SCARLETT
I waited, impatiently, in the car with Jeremy as our parents had yet another conversation after they’d said bye. “Seriously, we shouldn’t even get off the sofa until they’re in the car,” I said, pressing my forehead against the window.
Mum and her parents could talk solidly until the end of time. Getting together had always been a huge deal as far back as I could remember—which was actually only ten years.
“Yep,” Jeremy agreed, and I looked over at him. He didn’t even glance up from his phone, which had been glued to his hand the entire weekend. “It was really annoying when you were a whiny baby and I had to try amusing you while they were still talkin’.”
“Still texting Amie? You so lurve her.”
“How’s Noah?”
“Touché, Big Bro.” I looked back out of the window and expected him to make another comment, but he was too engrossed in reading her new text. Well, at least she was still talking to him; I hadn’t heard anything from Noah all day.
Mum and Dad finally got in the car, and Mum wound down her window, ready to talk more. “You two ready?” she asked over her shoulder.
Jeremy looked up then. “You for real? We’ve been sitting in here for fifteen bloody minutes.”
“Language, Jeremy,” Dad scolded, frowning at him in the mirror.
“Can we just go please, Jonathan?” Mum said to Dad, and waved out of the window. “See you soon. Bye! Love you!”
“You kids wanna stop off at McDonald’s for lunch?” Dad asked. “We won’t be home until after two.”
“KFC and you’ve got a deal,” Jeremy replied.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think they’re trying to make a deal, idiot.”
Mum sighed. “Jon, just stop at whichever one you see in an hour.”
This was going to be a long drive. I pressed the home button on my phone—again—to check if I’d missed a text from Noah—again. Nothing. I was being stupid. It was only one day that I hadn’t heard from him, but I was used to waking up with a text and then shooting messages back and forth all day. I loved that we could talk so much and never get tired. We never ran out of things to say, but if we weren’t talking, we’d just enjoy un-awkward silence together. We’d only been together a little over a month, but I already felt so much more for him than I had for Jack in the eight months we were going out.
Slipping my phone in my pocket, I reasoned with myself. I did not need to text him every waking minute of the day—it was nice, but I didn’t need to. We were seeing each other when I got home, so I’d message him later to confirm that we were still on and ask if he was okay.
Feeling better about my decision not to go stalker on him, I lay back against the seat and closed my eyes. I was settled, the steady hum and movement of the car threatening to send me to sleep any second. I welcomed it. Easter was amazing but exhausting.
“No!” Dad snapped, suddenly tugging on the steering wheel. The car jolted to the left. My eyes flew open, and I gasped as I was thrown against Jeremy’s side. A scream ripped its way up my throat.
“Jonathan,” Mum shouted at the same time Jeremy and Dad swore.
I heard loud horns beeping from several cars as Dad tried to steady the car. He slammed the brakes on as a minibus swerved in front of us.
I screamed again as we were hit from behind. My body flew forward before it was caught by the seat belt. The sound of crunching steel and smashing glass pierced my ears. My heart raced, and I gripped Jeremy’s hand as someone else smashed into us from the side, making our car hurtle toward the hard shoulder on the motorway—then a ditch. And trees!
Oh God. I squeezed my eyes closed and everything moved in slow motion. We hit a large tree trunk, but I was out before the car even stopped.