31
Vinny walked him to his car after training. Today had gone well, somehow. Since he’d vented to Birch, he’d come to accept his feelings and the situation he was in. He was a minor, and that was a step too far for Gabriel. That’s just how it was.
As usual, Vinny had gotten him a smoothie. This one was purple, and Will was looking forward to it. He liked the fruit ones better. “You don’t have to keep getting me these,” Will said as he accepted it.
“You’ve got a long drive home,” Vinny said. “It’s my job as captain to look after my team.”
Dune was the same in that regard. It was the reason everyone respected him. Will already felt similar feelings stirring within him toward Vinny. “I think I’m going to like being part of your team…” Will trailed off. He glanced into the parking lot. Sitting in the passenger seat of his car was Leah.
“Safe driving.” Vinny gave his goodbyes and returned to the gym.
Will approached the car, unlocking it and getting in. Leah offered him a plastic cup. The scent of coffee wafted up. “No sugar. A tiny drop of skim milk.” She kept her eyes forward.
“Thanks.” Will took the coffee but studied her. He still hadn’t answered that text of hers. But she was here. In his car. “How did you get in? I thought I’d locked it.”
Leah shrugged. “You’ve had this car a while. The lock on the passenger side doesn’t hold if you mess with the handle.”
Will’s lips pressed into a thin line. “It does that because you broke it.” He remembered that now. They’d made a dash for his car in the pouring rain. Will was already soaked from the downfall, and just to mess with Leah, he’d kept locking the door as she tried to open it.
Leah rolled her eyes. “That was your own fault.”
“Yeah. I guess it was.”
Leah was still staring at the gym. “He was cute.”
Will followed her gaze. Vinny had disappeared inside the front doors. “That’s Vinny. The captain.”
“Is he single?”
“You’re going for a sportsman now?” Will questioned.
Leah leaned her head back against the seat with a sigh. “I’m done with maths nerds.”
Will tensed. He placed the coffee cup into the holder and set the flask aside. He kept his voice as neutral as possible. “Things with Gabriel not work out?”
Leah groaned. “He’d be perfect if he wasn’t so oblivious. He’s smart, but he isn’t obnoxious about it.”
“He’s not half-bad to look at either,” Will added.
“No, that’s a bonus.” Leah shook her head. “Never mind that. I’m not talking about boys with you.”
“I can ask Vinny if he’s single for you,” Will offered with a smile. He didn’t say anything else about Gabriel. He didn’t see any reason to feel guilty toward his sister. Gabriel liked men, so even if Will had kept his distance, it’s not as if anything would have happened.
They pulled out onto the road and started the long drive home. “How have you been? Did you get your paper submitted on time?”
“Yes. I’m finally done, thank god.” Leah picked up the flask from the back and opened it up. “Mind if I taste?”
“Go ahead.” Will sipped on the coffee. “They have a fancy smoothie bar inside the door.”
“I know, I had a gawk at everything when I went inside.” Leah brought the liquid to her lips. “It tastes like it’s too healthy for me.” She screwed on the cap. “It looked like you were having fun.”
Will hadn’t noticed her presence at all. “I was. Everyone there is so good, I have to push myself the whole time to keep up.”
“Doesn’t that exhaust you?”
“It does.”
“And you enjoy that?”
Will flicked his lights on as they got out of the city. “I like being pushed. It’s like you and your papers. Most people don’t like writing essays, but you do.”
Leah nodded in his peripheral vision. “I see your point.”
Will adjusted himself to sit more forward. Dusk was his least favourite time to drive. It was too bright for his headlights to make a noticeable difference but too dark for him to see clearly. Everything was a bland grey.
“I’m not even going to ask what happened with Mom,” Leah said. She was back to staring straight ahead, not looking at Will. “She was—” her voice caught. “She was not okay when she came home after visiting you, and if I have to hear any more about Dad or you upsetting her, I’ll just get angry again.”
Will stopped leaning forward and instead sank back into his seat as he deflated. “She upset me too,” he said lowly.
“Will.” Leah’s voice was a warning.
Will bit his lip. Okay. Don’t try to talk about Mom. “Are you going to be home long?” he asked, though his real question was: Are you going to be home for Christmas?
“No,” Leah answered.
There was a knot forming in Will’s throat.
“I almost didn’t come at all, but I know Dad, and I know you,” Leah continued. “And I don’t even have to ask you to know there’s no tree put up in the house, and there's no lights or anything Christmas-related.” Her voice got thick again. “And as much as this situation sucks, I don’t want you to wake up Christmas morning with nothing there.”
Will took in a shaky breath. He’d been avoiding thinking about Christmas. He couldn’t even imagine what it would be like with only his dad. Would there be anything to cook? There wouldn’t be a proper Christmas dinner. Even if Will wanted to attempt it, he didn’t have enough money to buy the ingredients.
“I’ll be home a few days. Me and you can set up the tree like we always do.” Leah’s voice dropped low. “But I’ll be going back to the city to spend Christmas Day with Mom.”
His eyes were burning. He was such a cry-baby. He felt like he was crying most weeks now.
“Will,” Leah’s voice cracked, “don’t make that face, that’s not—”
Will lifted his hand, using his palm to wipe his eyes—
And he didn’t see the car pull out until it was too late.
Leah’s scream was drowned out by a thunderous crash. Will was flung to the side. His seatbelt jerked him to a sudden stop, but his momentum squeezed all the air of his lungs. His head crashed against the side window.
Will’s vision was a narrow tunnel when the clinking of shattered glass and screeching metal went silent. He felt the car drifting forward and felt for the handbrake to pull it up. The engine had stuttered to a stop.
Dazed, he tried to make sense of what was going on around him. He was side by side with a jeep. A few feet in front of him was a little fiesta with a crumpled hood.
“Will!” Leah’s voice was sharp.
Feeling came back to his body, and his mind moved again. He swung around to her. “ Are you okay? ”
Leah was holding the seat belt in a death grip. She was pale, and the window next to her was cracked, but she looked okay. Aside from the glass, none of the car had caved inward, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been thrown around and hurt. “Leah—”
“I’m okay,” Leah said in a pained voice. “My chest hurts from the belt, but that’s it. You?”
“I’m okay,” Will confirmed. He squeezed his fists and moved his legs, but it wasn’t until he moved his torso there was an issue. “My chest hurts as well.”
“What happened?” Leah looked outside the car.
Will looked between the two cars again. “The Ford clipped our front.” He had to pause to take in a deep breath. “And we went flying into the Jeep.” How they hadn’t ended up crumpled he didn’t know.
“Did he not see us?” Leah muttered angrily. An older man was getting slowly out of the Ford.
Will couldn’t summon any anger toward the driver. “I didn’t see him either.” He leaned his head back. It was pounding.
A woman came out of the Jeep and rushed around to Leah’s broken window. “Are you two okay?”
“We’re fine,” Leah answered.
Will unclipped his belt, releasing the pressure against his chest, and hissed at the sting. That drew the woman and Leah’s gaze straight to him.
“I’ve called an ambulance,” the woman said. “They’ll be here soon.”
*
Will and Leah were given a once-over by a nice ER doctor. Will’s chest was bruised, and he had a bad headache, but he was given a painkiller prescription and told it was okay to leave. Leah’s arm was wrapped. She’d sprained her wrist, but they said she was safe to go.
They were in a waiting room where people came and went every few minutes. Will sipped on a bottle of water a nurse had given him.
“Mom should be here soon,” Leah said.
“Dad didn’t answer his phone,” Will said back.
Will closed his eyes. He’d taken the painkillers, but they hadn’t kicked in yet. His headache was bad. Now that they’d both been told they were okay, Will was relieved, but he also still felt dazed. That accident could have been much worse. A few seconds earlier, and they would have been hit from the side. Leah would have been hit from the side. A few seconds later and they would have been in a head-on collision. They could have been seriously hurt, or worse.
Will hadn’t been paying attention. He’d been focused on himself, and not on driving.
“I’m going to call some of Dad’s friends,” Leah muttered, leaving him.
He listened to her steps take her out of the room and out the front doors. The draft of cold air that got in as the door opened made him shiver.
“Hi, Will.”
Will opened his eyes. Sarah was standing in front of him. Dressed in tracksuit bottoms and a Mayo GAA jersey that was red and green, it was like someone had plucked her straight out of volleyball training and dropped her at his feet. “Hi, Sarah.” Will perked up. If Sarah was here to see her grandmother, that meant Gabriel had to be here as well. It hadn’t occurred to Will until just now that since they’d been almost home when they crashed, the nearest hospital was the one where Gabriel’s grandmother was. “You visiting your gran?”
She nodded. “Come see her. Gran wants to meet you.”
Will’s eyes widened at her. There’s no way Gabriel talked about him to his grandmother. Right? His mind whirled, trying to figure out how she knew him.
“I told her all about you,” Sarah continued. “She knows that you’re a better teacher than Gabriel.”
“Oh.” His heart stopped beating so hard. He cast Sarah a smile. “Did you tell Gabriel that?”
Sarah nodded.
He glanced toward the front doors, but Leah was out of sight. “Lead the way.”
He sent Leah a text saying he’d be back in a few minutes and followed Sarah through the hospital. She got to a door and went barrelling in.
“I brought Will!” Sarah declared proudly, jumping onto a bed. Will hesitated, worrying too late if Gabriel would be mad that he’d invited himself along to visit their grandmother. Well, technically, Sarah had invited him, but blaming the kid wasn’t a great defence.
There were four beds in the room, but the only one occupied was the bed Sarah had jumped on. An older woman with eyes as dark as Sarah and Gabriel was looking Will over with a curious air.
Gabriel was sitting in a chair next to her bed with a book in his hands. His hair was left messy and wavy, the way it got when he air-dried it without brushing it, and he was wearing casual clothes, with a jersey that matched Sarah’s. He was still worried that Gabriel might be angry at Will for approaching him like this, outside of school.
“Will!” Gabriel leaped up from the chair and strode across the room to him. “What happened?” He cupped Will’s cheek and looked over his temple with worried eyes.
“I’m alright,” Will reassured him. “Small car accident. Nobody got hurt.”
“ You’re hurt,” Gabriel said harshly, unease visible throughout him. The grip on Will’s cheek was tense, and Will put his hand over Gabriel’s wrist. He almost sighed at the feeling of being touched so carefully, because despite the fact that Gabriel wouldn’t be in a relationship with him, he still cared.
“I’m okay,” Will said gently, giving his wrist a squeeze.
Gabriel took in a slow breath and exhaled slowly. “What happened?” he asked, his voice calmer.
Before Will could answer, Gabriel’s grandmother spoke.
“Why don’t you come sit down and tell us?” she suggested. “Don’t keep him standing by the door, Gabriel.”
Gabriel shot her an annoyed look over his shoulder, and she crossed her arms. Gabriel turned back to Will with a sigh, though he didn’t seem that annoyed when he took Will’s hand and tugged him forward. “Come on, might as well meet her.”