Here Comes Goodbye
Prologue:
~At LAX Airport~
"Hello?" I answered my phone as I was walking out of the terminal and turning to head to baggage claim.
"Hey Baby! I can't wait to see you! I'm waiting right out front!" I smile at hearing my girlfriend Lindsay's excitement.
"I'm excited to see you too. It's been too long. I'm just now getting to baggage claim, so it'll be just a few more minutes." I smile as I thought about getting to kiss her again. Seven weeks away is too long. I tighten my left hand around the small box in my jeans pocket. I have to ask her tonight. I've put it off for far too long already.
"Ok, babe, I'll be waiting! I love you! See you in a few." I snap out of my reverie at the sound of her voice.
"Ok, I'll hurry the best that I can. I love you too Linds." As I close my phone and drop it back into my pocket, the conveyor belt starts moving and I sigh as I move closer to wait for my bags.
As soon as I have all of my luggage, I head out with the rest of the guys and Tony to everyone who's waiting to take us home. I say a quick bye and wave over my shoulder as I head to the five foot six dirty blond woman leaning against the blue Dodge SRT4. Why she ever insisted on this car I'll never know. Once I'm within a few feet of her, she brings her head up and locks her light sea green eyes with mine, her smile growing significantly, mine matching it I'm sure. I drop my bags as she pushes off the car and rushes to me. I take a few more steps, opening my arms to engulf her once she's within reach. I close my arms around her and stand straight, leaving her feet dangling off the ground a few inches. I close my eyes and breathe all of her in. Her shampoo, body wash, perfume, everything that is Lindsay Richards. Hopefully to be Lindsay Timberlake one day soon. We pull back and I place her feet back on the ground.
"You always look so different." She whispers as I smile at her and she returns it, I close the distance before us and brush my lips against hers ever so softly, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist again and her arms tighten around my neck, increasing the pressure and deepening the kiss ever so slightly. I break our kiss and give her a small loving peck on the tip of her nose.
"What do you say we get going? We need to swing by Mom's before heading home." She nods softly squeezing me into a hug again and kissing my chin then my lips in chaste kisses before turning to walk to the driver's seat.
After tossing my bags into the trunk, I slide into the passenger seat as she starts the car and then pulls away from the curb and drives from the airport. Once she's on the highway and has set the cruise, I reach over and take her right hand into my left.
"So, I want to know about everything that happened while I was gone." And that's all it took to start the catching up, well the verbal catching up that is. I smile as I listen to her every story intently. All about her classes and the dog. Though not my choice of dog, he still grew on me, like she said he would. But she is in love with him and he is her baby, and totally spoiled rotten. But as her and Mom have told me, ‘better to have a spoiled pet than a spoiled kid.' And I'd have to agree. Plus pets are definitely cheaper than kids. Though I definitely can't ever see anyone else mothering my children.
I watch her as she drops my hand and rubs at her eyes, one at a time. I furrow my brow in curiosity but before I can ask, she notices my expression and answers the unasked question freely with a small shrug.
"My contacts have been bothering me a lot lately. I really need to make an appointment to see what's going on." I look her over a little more closely.
"Are you sure that it's just your contacts babe?" She glances at me briefly before turning her eyes back to the road while nodding. She takes hold of my hand again and we fall into a comfortable silence. I turn the radio up slightly and turn to look out at the scenery passing us by.
I immediately turn back to her as soon as I feel her hand tighten around mine, feeling almost involuntary. My eyes meet hers briefly before hers close and then everything that follows is nothing but a bunch of blurs.
~Hours Later, At the Hospital~
"Ugh..." I slowly start to open my eyes and try to look around to get my bearings. When I can't really focus on anything, I try to rub my eyes with my hands. That's when I notice the wires connecting me to the annoying beeping. I hear a door open and hear a few pairs of footsteps approaching me. And for the first time I notice that I'm also lying propped up in a bed. A hospital bed. Wait the hospital? Why am I here? What happened for me to be here?
"Oh, good you're awake." I look up at the person who spoke. He's wearing a white coat over plain teal scrubs. A Doctor. I nod and try to sit up more when a pair of hands reaches out to help me. I turn to the owner and see my mom sitting in the chair right next to my bed and Paul right behind her on the window ledge. I turn back to the doctor and nod when I notice just how dry and sore my throat is.
"Ok, Justin, do you remember anything that happened." I look him over again and shake my head. "Ok, would you like some water?" I try to verbally answer, but nothing comes out so I nod again. He turns to a nurse who is already heading for the door. "Ok, well you were in a car accident. Miss Richards lost control of the vehicle. After further testing," the door opens and the same nurse enters with a cup and one of those plain plastic pitchers. She pours water in the cup and hands it to me with a sad smile. What's that about? I look around the room again. Wait. Where's Lindsay? Is she ok? I look back to the doctor after I take a drink.
"Lindsay?" I say noticing just how hoarse my voice really is. "Where is she? Is she ok?" I look around the room again but no one will look me in the eye.
"Well, after some further testing, we found that Miss Richards had a cerebral aneurysm,"
"Wait," I interrupt him, "a cerebral aneurysm? You mean a brain aneurysm?"
"Yes, Justin. She had a brain aneurysm that ruptured in one of the posterior circulation arteries," I look over to my mom and she won't look at me. Squeezing her hand, I'm about to speak again when he continues and I turn my attention back to him, "causing her to slip into unconsciousness, in turn losing control of the vehicle. And from what we can gather with talking to her parents, she hadn't mentioned having any of the normal symptoms. Do you remember her mentioning any to you? Like feeling nausea maybe some vomiting, getting sudden and severe headaches, vision impairment, anything along those lines?" I meet his eyes briefly before releasing Mom's hand and twisting my hands in my lap. This doesn't feel right. Something is wrong, majorly wrong.
"Um, right before the...accident she...um...she was rubbing her eyes. But she just said that her contacts had been bothering her the last few days and that she needed to make an appointment. But that could have been nothing, right?" I meet his eyes again, this time holding his stare. He nods solemnly to me, which causes something inside me to snap. "Where is Lindsay? Can I see her? Is she alright?" I was losing my patience and his noticeable reluctance to answer my questions wasn't helping at all.
"Well, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but..." He stops and looks down at his clipboard; the one that I can only guess is holding my charts.
"But what? She's either fine or she's not!" I barely feel Mom grasp my hands and squeeze them in a feeble attempt to calm me. "Well? But what?"
He meets my gaze again and he doesn't have to say anything. I start shaking my head back and forth, repeatedly mumbling ‘no' under my breath, my eyes never wavering from his.
"I'm so sorry." And that's all it took for my whole body to just shut down.
