tw: description of injuries

"What!? Wait what? Clay, what the hell is going on there!?"

I was already taking what I felt was essential and leaving the house from how terrified and worried I was. The only thing keeping me on my feet and conscious was the realization that whatever happened, still, he was well enough to be on the phone with me.

"Please don't panic, I'm okay!" He spoke hurriedly, "I just.. ugh, I crashed the car into a fucking lamppost and drove back here so the cops wouldn't arrive."

Oh my fucking god what did I do to deserve this.

"Wha- ARE YOU OKAY!? Go to the ER, no wait, I'm coming- no, call an ambulance! OH MY FUCKING GOD!" I was practically panic-yelling at this point.

I was already stumbling out of the house and trying my best to double task and get an Uber, but everything pretty much seemed and felt like a fever dream. All I was asking for from my body was to stay calm (which as we can see wasn't achieved) or at least not go through another panic attack, cause those were happening pretty frequently recently.

The only thing keeping me sane was his voice coming through my phone.

"Liz, I swear I'm okay, it's just a little injury-"

"YOU'RE FUCKING INJURED?"

I know I probably shouldn't have yelled like that considering the fact that he wasn't doing great himself, but I completely lost my self control at that point.

"Eliza it's just a bleeding cut, calm down, please!"

And when he yelled back, that's when we came to an agreement to hang up and wait till I get there, cause let's be honest, both of us were doing more harm than good to each other by continuing this conversation.

I remember getting in the car and immediately texting Nick.

NICK CLAY CRASHED THE FKIBG CAR AND HES INJURED IM SO FUVKING SCARED WHAT SHOULD I DO OKESDEJ

...not particularly one of my proudest creations.

I also texted Clay, checking if he was still okay. He replied with a yes, calming my heartbeat just a little bit by doing so.

And the rest of the ride was a mess cause my phone died and I had to sit through it with a head full of loud thoughts, reminding me all the things that could go wrong.

I thought about texting George, but it was too late as my phone died before I could turn my thoughts into action. Maybe it's better if he doesn't know afterall. Surely he'll freak out as much as I am doing right now. And at least I have the option to just go to Clay's house and hopefully make a difference. I can imagine how much it would suck for George to hear such news and be stuck in the UK.

It was the longest and the shortest ride of my life if that even makes sense. And as I was getting closer to his house, my muscles were feeling more and more tense, almost to a point of turning into involuntary shivers.

I quickly knocked on the door, but then decided to push the handle and check if it's open by any chance. And to my surprise, it was. I hurriedly stepped inside and closed it - not forgetting to lock.

"Clay?" I called out for him, but there was no reaction at all.

However, I could hear that the water was running in the bathroom. Throwing my purse on the sofa, I ran to the direction of the sound, almost feeling like I'd forgotten the structure of his house from my raising anxiety.

I finally got to the bathroom and almost fainted right then and there. I saw him standing infront of the sink with a bloody towel in his hand. I couldn't tell the blood source until he turned around.

"Liz- oh my god, I fucking missed you."

He put the towel on the edge of the sink and came forward to hug me, but all I could focus on was the massive cut on his forehead that looked alarmingly gory and just horrifying.

"Clay your forehead-" my voice was small as I put a hand on his abdomen to stop him from coming closer, scared that he might actually have other injuries too.

"It's okay, just a small cut-"

"It's not a small cut, it's fucking bleeding!" I kept interrupting his words and stopping his actions of trying to hug me from how scared and worried I was.

"Lizzy, please. I swear I'm okay," his voice got low, "look at me. It's just a cut, we'll get it fixed, alright?"

Well, looking at him just proved my point further. The wound didn't even look like a cut, I think the skin burst open or something worse.

"We need to go to the hospital. Like right now." I quickly grabbed the towel and wiped the small blood stream that was rolling down his temple.

"Liz.."

Looking at the pair of eyes that were my only comfort in this messy situation, I got distracted by the bead of blood that I completely missed and was about to roll down from the cut. I quickly reached for it, almost momentarily pressing the fabric just below the wound, not sure if it was sanitary enough to press closer to the the teared skin itself.

He sighed, cupping my hand with his cold palm and even colder fingertips and gently pushed it down, getting rid of the towel so that my focus would be on himself, and not on the injury he had.

And right at that moment all my attempts to not give in and just jump on him got completely destroyed. Just from how close our bodies were after such a long break, from the way he was hanging his head low for me to be able to reach the cut, my heart just got completely wrenched.

I just lost myself in the moment and practically clung to his torso with so much force, that it took him a second to respond. Pressing my cheek to his chest and feeling him squeeze me with his arms, I just completely gave in to the outburst of emotions.

I started sobbing in his arms. I missed him so much that it felt like I was going insane. And seeing him like this, hurt in every way possible and just vulnerable as ever, resting his head ontop of mine and squeezing my body close to his as hard as he could - never in my life had I experienced such strong feelings.

"I'm so sorry. I fucking missed you." My voice was just pathetically small and broken.