Dawn’s POV
I opened my eyes to find white all around me. White walls. White floors. White sheets . When I turned my head, I saw something that wasn’t plain like the rest of the room. In a chair next to me was Jack. I didn’t think that he would still be here. That’s when I remembered when he had done. He had kissed me, and it wasn’t just one kiss. I touched my lips with my left hand.
Jack had kissed me.
“You’re awake.” I felt a hand squeeze mine. I looked down at it to find that Jack’s hand was holding mine. When my eyes traveled up, I saw that Jack was smiling at me with this cheesy grin. “I was worried sick about you. You know, you almost gave me a heartattack. I’m so happy that you’re ok.”
The only thing that came out of my mouth was what I was just thinking. “You kissed me.” Jack turned his head away, but I could still see the blush that was forming. “Why?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” His head was still turned around. “I told you that you’re smart, beautiful, and talented. I’m surprised that you didn’t find out about me liking you sooner.”
“So you really do like me?”
He nodded. “I used to glance at you whenever I could. There was this one time that I think I followed you home. I hope you don’t find that weird and not want anything to do with me because of it.”
“It’s fine.”
Jack let out all the breath that he must have been holding. “That’s good.”
The door opened and in walked a man wearing a white lab coat , the symbol of the doctor. “Hello, Miss Fox,” he said to me. “You lost quite a bit of blood, now didn’t you? If it wasn’t for this young man, you wouldn’t be in this room with us.”
“When can I go home?”
“I’d like to keep you here for the night for observations. You should be able to go home tomorrow. Of course, we have to get everything figured out first.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it was obvious that that was a suicide attempt. We’d like you to go to therapy which might lead to you taking medication.”
“I’m not going to therapy.”
“You don’t really have a choice.”
“I’m not going back.”
“So you have been there. I was about to look in your records right after I talked to you about it.”
“I will not go back.”
“That’s not your choice.”
“I said that I’m not going back!” My anger startled the doctor . He wrote something down before exiting the room. I saw Jack out of the corner of my eye. He was looking at me with wide eyes. It made sense. Most people didn’t know about my temper. “I’m sorry about that.”
“No, it’s ok. Why don’t you want to go back?”
I couldn’t look at him. I was so ashamed of how I was. “They had me on medication, and I was going twice a week. Nothing worked though. They tried everything, and it seemed like the only explanation for my actions was that I was crazy or something. They took away my music and my songbook for whatever reason and then they gave me some kind of pills that made me numb and lifeless. I didn’t like that at all. I couldn’t take it, so I told my mom that I wasn’t going back, and I didn’t.”
“I think I remember that. That was a couple of years ago in 9th grade, right?”
I nodded. “I really don’t want to go back. They’ll just make me crazier than what I already am.”
“I’m not going to make you go back because I think I have a solution.”
“What’s that?”
“I’ve found a therapist that is close by that you can go to,” the doctor said as he came back into the room. “You can start going next week.”
“I’m not going!”
“Can I try something?” Jack asked the doctor.
“That depends.”
“Dawn always feels alone and unsure of herself. What if there was someone with her that would make her feel so much better? Do you think that that would help her any?”
“Well, I’m not a therapist, but you can always try considering that she really doesn’t want to go back to therapy. What do you have in mind?”
Jack turned to me and held my hand even tighter. “Dawn, will you be my girlfriend?”
I couldn’t believe it. I’d never had a boyfriend before. The only thing that came out of my mouth was, “What?”
“I promise that I’ll protect you to the best of my ability. You don’t know how much that I’ve wanted you as a girlfriend. I’ve wanted to at least be friends from you since Kindergarten. I’m really sorry that I’m just bringing this up now and finally going to stand up for what I want now. This may be too late, and I understand if you don’t want to be my girlfriend. I just want you to at least consider it.”
“That might actually help,” the doctor smiled. “Plus, I think that that was really cute they way he asked you out. It reminds me of when I asked my wife out.”
After what felt like forever in my head, I finally answered which was a good thing because Jack’s grip was starting to loosen and it looked like he was giving up. “Yes.”
“Really?” The grin on his face was the largest that I have ever seen on him. “You’ll really be my girlfriend?”
“Yeah,” I smiled back. “I just have to warn you that I’ve never had a boyfriend before, so I really don’t know what to do.”
“That’s ok. I’ve had a lot of girlfriends before you, so I’ll help you with my experience. Of course, this will be the first time that I’ve dated someone that I’ve actually liked. I don’t really like being by myself, so I usually would just get girlfriends until I finally worked up the nerve to ask you out.”
“I’m really happy that you did. Now that I don’t see you as an enemy and I think back to all of the things that you’ve ever done and ever liked, I feel like I like you too. We both have the same music taste. We both like the same kind of food and movies. Heck, if I wasn’t so depressed all the time, I would act just like you. Plus...,” I couldn’t help but blush on the last part, “you’re really cute.”
Jack chuckled. “Trust me, I’m nothing compared to you. Hell, I even got a few of the kids in our class to see you as being pretty. I think that if everyone saw you for you, they would really like you.”
“Yeah, but everyone has hated me since Kindergarten.”
“Well, I don’t hate you, and my friends won’t either. Actually, Alex didn’t even know you back then. Just think about it. It will be you, Alex, Zack, Rian, and me all together. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
“It does said nice. Actually it sounds amazing. There is just one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“We have to include my sister too.”