Page 9 of Where the River Meets the Skye

Only seconds later his phone was buzzing again.

“Maybe you should answer it,” another student, Kevin, said from the back row.

Skye held up a finger and checked the caller ID. When he saw that it was the same unknown number both times he started to worry.

“I’m gonna step into the hall for a second,” he said. “You guys behave.”

When he got out to the hall he swiped the phone to answer it, his heart racing as he put it to his ear. “Hello?” His voice was not nearly as sturdy as he was trying to make it.

“Hello, is this Skyelar Mckenzie?” the female asked, and his heart rate picked up even more.

“Yes,” he managed. “Who’s this?”

“I’m calling from South Memorial Hospital. We have a River Dawson here and you are his emergency contact.”

“Oh, God.” His stomach roiled and his chest squeezed painfully. “What happened? Is he okay?” His hands were shaking and he felt like his knees were about to give out on him.

“I’m afraid there’s been an accident. He’s stable, and conscious. Are you able to come?” Skye’s breath left him in a relieved puff of air and he ran his fingers through his hair. Fuck. Breathe, he told himself. Breathe. He’s okay. He has to be okay.

“Yes, yes, of course,” he said, trying to stop shaking. God, he didn’t think he’d ever been more scared in his life.

“Good. Just ask for him when you get there.”

“Okay.” He hung up the phone and called the front office to explain the situation and see if someone could watch his classes for the rest of the day, and then he went back into his room with his best ‘everything’s fine’ face on for his students and told them he would be taking the rest of the day off for personal reasons.

“Is everything okay?” Gwen asked, and he heard the genuine concern in her voice.

“It will be,” he said, giving her a small smile. “I have a friend who was in an accident and I need to go see him. But yes, he’s okay.”

He saw lots of concerned looks on their faces but didn't take the time to explain anything more. Another staff member showed up shortly and Skye grabbed his jacket, keys and messenger bag, and headed out the door.

His hands were shaking as he drove to the hospital, and his heart pounded. God, River, please be okay, he pleaded.

Skye was relieved to find that River was sitting up in his bed, reclined, sipping on water when he arrived. There were no doctors or nurses in the room at the time. He looked peaked, and a little shaken, a bandage on the side of his head and some mild cuts and bruises, but he seemed okay. Skye, however, was a different story. When he thought he might have lost River in the brief second on the phone before the nurse told him he was conscious, Skye couldn’t breathe. He honestly didn’t know what he would do if something happened to his best friend.

Seeing him now, Skye just wanted to rush over and take River in his arms, but he didn't. He knocked on the open door and River’s head shot up, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed his water. He pushed his glasses up on his nose with one finger. Skye was kind of surprised the glasses had made it through the accident unscathed.

“Skye,” River said, his voice filled with surprise. “What are you doing here?”

Skye’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He walked over and set his things down on one of the chairs in the room. “You’re in the hospital. They called me. They said you had an accident.”

“Yeah, but I’m okay. You didn’t have to come. You should be at work.” He slowly reached over to set the cup of water on the tray next to his hospital bed, wincing as his face screwed up, and he rested a hand on his left side.

“Yeah, aces, I can tell,” Skye said. “How are you really? And don’t shit with me.”

River sighed. “I’m pretty sure I have some broken ribs. Or at least cracked. It hurts just to breathe. And bending or twisting is even worse. I have the mother of all headaches and my ankle is throbbing.”

“That’s all?” Skye said. “Jesus, you don’t even need to be here.” River smirked at him.

“What happened? That phone call scared the hell out of me.” For a brief moment he’d even wondered if River had tried to hurt himself, but looking at him now he was certain that wasn’t the case. The woman on the phone had just said “accident”, though. That could have meant anything, and River had been down lately. In all the time Skye had known River, his friend had never tried to hurt himself, so he knew it was unlikely, but still, not impossible, given his history. The thought had shaken him and he was still trying to calm his racing heart, and his nerves. River was here. He was safe.

River’s eyes met his. “I’m fine.” Skye’s face must have been radiating concern because River reached over and squeezed his arm. “It was scary, but it could have been a lot worse. Someone tried to change lanes and didn’t see me, so I got hit and ran into someone else, and we both swerved off the side of the road. I was unconscious when they found me, which was pretty scary because I don’t remember hitting my head or anything, but they got me to wake up pretty quickly. I think my car looks worse than I do.”

Fuck, that’s scary. Skye could have lost him. River…he… fuck. Skye managed a small smile. He didn’t want to panic and freak his friend out. He was okay. He was fine. A few cracked ribs was nothing compared to what it could have been. Jesus, why wouldn’t his heart stop racing? “You sure you’re okay?” he managed to ask, giving himself credit for how not freaked out he sounded. “I would be pretty shaken after something like that.”

“I am shaken,” River admitted. “Not sure I want to be behind the wheel of a car again any time soon.”

“Have they done imaging and all that yet? Did they check for a concussion?”

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