We left the wedding in my car. I rented a Maserati for the night because we were going to a very fancy charity event that my parents were hosting.
We got to the red Maserati and I opened the passenger side door for Betty. She was gonna meet my parents tonight, and I was a little nervous. I knew they would like her, but I know that Betty raised herself, basically, so I didn’t know how she was around other people’s family.
My parents are very warm, welcoming, and very nurturing people. I used to get teased in high school for being such a softie. I would give my mom hugs or a kiss on the cheek in public, and the other guys would tease me for it, saying things like ‘mommy’s boy’ and shit like that. Yeah, I love my mom, what’s wrong with that? There’s nothing wrong with being sweet and a softie.
It was around 5 p.m. when we left her sister’s wedding. The sun was barely starting to set, and there was a nice, warm breeze. I went around to the driver’s side and got it, starting the engine.
I drove down the road as Betty hooked up her phone in the car to play music. She was scrolling through her playlist, trying to find the right vibe, as she said.
After what felt like forever, she finally picked a song, and turned the volume up really loud.
We both sang so loud with the wind blowing through our hair. I turned to look at her, and she looked so majestic and effortlessly beautiful. Like, it was crazy. Betty is one of the most gorgeous girls I’ve ever seen, and she chooses to be with a guy like me. She could get any guy she wanted to.
“Stop!” she yelled. I turned back to face the road and slammed on the breaks. I almost ran a red light. I barely made the stop before I drove right into traffic. Her beauty distracted me too much, I guess.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
She smoothed out her dress. “Yeah, I’m fine, just try to pay more attention to the road. I can wait,” she replied.
I nodded, slowly stepping on the gas again when the light turned green. I drove more carefully because I didn’t want her to get mad.
The convention center where the event was took an hour to get there from Rebekah’s house, and had only been driving for 10 minutes.
She sang to all the songs she played, and I sang with her if I knew the song. She made me so happy. I could not stop smiling.
And then things took a turn for the worst.
We were almost to the convention center, about 15 minutes away, and we were on a very busy highway, trying to switch lanes so that I could get off on the next exit.
Somehow I managed to get to the lane I needed to, and a car cut me off and made me swerve.
Right into a light pole.
All I heard was Betty’s piercing scream.
This car didn’t have a roof, just a windshield and front seat windows. The windshield broke into a million tiny shards from the impact force. Those shards flew everywhere.
I felt some of them stab into my arms and face. The pain was excruciating and sharp. But all I cared about was Betty.
There were glass shards all over her, some of them poking out of her arms, face, and chest. I was terrified.
The airbags had popped out on impact, leaving her battered and bruised. She looked so helpless.
Then I saw it. A piece of the glass had cut her neck.
I immediately unbuckled my seat belt, and moved to examine her. The cut didn’t look deep, but there was blood all over. Everywhere. All over her beautiful face. And there were so many small cuts on her arms that there was blood everywhere.
Tears started to blur my vision. I was so scared.
I tried to pull a piece of the glass out of her chin, but I pulled back after cutting my fingers, blood emerging from the opening in my skin.
“Josh,” she said, barely audible.
I got my phone out of my pocket and called 911. I told them where we were, how bad the crash was, everything.
“Please just hurry,” I told the phone operator. “My girlfriend, she’s so bloody. There’s blood all over her,” I choked out. I put my phone on the dash as the tears streamed down my face.
I held Betty’s cold hand as I cried. Eventually, an ambulance arrived and the strong EMT dudes carried her out of the car and laid her on a stretcher. The main dude told me I had to stay there until a police officer arrived to assess the car and the insurance, which I didn’t have because the car was rented.
I gave the main EMT my phone number so the nurse could call me when I could come to the hospital. Another one of the EMTs cleaned up my wounds while they got the stretcher into the back of the ambulance.
I watched them drive away as I sat on the curb with my head in my hands, feeling bad as fuck.
I have never felt more guilty than I did at that moment.
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