~ Then ~
August 2nd
Jeremiah blamed the fluorescent lights on the reasoning behind the water in his eyes. He was upset, frustrated, any word used to describe exasperation at this point. No one will tell him anything because he wasn't related to Angelina in any way.
"Please," Jeremiah begged leaning over the emergency room front desk counter. "I just need to know if she's okay."
"I'm so sorry young man, please just take a seat and wait. We can only discuss with family members right now due to her being a juvenile."
Jeremiah's throat tightened, "she's my girlfriend, please."
The front desk receptionist sighed. "She's currently in ICU, so I won't ask again, please take a seat."
Jeremiah leaned the back of his head against the wall where he sat in the emergency room lobby. His left arm was wrapped in a sling. When he awoke again after the police officer found them in the car, he was in the emergency room getting his arm stitched and bandaged up.
Nurses were running everywhere wildly as Jeremiah laid there trying to get the attention of anyone to find out where Angelina was at and if she was okay. When they finally discharged him for his arm injury, he called his mom right away but she didn't answer. He tried Conrad next and the same thing, no answer. He didn't have Julian or Cristian Tello's number and he instantly felt ashamed. They were the closest thing to a family Angelina had and he didn't even take the time to get to know them over the summer. Now he was stuck in a situation where he couldn't get any help for Angelina.
His phone started vibrating and he answered it quickly without looking at the caller ID assuming it must be his mom. "Mom?" Jeremiah's voice cracked.
"Jere, no it's Belly," he heard her soft voice say.
"Belly?" He said, trying to resist the tears from coming down again. It felt so good to hear a familiar voice after all these excruciating hours alone. Jeremiah pulled the phone away from his face. It was Belly calling. It was also four in the morning here in California so it had to be early for Belly to be up on the East Coast.
"Susannah called my mom before she hopped on a plane to go over there. She should be arriving soon with Conrad," she paused. "Cristian and his dad will be arriving with them as well for Angelina. Mom told me to wait on calling you because she didn't know what condition you two were in but I haven't been able to sleep worrying about you two."
"How?" Jeremiah rasped. Exhaustion washed over him but a small amount of relief came as well. A straight flight over here is about six hours and he thought he wouldn't be seeing anyone until hours from now but the fact that they should be arriving anytime soon made him feel so much better.
"The police station there got in contact with Susannah after they found you and notified her of the accident and then she got in contact with Mr. Tello," she said.
"Thank you, Bells. You don't know how much I needed to hear that," Jeremiah said, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes.
"How is Angie?"
Jeremiah's body immediately tensed and his throat tightened. He didn't know. All he knew was that she was in intensive care and all he wanted to do was see her but the staff refused to let him. "Not good, Bells," he said painfully. Saying those words felt like sandpaper scraping his throat. It took him a moment to think of when was the last time he took a sip of water.
"Jeremiah!" was heard loudly and Jeremiah opened his eyes seeing his mom rushing towards him with Conrad following suit.
"Mom?" His voice cracked as his eyes started to water yet again. Jeremiah's phone slipped from his fingers as he got up and met his mom half way through the waiting room crushing his body against hers. Jeremiah wrapped his free arm that wasn't in the sling around his mom holding her in the tightest hug he's ever given her. "Mom, is it really you?" He said, his body shaking.
"Oh my sweet boy, my poor sweet sunshine," Susannah said with caution and patted the back of his head in smooth motions. "It's okay, we're all here now and everything is going to be okay and you can take the responsibility off your shoulders."
And with that, Jeremiah let his shoulders fall and he cried in his mom's arms.
~~~
A shake to his shoulders stirred Jeremiah in his sleep. "ummh," Jeremiah mumbled. His whole body felt stiff and uncomfortable.
"Jere, wake up. Lina is awake now," Conrad said, shaking his brother's shoulders again.
Jeremiah immediately sprung up and his eyes opened readjusting to the light realizing he was still in the emergency waiting room. He looked at his watch and saw it was nine a.m. He must have fallen asleep in the chair. He turned to look at Conrad. Conrad also resembled exhaustion. His older brother had bags under his red eyes. Had Conrad been crying? What did he miss?
"Have you gotten any sleep? It must be well over twelve hours for you?" Jeremiah asked him.
"My night has been rough with worry but not as bad as what you and Lina have gone through," he answered.
Jeremiah stayed silent and Conrad continued, "she got out of ICU three hours ago and woke up about an hour ago. The Tello's went in first and then I followed after. I was going to wake you but mom told me to let you sleep." He paused, "she asked about you. It was the first thing she said when she woke up. Lina was worried about you. But, Jere. She's in pretty bad shape."
A pang of guilt hit Jeremiah. This was all his fault. The car accident was his fault. If he would have just let Angelina take him to the airport and he would have gotten on that plane, none of this would have happened.
"They told Mr. Tello that Lina was in really bad condition when she got here, Jere. They were surprised she made it," Conrad said the last part in almost a whisper. "She took the impact entirely."
Jeremiah ran his right hand over his face leaning forward in his seat. She almost died because of him. If he hadn't stirred the wheel in the opposite direction Angelina was trying to, again, none of this would have happened. How could he be so stupid. His childish emotions of love almost caused the person he loved- Jeremiah gulped. He stood up silently walking away from Conrad.
"Jere? Where are you going? Aren't you going to see Lina?" Conrad called out.
He couldn't. How could he see her after he was the reason she was in that position in the first place. He needed his mom again. Frantically searching around the hospital, Jeremiah finally found his mom staring at the coffee vending machine. He walked up to her, sliding his hand within hers.
Suannah looked down at their hands and gave it a small squeeze. "You want a coffee, sweetie?" She also looked exhausted and more guilt swarmed Jeremiah for causing everyone he loved to be put in this horrific situation.
"I want to go home, mom," Jeremiah's voice cracked. It pained him to say but he knew this is what he needed to do.
"Jere, I don't understand," Susannah began.
But Jeremiah cut her off, "I don't want to be here anymore. I want us to go home, please mom. Please, I just want to get on a plane and go back home."
Susannah nodded and began typing away on her phone. Jeremiah leaned his left shoulder against the coffee vending machine and hissed. A small amount of pain hit him. He forgot he had his left arm in a sling. But, he endured it because this small amount of pain wasn't nothing in comparison to what Angelina went through.
~~~
The next hour was a blur to Jeremiah. His mom gave him instructions about the flight as she went to find Conrad, the last minute tickets she was able to get for just the both of them, the Uber ride to the airport and then boarding on the plane.
He looked down at his phone as he gulped roughly sitting beside his mom getting ready for the plane to depart. Conrad stayed behind with the Tello's and he was grateful that his older brother would be there for Angelina when she read his text. Jeremiah felt his stomach start to twist as if he was going to vomit. As much as it pained him on what he was about to do, he knew he needed too. This all got too real so fast.
Jeremiah: "Conrad told me you're awake. I am so sorry but I just couldn't see you before leaving. I am about to take off in a plane with my mom back to Boston. I think you were right, Angelina, what you said before the car accident. I need to be back home with my mom. I need time and I think some time apart would be best for us. You're going to start college and I will be finishing my senior year of college."
An instant text came in from Angelina: "Just tell what you're trying to say, Jeremiah."
Jeremiah: "We should break up."
Another text came through right after and Jeremiah was scared to see what it said. A part of him wanted Angelina to fight him on it but a bigger part of him wanted her to just ignore and forget about him.
But the text wasn't from Angelina. "A text? And you left before seeing her. You're an asshole, you know that." Cornad's text said.
And for the first time, Jeremiah agreed with his older brother's text, he indeed was an asshole.
End of chapter notes:
Hello loves! Don't hate Jeremiah 😣 we're going to have toxic Jere for a bit in the next chapters, but it's for the plot, lol.
Also! I started a Conrad fanfic. It will be enemies to lovers. So if you want to check that out, I will greatly appreciate it.
Hope you enjoyed.