A Little Bit Yours

Chapter XVIII - The Moment

Ella's POV (Point of View)

I get out of class, happily chatting with my colleague Jessica about how excited I am to see Josh later today. It's a dream come true that he's coming here and I actually get to show him the town that I've grown to love.

Caroline sent me a bunch of videos of his performance that I have watched on loop and each time I feel prouder and prouder of him. I was hoping that he would text me with the outcome of the conversation with the agent from the label, but until now I have nothing from him. Maybe the conversation hasn't finished yet? 

"Earth to Ella." Jessica says as she waves her hand in front of my face and we both giggle. "I was asking if you want to stop by our typical place to get a coffee."

"Yeah, that would be great actually." I smile. "I could use a distraction to get over my nerves."

We start walking towards the coffee shop just outside of campus where we hang out almost every day. I order a caramel latte and Jessica orders an iced coffee, the waitress smiling at us as she basically knows our orders by heart. As soon as we sit down at our table, my phone starts ringing and I see Caroline's caller ID on my screen.

"Care? Why are you the one calling me and not my hot singer of a boyfriend?" I joke with her but immediately start getting anxious when I hear Caroline sob on the other end of the line. "Caroline? What is going on? Why are you crying?"

"Ella, I'm s-so s-sorry..." Caroline barely manages to get any words out which isn't helping and my own eyes start to water. Did something happen to Josh? Is he okay? He should be on his way to the airport by now. Is he not coming anymore? Did he decide to break up and not have the courage to call me himself? I hear a deep breath being taken on the other side and siren sounds. I can feel my own heart break in my chest when I hear Caroline's next words. "Josh had an accident, Ella. We agreed to all leave together since he had to come to the airport and we told him to go ahead. It wasn't his fault, the light turned green but a drunk driver came from the right and he couldn't stop if he wanted to. We're fine because it all happened so fast, we got stuck in the same place."

Tears start streaming down my face and I gasp, completely horrified about the situation. I can't believe that this is happening. I can't believe I'm not there. My lungs seem to not want to work as it's getting harder and harder for me to breathe. Jessica takes my hand, trying to understand what is going on but I'm unable to let out any words. "Ella? Please say something."

"I-is he okay? Please tell me he's okay Caroline." I mumble the words and hold tightly onto Jessica's hand who realizes that the situation is probably about Josh. "Ella, all I can tell you is that you better get here as fast as you can. He got hit pretty bad and he's unconscious. They suspect that he has several internal bleedings and he will probably be undergoing surgeries for hours. Sam is leaving now in an ambulance with him. Harry is meeting me here and we'll go together. But you need to get here now."

"Care, I don't have a way to travel there right now, I would have to spend all my savings and I don't think it would be enough for a last minute flight." I almost yell in frustration and I feel like I want to pull my own hair out. My Josh, my better half, my everything. My head hurts from imagining the whole scene and how much he must be suffering. What if I lose him? I can't lose him. "I knew you'd say that, so I have already booked you a flight before calling you. Don't ask me how I was able to do it, but thankfully I had all your information. All you need to do is get to the airport now, the flight leaves in two hours."

I hang up the call after begging Caroline to keep me posted if she learns anything new about his condition. I cannot control myself anymore and I just break down crying and sobbing, which makes Jessica extremely worried as I haven't been able to explain to her what happened. She moves to my seat and holds me close to her, rubbing soothing circles in my back. I'm not thankful for much right now but I am thankful that I'm not alone.