This story is a sequel to My First Year in College and My First Year in Prison.
Tyler is finally ready to commit to a serious relationship when he moves in with his former College crush, Austin. After years of entertaining the idea, it is time for those two to figure it out: is their relationship meant to last?
This story is entirely fictional and all characters featured are above 18.
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MY FIRST YEAR WITH AUSTIN
Chapter 20: A blond Janice, a hot nurse, and a tiny hospital bed
I started crying like a baby when I heard Janice say 55 days.
I was not prepared for that.
Who would?
I had missed so much; a whole chunk of life had passed while I had been stuck in that bed, dreaming about God knows what.
Another crippling thought started to form in my straddled mind. Being out for that long, I must have been severely injured. Would I ever be able to live like I did before?
I was having somewhat clear thoughts and I did feel like myself. This must have meant that, at least, I was not brain-dead. Right?
But then, a third concern came up, even more terrifying than the last ones.
I grabbed the pen and piece of paper back. I was heavily shaking. Janice repeated that I had to calm down... As if I could!
I scribbled down (poorly):
"AuST??"
Blond Janice, - it was going to take time to get used to that hair! -, deciphered my writing. She then smiled at me. (Phew!)
"Austin is fine. He's been here all this time, day and night, holding your hand. He had to go for a few days but he's gonna be so, so, so relieved to learn that you're awake."
I held Janice's hand tighter.
He was fine, then. What a fucking relief indeed!
"He's gonna be sad not to be here though. He really wanted to be there when you would wake up. He's with Lena at the moment."
I could not care less.
He was not dead.
He was even feeling good enough to travel!
A nurse came in the room. I recognized him immediately, although his black beard had grown a little since the last time that I had seen him in the ambulance. It was the hot nurse, Hassan Kumar... lucky me!
Had I really seen him though back in the imbulance, or had it all been just a vivid dream?
"Fully awake, it seems." The nurse said, seemingly satisfied.
Mallory was carefully walking inside the room behind him.
"Is he okay?"
"He's bothered with the tubes." Janice told. "Can we get them out?"
The hot nurse walked towards me, his biceps in full display underneath his pale purple tee-shirt. Yes, I was definitely still myself if I were focusing on these kinds of details. His furry and black chest hair was coming out from the top of his tee-shit.
Sexy.
Hassan held my hand. In a medical caring way, okay... but I had been through a lot, let me have this one!
"This is totally normal to feel disoriented and uncomfortable with the tubes, and the machines, Tyler. Can you nod at me if you understand what I am saying?"
I nodded. It hurt like hell.
Mallory gasped. A little gasp of pure joy.
"Good. Do you understand where you are right now?"
I nodded yes again.
"He even wrote down some stuff already." Janice intervened, pointing her index to the crumpled piece of paper.
"Impressive. Tyler, I need you to stay still, ok? You have suffered from some massive injuries and we had to induce you into a coma. For the past couple of days, we have noticed signs that you may just wake up, the fact that you seem fully awake now is an excellent news. Doctor Ploaz will be here shortly."
I must have looked scared as fuck. Probably because I was, but Hassan Kumar was talking in a very smoothing voice, explaining the situation I was in, calmly.
"The tube here has been helping you breathing while you were in the coma. This one here was supposed to help you eat, but none of these will be necessary from now on. You need to remain still for just a little longer and we will get you rid of some of the tubes."
The nurse had a solar smile all while he was speaking.
With Janice being blond and this handsome nurse taking care of me, I wondered for a split second if I was truly back to reality. I guessed I was feeling too much pain to be in the coma so this must have been real life.
"It is expected that you feel overwhelmed but everything is going to be fine now."
Mallory and Janice were both silently sobbing on my side. I felt bad for them, being so worried for me. They had probably been for the last two months.
I think the pain killers were doing their job because as the day went by, I zoned out often and I let more people take care of me, two more nurses came in, a few doctors too, although everything was in a blur.
I barely noticed when my main surgeon, Doctor Ploaz, came into the room. I was rarely staying up more than twenty minutes. Although, I was waking-up from my sleep each time which was good news.
Not too sure what had happened in between, but when I woke up in the middle of the night, my brother Ryan was sleeping on a chair next to me.
The first thing I realized was that the damn tube was finally out of my throat! What a relief that was!
I looked at my brother. He had lost some significant weight. He still looked very good though, but not as athletic as he was when I had seen him for the last time.
I cleared my throat and I turned my head to get a clearer picture of Ryan. The slightest movement was taking so much energy out of me.
My brother woke-up immediately. I noticed that he was wearing a purple bracelet around his wrist, the type of bracelet you wear when you are a patient in an hospital. Actually, we were wearing the same one.
"TY! FUCK!" He shouted before whispering. "Sorry, I got excited."
I smiled at him.
"Hello, brother." I mumbled.
My first words.
Very carefully but yet, very warmly, Ryan held me in his arms.
"Oh God, Tyler... You're back."
He kissed my cheeks.
"What happened to you?" I asked.
My voice was weak and hoarse but I could speak. Barely, but it was enough.
"To me?"
I pointed to his bracelet.
"Oh this... Well... That's no big deal."
"Ryan..."
"I'll explain that to you later, how do you feel? Should I call a nurse?"
"Is the hot Indian nurse on call?"
