Jake's POV

"Jake wake up" I was drawn out of sleep by a hand roughly shaking my shoulder.

"Dad!?" I jolted to a sitting position only to see my dad still lying in his hospital bed completely unconscious.

"Sorry dude it's just me" Tyler sat down next to me. He set a donut and coffee in front of me and gave me a look that said don't argue with me just eat it.

"It's alright. Thanks for coming" I was still groggy and my back was aching from sleeping in a chair all night. I pulled a blanket off my shoulders and couldn't remember where it came from.

"Of course. How's he doing?" Tyler took a bite of my donut before forcing it into my hands.

"Still no change. I am really starting to hate this place" I groaned before downing half of my coffee.

"That wouldn't have anything to do with a certain girl who works here would it?" Tyler asked nonchalantly.

"That has nothing to do with it. I don't like hospitals in general, but I guess seeing her and her dumb boy toy together all the time is a little annoying" I shrugged and ate my donut.

"Boy toy? Really? You don't even know the guy" Tyler caught my glare. "I mean yeah total tool. She definitely lowered her standards after you" he tried to recover.

"He's not a tool. He seems like a decent guy, and it's obvious he's really into her. The idiot can't keep his eyes off her. It's obnoxious" I rolled my eyes.

"I remember when you couldn't keep your eyes off her. Oh wait, you still can't" Tyler raised his eyebrows at me.

"Shut up. She hates me man. She really hates me and frankly I don't care" I shrugged it off, but of course Tyler couldn't just accept that and let it go.

"Yeah right she doesn't-"

"Sorry to interrupt, but we're here to check his vitals" several nurses walked in and started bustling around.

"When will Dr. Jones be in? He said he would give us an update today on their treatment plan" I stood up and asked the nurse in charge.

"He should be in soon" she answered as they loaded up their cart and headed out.

"Thank you. Oh and thanks for the blanket by the way" I shouted after them.

"Oh your girlfriend brought the blanket for you" one of the nurses leaned back into the room.

"Mary was here? That was nice of her" I sat back down next to Tyler.

"Speaking of Mary how was the date on Saturday?" Tyler was spinning one of the medical carts around.

"It was going fine until you and Paige decided to be stupid. Putting Kayla and I in the same restaurant? Did you really think that would end well?" I slapped him lightly on the back of the head wishing it would knock some sense into the idiot.

"Paige can be very convincing. You know how she is" Tyler defended his idiocy.

"Be a man and stop letting her convince you to do stupid things" I slapped him again.

"Would you stop doing that? Stop being dramatic. It couldn't have been that bad" Tyler shoved me back. As he sat back down he knocked the medical cart over. Speaking of idiocy.

"Try a full on screaming match. Here I'll give you a summary. She still thinks our break up is my fault, she's dating Scott, and she says being around me is too hard so we can't even be friends. So yeah things are just wonderful. I told you she hates me" I picked up a mini football Tyler brought and threw it to him.

"Would you just listen to me? I'm telling you Paige said Kayla doesn't-" Tyler started before he was interrupted again.

"Jake I'm so sorry I couldn't make it over last night. How is he?" Mary walked in.

I stood up to kiss her before explaining the lack of change, again.

"He still isn't awake, but they're working on a plan" I glared at Tyler who was making kissy faces like a twelve year old behind her back. He continued to throw the football to himself.

"I'm sure they'll figure it out and everything will be fine" she pulled me in for another hug. Mary was a big hugging person.

"Thanks for coming Mary. Wait you weren't here last night after I fell asleep?" I looked down at the blanket.

"No I got stuck downtown and couldn't make it in time. Why?" she gave me a puzzled look. Tyler looked at me and the football dropped and hit him square in the face.

"Nothing. So who's filling in for me today?" I changed the subject.

"They are just going to split the kids up onto other teams for today. We're just playing silly games all morning so it's no big deal. Don't worry about the kids just focus on your dad right now" she chirped and patted my knee reassuringly.

"Thanks Mary"

"Anytime. I wish I could stay, but I have to get to work. I just wanted to stop by and see if you needed anything. I'll update the other coaches. I know they're all worried" before I could respond she was out the door.

"She's very... peppy?" Tyler searched for an appropriate word to describe Mary. She was definitely peppy with more energy than any normal twenty one year old. She was kind of like a little kid, but she was sweet and we got along well.

"She's great. You just have to take some time to get to know her" I insisted.

"I'll give her a fair chance, but I'm still team Kayla. Speaking of the love of your life I think we both know who put that blanket over you last night. Common sense there dude. I have to go. Call me as soon as you know anything" Tyler made his way out of the room while I absorbed what he just said.

Of course it was Kayla. Gosh I was an idiot. Even after I ruined the first civil conversation we've had in months she was still looking out for me. That meant I was an idiot and a jerk.

I stood up from that chair and left the room for the first time in a while.

"Excuse me? Can you tell me where I can find Kayla Ryans?" I asked a man at the nurses' station.

"I'm sorry I don't know who that is" the man replied without looking up from his computer.

"She's shadowing Dr. Jones this week. Long brown hair, bright blue eyes, probably one of the most gorgeous girls you've ever seen, obsessed with mac & cheese" I started listing hoping he would figure out who I'm talking about.

"Ohhh that girl. I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but she normally takes her break in the pediatric wing, in the hallway outside the room with all the newborns" the nurse revealed before turning back to his computer.

"Thanks" I chuckled, not surprised in the slightest. Tough, strong- willed Kayla had a major weakness for babies. You could be in a raging fight with her, but hand her a baby and she forgot why she was ever mad in the first place.

I worked my way through the hospital until I found the pediatric wing, and sure enough there she was leaning against the wall eating a microwavable bowl of instant mac & cheese while watching the babies. She had a huge smile on her face, and I just stood there for a minute watching her.

"Hey" I went over to stand next to her. I felt her tense up as if she was bracing for another argument.

"Hey" she responded warily.

"Thank you" I looked at her and could tell she instantly knew what I was talking about.

"You're welcome. How're you doing?"

"He's still not awake" I sighed.

"I know how your dad's doing. I may have checked up on his status one too many times. The nurses are starting to get annoyed. I asked how you're doing. Sleeping in a chair all night isn't comfortable. Trust me, I've tried" she stretched as if remembering the aching feeling I was currently experiencing.

"A little tired, but I'll be fine. The not knowing is what's killing me" I admitted. I had to stay strong in front of my mother so she wouldn't start crying again, but with Kayla it was different. She understood.

"I know what you mean. I insisted Dr. Jones update me regularly, so I promise as soon as I know anything you'll be the first person I find" she reached out and squeezed my hand hesitantly.

"Thanks Kayla, for everything. And I'm sorry about yesterday"

"Don't worry about it. We've both don our fair share of snapping at each other" she sighed as if the thought of all those arguments was physically exhausting.

"Gets tiring after a while. Constantly trying to still hate you" the words were out of my mouth before I realized how horrible that sounded.

"I know exactly what you mean" her laugh caught me off guard.

Pretty soon I was laughing. We probably looked like idiots howling with laughter right outside a room full of sleeping babies. And why were we laughing so hard? Because we were bonding over how much we hated each other.

"This is nice. Us getting along again" I finally caught my breath.

"Agreed. Can we try this more often. I know we probably won't ever be as close as we used to be, but we're both currently in happy relationships, so can we put the past behind us and just try to be friends again? Or at least amiable coworkers?" Kayla turned to me clearly hopeful, but underneath the hope I could see a bit of fear in her eyes.

"I think that's a great idea" we kind of just looked at each other after that, not knowing what to do next. Hugging seemed a bit forced at this point so we just sort of awkwardly shook hands before Kayla disappeared down the hallway to get back to work, and I returned to my dad's hospital room.

Things were far from back to normal, and we still hadn't discussed everything that went down the night of the break up, but hey amiable coworkers was a start.

Progress! Amiable coworkers, at least we're getting somewhere. Do you think it'll last?

Don't forget to vote and comment! Can't wait to hear what you think!