Is It My Birthday?

- RAYA -

I'm awake way before things start making sense. Rory and my dad are under bright fluorescent lights, white walls around them, a woman in scrubs holding my wrist and checking her watch…

"Auraya, can you hear me?" My dad comes close and grabs my hand, squeezing it, and I can't understand why in the world he would be here. I haven't seen him since like Christmas. We all just have such busy lives that it keeps us from getting together like we should even though we live in the same city. Dad's a bit of a hermit, and I guess I'm too much like him to make more of an effort to reach out.

"I hear you," I mumble and squint, trying to remember, trying to understand why he would be here next to me. "Is it my birthday?"

"No, honey, it's not your birthday," he smiles gently. "You had surgery. Apparently you were in an accident. Do you remember?"

The work of thinking is apparently audible at the moment, because I groan trying to remember. Nothing is immediately coming to me.

"It's normal after anesthesia," the nurse reassures my father who is questioning her with tented eyebrows. "She will remember."

Rory appears next to my father and touches my hair, rubbing my forehead with her thumb—tears in her eyes. What in the world is happening?

"It's good to see you, sis," she smiles.

"You too."

"Are you going to go tell the young man that Raya's awake?" My dad turns to her.

"He's not a young man," Rory rolls her eyes. "He's probably at least thirty. He can wait."

"Thirty is young, Roar," dad says. "Just wait, you'll see when you're older."

Rory chuckles and shakes her head.

"He's been waiting a long time. You should let him know."

"Who are you talking about?" I frown, still squinting like the memories of what happened should be a visible thing that appears in the room. And if that's true, the fluorescent lights are making it really hard. They are way too bright.

"Your dream boss guy," Rory says. "Dex Möbius. Remember him?"

After a few moments of continuing to search the air, Dex's perfect, handsome face appears in my mind—the real, sweet Dex twinned with the dark, seductive one—and I instantly shoot up in bed, practically giving my father a heart attack by the looks of it.

"He's here?"

"Oh my god, yes. Calm down!" Rory says with a hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me or possibly restrain me if I decide to try jumping out of bed. "Of course it's Dex that would make you remember. What a surprise," she says sarcastically.

"You need to take it easy," the nurse says, coming over to help. "No sudden movements, okay? You may not feel it yet, but you'll be really tender and sore for awhile. And we don't want to aggravate any of the stitches or make your liver unhappy while it's healing."

"My liver?" I reach to feel my side and shudder when I realize I'm bandaged up. "I had surgery?"

"Yeah and blood transfusions and your head stitched up," Rory says. "Please just relax, okay?"

I groan and lie back down, finally seeing everything come back together in my mind. The accident, the old lady, Dex bringing me to the hospital…

"I just thought I had some scratches…" My mouth feels so dry, and I have to pause to wet my lips. "He made me come. I guess he was right after all."

"This… Dex?" Dad asks, looking to my sister to see if he got the name right. Rory and I both nod. "He seems like a decent person."

My sister scoffs for some reason, and I frown at the noise. What's her problem?

"So he's here? Currently?" I ask in my gravely post-surgery voice and bury my face in my hands when my dad nods. I'm embarrassed and humiliated and horrified and… all the things. I can't believe he's still here. Who even knows what time it is?

"He didn't want to leave until he knew you made it through surgery," Dad says.

"Oh my god, why? Why is he so sweet? It's not okay. It should be… illegal or something," I grumble.

"He is not that sweet, Raya," Rory says dismissively. "I was going to wait to tell you, but… I caught him reading your journal when I got here."

"What?"

"Your journal. You know…" her eyebrows arch, silently referring to something apparently secret between us that she doesn't want to speak aloud. Is she talking about the dream journal?

"I don't… what do you mean? I don't have that here. It's at home."

"Then what's this?" She walks back to my bag and pulls out the moleskin notebook that I took to Moxie earlier, and I chuckle seeing it.

"That's not what that is. I was taking notes. It was an assignment for work."

"What?" She frowns and opens the notebook, flipping the pages to the beginning. "But this is the exact one you showed me."

"I know, it's weird. But it's not a big deal if he was looking at it. He was probably bored. What time is it anyway?"

Dad glances at the clock on the wall that I have neglected to notice. "A little after 9:30."

"Oh my god, someone please tell him I'm awake so he can leave. Please." I look at my sister. "Rory!"

"Fine, fine!" She throws her hands up and puts the notebook back in my bag before leaving the room.

I sigh and relax back against the pillow again. "When can I go home?"

"You'll be staying at the hospital for a few days," the nurse answers.

"Don't worry," my dad says, patting my arm with a soft chuckle. "It will give your hair time to grow back."

"What?" I frown and reach up to feel for a bald spot. I feel the stitches and grimace, but my hair seems okay. My dad chuckles more.

"I'm just kidding. Don't worry. Your hair looks great."

"Thanks, dad," I groan, but I can't help but smile. He has such a dad sense of humor. "I can't miss that much work, though. I could lose my internship."

"Surely they wouldn't do that after what happened," he frowns. "It's not like you're just calling in sick for no reason."

I sigh, wondering about it. Laurel hates me. Dex did say he has my back, though. If it's up to him, maybe my job will be safe.