,” Deborah informed her.

  “That’s to be expected. The lights and realization of what happened takes a toll on the mind. Plus his body is going to start recognizing that it’s hurt so this is all very normal.”

  After Deborah asked if she could dim the lights a little bit and got the okay, she went to the light switch and turned things down a tad.

  “Hopefully this is better for you, Nick.”

  “Th-th-thank y-you,” he spoke quietly.

  Nurse Anne checked a few vital signs and then mentioned to both Nicholas and Deborah that now that he was awake that they’d probably have to run some tests again.

  “I’m going to go call Dr. Stevens so he can check on things as well,” she added.

  “Okay,” Deborah said.

  Nicholas just nodded his head as best as he could to show he understood what was happening.

  Deborah went to sit down by her friend while they waited for the doctor to show up. Being as late as it was, she figured it might take a little bit of time so she decided to stay with him as long as possible. This whole new set of events prevented her from feeling the least bit tired.

  “Wh-where’s,” Nicholas began. He took a swallow and ended with, “My mom?”

  Deborah didn’t even think about telling anyone that Nicholas had woken up. She was so caught up in the moment with everything going on and it was all happening so fast that she completely forgot about everyone else.

  “She’s probably at home. If you’d like, I can go make a few phone calls to let some people know that you are awake. Would you like me to do that or stay with you for a bit longer?”

  “C-call,” was all Nicholas had the energy to say.

  “Okay. I’ll go ahead and play some music for you while I head down the hall and make some phone calls.”

  Deborah turned on the CD player and kept the music to a bare minimum so that it wouldn’t add to his headache. She then left the room to go to the visitor’s lounge where a phone was available.

  Ms. Michaels answered like she had just woken up. However, upon hearing that her son was out of his coma, her voice changed to one of excitement and urgency. As expected, she was going to come down to the hospital right away. Next, Deborah thought she would call Alex. He usually never answered his phone so she expected to have to leave a message, which she did. That was her preferred route of communicating with him these days anyway.

  Deborah couldn’t think of anyone else to call at the moment so she decided to head back to Nicholas’ room and keep him company. She arrived to find the tall Dr. Stevens looking over Nicholas and writing down information and tests he wanted done within the next twenty-four hours.

  It didn’t take him too long to get here after all, she thought.

  “Hi, Dr. Stevens. How is everything looking?”

  “I’d say pretty normal. I’m going to have some tests done and I’m going to need him to relax as much as possible, but other than that, things look okay for now.”

  He then turned to Nicholas, gave him a pat on the shoulder and said, “We’re glad you’re finally awake.”

  After giving a smile to them both, Dr. Stevens headed out of the room. Nicholas remained as still as pos
sible as he eyed Deborah standing near the door and then walking to the chair beside his bed.

  This time Deborah didn’t feel comfortable holding Nicholas’ hand so she just put both of her hands on her lap.

  “I got a hold of your mom and she’s on her way. I called Alex too, but had to leave a message. I’m so glad you’re awake!”

  “Th-thank you.”

  Deborah realized then that the music she had playing was turned off, most likely by Dr. Stevens when he was checking over some things. She contemplated on what to do. She knew she probably shouldn't talk to Nicholas as he would just try to talk back and waste whatever precious energy he had.

  Then she saw the TV remote. At the nod of approval from Nicholas, she turned the TV on and put it on a channel she knew he watched frequently.

  The two of them silently watched the TV until Nicholas’ mom arrived. Her coming signaled the going of Deborah. She didn’t want to interfere with their time together so she grabbed her purse, said goodbye and left the room.

  Exhausted, Deborah headed home to sleep. She knew that tonight she’d sleep better than she had in quite some time.

  ---------------

  Even though a few weeks had gone by since Nicholas had come out of his coma and was recovering, Deborah still found herself visiting him every day. He didn’t seem to mind it all, and going there to see him was much better than before because now he was awake and could converse with her. The worst part of the whole accident had appeared to be over and if all continued to go well then Nicholas was scheduled to come home in a couple of weeks.

  It was going to be an extremely hot, summer day to this beginning of July and Deborah found herself in her closet trying to figure out what to wear. She knew the hospital was a bit on the chillier side so she thought about what would work best so that she didn’t get too hot or cold. After going through a few options, she settled on a pair of jean shorts and an orange short-sleeved shirt that really looked more like a tank top. To keep her warmer in the hospital she put on a navy blue beach cover up that zipped in front and had long sleeves but was of such light, breathable material that it literally felt like it wasn’t even on at all.