Point of Retreat (Slammed #2)(55)

“Will!” They both run toward me.

“Are you okay?” my grandmother says, brushing her fingers against the bandages on my forehead. I pull my head away from her.

“I’m fine,” I say.

She hugs me. “Have you heard anything?”

I shake my head. I’m getting really tired of this question.

“Where are the boys?”

“They’re up in Kiersten’s room,” I say.

“Kiersten? She was involved, too?”

I nod.

“Will, the nurse is asking about paperwork. They need it. Have you finished filling it out yet?” my grandfather says.

I shake my head. “I haven't started it yet. I don’t feel like doing paperwork right now.” I begin walking back to the waiting room. I need to sit down.

Gavin and Joel are seated in the waiting room again. I guess Joel is temporarily carving pumpkins regarding Eddie’s pregnancy. Gavin looks awful. I didn’t notice before, but his arm is in a sling.

“You okay?” I ask, nudging my head in the direction of the sling.

“Yeah.”

I sit down and prop my legs up on the table in front of me and lean my head against the back of the chair. My grandparent’s take the seats on the wall opposite of me. Everyone’s staring at me. I feel like they’re all waiting on me. I don’t know what they’re waiting on. Waiting for me to cry, maybe? To yell? To hit something?

“What!” I yell at all of them. My grandmother flinches. I immediately feel guilty, but I don’t apologize. I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath, trying to figure out the order of events. I remember talking to Gavin about Eddie, and I remember Gavin yelling. I even remember slamming on the brakes, but I can’t remember why. I can’t remember anything after that…up to opening my eyes in the car.

I bring my legs off the table and turn to Gavin. “What happened, Gavin? I don’t remember.”

He makes a face like he’s tired of explaining. He explains it anyway, though. “A truck crossed the median and hit their car. You slammed on your brakes, so we weren’t involved in that wreck. But when you slammed on your brakes, we were hit from behind. It knocked us into the ditch. As soon as I got out of the car, I ran to Layken’s car. I saw her get out so I thought she was okay…that’s when I went to check on Eddie.”

“So you saw her? She got out on her own? She wasn’t thrown from the car?”

He shakes his head. “No, I think she was confused and must have passed out. But I saw her walking.”

I don’t know if the fact that she got out on her own even makes a difference, but it somehow eases my mind a little. My grandfather leans forward in his chair and looks at me.

“Will. I know you don’t want to deal with it right now, but they need as much information as you can give them. They don’t even know her name. They need to know if she’s allergic to anything. Does she have insurance? If you give them her social security number, they may be able to figure a lot of this out.”

I sigh. “I don’t know. I don’t know if she has insurance. I don’t know her social. I don’t know if she’s allergic to anything. She hasn’t got anyone but me, and I don’t know a damn thing!” I lay my head in my hands, almost ashamed of the fact that Lake and I have never even discussed any of this before. Didn’t we learn anything? Didn’t I learn anything from my parent’s death? From Julia’s death? Here I am, possibly facing my past head-on again…unprepared and overwhelmed.

My grandfather walks over to me and wraps his arms around me. “I’m sorry, Will. We’ll figure it out.”

***

Another hour passes with no word. Not even about Eddie. Joel goes with my grandparents to take Kel and Caulder to the cafeteria for food. Gavin stays with me.

I guess Gavin gets tired of sitting in the chairs because he gets up and lays down in the floor. It looks like a good idea, so I do the same thing. I put my hands under my head and raise my feet up into a chair.

“I’m trying not to think about it, Will. But if the baby isn’t okay…Eddie…”

I hear the fear in his voice. He can’t even finish his sentence.

“Gavin…stop. Stop thinking about it. Let’s just think about something else for a while. We’ll drive ourselves insane if we don’t.”

“Yeah…” he says.

We’re both silent, so I know we’re both still thinking about it. I try to think about anything else.

“I kicked Reece out this morning,” I say, doing my best tear our minds away from reality.

“Why? I thought you guys were best friends,” he says. He sounds relieved to be talking about something else, too.

“We used to be. Things change. People change. People get new best friends,” I say.

“That they do.”

We’re both quiet again for a while. My mind starts drifting back to Lake, so I reel myself back in. “I punched him,” I say. “Right in the jaw. It was beautiful. I wish you could’ve seen it.”

Gavin laughs. “Good. I never have liked him.”

“I’m not so sure I did, either," I say. "It’s just one of those things where you feel obligated to the friendship, I guess.”

“Those are the worst kind,” he says.