Bella and the Happily Ever After Page 2

  Speaking of meeting her mom, Bella tells me to pick her up in her driveway today. She hasn’t had much time to tell her mom about us, and I get it. We haven’t even been an official couple for twenty-four hours yet. Whenever I meet her, it needs to be a pre-planned event so we can make sure she gets the best possible impression of me. Last night I barely slept because I spent the entire time worrying that her parents will trust Brent's hatred of me and force her to break up with me. I shudder at the memory as I drive toward her house.

  Roca Springs is a small Texas town, the kind of small town where everyone knows everyone. My mom moved out here to get away from the big city. Now that I'm here, one of my favorite things about it is the lack of traffic. There are only a few stoplights in town, because most intersections just have a stop sign.

  I'm cruising toward Bella’s house, the radio cranked up, when I hear a loud sound of tires screeching. Then, up ahead, I see a truck get T-boned by a red Camaro. The truck was one car ahead of me, and our road has the green light. This idiot in the Camaro clearly ran his light. Smoke and the smell of burned rubber rises from the car crash in front of me. I slam on my brakes and pull over on the side of the road and call 911.

  I report the accident to the dispatcher, who asks if there are any injuries. “Probably,” I say, jogging up to the scene. A guy stumbles out of his Camaro, looking bewildered. As if he had no idea this kind of thing would happen if he ran a red light. What a moron. He could have killed himself.

  With the phone still pressed to my ear, I jog over to the truck that was smacked right on the driver’s side. The windows are shattered, and the door is so caved in that there’s no way to open it, even if the Camaro wasn’t blocking it. I go to the passenger side and tug on the door. Luckily it opens.

  “There’s just one passenger in here,” I tell the dispatcher.

  “Emergency units are on the way,” she says. I hang up the phone and shove it in my pocket.

  “Hey, buddy, are you okay?” I call out to the driver, whose head is leaning against the steering wheel. Oh God, I hope he’s not dead.

  Then he moves. He’s slow and unsteady as he coughs. He cries out in pain and reaches for his leg. “Help,” he calls out, his voice strained.

  “It’s okay,” I tell him as I lean into the passenger side of his truck. “An ambulance is on the way.”

  He looks over at me. Blood pours from his forehead and his jaw. His eyes are wide and fluttery, and his expression looks like he probably suffered a concussion. “Help,” he stutters out. “My...leg...oh god the pain...holy--” He inhales a sharp breath through his teeth. “Oh god, it hurts.”

  I look down and see that his left leg is crushed between the truck and the door that was caved in from the impact. Even from here, there’s a bend in his leg that shouldn’t be there. My stomach twists anxiously as my mind races for all the knowledge I know about first aid. Should I help him? Should I leave him in case moving him causes more injury? I don’t know. But I should definitely keep him talking so he doesn’t lose consciousness.

  “Hey man, look at me,” I call out. “It’s going to be okay.”

  He groans in pain. Blood drips from his head onto the leather seats.

  “What’s your name?” I say, just for something to keep him talking.

  He looks over at me now, really looks over. I see him head on, and our eyes meet, and a curse word escapes my lips. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before, but in the panic of the moment, I had only cared about calling 911 and making sure he was okay. My brain didn’t even register that I know this guy, not until now.

  And the look in his eyes says he notices it too.

  “It’s going to be okay,” I say again. In the distance, the wail of an ambulance siren is a welcome sound. “They’re almost here.”

  I take a step back.

  “Wait,” Brent calls out. His expression is twisted in pain, his chest heaving with each breath. There’s a desperation in his eyes, one I think anyone would have if they were trapped in a car and confused and probably suffering from a concussion. This is the first time he’s looked at me without venom in his gaze. Instead, his eyes are pleading with me. “Don’t leave.”

  “I won’t,” I promise. Then I wait with Bella’s brother until the ambulance arrives.

  3

  Bella

  I shiver as a burst of chilly wind slams into me. This is a fairly cold Valentine’s Day for Texas, and here I am sitting outside in it, freezing my butt off while I wait on my brand-new boyfriend who is running late. Warning signs are flashing in my mind, bright and bold and terrifying. I keep thinking, if Liam is my boyfriend now, why is he late picking me up? According to the text on my phone, he said he was on his way over forty-five minutes ago. It only takes about ten minutes to get from his house to mine.

  I'm starting to feel a little stood up. Panic threatens to take over my thoughts, as I sit here cold and bored and alone, wondering if maybe this whole thing was a joke. If Liam was just going to make me think he wanted to date me and then he’d show up with his friends and yell, “sike!” and they’d all laugh at me.

  Deep down, I know this can’t possibly be true. Liam is a great guy. He cares about me.

  So why is he late?

  I stare out at the setting sun as it dips below my neighbor’s house across the street. My phone rings, and I jump. I’m so glad Liam’s name is on the caller ID or I might scream. The last thing I want to do is get a call from some random person.

  “Hello?” I answer, trying not to sound accusatory in my voice, but I am pretty upset.

  “Bella, you and your mom need to get to the hospital,” he says. His voice is strained, like he’s been running a marathon or something.

  I stand up on the porch. “What? Why?”

  “It’s Brent,” he says. I hear his truck door close, and the sounds of his keys jamming into the ignition. “He’s been in a wreck.”

  “What?” I can barely understand the words I'm hearing. Why on earth would Liam be calling me about my brother, who he tries to stay very far away from?

  Then I hear it. An ambulance siren pierces through the phone, and reality jolts into me. Liam’s words all make sense now. Brent was in a wreck.

  “Is he okay?” I ask as I turn and practically crash through my front door. “What happened?”

  “He’s okay,” Liam says quickly, his voice calmer. He must hear the panic in my voice and is trying to calm me down. “He’ll be okay. I was driving to your house and I saw a car run a red light and hit him. He’s got a broken leg and he’s a little out of it, but he’s okay. They’re taking him to Clear Springs Hospital right now.”

  “Oh my God.” My eyes blur slightly, and I blink to make them go right again. My heart is pounding. The thought of something bad happening to my brother is making me all flustered. I look around the room, realizing Mom isn’t in here. “Mom?” I call out.

  “I’m following the ambulance,” Liam says. “Just drive safely and get here as soon as you can. I'll be there waiting on you.”

  “Okay,” I say, and I hang up the phone.

  Mom is in her bedroom, wearing a robe, with a towel wrapped around her wet hair. Her eyes widen when she sees me. “Get dressed! You have to get dressed. We have to go!”

  I rush to her closet and start yanking out shirts and tossing them at her.

  “Holy crap, Bella,” Mom says. “Whoa, slow down.” She grabs my arms. “What is going on?”

  I take a deep breath. It's just a broken leg and some mild confusion, I remind myself. It’s not like he’s about to drop dead or anything. “Brent was just in a car wreck. I guess he was going to come home for the weekend or something—he has a broken leg and he’s being taken to the hospital right now.”

  Mom doesn’t say anything; she just jumps into action. She takes some clothes and goes into her bathroom, emerging a few seconds later dressed in yoga pants and a Roca Springs PTA shirt. She throws her wet hair into a bun on top of her head and slips her feet
into some flip flops.

  “I’ll drive,” she says.

  We park at the emergency room, right next to Liam’s truck. I’m happy to see that only one other person is sitting in here waiting to be seen, so hopefully Brent will get care immediately. The thought of my brother laying here in pain does not sit well with me.

  Mom rushes to the counter to talk to the nurses. I spot Liam sitting in a chair and I walk over to him. He stands up and I crash into him, wrapping my arms around him instinctively. He holds me a long time.

  “I thought you were going to stand me up for dinner,” I say, finally pulling away once the nervous pain in my chest lightens a bit.

  He gives me a slow, soft grin. “Never. Everything was just so urgent that I wasn’t able to call you right away. I waited with Brent until the paramedics arrived. I couldn’t do anything but stand there because he was crushed against the truck door.”

  “Oh my God,” my mom says.

  I jump, not realizing she’s here, standing right next to us. How long has she been here? Did she see me hug him? Oh crap. Oh, crap, oh crap.

  “So, someone hit him?” Mom asks.

  Liam nods. “A Camaro. Some young guy was driving, and he completely ran the red light. I gave a witness statement to the police at the scene. That guy wasn’t injured but the police detained him. I hope he gets his license taken away.”

  “I hope so, too,” Mom says. She glances toward the double doors that lead into the hospital. “The nurses told me a doctor will come talk with me soon. You said Brent is stable, right?”

  Liam nods. “He’s okay. They rushed him back as soon as the ambulance arrived.”

  “Good,” Mom says. She glances at me. “Do you want to introduce me to your friend?”

  I feel my cheeks redden. “This is, um, Liam.”

  He holds out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  “You too,” Mom says, smiling at him. “I’m so glad you were there. Who knows how long they would have taken to call us.”

  I know this isn’t the right time, not by a long shot, but I'm kind of tired of keeping things from my mom. I kept the entire summer fling away from everyone, only telling Kylie once it was over. I’m sick of living my life in the shadows, having this amazing relationship and not telling anyone about it.

  “Liam is my boyfriend,” I blurt out.

  “Well, why didn’t you say so earlier?” Mom says. She looks at Liam now, seemingly impressed with what she sees. “He’s cute, that’s for sure.”

  “It’s still new,” I say, looking at Liam. He looks just as uncomfortable as I feel. “He... He just asked me to be his girlfriend earlier today.”

  “On Valentine’s Day,” Mom says, grinning. “How sweet. Well, it’s nice to meet you, Liam.”

  I am freaked out and awkward but also relieved to finally have this news out in the open. The double doors swing outward and a doctor dressed in light green scrubs looks around, eyes landing on my mom. “Brent Castro’s family?”

  “That’s us,” Mom says, rushing over to him.

  The doctor tells us that Liam suffered a pretty severe leg break, and that they are taking him into surgery now. He'll need pins and screws to secure his leg back together, but he’ll have a full recovery. He also has a pretty severe concussion that will probably cause him pain for a month or two, and he had to get stitches on his forehead and arm. But overall, he’s okay.

  We hang out in the emergency room waiting area for two hours while Brent is in surgery. I tell Liam he’s free to go home, but he insists on staying with me. He goes to the hospital’s cafeteria and brings back dinner for the three of us, and it all goes pretty well as far as waiting in a hospital waiting room goes.

  Finally, my brother is out of surgery and awake from the anesthesia. Mom and I go back there to see him. He’s a little loopy looking, with bandages over his fresh stitches, but overall, he’s doing pretty well. He could have died in a wreck like that.

  “Heyyyyy,” he says, his head lopping to the side when we walk in his room. “I feel funny.”

  “Well you look awful,” I say with a smile.

  Mom runs her hand gingerly over his cheek. He might be in his early twenties, but he’s still her child. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she says.

  “My workouts are going to be screwed,” he says with a frown as he looks down at his leg. “Hopefully I can still do upper body while I'm waiting on this thing to heal.”

  “Just focus on getting better,” Mom says. “Workouts can wait until later.”

  Brent scoffs. My brother is basically a muscle man. He could pose for a protein shake advertisement if he wanted. All he cares about is college work and working out at the gym. As far as I know, he hasn’t really dated since Samantha broke his heart all those years ago.

  “Do you remember anything about the wreck?” I ask him.

  He studies me for a while, his thoughts taking a long time to form in his mind. He’s on a ton of painkillers right now, so I wonder how much he’ll remember once they wear off. Finally, Brent says, “I remember your boy was there.”

  Chills prickle over my skin. Here it comes. He’s going to tell Mom how much he hates Liam, and my very first day of being his official girlfriend will be tainted with another family argument.

  “Yeah,” I say, my voice weak. “He’s in the waiting room right now.”

  Brent takes a slow breath, his eyelids fluttering with the last remnants of the anesthesia. “I guess he’s not so bad,” my brother murmurs before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

  “We should let him rest,” Mom says, patting my arm as she stands up. I walk back to the waiting room in a daze. My brother just said the nicest thing he’s ever said about Liam. He’ll probably completely change his mind once we’re back home and the pain meds have worn off, but that doesn’t change the fact that he said it this time.

  Today has truly been a surprising day. I don’t even want to know what tomorrow will bring.

  4

  Liam

  I spend the next two days fixing up my new bedroom at home. I ended up going bed shopping with my mom instead of Bella because she was with her brother in the hospital. I got a simple platform bed and a comfortable mattress to go with it. I let my mom pick out the sheets, and she chose gray and black sheets with a matching comforter. So long as it’s soft, I don’t really care what it looks like. I also got a dresser and a TV stand. I brought my TV from my old room at my dad’s, as well as most of my clothes and stuff that I’ll need while I’m living here.

  I was a little worried that my dad might get offended at me moving out of his place, but if anything, he seemed relieved about it. I think that’s because my dad dates a lot of women and never wanted to bring them home if I was going to be there. Now he’s free to do as he pleases, and I’m getting to live the family life I’ve grown to love.

  On Sunday morning, after two nights in the hospital, Bella calls to tell me that Brent is going home. They had kept him for observation with his head, but he’s going to be okay. She says he has a migraine but he’s in decent spirits, and is only complaining about how he can’t hit the gym or ride his dirt bike for a while.

  I’ve only talked to Bella on the phone in the last twenty four hours because it felt weird if I were to hang around the hospital now that Brent had a room. I don’t exactly want to see him right now because I know what once I do, that happy bubble of new relationship joy will burst like a balloon with a needle poked at it.

  This isn’t exactly how I pictured my first few days of dating Bella, but I guess life loves throwing curveballs at us. A year ago, all I cared about was motocross. Now, all I care about is Bella.

  I’m hanging out in the living room while my brothers play Xbox later in the day. I’m on my laptop, trying to find local places that are hiring for part time jobs. The bad thing about small towns like Roca Springs is that most of the local businesses don’t maintain decent websites, and they certainly don’t post job openings to job websites. I�
�ll have to go around in person to see if anyone is hiring.

  When Bella calls, I can’t help but smile before I answer the phone. I can’t wait until her life gets normal again so we can start spending every second together. I still owe her that dinner date we didn’t get to go on.

  “Hey,” I say, answering the phone. I stop myself before adding the word beautiful just because my brothers are within earshot and they will absolutely start making kissing sounds if they know I’m talking to Bella. “How’s it going?”

  “Brent is home and he’s doing okay. He’s refusing to use the wheelchair my mom borrowed from our neighbor. He wants to just hop around on one foot like an idiot. I told him he’s going to hurt himself even more like that.”

  I chuckle. “Sounds like something I would do. It sucks not being mobile.”

  Bella sighs into the phone. “I miss you.”

  I glance at my brothers, who seem pretty occupied by the game. “I miss you more,” I say softly.

  “Do you want to come over?”

  “Why don’t you come over here?” I ask.

  “I would, but I want to be here in case my mom needs help with helping Brent. Pleaseee come over.” I can tell she’s using that cute pleading voice of hers to win me over.

  “What if it’s… awkward?” I say.

  “Who cares? It’s not like Brent can get up and try to fight you right now,” she says with a laugh. “He’s going to have to get over it eventually. We’re dating and there’s nothing he can do about it.”

  I really, really, don’t want to see her brother right now. “There might not be anything he can do about it, but there’s definitely things he can say about it.”

  “Please?” she says. And just like that, I’m agreeing. I can’t say no to her, especially not when she uses that voice.