As she came to a stop at the red light, she reached behind her and ran her tan fingers through the silky waves that were pulled back into a tight ponytail on the top of her head. Fixing her bangs so they framed her face, she pulled her aviators over her jade colored eyes. Stepping on the gas, she turned onto the access road to the highway. As the car continued down the road, it picked up more and more speed; there was no sense of speed. The burning fireball in the sky shining through her open windows; her already tanned skin soaking in the rays. Her thoughts were anywhere but on the road in front of her. They were focused on the road behind her, more importantly on the person she left behind.
Was she running? No... maybe.
Looking down at the iPhone thrown in her passenger seat, she wondered if he was calling. It wouldn't matter even if he was, the phone lay lifeless next to her. She continued to speak inside of her mind, hoping that the things they say about God always listening were true.; talking his ear off, as some might say. Soon enough she came to another stop light in the middle nowhere. There was nothing around her except cornfields, bean sprouts, a farm house that sat off the road about a half a mile, and a semi truck speeding towards the intersection. From red to green she started to press on the gas, moving her into the middle of the intersection.
Darkness.
I can't live without you; I can't live without you, baby. I can't live without you; I can't live without you, baby.
He paced the living room continually redialing her phone number. Why wasn't she answering? Her phone never went straight to voice mail. She always answered. Sighing, he fell onto the black sofa holding one of the white pillows in his bandaged hand. He was quick to drop the pillow when he noticed the red bleeding through the bandage. Tears filled his blue orbs once more. He couldn't believe that he had let her leave. The last words she said stung him like nothing in this world, "I hate you so much, John."
The hurt displayed on her face killed him.
The sudden blast of music filled the entire room. The phone vibrated on the black coffee table as the melody continued to play. Picking up the object, an unfamiliar number flashed across the sceen as he swiped his finger across the answer bar. "Hello?"
"Is this John Cena?"
"Yes, who is this?"
"This is St. Christopher hospital..." He didn't even hear the rest of the sentence. He instantly knew that something was wrong. Fear immediately began to set in.
"What happened?"
"Ms. Carson was in an accident on the highway with a semi."
I can't live without you; I can't live without you, baby. I can't live without you; I can't live without you, baby.
"Do you have to go?" He whined as his best friend began to zip up the black leather boots she loved. She nodded pushing her hair back from her face. "But what am I going to do without you?"
"Get a life," she giggled standing up straight. His face scrunched together at her remarks before he pulled her by her arm into his chest. Inhaling her scent, a sad smile tugged on his lips. He loved her scent. There was no other woman that smelled like her. "I'll miss you, Johnny."
"I'll miss you too, Rox."
"Be good while I'm gone, don't get into trouble, yeah?"
"Trouble? I never get into trouble." She laughed and kissed his dimpled cheek and picked up her purse from the small wooden table in the foyer. Before she could walk outside, music blasted from his phone. He hesitantly answered the phone call under her scrutinizing eyes. "Hey, can I call you back in a moment? I'm in the middle of a conversation... Yeah I promise... Okay, bye." He pushed the phone back into his pocket chewing on the inside of his cheek. Silence filled the once comfortable air between them. Now tense, she felt the jealously rising in her. Why was she jealous though? He wasn't hers. They were just best friends. She had no claim on him. But she felt like she did. For as long as she could remember, she loved him. He knew it. But dared not address the topic until she brought it up.
"I thought you ended that."
Shrugging, he dug his hands into his front pockets. "We started talking again..."
"Do you not remember what happened last time?"
"Of course I do. I'm not stupid, Rox."
"I was just checking."
Her snide remark made the fire building inside him intensify even more. "I don't want to fight about this, Roxanne. Not before you leave..."
"Then call her back and cancel your plans."
"No."
The woman on the other end of the phone call had done nothing but hurt John. Roxanne was the one there for him when he found out she had been cheating on him from the start. Roxanne was the one who was always there to help him pick up the pieces or give him someone to confide in about anything. They had been best friends for years. Whenever the other women were involved, Roxanne did her best to push her feelings for him aside. She didn't want to ruin anything special for him, as much as it hurt her to see him happy with someone else.
"You are so stupid, I swear. Don't come crying to me when it fails again, Jonathan. Because trust me, it will fail again."
"You're just jealous, Roxanne." She scoffed closing the door and stepping further back into the house.
"Jealous?"
"Yes, jealous. You're jealous because YOU weren't the one I chose. You've always had feelings for me, that's the only reason you hate her so much. You don't want to see me with someone else." She could feel her jaw becoming tighter and tighter as he continued to patronize her. Biting down on her lip, she laughed and shook her head. She wasn't about to make a comment that would only make things worse before she left. If she stayed quiet and left now, things would be cooled down by the time she returned home. Without another word, she turned and opened the door once more. "Don't you walk away from me. We aren't done with this conversation. Admit it, Rox. Admit how you have feelings for me! How you have been scared to say anything because you see me with all of these other women..." Before he could continue, both of her hands collided with his broad chest sending him stumbling back a step or two.
"Shut the hell up would you?" Roxanne hardly ever yelled. The sudden change in her voice shocked him. She held back the tears threatening to escape her jade orbs. He couldn't miss the glaze in front of him. She never cried. She never showed any sign of weakness. He knew he hit a nerve. But he wasn't sure just how it was going to turn out for him. Taking a step back, she took a deep shaking breath and turned back around. Standing in the doorway, she turned her head slightly making sure he would be able to hear her next words. "I'm done with you. I hate you. I hate you so much, John."
Slamming the door behind her, Roxanne climbed into her Range Rover and sped out of the driveway. Tears burned her eyes and a sob threatened to escape her lips. She never knew he would stoop so low.
John watched as she walked out. The sudden impact of the door causing his body to jump. After a few moments, it finally hit him. Shock turned into anger. Picking up a picture from the table, he threw it against the wall before doing the same to another. Glass shattered as the framed impacted the wall. Soon there were no more pictures within reach, he wasn't satisfied. Turning around, his fist came in contact with the large mirror that hung on the wall. Glass flew in every direction; some small, some larger. He could feel pieces stuck in his hand as he fell onto his knees in the middle of the sharp pieces. Tears burned his eyes as he realized what was happening to him.
I can't live without you; I can't live without you, baby. I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby.
John walked into the hospital, his facial expression giving away all of his emotions. The woman at the reception desk directed him where to go before turning her attention back the computer screen in front of her. The elevator ride was eerily quiet. He stepped out on the marble floor following signs for the ICU. Turning a corner, he was met by her parents and sister; as well as his brother, Matt, and Roxanne's best friend and his co-worker, Eve.
"Thank God you're here," Roxanne's little sister, Andrea, said as she hugged him tightly. He kissed the top of her head and felt the tears soaking his shirt as she tried to hide her face. "They said the driver ran the red light. It impacted the driver's side of her car."
"She's stable, for now," Matt interjected.
John looked around at the five people. The six of them were the closest people to Roxie. They were the people who she cared about the most in her life. John couldn't imagine how losing her would affect them. "Can I go in?" His voice was low, almost inaudible, as he asked permission. Matt led his brother to the room that Roxanne was being treated in.
The sight in front of him almost made John sick. This was not the beautiful woman that had left his home just two hours earlier; yet it was. Even in the position she was in, she still managed to glow. He could still see the glimpse of the angel he knew behind all of the wires and monitors. Sitting down in a chair next to the bed, he hesitantly took hold of her hand. It was colder than normal. He interlocked his fingers with hers, hoping to help warm up her hand. It felt like forever that he sat in the silence, just staring at her. It was his fault that she was there. Had they not gotten into that fight, maybe she wouldn't have been there when the truck ran the red light. She would be on her flight, safe and sound.
The more he sat there, the more he realized that what he had said applied more to him than to her. As much as it scared him to admit, he was in love with the woman in front of him. He always had been. But how do you admit that to your best friend? Even though he was 100% sure that she was just as much in love with him as he was with her, he was still afraid of the thought of rejection from her. He couldn't handle that. He was there for her through all of her break-ups, through all the rough spots, through everything; just as she was for him. It killed him whenever she was with someone else. He couldn't imagine another man touching her, kissing her, loving her. That was supposed to be his job. Standing up, he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of her lips. "I love you, Rox. Please come back to me." Kissing her forehead, he walked out of the room and collapsed into the of the chairs next to Eve and his brother.
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby. I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby.
It seemed like an eternity to John. It had been three days since the accident, every day the doctor's said that it could be any time that she would wake up. They had removed almost all of the wires from her, and she was starting to look kind of the like the Roxanne that they knew. Her skin was still pale, almost gray though. It made her body seem lifeless as she lay in the bed. John slept on the couch in her room, he refused to leave her side the entire time. The others still hadn't returned to the hospital since they had left he night before. He figured that they were trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. It had been a rough few days. He sat on the edge of her bed, interlocking their fingers as he rubbed small circles on her palm. Sleep eventually won the battle that he had been fighting; it was a struggle to stay awake when he was up almost all night worrying, wondering, and waiting for her to wake up.
It was about a hour later, he was woken up the sound of another person's voice. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw a blonde nurse standing on the opposite side of the bed. She was redressing the wrap on Roxanne's leg. It wasn't until she began to leave that he realized she wasn't the only person in the room.
"Thank you," the voice was like music to his ears. Looking next to him, he was met with the beautiful eyes of the woman he had been waiting for. He couldn't bring himself to talk as she turned to look at him, their eyes meeting for the first time since their fight. Her jade eyes flickered between his brown orbs and their hands that remained locked together on the bed. Resting his forehead against hers, he rested his other hand on the back of her neck rubbing her cheek lightly before kissing her gently on the lips. There were no words needed. She knew exactly what he was saying.
"I'm so sorry, Rox," he whispered. She shook her head, pressing her lips to his once again. He smiled for the first time in three days. "I love you. I'm sorry it took this for me to realize that." Without saying anything, she rested her head on his chest, she could feel the pain medicine beginning to settle in. There wasn't anywhere else she would rather be in that moment that wrapped in his arms. "Do you still hate me?" She giggled and shook her head.
"I love you too."
The highway won't hold you tonight. The highway don't know your life. The highway don't care if you're all alone. But I do, I do. The highway won't dry your tears. The highway don't need you here. The highway don't care if you're coming home. But I do, I do.
Woah, It's been a while since I did anything. I'm sorry about that. Things have been really crazy in my life lately. But when I heard this song by Tim McGraw ft. Taylor Swift & Keith Urban I HAD to write something up for it. Thank you Steph (Stephnexus) for helping me on this. :) But I hope that y'all enjoyed this one shot. I thought it was kind of cute. Hopefully I'll be able to do some more soon. Until then...
Love, Ashley