Anguish roils in my stomach, clashing with every other part of me. I sit up at the edge of the bed, eyeing Sebastian cautiously as he frantically moves from one side of my room to the other. Something is terribly wrong. I can sense it in his untimed movements and the way he has yet to speak.
“Sebastian,” I say cautiously as I slowly stand. I make it over to him and stop his continuous pacing. I grab hold of his arms and look him in his eyes. They’re completely wrecked, bloodshot and watery like he was crying. “Why do you look like someone just ran over your dog?” I ask wearily.
His throat bobs with a swallow, and this time, tears do collect in his eyes. “Not my dog.”
Confusion plops in my brain like an apple in a bucket of water. I give Everleigh a look like,what the hell is going on,before saying, “Okay, do you want to tell us what happened?”
“Fuck,” he heaves out, resting his hands on his knees. “I think I’m going to be sick,” he mumbles, holding the back of his hand to his mouth. Everleigh grabs my trashcan next to my desk. She shoves it into Sebastian’s chest in time for him to spin and throw up into it. He gags and retches again, Everleigh and I at either side of him, rubbing soothing circles over his back.
He spits the remnants of saliva into the can then sighs a heavy breath. “Vi, we need to go.”
Everleigh chimes in next because we still have no idea what is happening. “Sebastian, we don’t know what’s going on. You need to tell us why you’re,” she grimaces, “vomiting and can barely get two words out.”
He turns back around and lifts his chin, his eyes filling with what look like more tears.
I’ve never seen Sebastian so worked up in my life. He’s usually the calm one of the bunch. The one who always tries to mend what’s broken. The guy who can use his charm to get thesaddest person in the room to smile or laugh. But not tonight, tonight he is…a shell of our friend.
“It wasn’t my dog that got hit by a car,” he says seriously, eyes on me. “I don’t even have a dog.”
“Okaaay,” Everleigh draws out. “Make it make sense for us, Seb. Spit out what needs to be said.”
His throat rolls again as he swallows. He squeezes his eyes shut for one brief second then drops a nuclear-sized bomb neither of us expects. “It was Colson.Colsonwas in a car accident. They, uh, they called my mom. I got off the phone with her and came right here because you need to come with me.Fuck.We need to get to the hospital, like, yesterday, Vi. But, shit, I’m having a hard time evenseeing,let alone driving.”
I stumble back a step, replaying only one of Sebastian’s sentences in my head.Colson was in a car accident.No. That can’t be right. I shake my head, but my heart withers.Is he okay?!I don’t know, but this tingly sensation moves over my body, anyway. Like it just knows the results aren’t going to be good.
My calves bump into the bed, and I lower onto the mattress, my gaze dropping to the ground as I try to make sense of those six words. Colson was in a car that was hit. Or maybe he hit another car with his. Either way, he was in an accident, and if he’s at the hospital then that can only mean one thing.
He’s not okay.
He’s hurt.
And, ohGod, I think I might need that trash can, too.
“Holy shit,” Everleigh blurts out. “Why didn’t you start with that when you nearly broke down the front door!”
“I couldn’t…” Sebastian pauses. “I couldn’t get it out. My entire fucking body is seizing up on me.”
My heart beats like a drum in my chest. I know exactly how Sebastian feels. Like nothing is touching you yet there are strapstying you down. Without looking up, I ask, “What did your mom say? Did they give details on his condition?”
“His left side was hit. He has broken bones they need to operate on to fix. That’s all I know. I’m supposed to meet her there, but fuck, I didn’t want to do it alone, and you should be there with us.”
I stand abruptly, pushing down every bit of pain and emotion that’s threatening to choke me as I stand before my friends. We need to get to the hospital pronto. Colson shouldn’t be alone for even a minute. He needs his family and friends with him.
That, and I need to see him with my own eyes. I need to see he's okay.
I remind myself that a broken bone means he’s still alive and breathing. That he might be hurt, but he’s alive. I lift my hand for Sebastian’s keys. My fingers tremble as they hover in the air, my entire hand shaking. “Which hospital?”
Sebastian drops them into my palm. Everleigh swipes them almost immediately. “Harrison General Hospital.”
“Neither one of you are driving,” she declares, wrapping her hand around mine and giving me a reassuring look. “Take a deep breath, both of you. He’s going to be okay.”
“He has to be okay, Ev. He’s basically my fucking brother,” Sebastian says in a quavering voice.
Tears prick the corner of my eyes when Sebastian’s voice breaks. My heart shreds to ribbons from his heartache alone. My legs are wobbly, half of them numb.
A tremendous amount of guilt hits me when I think back to Colson’s message from earlier. I don’t know what time his accident happened, but what if I could have stopped it? What if one reply would have derailed him off course and kept him safe?
The need to throw up hits me all over again.
