Callie's POV
I sit in the ER waiting room with my family. Everyone's silent as we wait for news. All we know is that Jesus, Mariana, and Ana was in an accident. Another car ran into them when they were passing through the intersection ironically heading towards the hospital. The door separating the waiting room from the ER opens, and Stef, Lena, and Mariana walk out. We all stand up and head over to them. Everyone takes a turn hugging Mariana, and then finally words are spoken. "Are you okay?" I ask.
"Yeah, I just have some cuts and a concussion." She says solemnly.
"What about Jesus and Ana?" Brandon asks.
"Uh well, Ana's been taken to the maternity wing of the hospital, she's having minor contractions and since she was in a car accident, they're going to keep her on bed rest until she has the baby." Lena says.
"And Jesus?"
"Well he was hit with a lot of broken glass. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt. He's in surgery now." Stef answers. We all take a moment to process this new information.
"What happened to the other driver?" Jude asks.
"Uh, the other driver passed away in the crash. He was gone when the EMTs got there." Stef says. God, so much has happened today, the turn from good to bad was so quick it could've given someone whiplash. I sigh and sit back down in the chair I was in for the past few hours. I lean my forehead against my closed fist, my elbow resting on the chair's arm. Jude comes and sits next to me. I wrap my arm around his shoulder and he leans his head against my shoulder. I lean my head against his.
"What a day huh buddy?" I mumble.
"Yeah."
"You okay?" I ask.
"I'm fine. Just worried like everyone else."
"Yeah. I'm sure Jesus and Ana will both be okay."
"Yeah. Jesus is tough." Jude comments. "You talk to Tyler lately?" he asks after a moment, changing the subject.
"Not in a few days. I was going to call him this afternoon but, well things changed." I tell him.
"I like him. He's cool."
"You do?"
"Yeah. It's good for you to have a someone outside the family to talk to." He says. "He's good for you." I chuckle.
"Jude he's just a friend." I tell him.
"Okay, but you know, if he was more, it'd be okay." He says. I laugh.
"I don't think I could handle a relationship right now." I say, which is somewhat true. I'm still trying to get over Brandon. If I start dating someone it would feel almost like a rebound, and I don't feel right about that.
…
More hours passed by as we wait to hear an update on Jesus; Stef and Lena wanted Brandon to drive us home but no one wanted to leave without knowing if our brother is okay or not. Jude fell asleep in the chair about twenty minutes ago. I look over at him, making sure he's okay. After watching him sleep peacefully for a moment I get up and head over to the vending machine. I insert a couple dollars into the machine and get a bag of chips. I see Brandon leaning against a wall by himself. Munching on a few chips I walk over to him. "Hey." I say as I join him leaning on the wall.
"Hey." He says back. I offer my bag of chips to him but he declines.
"You doing okay?" I ask.
"I'm just tired and worried. I don't know what to think really." He sighs.
"Yeah, we all are probably in the same boat you're in." I say. I eat another chip. "Times like this, really makes you think." I say. He looks over at me.
"Bout what?"
"Life I guess." I state. "How easily everything can be taken away. How your life can change in a matter of seconds. How good can morph into bad and vise versa. Just a reminder to seize the day I suppose." I pause. "I'm sure Jesus will be okay. In the end everything has a way of working out." I look into my bag of chips and extract another one, placing it in my mouth.
"How can you be so optimistic when so many bad things happen? I mean look at your life for instance. You've been through so much; so much has been taken from you. What happened with Liam and Robert, and losing your mom, being in so many bad foster homes; nobody deserves any of that.
"True, I've been dealt a bad hand, but when you think about it, from all those terrible things, something good came out of them. Liam's in jail, Robert finally signed the papers…"
"Wait, he, he signed the papers?" Brandon interrupts.
"Oh, yeah. I didn't get a chance to tell you."
"Wow, that's, that's great." He stutters. "Anyway, you were saying."
"Well I was just saying that out of all the bad good still came out on top. Do I wish my mom was still alive, of course, but if she hadn't died, I would have never been put in the system, then I would never have went to juvie, meaning I would never have met this family; never would've met you." I say, giving him a small smile. He just looks at me, thinking about what I just said. I bring the corner of the bag up to my mouth and dump all the chip bits and crumbs into my mouth. Still smiling, I chew the food and walk away from him heading towards the trashcan.
Okay, so I've gotten a few suggestions on what to do Jesus wise. I'm still trying to decide. If you haven't already tell me what you think: should Jesus die or just get sent off to boarding school? Also, what do you want to see happen to Brandon: should spend the summer on tour or should he go to that music program? Thoughts please!