Meet Me At The Movies

A week before my high school graduation my girlfriend was in a car accident. She was driving. I was in the passenger seat. My girlfriend ran a red light and we were t-boned by another car, which hit the driver's side. My leg was broken. My girlfriend was in a coma. When I got home from the hospital my dad told me I had to take summer school. If I didn't pass math I would not be allowed to graduate. Even though school was over I still had to go. Every day I sat in class and listened to my math teacher explain things to me I would never understand. After class I would go and visit my girlfriend at the hospital. I would sit next to her and read passages from Michael Herr's "Dispatches." My girlfriend's grandfather like to sit in the room while I read to my girlfriend. One time he said to me, "I told her parents I would take care of her and now look what I did." The doctors watching over my girlfriend said she could be in a coma for another day, another month, another year, or another decade. When I wasn't reading to my girlfriend I was staring at her, wondering whether she knew what was going on, if she knew she was in a coma, and if she did, how she felt about it. One time I whispered in my girlfriend's ear, "Where are you and when are you coming back." I thought about my girlfriend while I was in summer school. I thought about all the times we made out in public. We used to make out everywhere, right in front of people, we didn't care, we did it at the In 'N Out, at the movies, at school, in the car, in her room, it didn't matter where we were. My dad asked me if I was going to be able to pass my math class and I said I didn't know. My dad said, "Look, I know your girlfriend is in a coma, but that doesn't mean you can just forget about everything else." I spent most of the summer at the hospital waiting for my girlfriend to wake up. I was either in summer school or I was sitting at her bedside. My girlfriend's grandfather invited me over for dinner. He told me about his time in Vietnam. He showed me pictures. I hung out in my girlfriend's room and went through her stuff. I tried on her clothes. I took some of her t-shirts home with me and wore them to summer school. I read more of "Dispatches" to my girlfriend. I fell asleep in the chair next to her hospital bed. I dreamt I was my girlfriend, walking down 50 flights of stairs, deep into the basement of an office building. I took my math test and I felt confident that I would pass. I didn't. I failed. I would not be allowed to fail again. My dad asked my what my plan was. I told him I was going to get a job. I told him I was going to become an ambulance driver. I told him I could see myself racing through the streets, lights flashing, serious business going on in the back. Until then I would wait for my girlfriend to come out of her coma. I drove to the hospital every day. When visiting hours were over I drove around the city at night. I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain by myself. I rode every single rollercoaster in the park. I raised my arms and screamed as loud as I could. The summer ended. My girlfriend woke up. She looked at me and smiled. I told her I loved her. I told her to never leave me again. They took the tubes out of her nose and mouth. She said, "It's like time stood still." We made out in the hospital.