Let Me Love You (Chapter One)

*** Authors note: I am revising a novel I wrote a few years ago. I would love some feed back! Thank you!***

Being in a coma was a lot like daydreaming. Reality doesn't matter, but sometimes it interrupts you. Isabella Hope could feel every pinch and prick from her doctors and every tug, squeeze, and kiss from her friends and family. Her ears picked up on every noise from the beeping machines and the nurses chit chatting about being stuck inside on a sunny day, to the secrets her friends and family passed around. Did they notice her heart speed up when she heard her favorite voice? Did they notice her favorite person wasn't her long time lover and proclaimed boyfriend, producer Mario Cruz? She could hear the chaos in the hall growing louder; it made her yearn for sleep, but how do you sleep when, physically, your body has already shut down?

“This isn’t right, Mario should be here.” Elijah Moore was pacing up and down the hallway. Would his cousin, Mario, every get there?

A car accident on the highway is what caused this beauty to be laying in a hospital bed. Isabella was in such pain, with three broken ribs and a mild head concussion, that the doctors sedated her into a coma like state. She had been peacefully driving along the interstate, when someone came flying next to her. They rammed their car into her side trying to switch lanes. Isabella's car was trapped between the concrete median and the assailant's car. When the police arrived the paramedics were already loading her into the ambulance. A young officer looked around the car to find some identification, when he found her phone. He called the last person she had been talking to, Elijah Moore. Four hours later, and here Elijah was.

Isabella had first met Elijah while working with a special education program in a high school in Westerville, Ohio. Through multiple lunch breaks and long weekend nights, they became really good friends. Her heart almost broke, when Elijah gave her the news that he was moving to Nashville, Tennessee. He moved there to join in Mario's band. The band consisted of the bar owner, Luke Ford, and Mario.

After three years of agonizing waiting, Isabella moved to Nashville. Did Elijah really think she had moved seven hours away just to bar tend, at the bar he was singing in every night, for less money than she made in Ohio? He seemed so naïve; her first night of work Elijah introduced her to Mario, a sweet, blue eyed stud with thick dark hair. Of course she was physically attracted to his biceps and charm, but that was all there was. They have been dating for a year and a half. She can't figure out why she's staying with someone who she would never marry.

While Elijah was at the hospital trying to get a hold of Mario, Mario was turning off his phone. He had worked weeks on getting this little number into his bed, and he wasn't going to let a phone call ruin it. He dimmed the lights and stripped down to nothing but his boxer shorts. He stretched out on the bed, waiting for his secretary to come out of the bathroom. Mario had been rubbing Ada's shoulders while they worked on paper work from the studio.

When she stood up and asked to go to the bathroom, Mario lead her to the one adjoining the master bedroom. He was for sure she felt the energy between them, the little hints he had been dropping since she had stepped through the front door. It wouldn't take long, a short fast one right before Isabella would come home, maybe he'd even have time to remake their bed.

Ada came out of the bathroom, and caught him in the corner of her eye. She became furious screaming multiple things in Spanish, a language Mario never took the time to learn, darn. Ada spit on him and ran to the living room office to gather her things.

“Wait, wait, I thought you wanted this? You know you'd love to have a piece? It'll be a secret I promise. Lets not ruin the evening.” Mario wrapped around her and tried to nibble on her neck, as she pushed him away.

Ada's face was maroon with humility; slamming the front door, in her broken English, she managed to call Mario a filthy pig. Mario sighed leaning against the wall. After a long, cool shower, he turned his phone back on to see ten missed called from Elijah. He listened to the first message while getting on his clothes, and hurrying out of the house.

“Thank God,” Elijah said, as Mario ran towards him; did Elijah see guilt spread on his face?

“Is she okay? What happened?” Mario's eyes grew wide, and his hands trembled.

“A suspected drunk driver plowed into her car crossing lanes. She has a mild concussion and three broken ribs, so they sedated her into a coma because she is in a tremendous amount of pain,” Elijah said, as he lead Mario to Isabella’s room.

Elijah watched him as he cautiously walked into her room. It was puzzling how insincere Mario seemed. If that had been Elijah's girlfriend he would have rushed to her side, not having a conversation, waiting around, being slow. Elijah didn't have time to dwell on the bad decisions of his cousin for long because Luke was shaking his shoulder.

“Elijah! I said, how is she? Will Belle be okay?” Luke asked, as Elijah walked him to the waiting room with Destiny, Luke's wife. They were forced to follow the strict rule of having only one visitor in Isabella's room at a time.

“Isabella was crushed between the concrete median and the driver's door, when someone drove right into her switching lanes. The police said the other driver had been drinking, but I didn't get to talk to them for long. Belle doesn't have any serious injuries. It could have been a whole lot worse than what it was,” Elijah explained to him, as Destiny grabbed Luke's hand. Isabella's family wasn't supportive of her making the move to Tennessee, so she hasn't had much contact with them; she, now, counts Elijah, Luke, and Destiny as her family because they are her closets friends.

Mario's presences was barely noticed, as he walked back into the waiting room; he cleared his throat to speak, “Belle's doctor says they'll be able to bring her out of her coma by tonight or tomorrow morning.” He took a seat, as he heard a few sighs escape their lips.

No one knew what to say to Mario. He was acting so distant and withdrawn. In talking, Mario showed so little emotion. Grown men are stereotypically not supposed to show their emotions, but this was on the verge of ridiculous. Your true love was in a coma; get a grip. No one’s going to care if you're scared, anxious, weepy.

“Mario, I am so sorry. If you need anything you let us know, ya hear?” Destiny asked showing her southern accent, something she tried her best to hide.

“Guys, I’m fine. It’s Belle that needs to be worried about,” Mario said, furthering himself into his distance.

“Okay, man. Well we should be heading back to work. Mario, we’ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, you take care of yourself.” Luke followed Destiny to Isabella's room; they visited her each for five minutes then made their way to the elevators to go down to the main floor.

“Man, how ya holdin’ up?” Elijah asked Mario after a short silence.

“Elijah, I can’t even explain to you the emotions I’m experiencing right now. I was really scared driving up here, afraid that Isabella was really hurt, or even... But now that I know she is going to be okay... I don't know how to feel.” Why is it so easy to cheat on her, make passionate love with someone else, when I have such strong feelings for her? I know what I should do, but now I have to wait, Mario though as he ran his hand through his jet-black hair. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” Mario said, with deep gazing eyes, looking off into space.

“What do you mean?” Elijah asked, furrowing his brow and wrinkling his forehead, looking at Mario.

“I was going to… I was going to break it off tonight with Belle. Things aren’t working out, but now I can’t because she’s in the hospital. I can’t break up with her while she’s like this,” Mario said, as he hit the back of his head on the wall behind him.

“What? Mario, this is crazy; everything looked like it was going fine.” Elijah looked into Mario's eyes searching for the truth.

“Elijah, we fight constantly at home. Out in public we have to restrain ourselves from killing each other. She’s my best friend, and I love her; but, we don’t like each other any more. She knows that.” Mario felt like he had lifted a heavy burden off of his shoulders. He finally admitted out loud what his heart had been screaming all along; even though, it made him feel a little queasy to have someone know they weren't the perfect couple.

“Bro, if you know she's not happy, you should talk to her about it; end it peacefully if you can. I mean... you are right this isn't the right time to do it, but you shouldn't drag it out much longer.” Elijah sighed and shook his head. They had looked so much in love; he didn't understand.

Mario's words turned into thin whispers as Elijah turned his thoughts to the very first time he had met Isabella. She was just hired as a teaching aid. When Elijah walked into his classroom and was greeted by her excellent body and blazing smile, it was all he could do to not turn and run the opposite direction. Her beauty overwhelmed him, and to his surprise, so did her intelligence. She was so special to Elijah, and he hadn't been with her, done things with her... why, how could Mario break such a precious heart? Elijah knew better than to go down this road. He could never be more than Isabella's friend, which is why he's stuck down here in the friend-zone.

Snapping him out of his daydream, Mario asked, “ What am I suppose to do? Elijah, I just can’t hurt her while she’s unconscious in a hospital room.”

Elijah was silent for a second and then said, “... Lets put this in a different perspective. She's not knocking on deaths door. With some time she'll be healed, and ready to move on, just like she will heal from this break up. No matter when you do it, it is going to hurt both of you, but you are right, you can't do it now. It'd be like kicking her while she's down.”

Mario just leaned back, resting his head against the wall with his eyes closed. It would be so much easier to tell Isabella now, to get it over with. Is that such a bad choice? Elijah could see Mario thinking, so he walked back to Isabella's room to give him some space.

Her once long, golden hair was now shoulder length with clumps missing from the sides and saturated with oil and dirt. Elijah softly caressed her scraped and brusied face. She looked miserable. He kissed her forehead, a line he hadn't crossed yet because he believed friends shouldn't kiss; it always lead to other activities.

Death, murder, rape, kidnapping, you never imagine these things happening to someone you love, but when it does happen, some how it puts everything back into perspective. No, Isabella's wasn't necessarily going through any of those things, but as Gary held he hand gingerly he couldn't imagine his life without Isabella.