“Wha-“ I was about to ask but the phone hung up.
“Nico, grab your shoes, purse and jacket, we’re going to Sacramento!!!” I yelled as I stood up and grabbed my coat.
“Why?” Nico came back out of her room and looked at me from the hallway.
“Ian just hurt himself real bad so we need to go now.” I scurried to the kitchen counter to get Nico’s car keys. I heard Nicolette slide on the tile floor rushing to get her shoes and jacket. I grabbed her purse from the back of one of our kitchen chairs and threw it at her. She caught it and ran out the door, arms still outstretched to get her coat on. I snatched my phone from the table and followed her out.
We flew down the apartment building stairs and into the purple convertible. I checked the time as soon as Nico started the car; the digitalized clock read 5:20 PM, the setting sun confirmed it. Nicolette backed up into a trash can but she didn’t bother to stop to get out and pick it up. Instead, she put the car in forward and we sped out of our neighborhood.
When we got out to the highway, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket.
“Hello?” I frantically answered it.
“Hey Taybe, how are you?” Anthony seemed calm.
“Me? Um, no, how’s Ian?” Nicolette looked at me when I said his name.
“Oh Ian?” I could make out some sarcasm, “well…he kinda hasn’t woken up yet. Doctors said he hit his head pretty hard; makes sense since I saw him hit our wall with force…” we sat in silence for a minute, “I shouldn’t have let him drink those Redbulls…” I heard him whisper.
“Oh baby, I think he’ll be okay.” I tried to reassure him.
“It’s all my fault.” He said in an even softer tone.
“Don’t say that, it’s not your fault, you hear me?”
Anthony paused for a moment before responding, “I hear you.”
“What hospital are you guys at?” I suddenly asked.
“St. Rosalyn’s. Why?”
“Just in case is all…” I decided to make our visit a surprise.
“Okay.” He muttered.
“Well I’m gonna get going now, call me if anything happens.”
“Okay.” He repeated.
“I love you.”
“I love you too. Bye.” Anthony hung up.
“What happened to Ian?” I realized I hadn’t explained anything to Nico.
“I was talking to Anthony on the phone when I heard a huge thump and then Anthony said that he’d had too many energy drinks and we was bouncing off the walls and fell off a chair and hit his head. Anthony said he hasn’t exactly woken up yet…” I rubbed my head.
“Oh my God…” Nico’s pink glossy lips had opened in shock.
“Yeah, we need to hurry, Anthony’s pretty upset, and he’s blaming the whole thing on himself.” I leaned my elbow against the car door and placed my forehead in my hands.
It took longer than usual to get to Sacramento; traffic had clogged the highway, which made me feel even more terrible for not being there for Ian and Anthony when they needed me.
Finally the sign for Sacramento passed us and Nico turned onto the exit; I glanced at the clock; it read 7:45 PM. We drove passed a ton of buildings until the sign for St. Rosalyn’s Hospital appeared on my side of the road.
“Turn here.” I pointed to the parking lot and Nicolette obeyed. I could tell how worried she was by how quiet she was; it was unusual for her to be so quiet especially with me.
We found a parking spot not so close to the entrance but agreed to sprint to the front. By the time we got to the entrance, we were breathing heavily.
“Damn we need to work out more often.” I laughed.
“You’re right.” Nico chuckled as she bent over, placing her hands on her knees to take deep breaths.
After our ten second break, we made our way into the hospital.
“We need a room number for Ian Hecox.” I huffed and puffed to the receptionist at the front desk.
“May I ask why you’re here?” She said without even looking at me.
“Um, Ian is my close friend, and he hurt himself pretty bad so we’re here to visit him, can you just give us his room number please?” I tried to ask without sounding too annoyed.
“Sorry, only family members are allowed in at this time.”
“I’m Ian’s girlfriend.” Nicolette stepped up behind me.
“That’s weird, ‘cause a blonde girl here said she was his girlfriend…” the lady finally looked up at us.
“That cheating bastard.” Nico said in mono-tone, “I want to see him anyway so I can break up with him for good.”
“Okay, fine go ahead. He’s room number 213.” The lady mumbled.
“Thank you.” Nico took my hand and we walked down the hallway to the elevators.
“Wow, nice acting.” I said sarcastically.
“Whatever, she bought it now didn’t she? Besides, I’m tired of being nice, I just want to see my friend.” I nodded in agreement as the elevator doors opened.
We walked in and were joined by a woman and a little boy. We rode the elevator up to level two, but the woman and boy didn’t get out. I politely smiled at them as we got off. We turned a corner to face a long white hallway doors at both sides. I hated hospitals.
We trotted down the hallway, peering at the door numbers until we got to the 200’s.
“206, 208, 210…” I started to say to myself.
“207, 209, 211, 213!” Nicolette got my attention. The brown door was heavy as we tried to open it. But as soon as we did, we knew this was going to be pretty emotional for us.
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