Eyes For You (Chasing Tomorrow Book 1)

by Abby-Rose Macchio

  "L…lo…v…e." I tried.

  "You." He smiled at me.

  "Y…yo…u." I gave him a small smile.

  "You did it!" I did do it. "Now we can try it again!

  Ready?" I squeezed his hand. "I"

  "I…"

  "Love."

  "Lo…ve." I squeezed his hand more.

  "You."

  "Y…ou." I gave him a small smile.

  "Amazing baby! Once your chest heals, it will be easier to talk." He smiled and bent down and gave me a small gentle kiss on my lips. I miss his lips. They felt amazing and perfect against mine.

  Six days later

  "Hey Anastasia… how are you feeling?" Travis came into my room and shut the door behind him. I can finally speak but slowly and not loudly yet.

  "Okay." I said to him.

  "So I spoke to the detective on your case and he pulled papers from the school that Darcy wrote out and the handwriting matched the card." He nodded slowly.

  So it was her. "Why… would she?" I asked him confused.

  "That's what we're all trying to figure out baby." He put his hand on my cheek and ran his thumb over my lips before bending down to kiss me. I kissed him back.

  "I didn't do anything." I managed to get out.

  "I know, baby. We all know and the detectives know. We don't know her motive as to doing this." He shook his head and sat down near my bed. I could finally sit up a little bit so I'm somewhat moving. I haven't walked yet though. "Come in!" Travis yelled after we heard a knock on the door.

  "Hello Miss Reilly! I am Kendra and I will be your physical therapist." She said kindly while walking in and coming to the opposite side of my bed that Travis was on. "How are you feeling?"

  "Okay... sore." I told her.

  "You are going to be. Especially the next few weeks. Today we are going to go easy and I'm going to have you sit up and move to the side of the bed and I will have you stand up. Is this your husband?" She asked gesturing to Travis.

  "Soon. I'm her boyfriend Travis." He spoke up and my eyes widened while looking at her because I was too shy to look at him. She smiled and looked at me.

  "Okay well can you come stand over here with me so you can be on one side and I can be on the other?" She asked him politely.

  "Absolutely!" He hurried and came to the other side of the bed.

  "Okay Miss Reilly, I am going to move the bed up a little bit higher so you don't have to give a lot of strength to stand up. I'm also going to sit you up a little bit more okay? I'm going to make this as easy as possible for you. Considering it's your first day." She smiled as she fixed my bed. I looked at Travis and he smiled at me. "Okay, so I am going to put one hand under your back and one hand right in between your shoulders and I will gently and slowly pull you forward so you are in a sitting position. Are you ready?"

  "I think so."

  "I'm going to have you take a deep breath and after you exhale, I am going to pull you forward. Ready? Take a deep breath in... and exhale." She told me as she lifted me up in a sitting position.

  "Fuck." This hurt. Travis looked at me worriedly and with sympathy.

  "Now I am going to hold one of my hands on the middle of your back and the other one will be wrapped around your upper arm. As you exhale, I am going to turn you towards the edge of the bed facing me while Travis will gently pull your legs over so they are over the edge of the bed. Then after this, you will be fully sitting up. Ready?" I nodded. "Breathe in… and exhale."

  She and Travis worked together as I cried out in pain.

  "I know it hurts sweetie. It's going to hurt because you've been in the same position for so long. But I promise you, you are in good hands and we won't let anything bad happen to you." She reassured me as Travis wipes away my tears and sat down next to me. "I'm going to let you stay like this for about five minutes and then we will try to stand you up. Sound good?" I nodded. "I'll be back in five minutes."

  As she walked out, my mom walked in.

  "Hey baby girl, how are you feeling? Oh my! I'm so happy to see you sitting up." She started crying while coming up to me and giving me a big hug.

  "Don't cry." I told her while trying to hug her back. Travis had one of his hands on my back to help me keep steady.

  "Ugh sweetie, you have no idea how amazing this is… I love you so much." She kissed my forehead crying.

  "I love you too mom." I smiled at her as Kendra walked back in.

  "You are doing great! Now that you sat up for a little bit, I'm going to have you stand up. We aren't going to walk, you are just going to stand up for about a minute or so. I'm going to have Travis help me again and I'll have your mom stay in front of you and we will all help you.

  Sound good?" She said smiling at me. I nodded.

  "Alright baby, you got this." Travis gave me a kiss on the cheek and then stood up. They all got in position for me.

  "Now breathe in... and exhale." Then they all pulled me up and held me steady.

  "No… stop please stop." I screeched out in pain. I felt like my whole body was ripping apart into shreds. "Stop please stop!" I tried to yell loudly but I couldn't.

  "Emma's here!" She yelled while barging through the door. She saw me and her face instantly lit up. "You're up! Oh my god! You're standing up!" She jumped up and down. I couldn't do anything but nod my head.

  "Anastasia, look at me." Kendra said. I rose my head and looked at her with tears pouring down my face. "I'm going to count to 30 and then we will place you on the bed again, okay?"

  "Please now. Hurry." I cried looking at my mom and Travis. "Help. Please down. Please" I cried out. I am in so much pain and I feel like I'm dying.

  "What's wrong?" Emma ran up to us worriedly.

  "She is just in a lot of pain. We are going to put you down now." Kendra said as they placed me on the bed and Travis moved my legs up on the bed so I was laying down but with the bed up a little bit so I was in a somewhat sitting up position. "You did amazing today Anastasia! I am so proud of you and I'm sure I am speaking for everyone here!" She smiled. "I will be back to see you later on today!" She walked out of the room.

  "I feel… like I'm dying." I got out.

  "How ironic because technically you did die." Emma blurted out laughing and then shut up when we all looked at her. "Sorry it just came out." She had a sad look on her face.

  "I what?" I looked at her wide eyed.

  "Umm… you know what? Ethan and I are getting really serious! I have been wishing for my best friend to wake up so I could tell her all about it!" She said excitedly trying to change the subject.

  "I died?" I'm nauseous.

  "Sweetie…" mom said.

  "Mom but you didn’t." Travis cut me off.

  "Because we wanted you to have time to process everything that happened and we weren't going to force everything on you at once." He told me while sitting on the bed facing me and grabbing my hand.

  "Anastasia I'm so-"

  "It's okay Emma." I told her "I died?" I'm going to throw up. "Guys leave."

  "I'm so sorry…" she started.

  "No guys leave. I'm going to throw up... Mom?" I grabbed her hand and she ran to get a bucket as she politely told Travis and Emma to leave for a bit because she knew I didn't want them seeing this.

  She ran to my bed and rubbed my back as I threw up the small meal I had a few hours ago...

  Chapter 36

  "I can't believe I died. I actually died?" I asked my mom as she was still rubbing my back.

  "Yes sweetie, you did." She nodded her head as she leaned in to hug me. I hugged her back and held her tight.

  "Why? Why would someone do this to me?" I cried to her.

  "I don’t know, baby." She said as I looked at her and she wiped away my tears.

  "What if they couldn't bring me back? I could have really-"

  "No… Don't go there again. Please… I can't… No, we can't go through that again. We were a wreck." She told me with tears in her eyes.

  "We?" I questioned.r />
  "Yes Travis, Emma, and I. Even Travis's uncle and brothers… We were all a wreck honey." She shook her head.

  "I didn't think Travis would really feel like th-"

  "He loves you, Anastasia. He really loves you. More than you think… more than you know." I laid my head on her shoulder and she kissed the top of my head.

  "I love him too." Was all I could manage to get out.

  "Something tells me that he's not going anywhere." She laughed a little bit and grabbed my hand.

  "I think you're right." I smiled.

  "Soooo..." she dragged out. She shifted her body on the bed and faced me.

  "So?" I think I know where this is going. She loves gossip.

  "Have you guys?"

  "Ugh mom come on! Please don't talk about this." I threw my head back and we both laughed.

  "What! I miss talking to you about gossip and drama!" See… told you.

  "We... have." I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my face.

  "Oh my!" I moved my hand and opened one eye.

  "Using protection I hope!" My eyes widened.

  "Yes mom." I rolled my eyes. "Now can we stop talking about this please?" I asked her while shaking my head.

  "Yes we can." She nodded her head and laughed.

  There was a knock at the door. "Come in!" She yelled.

  "Hey!" I yelled to Travis.

  "Hello Travis…" mom looked at me and winked as I covered and slapped my face in the process.

  "Hi…" he said skeptically, looking at us.

  "I'll leave you two… um alone." She kissed my forehead and got up to walk to the door. She turned around and gave me a thumbs up as I rubbed my temples.

  Travis sat down on the bed facing me and put his hand on one of my legs. He leaned towards me and kissed me on the cheek.

  "Why are you blushing and what was that all about?" He pulled away and looked at me.

  "Nothing… just umm… just a mom being a mom… you know how they get sometimes." I laughed and looked away from him to try and not blush anymore.

  "Why did she wink at you?" He smiled and laughed.

  "She asked me if we…" I was still looking at the wall.

  "If we..?" He dragged out and touched my chin and moved my head to look at him.

  "Really Travis?" I rolled my eyes.

  "Yes really..." he dragged out again.

  "You know exactly what it is!" I laughed and looked away again.

  "But I want you to say it…" he made me look at him again smirking away.

  "She asked us is we did it… and I told her yes and that's why she was all winky and "hello Travis."" I put my hands in quote marks.

  "Did what?" He raised his eyebrows.

  "Fuck Travis!" I tried to use all my strength and push his chest away but he didn’t move a centimeter.

  "I believe that you actually said those exact words too. Oh wait… no no… you yelled those exact words" He smirked.

  "Oh my god…"

  "Nope… you said those words too, I believe." He smirked at me and winked.

  "Stop it!" I yelled at him while trying to hide the embarrassment that is now plastered to my face.

  "Now that is one thing that you didn't say." He started laughing hysterically. I covered my face with my hands. "Okay okay! I'm sorry! I'll shut up now." He held my wrists and gently pulled them away from my face. "There's that beautiful face, Anastasia." I blushed even more.

  "You're making me so embarrassed." I rolled my eyes and sounded like a little kid.

  "I'll stop! I promise. Now don't cover your face because you have no idea how long I went without seeing those beautiful green eyes." He smiled and leaned in to kiss my lips. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him into me. He moved further up the bed and one of my hands was on his back and the other was on his neck. We kissed like never before. It wasn't rough or lust. It was passionate and sweet and loving. He had one hand on the bed and the other one was placed on my hip.

  "Lovebirds… take a breath. Geez." We pulled away to find Emma with her arms crossed and rolling her eyes. "Lovely." Travis said sarcastically as he grabbed one of my side pillows and placed it on his lap. I couldn’t help but giggle. "It's been too long."

  "No it hasn't…" I furrow my eyebrows and shook my head.

  "Well yeah… for you it wasn't. You slept for two weeks." He rolled his eyes and kept the pillow in the front of him as he went to sit in the chair next to my bed.

  "Oh god! How embarrassing huh?" Emma laughed at

  Travis.

  "Ass." He told her while giving her a dirty look.

  "I guess you two really uh… butt heads now huh?" I asked them confused.

  "He's an ass."

  "She's a pain."

  They both said at the same time and I couldn't help but laugh at the both of them.

  "I'll take that as a yes." I laughed. "So, is there anything else I missed?" I've been wondering since I woke up.

  "Class is… well class is class, so you haven't missed much. If anything, you're actually lucky that you slept this long. College equals no sleep." She explained sitting on my bed facing me. "I haven’t stepped foot in our dorm or even the building." She said sadly and I put my head down with tears in my eyes.

  "I'll be back… hopefully soon." I told her.

  "I don’t know if that's a good idea, Anastasia." Travis spoke up.

  "Why not?" Emma asked and then realized, "Ohhh Darcy. Yeah it's probably a good idea to stay away. You know, come to think of it, I actually haven't seen her… at all… not once?” She said but really asked herself. “I’ve been searching for her so I can give her my fist again but

  I haven’t seen her."

  "That's weird." Travis said to us.

  "Maybe she just stopped going after what happened… you know? The guilt and all." I told them.

  "No. If there's one thing I know about Darcy, she's never guilty and she does this stuff with reason." Emma looked at me shaking her head.

  "She's hit people with cars before?" I asked her baffled and she laughed.

  "No I mean like a bully and with just who she is as a person. I don't think she's ever hit someone with a car before… like before you." She tried giving me a small smile but she gave me a sad look instead and I mirrored her expression.

  "The detective needs to know this." Travis told her.

  "You're right actually... I'll call him and tell him." She got up to walk to her phone that was on the table near Travis.

  "No no." Travis shook his head, got up and got her phone before she did. "Not a chance in hell. I'm calling him." He laughed.

  "Why not?" I looked at them confused.

  "She likes to tell the detectives how to do their job. She's a pest and she's bossy and she's loud." Travis rolled his eyes.

  "Shut u-"

  "I know I know."

  "You never let me-"

  "Finish any sentences… I know." Travis laughed as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket to call the detective. "I'll be right back." He came to kiss me on the cheek and then walked out and shut the door behind me.

  "I don't know how you put up with him." Emma crosses her arms and laughed while she sat back down.

  "He's perfect." I smiled to her.

  "Ha!" She laughed.

  "Anyways, how are you and Ethan?" I dragged out Ethan's name.

  "He's perfect." She smiled at me.

  "Ha!" I laughed using her line and she rolled her eyes. "All jokes aside, I'm so happy for you and I hope he is good to you. I don’t know what I missed but you seem to smile every time you mention him." I smile at her.

  "Yeah… he makes me smile. He's funny and he treats me well." She smiled and blushed.

  "Aww you're blushing." I told her while poking her cheek with my finger.

  "Would you shush. I'm happy to see your eyes again and to hear your voice, you know. I'm so so happy. I don't know what I'd do without you. I thought I lost you… we all did." She got tears in her eyes and I opened my arms for her. She moved clo
ser to me and hugged me as tight as she could.

  "I'm here now." I told her while hugging her back tightly.

  We stayed like this for a while. She cried it out and I just let her vent.

  "It's going to take a lot more than some car accident and a Malibu Barbie to get rid of me." We laughed together and pulled apart wiping our own tears.

  Chapter 37

  Six days later

  I'm finally starting to fully walk again. Slowly, but I'm getting there. I just need some more strength but I'm almost there. Travis and my mom haven't left the hospital. They shower here, eat here, and sleep here. They won't go home. I tell them too but they always refuse.

  "Your other doctors and I are looking at your progress and we think that you will be able to go home tomorrow. You will have a physical therapist come to your house for a few weeks to make sure you are back to normal on your feet. All your tests are cleared and you are more than ready to go home." One of my doctors said.

  "Really?" I said excitedly.

  "Yes, Anastasia you are going home." He said smiling proudly and walked out the door.

  "Yay!!! I'm going home!!!" I yelled to my mom and Travis who were next to my bed.

  "I'm so happy you are." My mom said with tears in her eyes.

  "We're both happy." Travis smiled with tears in his eyes.

  "Guys, don't cry." I told them sadly.

  "Happy tears sweetie. Happy tears." My mom said nodding her head. I turned to Travis and he nodded his head too.

  "So… um… where am I living?" I asked them and they both looked at each other. "What?"

  "Well, your mom and I have been talking and even with my brothers staying at my house, there is still a full suite left and your mom is going to move in with us." Travis smiled while rubbing the top of my hand.

  "Mom, what about our house?" I asked sadly.

  "I have moving people that Travis recommended. They are going to meet me at the house after you get settled at Travis's." She smiled.

  "Oh..." I said softly going into thought.

  "I will pack up all your things and I think this is for the best sweetie. Especially after all this happening." She smiled while reaching over to give me a hug. I hugged her back.