Sing For Me Ch. 01

Author's Note: Hey there! I'm a long time reader on here and finally decided to try my hand at a story. Here's a little of what you can expect. It definitely is a slower story, and it's mainly gonna focus on the story and relationships over the sex. Second is that it may be pretty tropey. But with high school stories it's kind of hard to avoid. But I like to think it's just me taking a bit of inspiration from some of my favorites like Nikpheros or BosomBuddies. Anyway with all that said I hope you enjoy!

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Around 3 months before school ended for my junior year, I was in a car accident. I had gone out with my dad to get a gift for my mom since her birthday was coming up. We were on our way to the store, with him driving and me riding shotgun. I was talking with him trying to narrow down what I wanted to get mom, because I still hadn't fully landed on a gift for her. It was around noon on a Tuesday, I remember thinking how nice it was outside when we first left the house. Dad was working from home that day, and was nice enough to take me out during his lunch break. He had his phone playing music from a playlist I had made that was aptly named, "Dad Rock". It wasn't actually all dad rock songs, but it was a mix of songs that he grew up listening to, as well as songs I had found.

Dad worked a normal day job, doing marketing for some tech company that had a branch in our city. But he was also a musician and spent most of his free time either practicing guitar or playing shows around town. He always dreamed of making it big playing music, but unfortunately he never really managed to get his name out further than the state lines. But with music being such a big part of his life, that meant that it was also a big part of mine. I grew up listening to all kinds of classic rock and 80's metal. Stuff like Fleetwood Mac, Thin Lizzy, and of course Rush. They were my dad's favorite band. While other kids my age were listening to songs like Empire State of Mind, Airplanes, or whatever pop or rap song was popular that month, I had Don't Fear the Reaper and YYZ playing during my car rides.

At the time the song playing was Retrovertigo, by Mr. Bungle. I remember because dad had to turn the song down as it reached the bridge before the last chorus, when there's a big bell hit and the music starts playing twice as loud as it had been for the first two thirds of the song. Dad was a little upset that I didn't know what I wanted to get for mom before we left because he wanted to be able to stop quickly and buy it so we would have time to get lunch together before he had to get back to work.

"You better make up your mind quick. I'm craving Jonesy's and I don't wanna be late back to work cause we're waiting on our food."

I laughed a little to myself, shaking my head as I did. "Seriously, why do they take so long? Like it's a sandwich. It shouldn't take them 15 minutes just to get it out to you."

Dad pointed a finger at me, and glanced at me for a second as the cars in front of us started to move. "The wait isn't the issue here, Rich. Those sandwiches are always delicious, and well worth waiting 15 minutes for. It's your indecisiveness on what to get your mom that's going to be the deciding factor on whether we get some of that deliciousness today or not."

I rolled my eyes. "You know how I am about gifts. I don't wanna just give her something she'll hold onto just because it's a gift. I want it to be some-"

I didn't get to finish my thought. At that moment we were passing through an intersection, and some idiot who was looking at his phone ran through the red light, T-Boning us. I got knocked unconscious immediately so I didn't even know it happened. Apparently our car flipped around 3 times and landed upside down.

I woke up in the hospital a couple days later. It was dark, and I could hear the sound of different kinds of equipment around me whirring and humming quietly. Looking down, I saw my right leg and arm in splints, and both were held up by straps. I felt around on the bed with my left hand, looking for the call remote. It wasn't my first time staying in a hospital. I had appendicitis a few years before so I knew what I was looking for. After a moment, I found it and pressed the call button. A minute later a nurse entered my room and walked up to my bed. "Hello Richard." He said to me, "It's nice to see you awake. Are you feeling any pain or discomfort?" I opened my mouth to try and speak, but as I took a breath I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I instead chose to simply nod and move my hand onto my chest, and gestured over the right side of my body.

The nurse nodded and began adjusting something behind my bed. "I'm gonna turn up your drip just a little bit to try and help with that." He worked for a moment, then stepped back and looked at me again. "I'm gonna go get the doctor real quick and let him know that you're awake. While I'm out there we're also gonna call your mom and let her know. She won't be able to come until the morning though, I hope that's okay." I nodded. "I'll only be gone a few minutes but if you need something before then don't hesitate to push that button again okay?" I nodded again, and he turned towards the door, but I made a sound to stop him.

He turned back and looked at me questioningly. With a bit of effort I managed to croak out, "Dad?"

The nurse opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated, a look of uncertainty and nervousness on his face. "We'll talk more when the doctor is here." He turned back to the door and walked out briskly.

Around 5 minutes later I heard footsteps approaching the room I was in, and a doctor walked into the room, followed by the nurse. "Hi Richard, we're glad to see you awake. I hope you don't mind, I'm gonna turn the light on okay?" I nodded and tried to brace my eyes for the harsh fluorescents. The lights flicked on and I had to close my eyes for a moment before they adjusted. "Sorry about that."

He walked over to my bed. "How are you feeling?" I did a thumb's down, and he nodded understandingly. "Yeah that'll happen. Do you remember what happened to you?" I shook my head. The doctor pulled up a rolling stool and sat down next to the bed.

"You were in a car accident Richard. The really bad kind unfortunately. You took a few big hits, but you'll recover." He took a breath, but paused while searching for what to say next.

"You know Richard, the hardest part of my job is having to deliver bad news." His eyes were pointed down for a moment, before looking back to me."Your father was on the side of the car that got hit. He... he didn't survive Richard. I'm so sorry."

I looked at the doctor, tears welling in my eyes. I was hoping that he was wrong, or that he was pulling some kind of sick joke, but the look on his face told me it was the truth. I let out a pained groan, not even caring how much it hurt my chest to do so. I tried to curl my body and turn over, but the straps on my arm and leg made it so I couldn't, so instead I took my free hand and wrapped it behind my head and closed my eyes while I cried.

They let me have some time before I started to calm down a little. Eventually the doctor began to speak again. "I know you've been out for a few days, but I think you should get some sleep. We can give you a little something to help out, and then we'll talk more once your mother gets here tomorrow. Would you like that?" I nodded, and the doctor nodded back, before standing up and beginning to work with some of the machines. Soon I felt my eyes droop and I quickly fell asleep again.

When I woke up again it was to the feeling of a hand running across my head and face. I opened my eyes and saw my mother standing above me, tears in her eyes and a sad smile on her face. "I'm so glad you're okay Richie." She said, and she reached down to take my hand.

"Dad." I started, and today it didn't hurt as much to speak.

Mom nodded, and took a shuddering breath. "I know sweetie." She closed her eyes, and just stood there for a moment holding my hand. Eventually she sat down in a chair that had been pulled up to the side of the bed. "The nurse went to go get the doctor, they should be here soon. Do you need anything?"

"Water." She nodded and stood back up from the chair. She walked out, and came back a minute later with a cup in hand. She took another remote from the side of the bed and I felt it begin to raise me up. When it stopped, she handed me the cup and I began to drink from it.

"Do you need any help?" She asked, but I shook my head, and quickly drank the entire cup.

I handed it back to her. "More, please." She went back out and came back with two cups this time.

Eventually the doctor finally arrived, greeting my mother. "Hi, you must be Natalie." He reached a hand towards her, and she shook it. "I'm Doctor Jacobs, I've been in charge of your son's overnight care. So first, a bit of good news. Richard's injuries were not as severe as they could have been. None of the breaks were compound, meaning we'll be looking at a relatively streamlined recovery process. Obviously with his arm hurt moving with crutches would be a bit difficult, so we'll probably be looking at a wheelchair for most of the process. Unfortunately you also cracked a few of your ribs during the accident, so you're gonna be having a bit of pain there for a while son. But I'd say within 4 months or so you'll be back to normal.

"We'll keep you here for a few more days for some monitoring but after that we'll give you a couple casts and you should be good to go home soon."

My mom smiled at that, and this time there was less sadness in it. "That's great, Doctor. What about his school though? Will we need to wait long for him to go back?"

"Well physically I'd say maybe a couple weeks at home before he should head back, but uh, given the circumstance I may leave it to him to decide if and when he's ready." The doctor then pulled my mom towards the other side of the room and spoke quietly with her for a moment. She nodded to him as he spoke, but I couldn't actually hear what was being said. They quickly finished and came back over to me. "Well, I'm only going to be here for another hour or so, and then I'll be leaving you in the capable hands of Doctor Agnew. Is there anything else you need in the meantime Richard?"

I thought for a moment. "I'm a little hungry, could I get some food?"

Doctor Jacobs's eyes widened a bit as though he remembered something. "Oh yeah, you'll need to go over your diet. You can talk more to Doctor Agnew about it, but because of the trauma to your chest you'll be wanting to stick to liquids for a couple weeks. But for now if you are feeling hungry we can have one of the nurses get you a smoothie from the cafeteria to tide you over. How's that sound?"

"That's fine." He smiled at me and walked out of the room.

A little bit later a nurse walked in with a cup and straw. "Would you like to help him with it Mrs. Flynn? If not, I can stay and help." She looked to my mother as she asked this.

My mom took them from the nurse and began to unwrap the straw. "Oh no need I can handle it. Thank you though." The nurse obliged her and left the room.

Like the doctor said, I was allowed to go home a few days later. I took some time off from school while we handled everything regarding my father. We held a funeral, and family and friends came into town from all over for it. It was very bittersweet getting to see all of them together. My older sister had taken some time off from college during the whole process as well, and stayed for a bit after to help with my recovery. We handled the matter of my father's estate as well as the insurance settlements and such. My father's job had a decent insurance program, and with the different payouts from his health and life, as well as from his auto insurance, we were able to cover the cost of everything, while also leaving us some to help with everything else we needed, on top of his savings. As far as the will, with the exception of a few items left specifically for some close family and friends, the majority of his belongings, and our house of course were left to my mom, sister, and me.

Though I wasn't there for it, I heard that once the driver responsible for the accident came to, he got sentenced to 25 years for manslaughter. None of us would admit it but I think that we all thought that even that wasn't enough.

After a few weeks I finally went back to school. We notified the school who had been very understanding and helpful during the whole ordeal, and I showed back up on Monday, a month and a half after the accident. I was a little late getting in as I had to go to the office to discuss how I would handle my return and daily school life. At this point I was only wearing a boot on my leg, so I would still need a few special privileges like being able to leave class early and elevator access. By the time I was hobbling towards my homeroom class the halls were empty. When I opened the door I was greeted by a shout of "Welcome Back!" and saw that they had put on an impromptu celebration, including a big banner that read "Welcome Back Rich!" as well as some snacks and drinks. I was very surprised, but for the first time in a while, I had something to smile about.

I made my way in and saw that my usual spot was covered in notes and a get well soon card. They hadn't had a way to get it to me while I was out of school so they just waited until I got back to give it to me. The next half hour or so was filled with a lot of catching up and no actual schooling, which was fine by me. Around 10 minutes before the bell was supposed to ring, I began to gather my things and say a big thank you to everyone. As I was picking up all the notes and placing them into my bag, I heard a voice say, "Let me help you with that." I looked up and saw it was Lucy Erickson.

Lucy was probably what I would define as the epitome of beauty. She had dark brunette hair, which she pulled back into a ponytail, though she left a few strands out to fall down and compliment her face. Her face itself was gorgeous, with high cheekbones that didn't pop out too much, lips that were a perfect balance of thin and full, and a small little nose that curled ever so slightly right at the end. Now I'm a little taller than average, at around 6 '1, but Lucy was just a few inches shorter than me. Her figure was quite literally unbelievable. Slim where it mattered, and very full where you would hope. She had been my longtime crush since I had met her in middle school. She smiled at me, and for a moment I got lost in her grey-blue eyes. She began to pick up some of the notes and handed them to me to put in my bag. When we finished, she turned to our teacher and asked, "Mr. Donovan, is it okay if I help Rich get to his next class?"

Mr. Donovan, who had been at his desk looking over his laptop, I'd assume going over lesson plans, looked up, before glancing at the time and a look of surprise took over his face. "Oh geez, is that the time already? Yeah go ahead and go with him Lucy. Everyone else, let's start cleaning up okay?"

Lucy went and picked up her backpack, before walking back and joining me at the door. We left and began the journey towards my next class, which unfortunately (or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it) was nearly all the way across the campus. "Thank you for helping me."

She smiled at me again. "Of course. It's your first day back, we don't need you working too hard. Plus it's a great excuse to get out of class a little early. I hope you don't mind."

I chuckled. "It's hard to mind when I've got someone like you walking me out."

She laughed a bit too, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Well if you like, I can walk you out until you're all healed up."

"Only until I'm healed up?" I quipped back.

"Maybe a little after you heal up too. We'll see." I smiled at that, and we made small talk about what had been going on while I was out. Eventually the bell rang, and the hallway started to fill with students. I saw a few familiar faces and got some waves, and some welcome backs. When we finally made it to my class, my foot was aching, and I was not looking forward to having to make that trek every day. "Thanks again Lucy." I had turned to her outside the door.

"No problem. I'll see you later." She gave me a wave and began walking back towards her next class.

The rest of my day passed uneventfully, with all of the expected reunions and conversation. I did notice throughout the day a lot of more smiles my way from some of the girls I talked to. Now before the accident, I had been a bit on the chubbier side. But after spending some time on a smoothie only diet, as well as my mom cooking for me once I was back on solid food, I noticed that I had lost a fair amount of weight. Not an unhealthy amount, but enough for a noticeable amount of my body fat to go down. For the first time in a long time, I was pretty slim. I had to wonder if it was because of that, or just because of the circumstance that I was getting a little more attention than usual.

When it was lunchtime, I found my friends at our usual table, and they were all very happy to see me. There was Carter, my best friend since kindergarten. He was a bit on the nerdy side but he had the confidence to back it up. Dani, Carter's longtime girlfriend, was sat beside him. She was a sweetheart and when Carter introduced us to her she immediately fell in with us. Everyone treated her like a little sister (except Carter obviously) but we also knew not to get on her bad side. You ever hear the phrase "fiery Latin temper"? Yeah Dani had that.

Then there were the twins, Caity and Bella. They weren't actually twins, or sisters for that matter, but they had been friends as long as Carter and I and did practically everything together, so we started calling them the twins. We had met during middle school and bonded over a mutual liking of classic rock. I was surprised to find a girl my age who even knew about some of the bands I liked, let alone two of them. Apparently Caity's dad was pretty similar to mine in that he had indoctrinated her into the world of classic rock from a young age, and she ended up doing the same to Bella not long after they met.

As they got older, even though they were practically joined at the hip most of the time, they couldn't have become more different. Bella was a bit bookish, usually wearing her hair back in a neat ponytail, and dressing rather conservatively, usually limiting herself to an assortment of hoodies over simple tees or blouses. Bella's hair seemed to be exactly halfway between blonde and brunette, and I never knew what to actually call it. At 5'2 she was the shortest out of our bunch.

Caity on the other hand had fully embraced the rock persona. She was a full head taller than Bella, and she could always be seen wearing a band shirt and jeans, usually with a fair amount of holes in them. She would always have her nails painted some combination of colors to compliment her hair which was almost exclusively dyed a different color than her natural blonde, and that she wore in a pixie cut. Caity could be a bit daunting when you first met her, but she was the most caring person you could possibly meet, with just a bit of an extreme personality.

Lastly there was Henry. He was a bit shy, but would really open up once you got to know him. He had transferred to our school after he spent his freshman year getting relentlessly bullied. On his first day I saw him searching for a place to sit during lunch, like a lost little puppy. I knew we would have space so I invited him to sit with us and he quickly became a member of our group.

When I sat down there was a row of sarcastic jokes like, "Who the hell is this guy?" And "Look at Mr. Broken leg over here." I gave them all the finger and laughed along with them. Yeah we were the kind of friends who would talk shit to each other like that. You could say it was part of our charm. We always knew when to take it easy and draw the line, like when Henry had joined us and opened up, we were very cautious not to hurt his feelings too much. Nowadays though he could throw insults like the best of them.