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Chapter 37: The Call (Lena)

RAISING  MY HEAD, I looked at Jack, "Yellow? Really?" I said while trying to keep my calm.

Jack stared at me as if I was an alien who had just descended from its motherboard in his backyard, "Hmm, yes...it's a nice tone of yellow! "He weakly argued.

I  looked down at the tile in my hand and took a deep breath, "It's a guest bathroom in 2016 Jack, not a kitchen in the 70's," I muttered.

Jack and I have been together for more years than I can count. I love him more than anything; he is part of me, but that fact doesn't stop me from sometimes wanting to kill him. Buying and remodeling a house didn't exactly ease that feeling.

"You are really censoring the yellow tiles?" He asked in disbelief.

We were in a staring contest at that point,  "I'm censoring yellow tiles so hard I may be banning yellow from life altogether."

He shook his head, "The one thing I suggest... why you even bother asking me, Lena?" He questioned rhetorically before turning around and walking across the bathroom and away from me.

I knew then I had won, once again, but I didn't want him to feel bad, so I sped my pace to reach him.

"Don't get mad..." I cooed, circling my arms around him from behind, pressing my cheek to his back, and feeling how his stiffened body slowly relaxed, "We can find an option that we both like, okay?"

He was about to reply when the chords of 'Helter Skelter' interrupted us announcing a phone call from his phone. I slowly stepped back as he pulled the device from the back pocket of his gray jeans and turned around to face me. He looked at the screen briefly and frowned.

"It's Harry," he said.

"Olivia's Harry?" I asked lowering my voice and he nodded before tapping the screen.

"Harry, mate!" He had learned that word from Harry himself and used it every chance he could. I noticed how his facial expression changed from a beam to gloomy concern.

"He wants to talk to you," he handed me his phone and shrugged.

"H! How are you?" I said trying to conceal my worry.

"Uhm, hi," his voice was quivering, and I could make he was in some sort of public place by the voices and noises in the back. His tone concerned me.

"Everything okay? How's Olivia?" The first thing that crossed my mind was that maybe they got into an argument and he was calling me to mediate. Not that he had ever done it, but I couldn't think of any other possibility by that point.

"I didn't know who to call...I'm sorry," I doubted if he was talking to himself or me, he seemed gone and I could tell he had been crying.

"H, I'm starting to get worried, please sit down, take a deep breath and tell me what's going on, yeah?" I instructed him in the most soothing voice I could manage.

My heart started pounding fast. My imagination was taking me to the most horrid places. As I tried to keep my calm, I heard him walking for a few seconds and mumbling something to another man.

Seconds later I could hear his labored breath in my ear again, "Olivia had an accident, she was with Jill," his voice faded abruptly at the same time as I gasped loudly and covered my mouth with my left hand, "I'm at Cedars-Sinai right now," Jack widened his eyes and approached me placing his hand on my shoulder and squeezing it in reassurance.

"How are they?" I inquired in desperation, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer.

"I didn't see them, I couldn't make it fast enough," he paused briefly and I sensed the regret in his words, "but Nick was with Olivia briefly, she's really wounded and broke a few ribs and her arm; apparently Jill has a few broken bones also... The doctors don't know if any organs are compromised...they are both undergoing surgery," his words came sloppily in between sobs, "I'm scared, Lena."

I wanted to know so much more but realized that he was desperate for me to be strong, he was with Liv and I needed him to be as calm as possible until I arrived, "She's strong, they both are, try to stay positive and calm, please... she needs you," I encouraged him the best I could.

"You need to come," he whispered.

"Of course, yeah, I'll get on the next plane there, but promise you'll keep me posted...I probably won't arrive until way past midnight here... around 9? Or 10 at night in LA, if I'm lucky..."

"Just come, please," his begging crushed my heart.

"Count on it Harry, I'll call you from the airport when I know more," I assured, "have you contacted Jill's family?"

It took him a few seconds to answer, he was clearly in shock, "Yeah...uh...yeah, Nick called her fiancé... he's coming too."

"Okay, I'll call him too," I tried to put my thoughts to be as efficient as I could, "I'll call you as soon as I know what time I'm arriving, and please, please call me if there's any news."

"Thanks," he whispered sincerely before hanging up.

The mere thought of spending 6 hours without knowing what was going on with my best friend felt like a nightmare. But I needed to arrive as soon as possible; she needed me but, mostly, I needed to be there for her and make sure she was alright.

All the calm I tried to keep for Harry's sake, was instantly destroyed once I hung up and came undone in a mess of tears, sobs, and whimpers. Jack held me as I rested all the weight of my body in his arms. Tears didn't allow me to put words together to answer his desperate questions.

"I need to get to L.A.," was all I could whisper in his ear before we were back in our car heading to JFK.