My Summer Love Story | ✔️

ch. 48 ✰ when the world goes black

My phone plunges to the ground, its hard metal body clattering against the hardwood floor. I feel my mind turning into complete static with no words or thoughts entering or exiting; just my mind being absolutely frozen, as if it had ceased due to absolute shock. Meanwhile, my hands start to shake from anxiety, my heart lurching to a complete halt.

The voicemails I had just heard echo into my mind, as if they were continuously haunting me. There's no way my parents got into an accident. This is just a prank. Someone is messing with me. I am in a nightmare, nothing else.

I slowly drop down to my knees to pick up my phone, my fingers shaking as I click on the number that had contacted me numerous times. Finally, I press on the record voicemail option, and my trembling voice escapes out of my dry throat.

"H-hi. This is R-Reeya Advani, daughter of Raj and H-Heena Advani. I will be t-there in two hours."

~ ~ ~

I grip the steering wheel in my hands so tightly to the point where my knuckles had turned white. Then, I quickly reverse my 2008 Honda civic out of the parking lot, the wheels squealing with angst as I shift the car into drive and zoom out of the parking garage, my mind humming with horrifying thoughts. This cannot be happening. No fucking way.

I know that I have been wanting them to get off my back and leave me the hell alone so I can live my life in peace... but I hadn't actually meant it. A huge wave of guilt rushes through my body as I can't help but feel like this is my fault. The last words I said to them were that I wanted them to die. I wanted them gone. Only because I felt like they were suffocating me.

A cool tear sifts down my cheek as I instantly pull out of the crazy New York traffic and into the highway, where dozens of cars whizz past me. I lean against the window as my right hand controls the steering wheel, and I feel my heart aching with pain as I feel the heaving sun on me.

My phone rings out beside me, and I grumble to myself as I capture it with my right hand, my left hand overtaking the steering wheel. I glance down at the caller ID and see that it reads Akash Tailor. Oh, shit.

I take a deep breath in and answer the call, jabbing the speaker button as I set my phone aside. "Hey," I clear my throat, trying to make him seem like I am completely stable and that I had not recently found out that my parents got into a severe car crash and that I am totally not worrying about whether or not they are dead or alive.

"Hey babe." Akash's deep and husky voice somehow makes my mind at ease, but I still continue to gnaw at my lip, feeling my anxiety at an all-time high. "I was wondering if you want to go on a date with me tonight? There is some sort of concert happening at the harbor, so I was hoping we can hang out there and have dinner, and maybe a little bit of sex afterwards—"

"I-I can't," I blurt out, knitting my eyebrows together in frustration as another tear escapes from my eye. "I'm busy."

"Busy?" Akash questions. "Busy doing what?"

"I'm just busy, okay!" I hiss, feeling anger bubble inside of my chest. "Can you just leave me alone? Gosh."

As soon as those words left my mouth, I felt instant regret swirl inside of my stomach. I hear awkward silence coming from the phone, and I gnaw at my lip even more to the point where I think it's going to bleed out.

Finally, I hear Akash exhaling on the phone. "Be honest with me, babe, and don't get mad. I can tell that you sound troubled, so tell me honestly... what are you doing right now?"

And that is when I started to break out into a long rant, words fleeing out of my mouth in rapid speed.

"W-when I came back to my apartment and right after I texted you I got so many voicemails and missed calls from this unknown fucking number and I was curious to what the voicemails were so I listened to all five of them and I swear I felt my heart drop to my stomach when I heard that my parents got into a car crash because they were coming back from a meeting with the attorney because they are successful lawyers with a $500,000 median salary and now they are in the ICU and barely alive and I had just now found out and now I am speeding on the highway probably about to get a fucking ticket because I am going 85 on a 55 but I could give zero fucks because my parents might die even though I told them I could care less if they did when I last talked to them which was about a week ago cause I don't know I'm just an asshole that has no filter from my mouth and I feel so guilty right now and I honestly just want to—"