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"did they say what happened to him?" mia asks as follows behind sean rushing to catch the train.
"nat said they were crossing the street when some jackass hit julian with his car then just took off,"
"oh my god," mia covers her mouth in shock. "how bad are his injuries?"
"his ribs were fractured and he stopped breathing for a minute," sean sighs. "god, this is all my fault. we should have never left him."
"don't blame yourself for this sean," mia takes his hand in hers. "you wouldn't have known this was going to happen."
he takes his hand away from hers and runs it through his hair. he turns away to face the window, and his thoughts are racing across his mind.
"am i just cursed with this bad streak of car crashes?" he mutters quietly.
"what do you mean?"
"my mom died in a car crash, and now julian nearly just died from one," he balls up his fists.
"...we met from a crash,"
he doesn't say anything in response. for the rest of the way over to the hospital, sean and mia are quiet.
they reach the entrance, and sean rushes over to the desk. "i'm here to see julian deguzman," he says as he tries to catch his breath.
the woman tells them to go to room F135, and they all quickly follow. sean pushes the door open to find nat sitting on the edge of the bed, talking to julian.
"fuck," sean instantly says as he sees his best friend. "what happened to you?"
julian tries to laugh it off to lessen sean's worries, but it only ends up in him coughing up. he brings his hand to his chest to ease the pain, and this makes sean only more mad at himself.
"i'm fine, sean," julian attempts to assure sean even though it was pretty clear he wasn't. "it's just a broken rib. the doctor said they usually heal on their own within six weeks."
"what about your leg?" sean points to the cast wrapped around jules's left leg.
"i also broke that..." julian's voice trails off.
"you could've died julian," sean replies seriously.
"but i didn't," julian responds. "i'm fine now sean, seriously."
"the nurse said jules will be able to go home in two days," nat buts in, trying to take away the tension that had quickly filled the room. she then turns to mia and suggests, "let's leave them to talk. let's go grab some coffee at their cafeteria, yeah?"
mia quickly nods and follows nat out.
"that was something else," nat says as soon as they close the door.
"he's just blaming himself for what happened," mia sighs as she trudges herself to the cafeteria.
"for the two years that i've known them, sean's always been so protective of jules," nat adds. "it's like julian is his responsibility."
"he doesn't want to lose him," mia frowns. "i don't either, but i feel like he's blaming me for what happened."
"how could you have known that this was going to happen? it's not anyone's fault," nat places her hand on mia's shoulder. "well, except for the ass that drove off after hitting a pedestrian."
"were you able to catch the license plate or a glimpse of what the driver looked like?" mia asks hopeful.
nat unfortunately shakes her head, "all i saw was a black car, and i think it was a woman. it was too dark to see anything."
-
a couple of hours pass by, and mia makes her way back to the hospital room. nat already left, explaining she had school the next day.
before she can reach over to twist the knob, the door opens and sean looks at mia for a millisecond before averting his gaze the other way. he leaves without saying a word.
"hey jules," mia says with a half hearted smile as she goes to hug julian. "i'm sorry for happened."
"it could've been a lot worse," julian tries to cheer mia up.
"it shouldn't have happened at all," mia sighs as she lays her head down on the side of the bed.
"where did you and sean go after nat and i went to buy tickets?" julian asks. "sean refused to tell me, said it wasn't important."
"he said that?" she asks, a slight sting in her heart.
julian nods.
"if that's what he said," she starts. "i guess it wasn't."
"okay," he backs off. julian's learned by now to not pry into sean's very closed off persona. if he wanted to tell him, he would've.
julian's eyes flicker to mia's countdown then to his, and his eyes instantly widen. before he can say anything, the door opens again to reveal sean carrying a bowl of soup.
"i should get going," mia stands up and walks to exit while sean goes to sit by jules. she turns around and leans by the door, "do you need anything else?"
"i think i'm gonna spend the night here," sean speaks up, but he doesn't look at mia. "just until jules's parents come in from jersey, so could you bring me a set of clothes tomorrow?"
mia nods with the forlorn expression on her face. "see you tomorrow."
the door shuts, and sean shifts his attention to julian.
julian opens his mouth to say something, his hands shaking at the same time. before he can get the words out, sean curses.
"i forgot to get a spoon," he sighs, feeling as though not a single thing could go right at that moment.
"s-sean-"
"i'll be right back," sean says and leaves the room.
julian watches the door shut behind him, and his nerves kick in. he slowly raises his right arm, despite the pain, and stares at his wrist. he rubs his arm a couple of times, refusing to believe what he was seeing.
"this can't be real," he murmurs. "it's just not possible."
the door opens again, and julian pulls the covers over his arms.
"sean," julian's voice shakes.
"yeah?" sean says as he sets up the food on a tray.
"sean," julian repeats.
sean finally looks at him, "yeah?"
"my countdown disappeared when the car hit me,"
"what?" sean's expression falls as he stares at his best friend.
"it was just gone, but then it reappeared again," he says. "and it recalculated."
"oh," sean relaxes. "you scared me for a second."
"no sean," julian stares at the wall. "it didn't go back to five years."
