I woke up to the smell of pancakes, syrup and bacon. What is going on? As I stirred and opened my eyes, I saw that I was not in the hospital, but in Ashley’s room. She was not in the bed with me, but I could hear her downstairs cooking.

I slowly got out of bed and thought what if that was a dream? What if prom hasn’t happened yet? Confused and sleepy, I got out of her bed slowly and walked downstairs.

And there was Ashley. Wearing a “kiss the cook” apron over her wifebeater and plaid pajama shorts. She looked adorable. She heard me coming into the kitchen and gave me a kiss.

“Good morning Spence!”

“Um…good morning” I said, sitting down at her kitchen table, confused as hell.

“I made you your favorite ‘after a long night of sex special’! you know you can’t resist!” she said waving a steaming pan of bacon in front of my nose.

“Mmm smells good ash. But what’s going on?”

“um nothing Spence. I make breakfast for you all the time.”

“but I thought you were with aiden. After all, you kissed him at the hospital.”

“Spence, babe, what the hell are you talking about?” she said concerned as she brought pancakes and bacon to the table.

“Well prom was last night and you danced with aiden and he said he loved you. Then there was a shooting. I got grazed by a bullet. And you were in aiden’s hospital room, holding his hand and you kissed him”

“Spencer, prom hasn’t even happened yet. It’s not until next Saturday. See look” she grabbed the newspaper laying on the counter and showed me the date. Sure enough, prom hadn’t happened yet.

“Wow…um it seemed so real. It must have been a dream.”

“aw baby. That’s a horrible dream. I would never choose aiden over you. And I would never dance with him either. He sucks! And your quite a hot dancer!” she said, giving me a syrupy kiss on my cheek. “Now dig into your pancakes Spence!”

Right when she said that I heard my phone alarm going off. Beep-beep. Beep-beep.

All of the sudden, Ashley and the pancakes faded away. And once again I woke up in a hospital room. Only this time it was empty.

“ Fuck!” I screamed in fury. I started to cry. I would never have her back. No more breakfast with her. No more long sexy nights. No more us. I felt as if my heart would never be cured.

I sobbed so hard I didn’t hear my dad walk in the door.

“Spencer! What’s wrong?” he said, holding me.

“Sh-she’s gone dad. She left me for…for him.” I cried out.

“Shh…Shhh…I will protect you spencer. It’s going to be ok”.

He sat there with me until I stopped crying, which seemed like hours have passed by.

“I actually came by with your clothes. The doctors said that your free to go.” He said. “I’ll give you some privacy to change.”

When he left the room I got out of the bed and walked over to the mirror. I looked like hell. Makeup was streamed down my face and my eyes were all puffy from crying. I wiped the makeup from my face and put my hair in a ponytail. I then changed out of my hospital robe into a sweatshirt, jeans, and flip-flops. While I was changing I noticed I was still wearing the bracelet Ashley gave me. I ripped it off furiously, and threw it on the tile floor. Just as it smashed to pieces, just as my heart had done earlier……

Ashley walked through the door.