“Hello?” He answered. There was loud talking and laughing in the background, so I knew that he was already at the stadium where the graduation was to be held. I choked back my tears before I spoke.
“I just wanted to congratulate you and tell you that I miss you.”
He was silent for a second. “I miss you too and if you asked me too I’d leave right now to be with you. Just say the word.”
I laughed. “AJ, I’m not about to make you miss one of the biggest moments of your life. Have fun and I’ll see you later.”
“I’ll try. See you in a little while.”
After we hung up, my phone rang almost instantly.
“Hey, Angel!” I answered.
“So, you all seriously waited three days after you almost lose your life in an accident to call and tell somebody? Are you alright? Your mom JUST called my mom like a few minutes ago to tell her what happened.”
“Yeah, she’s been really busy here with me. But I’m fine, nothing too serious.”
She sighed in irritation. “I’ve never heard of anyone being hospitalized for anything that wasn’t serious. Tell me the truth.”
“Concussion; couple broken bones. I can walk and everything, so like I said, nothing serious.”
“What the heck happened?” She asked.
“It was that crazy girl I told you about. Come to find out, she was the one who sent the picture to AJ, not Antonio. So, that day after we got off the phone I drove to Deanna’s to talk to her and Leila was following me. She hit me on purpose.”
“I’m comin’ to cut her,” Angel replied.
“No, Angel. She wasn’t as lucky as I was.”
“Explain, cause I’ll still cut her if she’s paralyzed or something like that. I don’t discriminate.”
“She died,” I said flatly.
There was silence on the other end. “Wow,” she finally replied. “Didn’t see that coming.”
“I know, neither did I when I first heard. I mean, even though she did what she did to me, I’d never wish anyone dead.”
“Wow,” she stated again.
I thought for a moment and decided to tell Angel about the rest of the story. There wasn’t anyone else that I could express my real feelings to. I had to even protect AJ from the thoughts that had been running through my head. “Angel, I need to talk to you about something serious.”
“More serious than car accidents and death? This can’t be good. I’m listening.”
“When the doctor came in to talk to me about my injuries…” I had to get myself together to even speak the words. “He said that I was pregnant…..and lost it during the accident.” She was absolutely silent. I waited a minute or two before I spoke. “You still there?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah, I’m here,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what to say.”
“It’s fine if you don’t say anything. I really just needed to admit it out loud. It’s eating away at me and I don’t know how to deal with it. I’m so angry at her! And I feel terrible for feeling that way because she’s gone.” I was trying to speak through my tears. “I can’t even begin to explain how I feel.”
“Sammy, there’s nothing that you can do to change what’s happened, and if you don’t let yourself grieve and move forward, you’ll never get through it. It’s ok to be angry with her. You’re allowed to feel that way.”
“Angel, I’m scared that if I let myself really admit all my feelings, I’ll fall apart and lose it.”
“You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for. You have AJ for support and you know I have your back.” She paused. “Need me to come out there?”
“No, I know you’re classes are still going on. I’m fine.”
“Sammy, if you need me, I’ll be there. I’m serious. Just call me.”