"No. Way" my eyes levitate towards the cobalt blue car in front of me. "It's so pretty"

Felix comes up behind me, humming as his fingers brush over the hood of the car.
"It is. Maybe I should get one of these" I turn to him and raise a brow. "Look, I know whatever job you do has good pay. No need to show it off"

He laughs "I'm not showing off. I just feel like it would be a nice addition to my ever-growing collection" I scoff, turning away from the car.
"And how big is your collection?"

He scratches his head, looking around at the neon lights of the place, cars parked everywhere.
"Last time I checked, there were about twelve cars"

My eyebrows shoot up "And how much do you earn in a year?
"Probably over 800k, sometimes more"

I whistle, leaning against the spray-painted wall.
"And the others?" He shrugs. "Same as me. Except for Zane cuz, you know, he's our boss"

I whistle again and whisper "sugar daddy." At first I think no one heard it, but then I look at Bianca, whose eyebrows have almost reached her hairline.
"Never knew you were into those things"

The coolest girl I've ever met wears a brown leather jacket with tight black jeans. Felix has a plain white T-shirt and black denim jeans. Everyone present here is dressed like they're in a cult, so I guess I don't stick out like a sore thumb.

I shrug. "I wasn't. Not until I heard about ya'll's pays"

She laughs. We take a walk around. There are so many couples and so many guys that look like they've walked out of a zombie apocalypse movie. Tough, tattoos everywhere, gold and silver chains. It's intimidating.

"Why didn't Zane come?" Bianca takes a seat on the bench. I sit next to her.
"He's a fifty-five-year-old businessman in a twenty-four-year-old's body" Felix jokes.

"Zane is twenty-four?" I raise my eyebrows. Bianca looks at me sceptically.
"Why? You thought he was eighteen?"

I shake my head. Why am I surprised? How much older did I expect him to be? I think I expected him to be a bit younger. Like, twenty-two or something. I guess three years isn't that bad.

Why the hell am I calculating our age difference?

Felix's phone rings, and he picks it up, leaning on my head like I'm a table. He's...tall. Like, 6'0. Way taller than my 5'5 height.

How tall is Zane? I reckon he's probably taller than Felix. 6'3? Is that too tall? I mean, I do have to crane my head to look him in the eyes. But usually, it's fun to get picked up by him.

Felix's face turns pale as he speaks to the person on the phone. I see a distant look growing in his eyes.

"How is he? Where the fuck are y'all? How bad is it?" He hyperventilates, running a hand down his face.

Bianca and I stand up, a weird sense of fear engulfs my heart. Bianca holds Felix's shoulder.
"What?"

his voice sounds shaky. I feel myself fall into a void of dread.
"Zane. He's gotten into an accident"

"Please tell me he's going to be okay" my voice comes out weak. Felix says that it was serious. My heart feels like it's crushed in a fist.

Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay.

"I can't" Felix tries his best to stay calm, but I know he's struggling by the way his hands shake. My eyes hurt from crying and my head feels heavy.

Please be okay.

I can't imagine life without seeing your stupid face anymore.

I bite my hand, tears overflowing from my eyes. It hurts. It hurts so fucking bad.

"Hey" he pulls me into a hug and I bury my face in his shirt, letting the tears fall freely.

"I- I can't lose him. Please" my sobs are muffled by the fabric of his shirt.

Bianca sits on the hospital chair, her head cradled in her hands. Everyone's here. Roxy, Bianca, me, Rina and a few people I don't recognise. I don't care about anything at the moment.

Please be okay.

The doctor walks out of the room, and everyone springs to their feet.
"Is he okay?"

There's a tight ball in my throat and it hurts to swallow. I can't talk without crying. Fuck, I can't even look at anyone without crying.

"Well, the accident was...quite severe" she looks at her notepad "He's suffered a lot of injuries. He's got rib and arm fractures, distal radius fractures, a whiplash. Thankfully, there is no internal bleeding."

My heart feels constricted. My entire fucking body feels like it's sinking.
"Stable?" I question finally.

She doesn't say anything. Instead, her lips press into a thin line.

I hold my head with both my hands, my feet suddenly giving out from under me. Felix manages to catch me before I fall, but I don't even attempt to move. My eyes stare blankly at the wall, my heart feeling numb.

You love him, don't you?

Fuck, I love him, don't I?

My eyes sting again, and I feel my vision get foggy. I can't lose him. I can't. I can't fucking lose him.

"Can we see him?" Bianca asks, her voice, for the first time, sounding weak.
The doctor shakes her head.
"Not before seventy-two hours"

God knows how difficult those seventy-two hours were.

I lay in bed all day, not wanting to move. I paint. Heck, I used to paint back in elementary school, and I picked up a paintbrush after so long it almost felt foreign.

Felix distracts himself with so many jobs all at once. He doesn't give himself a single break. I tell him to take it easy, but he says that Zane would've wanted him to get things done.

Rina lays in bed with me. As much as she acts like she doesn't care, a little part of hers does. I don't know if it's because Zane is important to me, or because she's fond of him herself.

I haven't heard from Bianca and Roxy ever since the doctor told us to wait seventy-two hours. I hope they're okay.

Finally, a painful eternity later, we're allowed to see him. I stay back, letting Felix and the other meet him first.

Felix steps towards the bed and takes a seat on the chair right beside it. Zane doesn't open his eyes, but he 'hmms' when Felix asks him if he's okay.

I'm nervous. I'm so nervous to meet him. He looks weak. Is he eating properly?

After about an hour later, Felix steps out.

His eyes meet mine and they hold the same glow that they always did before Zane's accident.

"Your boyfriend wants to see you" he wiggles his eyebrows. I look down at my feet.
"He's not my boyfriend" my arms tighten around me. He leans against the hospital door, looking smug as always.
"Well, by the way he's looking for you, I'd like to think otherwise"

I open the door, my heart threatening to jump out of my throat.
His eyes are closed. He looks so peaceful.

I turn to leave but immediately stop in my tracks when I hear his voice.
"Astraea"

I gulp and turn around, feeling his heavy gaze on the back of my head. When I look at him, I have the stupid need to cry. God, he's okay. Everything's okay.

He gestures me towards the seat. I do as told as slowly sit down, my eyes never leaving his for a single moment.
I clear my throat.

"So, how are you? How was the accident? Did you have a fun near-death experience? Maybe you should start driving even faster. That'd kill you much more quickly" I cross my arms, my voice becoming stronger with each word.

That stupid smirk graces his face as he hears me complain. Finally, he chuckles.
"Why? Were you worried?"

I freeze. Of fucking course I was worried, idiot. I almost died just thinking about what could've happened.

"No. You buy me Icees and Felix wouldn't agree to come with me, so I got bored"

He nods, a ghost of a smile on his face. He turns to me.
"And that's why you cried so much?" He raises a brow.

"What makes you think I cried?" I scoff confidently, my eyes landing on anything but him.

"Well, Felix did. And even if he hadn't, your eyes are puffy, Iris. Just admit that you missed me"

Felix, you son of a motherfreaking-

"I didn't sleep last night, that's why my eyes are puffy" I huff, my head held proudly. But all that confidence goes down the drain when his hand reaches out to hold mine. I still, looking at the wall in horror.

His thumb brushes over my knuckles, squeezing gently. I look down at his veiny hand. One papercut and you're dead, bro.

"When I got into the accident, you know what the last thing on my mind was?"

I raise my head and shake it. He smiles.

"You, Astraea, you"

A/N

My babies🥺🥺

You don't understand how much I love their chemistry, you just don't 🥺❤

Also, if you get the 'You, Astraea, you' reference, let's be friends pls.

Anyway, be sure to vote, comment and tell me what you think!

-Author.