Chapter Seven:

The surgery went well as Dr. Lopez had told me. There was only one slight problem, and it was just a small bleeding in my brain after the tumor had been exported out. He guesses that when he cut the tumor there was a strand connected to the brain and that’s what caused the bleed. Dr. Lopez said he got the bleed to stop within seconds and the rest of the surgery went smooth.

On the other hand, Oliver Papke spent a night in my room after the surgery after I specifically mention him not to. He stayed in the room watching over me as I was still down and in another world with a boy, Kyle. Oliver monitored my heartbeat and breathing as my lungs got even weaker after the surgery. Dr. Dewy did warn me of this side affect of taking out the tumor.

The day I woke up to Oliver besides me was the day everything changed between Oliver and me. Anything that was between us before was broke down by a sledge hammer. Whatever pedestal we placed the other on was put to a higher position. Oliver and I were no longer a puzzle piece that couldn’t fit. We were a recipe mix that had got blended together for each other’s tasting.

Oliver’s conditions have healed increasingly. He was able to have the casts on both of his legs taken off. The stitches on his face, arms, and legs were taken out. He could be able to walk in less than a year and soon he’ll be back to the way he was before he entered this hospital.

On the other end of the rope, I can be able to walk quicker than Oliver due to the fact my legs are not broken and the tumor had affected my legs to function. After a couple days of bed rest I was sent to therapy to practice to walk again. Every day for two hours I was to be taught how to walk. Oliver came every time to witness a miracle of me regaining my ability to walk again.

I have noticed the look of jealousy out of the corner of my eye from Oliver. I can feel his pain. I also had to watch my peers around me have the ability to walk for over four months. Although, for Oliver, he has to see people be able to walk longer than I do. I do feel awful that we can’t both learn at the same time, but if we did try it would be an unbearable pain for Oliver.

Walking may be something hard to relearn, but try having your therapist make you walk with crutches for more than six hours a day. I was given the option that I could switch from the chair to crutches from time to time, but I have to have six hours put in. My therapist says if I don’t put in at least six hours then the longer it’s going to be for me to regain the ability.

My parents, well I should just say my mom, had visited me three days after I started therapy. She had told me the reason my dad didn’t come was because of the fact if he was here my stress level would rise. I’m happy he’s not here, but I’m really disappointed that he wouldn’t be here for me. I’m his only daughter, only child. What if I died during that surgery? Our last words would’ve been that day we yelled at each other.

“I’m sorry honey. I really did try getting your father here.” My mother told while combing her fingers through my violet hair.

“What if I died?”

“What?” She asked befuddled.

“What if that surgery killed me and our last words were those hurtful words we said to each other.” I told my mom feeling the pain hitting my chest like a million bricks.

My mother couldn’t even look me in the eye without tearing up. In fact, she actually got up from her position and left the room leaving me behind. She left me just like everyone else did…just like everyone else.

There was this voice in the back of my head saying something, but I couldn’t put a finger to it. The voice kept nagging out a name of someone but it just wouldn’t click. Over and over again the name repeated until a boy around my age rolled into the room. I looked up to see his face and- OLIVER!

Oliver! That’s the name that kept nagging the insides of my head. He’s the one the voice was trying to tell me that hasn’t left me. Oliver was the only person who stayed by my side even when I didn’t want him to. He was there from the beginning and he’s going to be there till the end.

“Hey.” I said when Oliver rolled to my bedside.

“Are you okay?” He asked. “I saw your mom walk out crying.”

I shook my head no. Oliver grasped my hand and held it. He just held it there in his hand until my eyes cleared. Once the salt water upon my face was rubbed away by my hand I turned to the boy who would be there for me. “I’m sorry.”

He looked to me confused. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry for dragging you into my life.”

Oliver smirked and I felt my insides do a flip-flop. “To be honest, I’m not sorry.” Oliver said before grabbing into the bag hanging from his chair and pulling out a laptop. “I decided that we should do some fun today.” Oliver motion for me to move over in my bed and helped himself out of the chair onto my bed.

I turned to him with a grin, “What are we going to be doing?”

He shushed me, “It’s a surprise. I can’t tell you.”

Oliver logged onto his laptop glancing at me making sure I wasn’t getting his info, I giggled. Once he goes on he went to the internet and typed in urban dictionary. He typed in his name and he clicked on the first link.

“What are we doing on here?” I asked.

“We’re going to find out what are names mean.” Oliver said and began to read out his.

“A male, orange, tabby cat. Oliver is a gentle, loving, goofy, and adorable. He loves to play tug-a-war, jump on high beams, and cuddle on cold winter nights. Oliver is a pleasure seeker, so please don’t over feed them. Oliver is the best kitty ever!”

We broke out into laughter. I told Oliver to do my name and he clicked on the first link and just before he began to read mine I knew I was in for the funniest one. 

“Dylan, a guy with an incredibly huge penis and is totally awesome compared to any bitch-ass Russian.”

My face dropped in utter shock and Oliver sat there besides me rolling around in fits of snickers. “Ha! Large penis! Ha!”

I smacked him and still I couldn’t get Oliver to calm down. “It’s not funny! That’s disgusting!”

“Dylan, let me see your PENIS!” Oliver cried out in tears.

Oh, he really wants to go there? I’ll show him something, I’ll show him something good. “Do you really want to see it, my penis?” I asked turning towards Oliver with a serious face.

His face dropped and the words and chuckles that were once flowing out of his mouth came to a stop. He gulped slowly making me notice it travel along his throat. Oliver cleared his throat and I just kept staring at him really serious. “Are-are you serious?”

“I’m very serious. Do you want to see?” I said not showing a hint of a soon-to-be-mind-blown-joke. Oliver didn’t respond but looked down towards the area it would be. I slowly threw of the cover covering my legs. I started to pull the hospital gown up watching to see if Oliver was going to hesitate or keep watching.

His eyes traveled up to my face with pure horror. “I really don’t want to know, Dylan.” Oliver said with fear crawling along his words.

I threw the rest of the gown back to where it was originally and put the covers back on my legs. I wrapped my arms around the back of my neck and stared at the blue ceiling above. “Don’t worry. I’m a woman to the extent of the universe.”

Oliver leaned back hitting his head upon the pillow and bellowing a sigh out before responding, “Why would you go to such a degree?”

I counted to thirty before putting an answer out into the open. “To shut you up basically,” I shifted my head to face his. “You weren’t taking me serious.”

Oliver shifted his head in my direction, “It’s not possible to.”

Words backfired in my mouth. My mouth shut clamp. My eyes just bored themselves into Oliver’s. The golden champagne colored eyes with brown specks reflected into my sight. His dark eyelashes hardly fluttered down when he gazed back at me.

I saw him move his arm to reach a strand of my violet hair and twirl it between his fingers. “Your eyes. They’re quite a beauty to behold in front of me.” Oliver spoke into thin air.

“Is that so?”

Oliver dropped my hair and brushed my cheek. He let his fingers drop to my chin trailing his fingers along the skin. “They’re abnormally colored different from the others I’ve seen. They are a lime green with a yellow orb surrounding the pupil.” Oliver spoke of my eyes. “Very mutations about them,”

“’Mutant and proud’” I quoted from the movie, X-men First Class.

He smirk his half smile that drove me crazy. It was one of the few things that caught my attention and made my insides bubble over. My cheeks tinted a light red just before I wrapped an arm over my face to hide it. I felt a hand, soft and strong, pull my arm down. Oliver’s smirk was still platted on his face.

“I didn’t even have to try did I?” Oliver asked with a beam growing upon the canvas of his face.

“Try?”

“Make the cheeks of yours go a tinted red.” Oliver responded.

Once again the red had to return. I smiled and pushed Oliver teasingly. “Stop it.”

“Why? It’s such an accomplishment for me.” He divulged without guilt.

“Cause it’s driving me crazy that I can delight you with such a simple thing.” I admitted.

Oliver just glanced at the parts of my face before stopping at my lips. I thought he was going to kiss me but I was utterly wrong. His eyes trailed up to my own before parting his lips “Let me take you on a date.” 

A what? Did my ears hear what I heard? Are they functioning well enough to put his words together?

My face must have shown such a jolt of astonish that Oliver couldn’t read if it was a good thing or not. His face fell and his body language collapsed into disenchantment.

“No! Don’t read between lines. I really would enjoy wasting my life with you on a date.” I spilled out before Oliver fell farther into depression.

A smirk grew out of the corners of his lips. His golden eyes brighten to the extreme with his pitch black hair falling over his left eye. His one dimple on the right cheek burst. The doors that closed on his face earlier have opened.

“Great! I’ll pick you up tonight!” Oliver spit out with excitement in his voice. He pushed himself out of the bed and landed in his chair and rolled out the room with the hugest grin I’ve ever seen sit on his face.

“Alrighty then,” I said just as Oliver left the room. “Tonight it is.”

I paged Jen to tell her of what has happened between Oliver and me. She came in with a bubbly attitude and plopped herself next to me. I started off where it all began. I told her of when I first saw him come into the trauma center. How I watched his surgery with all his damages from his broken legs to the swelling in his brain.

I spoke of how I used to watch him in his medical coma and tell him things I never told anyone. I remembered thinking he would never wake and to be honest I didn’t want him to wake. In details I drew out what happened the day he woke, how he said, “Told you I would be there to catch you.” 

I even included the part of finding out his mother’s death and his bipolar attitude towards me. “-And I felt so awful about the death that I had to give her a tribute-“I explained the design of the tribute and the prayer Oliver gave his mother. The only part I left out was that he wanted me to be there for him when he slept that night. I felt that was something we both shared and no one deserved to know even though Jen was there to put us to bed. It’s just that Jen left the hospital that night thinking Oliver and I were in different beds.

The story continued on with the phone call and Oliver’s bizarre bedtime story. Jen chuckled, smiled, and frowned at all the right moments. I ended the story with announcing the date Oliver asked. At first, Jen was blank. She just sat there waiting for the impact to hit her in the chest. Her eyes widen and the famous grin of hers immersed.

“Oh. My. Gosh! I have to prep you!” Jen shrieked as she bounded out of her seat and charged to the closet. She tossed clothes from every aspect of the closet onto the floor. A hefty pile of my clothes later and Jen had found the outfit for me. She pulled out a summer dress that reminded me of the 1950’s. It was a shimmering, spring yellow with a blue, lace ribbon around the waist.

“Are you sure?” I asked scared that it might be a bit too much for the first date. Jen smiled and said she was more than sure that this was the dress I’d be wearing. “What shoes should I wear?”

My best friend scurried back to the closet to find a pair of navy blue flats to go perfectly with the summer dress. Jen sat the shoes next to the dress and placed all the clothes on the floor back to where they were originally. She helped me out of my hospital nightgown and placed me in the yellow dress with navy blue flats. 

“Natural look,” Jen inspected my face. “Or makeup for your face?” 

To me I would lean to natural looks if I wasn’t a sick patient. “Makeup please, I don’t want to look like I’m about to die.” I answered Jen. She pulled out my makeup bag from the third drawer and designed my face till it look like I was ravishing, Jen only put a minimum of eyeliner, eye shadow, lip gloss, and blush to my face. Concealment blanketed my face to lift my looks higher.

Jen placed a mirror in front of my face. I looked within the reflection pleased with the outcome. In the reflection I still looked as myself before, but just with a little more life within. The makeup was very diminutive and I had a feeling Oliver would rather see me look natural than a Barbie doll.

“It’s beautiful.” I told Jen. “How can I repay you for such a high price?”

Jen brushed my lavender hair softly and beamed. “You and Oliver as a thing, that’s all I’m asking for,” I blushed and looked to my feet and smiled. I ain’t promising that we would be an item, but I will promise her a great story after this date.

There was a knock to the door and Jen and I stopped what we were doing and acknowledge the presence. There Oliver sat in his wheelchair with a stuff penguin from the hospital gift shop. He was dressed in a white tee with blue jeans and a leather jacket. He looked so absolutely stunning that I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him.

Oliver rolled up to me and smirked while looking me up and down. He bit his bottom lip and I blushed crazily. “Gorgeous. That’s all I can muster out about you.” Oliver said.

“You don’t look all that bad yourself.” I told him before I seated myself into a wheelchair. Oliver gave me the stuff penguin. I thanked him and he motioned for me to follow him. I trailed behind Oliver as he took us to the elevator. As we entered the lift Oliver pressed the button that took us to the roof.

The doors reopened and scenery before me stole my breath away. A table was set for two with a picnic cloth under the utensils. On the plates were spaghetti with meatballs and sauce. The sky above was burning in sunset orange with yellow and pink smearing across the orange. The location we’d be eating was beautiful; breathtaking.

Oliver and I took our spots. Out of the corner of my ears I could hear music playing in the background. “Enchanted” by Taylor Swift played. The music grew louder and louder the more we sat there admiring the place before us. I turned to Oliver with a grin. This was so beautiful and romantic.

“I was enchanted to meet you.” Oliver lip-synced. I giggled.

We dug into our Italian food. The noodles were freshly made and were soft in the mouth. The tomato sauce mixed with parmesan filled the tongue and producing dopamine among the taste buds. Breadsticks sat in between us and shined with garlic and grease in the moonlight. The meal was beyond wonderful!

There was small talk among Oliver and I as we ate. He complimented me on my dress and I praised his leather jacket. At one point in the middle of our conversation Oliver had pointed out that we looked as if we were the 50s couple. I chocked on my food after realizing the coincidence of our clothing choice.

“Here, here some water.” Oliver gave me a glass of water after I chocked on a noodle.

I took the glass and gulped it down. I dabbed my face with a napkin and smiled like nothing happened after. “The food was lovely.”

Oliver grinned. “Well, thanks.” He let out a nervous chuckle, “Really?”

I placed my hand upon his and said, “I’m serious. This was by far the best spaghetti I’ve ever had in my life!” Oliver looked up pleased and grinned.

“I’ve got something for you.” Oliver pushed himself from the table and rolled over behind a wall to get something. He came back with a small wrapped box in purple foil. He set the box in front of me and motioned for me to open. I tore the purple foil apart and opened the box slowly dreading what may be inside. Surrounded by white fluff sat a golden charm necklace with a heart designed with yellow diamonds in the middle. “So…do you like it?”

I faced him with my mouth astonished. No words are good enough to sum up how I feel about this. “Could you help me put it on?” Oliver agreed. He took the golden necklace out of my fingers and wrapped it around my neck. His fingers swept my skin as he placed the necklace together and brushed my hair away. Once he was finished I felt his warm breath against my neck.

“You look beautiful with it.”

My cheeks burned red and looked down smiling. “Thank you.”

His fingers gently moved my chin up reminding me of when Kyle did the exact thing. Oliver forced my eyes into staring back into his. “You’re welcomed pretty.” Oliver smirked and returned to his seat and facing the sky. I took that as my cue to do the exact same. I pushed my chair closer to Oliver and leaned my head sandwiched between his neck and shoulder. His fingers linked with mine and we just looked ahead and watched the sunset perform a show before us until it turned dark.

This date was the most amazing date I’ve could ever experiencing. It was perfect in every aspect and if I had to repeat it I would. 

As the night was coming down upon us I heard Oliver say something. “I would carry you over fire and water for your love, Dylan.”

I giggled, “Directioner much, eh?”

Oliver turned to me and smiled and nodded.