Mind-Blown

"Jean?!? Jean. Oh my God. You have no idea how scared I was... You have no idea. It is so good to hear your voice, babe."

"I'm fiiiinneee," he grumbles. "Don't ever worry that much about me." I rest the phone on my chest for a moment to rub my eyes.

"Don't go fricking jumping out of cars and I won't have a reason to worry."

"I didn't jump, I slipped."

I exhale forcefully through my nose. "Do you know how awful it was to sit there for four hours, waiting for your mom to tell me if you would ever even be able to talk to me the same way again? Here's the full extent of what I knew; you were hospitalized after jumping out of a moving car. You cracked your head open, blacked out, then made no sense when you started talking again. I thought... I thought everything there was to think. I thought you had some serious, serious brain damage."

"Buuuut I don't, Marco. I don't even have a concussion. I'm fine."

"...You can't keep getting in crazy accidents like this. Jean, I'm going to have a full head of gray hair before I'm even legally an adult. All because of you." I hear him chuckle through the phone. "It's not funny! You're an idiot! Luckily for you, you're pretty cute, so accident-prone or not, you're still my idiot."

"Mmm," he muses. "I like that word, 'my.'"

"Yeah, yeah. This is going to be a doozy to explain to my mom in the morning. Hey, any chance I can drive over there and visit you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, 'course. Actually, that would pretty much be the only thing that could possibly make tomorrow not-awful."

"Alright, awesome. Jean... What really happened? Can you honestly tell me no one was drinking?"

"Yeah, not one drop, I swear, Marco. I wouldn't lie to you- I didn't drink anything but water. I was literally at the high school for the purpose of giving Connie a ride home. While I'm there, fucking Reiner Braun shows up with his new Jeep that he's way too proud of and asks me if I want a ride."

"Aaand you love your cars, so I know you wouldn't turn him down."

"Couldn't refuse. I don't know exactly what happened then because after I got knocked out, I couldn't remember a whole lot. I don't doubt I did something stupid. All I know is I got on the back, got thrown from the car, and that dick Reiner kept driving. Hasn't checked up on me since."

"Wow. So I was one hundred percent justified in being scared for your life."

"I suppose so."

"...Jean, I'm so happy you're okay... I would've..."

"Yeah. I'm sorry I make things so hard on you."

"It doesn't matter. You're okay. Listen, I'm exhausted- living in a state of constant fear for hours does that to you. I know you're okay, so I'm finally at peace and we can both get some good rest. Night, Jean."

"Night, babe. I love you."

"I love you to pieces. Just not in pieces"
-
It's an ordinary Bodt Sunday. The house rises early and heads to church. My sister takes ages to get herself ready so I don't have enough time to tell my mom the story until we are all packed in the car. "I was up until 3:30 last night," I begin. My mother shoots me a bewildered look. "My reckless-hooligan-boyfriend was in the hospital. Cracked his head open jumping off a moving car. No brain or skull damage, just a ton of stitches."

She furrows her brow. "Marco, you're kidding."

"Nope. He's alright, just really banged up and-"