Till We Meet Again

Chapter Eleven

“What're you up to?" mom asked, as I went to head upstairs.  

"Just grabbing a water," I said, flashing her my bottle of water.  

"It's Collin's last night before surgery," she pointed out.

"I figured you two would be out together."  

"He said he wanted to spend it down at the baseball fields with a few teammates," I said, with a shrug.

"So, I'm just going to watch a movie and then head to bed. Early morning tomorrow."  

Although I tried to sound nonchalant about it, it did hurt bruise my ego a little that Collin had chosen his teammates over me. He spent all day yesterday with them as well, and I just figured that the last night before his surgery we'd do something together. But he said he wanted to spend it playing some more baseball.  

"Well, why don't you come out to dinner with your father and me?" she suggested.

"I don't know."  

"It'll be fun," she said, shooting me a smile.

"We're fun people."

"Okay," I said, laughing.

"Give me thirty minutes."  

"You have 25!" she called, as I headed upstairs.

"And it's an outside restaurant."  

She always did that to me. Whatever time I gave her, she always countered back with one five minutes less. I pulled on a pair of skinny jeans and a button-up brown and white striped shirt. I paired it with my tall, light brown leather boots and a jean jacket to complete the look.  Once I satisfied with my outfit, I headed into my bathroom. I plugged in my curling wand before touching up my makeup and looping a string of pearls around my neck.  My hair was still holding my curls from church this morning, but I did a quick touchup before heading back downstairs. 

My parents still weren't ready, so I took a seat on the couch, checking my phone to see if there was anything from Collin.  Just a text from Kimberly complaining about Luca. The doorbell rang, and I waited for my dad to come and answer it. 

When I didn't see him appear after a few moments, I called for him, and then decided to answer it myself.  I opened the door to reveal Collin standing on my porch with three roses.  

"Collin?" I asked, shocked to see him standing on my front porch.  

"I realized something," he said, his crystal blue eyes staring into mine.

"Aubrey, there's no one else I'd rather spend tonight with than you."

I couldn't help but smile.  

"So, if you're willing," he added.

"I'd like the opportunity to romanticize you one last time, brain alien and all."  

I stepped out onto the front porch, throwing my arms around his neck and planting my lips on his.  

"I'd like nothing more than that," I said, with a smile.

"But first let me put these flowers in a vase."  

He chuckled, waiting as I hurried inside to find a vase for my roses. Collin always spruced up the types of flowers he gave me, last time they were petunias. I put the roses in a vase with some water before rejoining him, his hand wrapping around mine.

"I probably need to tell my parents," I said.  

"They already know," Collin said, with a smile.

"So, they were never going to take me out for dinner?"

"Probably not."  I shook my head.

"They're sneakier than I gave them credit for."  

We headed out to Collin's car. I wasn't sure if he officially had clearance to drive, but it was his last night before the surgery, so I decided against saying anything.  He opened my passenger door for me before heading around to his side.  

"Where are we going?" I asked.  

"Well, there's a picnic basket at your feet."

I looked down.

"Oh."  

"You wouldn't make a very good Sherlock Holmes I'm afraid."  

"That's alright; I'll be your Irene."  

"Irene?" Collin eyes, his eyes flickering over to me.  

"That's Sherlock's love interest. It was supposed to be flirty."

"Sherlock doesn't have a love interest. And if he did, her name wouldn't be Irene."

"Irene Adler," I informed him.

"Irene Adler is not his love interest," Collin declined.

"She was only in one book, and he's only interested in her for her intelligence."  

"No, he's definitely into her."  

Collin shook his head.  

"We'll just agree to disagree, because you know I'm right."  

"Somehow that doesn't make sense," Collin muttered.

"But I'm not going to question it."  

We pulled up to the local park after a few more minutes, and Collin ordered for me to wait before coming around and opening my car door for me.  

"Was that really that important?" I asked, as he wrapped his hand around mine, the other carrying the picnic basket.

"Absolutely," he informed me.

"It's the little things Aubrey."

I couldn't help but smile.  

"Oh no," Collin muttered.  

"Your hand fits in mine like it's made just for me," I sang, letting go of his hand and twirling around.

"But bear this in mind it was meant to be."  

"I started something that I didn't mean to start," Collin called out.  

"And I'm joining up the dots with the freckles on your cheeks, and it all makes sense to me!"  I stopped twirling, laughing as I stumbled a couple of times due to the dizziness that ensued.

Collin wrapped his arm around me, laughing as well.  

"What are we going to do with you?" he asked.  

"Love me," I stated, smiling up at him.  

"That's doable," he agreed, kissing the top of my head. 

We made it to what I guess was Collin's pre-planned spot, and he opened up his picnic basket.

"What do you have in store for us today?" I asked, as he first laid out a picnic blanket. 

It was just the beach blanket that I'd given him last year. It had his name monogrammed on it, along with his baseball number.  

"I have pizza," he said, pulling out a circle container.

"Homemade of course."  

"Fancy," I said, with a nod.

"And some coke," he said, pulling out a couple of bottles of coke.

"One with my name on it and one with yours."  

"You even took the time to find cokes with our names on it?"  

"I am the whole package."

I busted out into laughter, shaking my head at him.  

"And then we have salad for my beautiful lettuce-loving girlfriend."  

"Ooh," I said, as he pulled out a small bowl of salad.  

"And for dessert we have these cookies that my mom made," he finished, pulling out chocolate chip cookies.

"Wow," I said, as he took a seat next to me.  

"Are you impressed?"  

"I have to say that I am."  

"Which bottle of coke would you like?" he asked.  

"Would I like to drink from you or me?" I asked, with a half-smile.

"Precisely."  

"I think I'll drink from you tonight."  

"Good choice."  

I rolled my eyes, accepting the coke bottle with Collin's name on the side. 

Collin then handed me a slice of pizza.  

"Did you make this?" I asked, before taking a bite.

"Made it myself," he promised, watching me take my bite.

"With mushrooms and spinach, just how you like it."  

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am.  

"It's good," I promised, with a nod.

"Really good."

"Really? You're not just saying that?"

I shook my head, taking another bite.

"I love it."  

He hesitantly took a bite of his own slice, after peeling all the spinach off.  

"You didn't have to put spinach on it babe."

"I did," he argued.

"It's your favorite."

I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss.

"Thank you."  

"Of course."  

I leaned back against him as he wrapped an arm around me, taking another bite of my pizza.  

"See that guy right there?" Collin asked me, as he took a sip of his coke. 

Well, my coke technically because it had my name on it.  I hummed in agreement.  

"He's secretly a double agent," Collin informed me.

"Hobo by day, CIA agent by night?" I asked. 

Collin nodded.

"He hangs out here in the park dressed up like a hobo to stalk his targets."

"I can do so much better than that."

"Try me."  

My eyes scanned the park, before locating a woman tossing a coin into the fountain.

"Okay, see that woman right there?"

"Which one?"  

"The one in the purple top, next to the fountain."

His eyes roamed the park until he located the person I was talking about.  

"Target located."  

I couldn't help but giggle.

"She's in love with this boy."  

"Isn't that pedophile-status?"  

"Okay, man you goofball. And he's in love with her."

"This story is pretty boring."

I turned to face him, planting a kiss on his lips.

"Well they're still writing it."  

"Ooh, tricky," he said, with a half-smile.

"Bonus points for that one."  

We sat in silence for a few moments, finishing off our pizza.

"I'm really nervous for tomorrow," Collin confessed. 

I looked over at him. He was staring up at the sky, but I could see the anxiety on his face.  I titled his chin downwards, so he was looking into my eyes.  

"You should be."  

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Well, that didn't help."  I chuckled, shaking my head.

"It's okay to be nervous Collin. But you just have to remember who you have by your side." I snuggled in closer to him.

"You have your mom, your sister, Chris, Scooby..."

"Scooby?"  

"Sure," I agreed, with a laugh.

"Scooby would never let any harm come your way."  

"And what about you?"  

I turned to fully face him, staring deep into his sparkling blue eyes.

"You'll always have me."

"I see that you dressed up for the occasion," Collin teased. 

I was wearing a pair of Victoria's Secret leggings and a plain white V-neck with an oversized sweater, my hair thrown up in a messy bun.  

"It is 5 AM," I informed him, taking a seat in one of the hospital chairs.

"You're lucky I'm even awake right now."  

He flashed me a smile.  

"Good morning," Catherine called, coming into the room.

She handed me an iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts.

"You're my favorite," I informed her, before taking a sip of the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough iced coffee.  

"Why thank you."  

"It was my idea," Chris complained behind her.  

"Hush," Catherine ordered.

"What's in your IV?" I asked Collin, heading over to his bedside. 

 He craned his neck to try and look as well.  

"Just water it looks like," I said, taking the seat right next to his bed.

"What if I pee during the surgery?" Collin asked me.  

"Like you pee when you're under anesthesia?"  

He nodded.  

"I think they're prepared if that were to happen."  

"What if I wake up?"  

"I don't think that's something to worry about."

"I think it would be totally weird to wake up in the middle of brain surgery."

"It wouldn't be something I'd want to wake up to."  

"Okay," Melissa said, coming into the room.

"Found the Sharpie."

"We get to draw on him?" I asked, excitedly.  

"Here," Melissa said, handing me the Sharpie.

"You can write yes on the correct side of his head."  

I leaned in close to the right side of his head, writing the word "yes" in cursive, and then adding a smiley face at the end.  

"You're safe," I said to Collin, handing the Sharpie back to his mom.  

"Now they won't cut into the wrong side of my head," Collin said.  

"So, what's the surgery going to be like?" I asked Melissa, as Collin took my hand.  

"Well, they're going to take him for an MRI pre-surgery," she explained.

"And then they're going to shave the side of his head."  

"Boo," Collin muttered. 

I chuckled, shaking my head.  

"And then they're going to map out the surgery on his head before they cut into it."  

"Great," Collin muttered. 

I squeezed his hand.

"You wouldn't want them to just blindly cut into your head."  

"This is true."  

"The whole surgery is about 7 hours."  

Collin let out a low whistle.  

"It'll be like a blink of an eye for you," I said, nudging him.

"You'll be asleep."

He just squeezed my hand in response.  

"How're you holding up?" Catherine asked me.  

"I'm pretty nervous," I admitted, taking the last sip of my coffee.  

"Same," she agreed, with a nod.

"It's easy to put on a brave face before the surgery, but holy s**t you know? My baby brother is currently having his head opened."

"Hello all!" Dennis announced, waltzing in the waiting room.  

"Look who finally showed up," Catherine commented.  

"I had to go to English," he complained.

"Stupid Elijah wouldn't let me out of my presentation."

He placed a box of donuts on the table.

"But I do come bearing gifts."

I immediately claimed a sprinkled donut for myself, sitting crisscross as my eyes flickered over to the screen again.  Collin was officially in surgery.

"Did he move from pre-surgery?" Catherine asked. 

I nodded. 

She took a sip of her coffee, clearly nervous.  

"What?" Dennis asked, looking at the board.  

"That's Collin's number," Melissa explained, pointing to the board.

"So, we know when he's in pre-surgery, when he's in surgery, and then when he's in Recovery."  

"That's sick," Dennis muttered.  

"Hospital pun, nice," Chris said, laughing. 

Dennis chuckled to himself.

"Wasn't intentional, but thanks."

I finished off my donut, feeling too nauseated to go for a second one.  I was worried about Collin. Brain surgery wasn't exactly a walk in the park.  

"I brought Cards Against Humanity," Chris informed us, after a few minutes of silence. 

And so, for the next several hours, the five of us played endless rounds of cards, just to keep our mind off of what was happening.  And then, Collin's number switched from surgery to recovery. 

Melissa immediately shot to her feet, and I let her and Catherine head back first.  

"At least we know he's in recovery," Dennis pointed out. 

I just wanted to see him, to squeeze his hand. 

To know that he was alright.