Falling For Her

Chapter 41: Julian

Adeline's eyes open slowly, her green eyes illuminated by the morning sunlight. I tuck a strand of blonde hair away from her face.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," I whisper, kissing the tip of her nose. She blinks and furrows her eye brows. Eventually her confused expression turns into a smile as she remembers last night.

"Good morning," she says, her voice still husky from sleep.

I grin. She doesn't realize it's almost 1 in the afternoon. Adeline closes her eyes again, rolling forward onto my chest. Chuckling, I wrap my arms around her.

"It's 12 in the afternoon," I say. Adeline groans.

"Liar," her voice is muffled by my chest but I can still hear the disbelief in her voice.

I don't bother to answer. I'm exhausted too. Of course that's her fault though, she's part of the reason me I got beat up and then walked four miles.

We lay there in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's presence. My eyelids start to grow heavy and I finally let them close. Just as I do, my phone rings from the nightstand. I sigh but make no move To answer it.

"Are you going to get that?" Adeline asks. I hadn't realized she was still awake.

"Nah it's probably not important," I brush it off. The phone is on vibrate anyways.

"No answer it," Adeline commands. I sigh, reaching over her to grab my phone.

"Hello?"

"Is this Julian Butler?" A woman asks on the other line. I frown.

"Yes," I drawl loud,"who is this."

There is a slight pause before the woman answers," I'm Mrs. Fuller, Andy Steven's lawyer. I'm calling because you're one of the first on the list to call during an emergency."

I pull away from Adeline, sitting up on the edge of the bed," what happened? Is Andy ok?"

Mrs. Fuller sighs," your friends Cole and Andy were in a dangerous car crash at about five in the morning. They were driving to Andy's home when a large truck ran into the passenger side. Cole is fine but Andy was on the side of impact. He is in critical condition-"

I don't hear anything else over the roar in my ears. My heart beats a mile a minute and my breath becomes uneven. It's not true. This woman, she must be lying.

"No he's not," I mumble," no he's not!"

The second time I almost yell the words. I let my hands tangle in my hair and take a deep breath," what hospital?"

When she tells me the destination, I hang up. Without even acknowledging Adeline, I stand up and throw on my shirt. Cursing under my breath as I do so.

"Julian?" I finally turn around, grabbing my bag. Adeline looks worried. When I see the worry on her face I realized I'm practically panicking.

"Julian," Adeline repeats," what happened?"

My heart starts to break. If I say it out loud it becomes true. If I say the next five words that come out of my mouth I can't deny it.

"Andy is going to die."
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I jump out of Adeline's car before it even stops, running towards the entrance. The lady at the check in desk is startled as I practically run into the desk.

"Andy Stevens," I breath out. The lady types at her computer with slow fingers. I tap my foot, could so go any slower? Finally she looks up at me.

"Mr. Stevens is in surgery at the moment," my heart drops," your friend Cole is in the waiting room. Floor three and two doors to the right."

By the time she's done talking Adeline is by my side. She takes my hand and we walk towards the elevator.

"Andy's in surgery," I say numbly, looking around the empty elevator. Adeline looks up at me with sad eyes and I just look away, letting go of her hand and rubbing my face," what the hell happened?"

The elevator door opens and I walk out of the small space. I count two door and turn right. The waiting room is empty with the exception of Cole, and Andy's little sister. Cole has his head in his hands while Andy's sister plays on his phone. Adeline gives me a slight nudge and I take a step into the room.

"What happened?" I ask. Cole looks up. He looks horrible, with puffy red eyes and a bruise on his cheek. Other than that he seems fine. It's too bad Andy didn't share the same fate.

"Julian," Cole croaks," I-I-"

"What happened?" I ask through gritted teeth. Nobody has given me an answer. Nobody will tell me what's going on or how Andy is.

As our encounter continues Adeline walks up to Andy's sister.

"Hi I'm Adeline," she says softly.

"Hi I'm Maddie," the girl grins," do you have any food? I haven't had lunch yet. Cole isn't a very good babysitter."

Adeline chuckles," sure. Let's go down to the cafeteria. I'll get you something to eat. Do you like carrots like your brother does?"

They walk about and I face Cole. He's a mess. He looks like I feel inside. Broken.

"Julian, Andy had called me and asked if I could bring him to see Maddie," he takes a shaky breath," o-on the way I stopped at a red light. The light turned green so I drove. And so did the truck that was headed straight towards us. It rammed into the passenger side and I lost control of the car and it was over. I passed out for about a minuet. When I woke up there were sirens and I was on a stretcher."

I collapse in the chair next to me," are you ok?" I ask.

"I'm fine," he shakes his head.

"Good," I lean my elbows on my knees and thread my fingers.

Cole stands up," no!" He finally breaks down," it's not good! I'm standing here right now while Andy lies on an operation table with a collapsed lung, broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and who knows what else? He's laying on an operation table because I wasn't paying enough attention. He's on that table because of me. My best friend is going to die and it's all my fault."

Cole's shoulders sag and they start to shake. Something claws at my chest as I stand up, straightening his shoulders so he'll look at me.

"Cole, it's not your fault," I say. Cole's eyes look dead inside and breaks down, practically falling on me. I hug him back.

"It should have been me," he sobs," Andy is too good for this. God why wouldn't it have been me?"

I squeeze my eyes shut as they start to burn. But nothing can stop the burning tears that stream down my own cheeks. The pain in my chest is like nothing I've ever felt. It's as though my heart is getting ripped in half cell by cell. My hands shake and my head feels fuzzy.

"It's should have been me!"