Stuck On You novel Chapter 33

July passed with fireworks on the beach for the Fourth of July. August came and it was time to celebrate Hayden’s birthday. He liked to rub it in my face that he was a year older than me. We celebrated in private. We stayed in the apartment and I let him do whatever he wanted. He enjoyed that. September brought our one year anniversary. We hadn’t really planned anything in particular but I knew we would probably end up staying in.

“What do you want to do today? It’s your day,” Hayden said. I sighed and smiled.

“I don’t know. I’m perfectly fine staying here,” I said.

“Let’s go for a drive,” he suggested. “We could go to the beach,” he added. I kissed him gently.

“That sounds good,” I finally agreed. We got in our swimsuits and grabbed towels and whatever else we needed. It was tuning out to be a beautiful day for September. It was nice and warm outside with very few clouds. We rolled the windows down in his truck and blasted the music. Problem by Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea was playing. I laughed and threw my head as I yelled the lyrics. Hayden yelled them with me. A horn sounded. I looked over through the driver’s side window just in time to see the headlights from an 18-wheeler. Then everything went black.

I gasped for air as my eyes shot open. I tried to remember what happened. I coughed on the dry air and looked around. The first think I saw through the fog was Hayden’s still body. His head was against the airbag. I looked over his body to check for any injuries. My eyes watered as I saw blood pooling in the seat. The door was crushed against him. I could hear an ambulance in the distance, but it didn’t calm me down at all.

“Hayden,” I croaked. There was a stabbing pain in my side but I didn’t care. “Hayden, please wake up,” I cried. The paramedics came and got Hayden out of the car. They put him on a gurney and took him away before another paramedic came and tried to tend to me. You know how they say that things move in slow motion after a wreck? They were dead wrong. It seemed like everything around me was spinning at 90 miles per hour. Every single noise was loud and present, making my head pound. I leaned over as bile pushed its way out of my stomach. They strapped me down on a stretcher and took me to the hospital too. They tried to wheel me in but I refused. I walked through the doors just in time to see them wheeling Hayden in.

“No!” I yelled. I rushed forward only to be held back by strong arms. I crumbled as the tears streaked down my face. My knees hit the ground but I didn’t care. I was watching as they wheeled Hayden away on the gurney. The doctor who was holding me back was trying to asses my injuries but I couldn’t feel anything but the stabbing ache in my heart as it pounded furiously against my chest. The doctors practically dragged me into a room and strapped me down. I was drugged. I sobbed as the drugs took over. I had an ache in my heart and probably a bruised rib, but I was worried about Hayden. I didn’t want to sleep not knowing how Hayden was, but I didn’t have a choice.

I woke up feeling groggy. I tried to think back to what happened. I let out a shaky breath as it all came rushing back to me. The accident. Hayden. My heart started racing. I had to know if he was okay. I could hear the heart monitor speeding up. I couldn’t help it. The door to my room opened and a doctor walked in as I started hyperventilating. She tried to calm me down.

“Hayden; where’s Hayden? Is he okay? Where is he?” I asked through shallow breaths. The doctor touched my arm gently.

“Try to calm down. Take deep breaths. I really don’t want to sedate you again,” she said. I did as she asked. I tried to take deep breaths and eventually, I could. I stopped hyperventilating and looked at her.

“What’s going on?” I asked a bit calmer.

“I don’t want to tell you. I fear if I do, it will only worsen your condition,” she said hesitantly. My heart started speeding up again as I thought of the worse.

“Hayden McCormick is still in surgery. It can still go either way,” she informed me. That calmed me a little. The doctor seemed young. I couldn’t imagine any other reason she would’ve told me that but I'm glad she did. I needed some sort of reassuring that he was still alive.