Just Breathe

Chapter 25 {Phone Call #9}

"After what?" Dr. Linda pressed, trying to help Riley continue.

Riley remained quiet and lowered her head, feeling Dr. Linda's gaze bearing down on her.

"Have you told this boy?"

"Which boy?"

Dr. Linda laughed softly and shrugged her shoulders. "Either."

Riley slowly shook her head and stared down at her sliced wrists once again.

"Maybe you should." Her gaze shot forward to see Dr. Linda smiling back at her softly. She reached behind her and pulled out a small cell phone; Riley's cell phone. Dr. Linda stood up from her chair and handed Riley her phone with that unwavering smile. "You have someone you feel comfortable talking to and it sure as hell isn't me, so, call him and talk. Stop holding things inside and start letting people in."

She stared down at the phone in complete and utter shock. She's never in her life had a therapist hand her a cell phone as a way to solve her problems but this therapist saw what none other could, she saw a teenage girl with a shattered heart who needed a friend, not a therapist.

"I'll be outside when you're finished." She smiled softly one last time before exiting Riley's hospital room and leaving her to figure out her problems for herself.

She wasn't sure she really wanted to call Jonathan at that moment or if she even should. She was horrible to him and he had a girlfriend; a real girlfriend who he talked to in person and not just by telephone. But even though he had a girlfriend, that didn't mean they were no longer friends, right? 

She found her fingers dialing his number before her head even had time to process what was happening. 

One minute she was dialing his number and the next...

"Riley?"

"Hi, Jonathan."

"H-hi...how are you?" He sounded panicked for some reason or like he was trying to keep his voice hushed and she couldn't help but wonder if maybe it was because his girlfriend was nearby.

"I'm...uh...well, I'm not so good, actually."

"Really? What's wrong?"

"We've done a lot of talking in the past few weeks, Johnathan but there's still one thing I never told you about. I told you that my dad died but...I never...I never told you how he died." Her voice cracked and she quickly covered her mouth to smother the sobs.

"Riley...I..."

"I was the one driving that night. He took me out to eat as a father-daughter thing and we went to this really fancy restaurant. I never really went to any nice restaurant before then because I was too young and mom didn't like taking kids to places like that but dad thought I was old enough so he made reservations and that night he drove me to Carson's Bistro on 4th avenue."

"That's a nice restaurant." He whispered softly into the phone, causing her to smile briefly.

"He had a few drinks and asked me to drive home...I had just gotten my permit and I hadn't driven much. We weren't on the road for maybe five minutes and it started raining." She paused again when she felt her voice cracking and forced herself to continue through the tears. "The steering wheel jerked on the wet road and I didn't know how to control it. He tried to take over but...it was too late. The car flipped and he was gone...he was just gone..." That was it, she lost it. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer and she curled herself into a ball on the chair and sobbed. 

She must have been in a whole other world because she didn't even hear the door open and it took her a moment to process who was standing beside her but then she heard it; she heard his voice through the phone and right beside her. 

Suddenly...everything clicked.