submerged » l.h {FINISHED}

2.2 » something's wrong

Kaity and Luke had spent the rest of the afternoon on their little stretch of beach. Ashton and Blake had come down from the road to join them, playing in the water and collecting seashells together. Kaity, feeling on the top of the world, even danced with Luke around the question written in the sand.

But once the sun started to dip lower in the sky, they all decided that it would be best if they headed back to his truck. Blake and Ashton broke off from them, having parked somewhere else so they wouldn't tip Kaity off for the surprise.

They walked hand-in-hand up the slight hill to the parking lot, Luke swinging their hands back and forth as they went. It was something that Luke did quite often when they were holding hands, but Kaity didn't seem to mind.

He let go of her hand, though, once they came to his truck. He grabbed his flip-flops out of the truck bed and a fresh shirt as Kaity pulled on her cover up, wrangling it onto her body. They were both dry from playing in the sun, so they didn't have to worry about toweling off.

Once she was dressed, Kaity climbed into the passenger seat of the truck and grabbed her bag. She fished her phone out of it, checking to see if she had any messages from Neely or Michael, even Calum. She hadn't been on it all day so she didn't doubt that there would be any waiting for her.

Like she had expected, there were a few missed calls and a voicemail from Michael. Luke was already backing out of the parking space, so Kaity took it upon herself to listen to the message now rather than waiting until she got home. She pressed her phone to her ear as Michael's voicemail started.

"Kaity," his voice breaking tragically. She sucked in a breath - this is not the kind of voicemail she had been expecting from her best friend. Michael sucked in a tearful breath before continue. "I need you," he croaked and the voicemail ended abruptly.

Kaity felt her fingers loosen and the phone fell from her grasp into her lap. Luke glanced over at her, his eyes swirling pools of concern. "Is everything okay?" He asked, his voice cautious. She couldn't help but notice how his hands tightened around the steering wheel turning his knuckles ghostly white.

"I need to see Michael," Kaity said immediately. Her voice shook as much as her hands were. "Something's wrong."

She had never heard Michael sound quite like that before, though she had seen him cry plenty of times. It scared her to think about what happened and why his call ended so suddenly. Luke nodded and Kaity quickly gave him directions to Michael's apartment complex.

Luckily, they weren't too far from his place to begin with. Despite that, Kaity grabbed her phone again, dialing Michael's number quickly and pressing the phone to her ear. She listened as the rings came one after another and then the answering machine was speaking to her.

She jammed her finger against the end button and shoved her phone deep within her bag. Her leg couldn't help but jiggle out of nervousness - the anxiety was eating her alive.

"Relax, Kaity," Luke said, taking one hand off the steering wheel to place it on her vibrating knee. "I'm sure everything's going to be fine." His thumb smoothed over her skin in a soothing manner.