Allison put her mug of tea down on top of his phone number that she had scribbled onto a torn piece of notebook paper. “Who cares”, she thought to herself, “I bet he won't even call” she predicted. It had been exactly three years since the last time she saw Ted and by now she was not as gitty as she used to be to hear that he was in town.
Buzzzzz, she checked her phone. Ahah! When in doubt, send a text, she thought. She looked at her phone in shock, he was downstairs.
She scrambled to the bathroom, fixed her hair as quickly as possible and slapped on some perfume. Now,she was much more nervous than she wanted to believe. After all these years he still managed to reduce her down to a clumsy school girl, and she hated him for it. What could this heartbreaker possibly want from her after cheating on her, dumping her and then deleting her off of facebook. She was getting mad just thinking about him and now, here he was.
There was a tiny rap at the door, as if it came from a soft child's hand. She looked through the peeper, checked her hair one last time, took a deep breath and opened the door. His tall slender figure was crumpled over and as he looked up at her, his large brown eyes had a sweet compassionate twinkle, as if he had been crying. She couldn't understand, Ted was the most insensitive man she knew, what could possibly be going on. Ally completely switched her approach from guarded to nurturing, she suddenly went back to all those years of unconditional love that she had given this man and forgot all of the pain that he had put her through.
“Come in”. He walked in and cleared his throat. They looked at each other and hugged. She held onto him, like a small child clinging to her father. She closed her eyes and smelt his hair as she always did whenever she embraced him. She felt as though she fit perfectly into his body, as if she finally found a lost piece of her puzzle.
Before she had a chance to let go of him, he burst into tears. What happened from that point on was a huge blurr of melancholic magic that Ally threw herself into fearlessly. She found out that Ted had just lost his mother, who died in a car accident. He came to her because he knew she would understand, having lost both of her parents. Even though Ted showed very little sympathy for her when she lost her mother, she knew she had to be there for him, she still loved him very much.
They held each other and talked about so many things. It was like the entire relationship that they should have had 3 years ago was finally happening now, on this one strange day. Ted confessed that he had always loved her and that he pushed her away out of fear, he knew that he never felt anything as strong as what he felt for Ally.
Oddly enough, that night they made love and it was very magical.
The next day she woke up to the sun piercing through her shutters and peeling her eyelids open. Her room was a wreck and she was alone. In the kitchen she noticed that her coffee pot and toaster were used and discarded, just as she was. She couldn't believe it, could he really abandon her after telling her such intimate details about himself, after losing his mother? Ted hit a new low.
To Ted, that crazy day was fresh in his memory. He felt vulnerable and was sure that his mother's death would help him to reach out to his long lost love. The girl that he had treated the worst out of all of them. But do you think that, that stopped him from running off like a jerk? Of course not. Except for the first time, he hated himself for it. He knew his mother was watching him and he felt her shame. Some days he couldn't stand himself.
His phone vibrated. It was Jen, Ally's best friend. She hadn't talked to him since that time she called, four months ago, and cussed him out for what he did on that special day. She spoke such awful words to him that he had to hold the phone away, but he knew inside that she was just reacting to having found Ally so deeply depressed and resembling a lifeless shadow of her former self. Now he wondered what Jen could still want to call him for.
“You need to get over here,”said Jen.
“Where?”
“The hospital!” she exclaimed hurriedly.
“Whats going on?!” he demanded, remembering that the last time he had heard those words was when he suffered the deepest tragedy of his life. This couldn't be happening again could it, he wondered.
“It's Ally...she needs you”
Ted felt his face turn completely white. His legs felt slightly numb and tingly, as if he were about to pass out. He grabbed a cab down to the University Hospital of Geneva. His eyes darted as a rush of thoughts and memories came pouring in. He wondered if she was still angry at him, he thought she might be pregnant. What if she was pregnant? He thought, they could keep it, he could clean up his act and they could start a family. He could do it, he wanted to do it, it would be the push he needed to finally be with her. He straightened up, he was suddenly excited to see her and for them to start their new life.
He paid the cab driver and made his way. Jen texted him “ we r in room 24 a”. As he approached the room Jen and Terry, Ally's other best friend, were waiting outside. They approached Ted with worried eyes.
“Whats going on?” he demanded.
“she..she..”
“-What!?”
“She had that Ethiopian food, the one she loved, and she got...”
“sick”
“E.coli” Terry yelled
“What” Ted's entire world was spinning around him, was she sick, would she die, of course not its just a matter of treatment he thought.
“she doesn't have much time”
“what, but...theres a cure for E.coli”
Jen and Terry stared back with anguish
“THERES A CURE FOR E.COLI” he screamed.
A nurse grabbed him and calmed him. She explained everything. Ted held his face to hide his tears, he needed to keep it together, for Ally.
He peered into the window to her room and almost lost it. The whole room was so white. Her little body was curled over to her side. She was in the fetal position and looked so vulnerable.
“You never looked so pretty” he whispered.
Her eyes were glassy and her lips were dry and crackling.
She was so dehydrated that she could hardly speak. She was allowed small quantities of hydration which came from wet sponges. She sucked so hard and desperately onto one sponge that she bit it out of Ted's hands. He did his very best not to break down and just stroked her thinning hair.
Despite all of her pain and suffering, Ally looked incredibly angelic, prompting Ted to pour his heart out. As she lay limp he told her everything. He explained how scared he had been, how he purposely sabotaged the relationship. He told her about how his mother asked about “that beautiful girl you carry a picture of” right before she died. Finally, he explained how much she was on his mind throughout all of those years and how he secretly waited for her , no matter who he was with at the time.
As he poured out his feelings, life came back to Ally's cheeks and eyes. She uncurled her body and tried to sit up, but she could barely move anything but her arm. After Ted finished speaking, they sat in silence and stared at each other. Ally mustered up the strength to lean over and her dried lips slowly opened as she whispered,
“I waited for you too.”
Ted curled up next to her and fell asleep.
He sprung awake to a violent roar: a car alarm. He looked around and saw nurses chatting excitedly.
“Why the hell are they so happy,” he thought,”don't they know about Ally?”
“Ally?!?”
He suddenly realized that he was alone in her bed.
