Thirty-Nine

                                    

                                          
⚠️TW: Car wreck, death⚠️
                          
"Cal." Ashton grins again, "You're awake." 
                          
"What the fuck?" he repeats, his eyes searching his best friend's face, bags under Ashton's swollen and red eyes as if he'd been crying regularly for a while. 
                          
"Calum." his eyes shift as someone else speaks up, taking in the sight of his mum, her eyes even more bloodshot than Ashton's as she takes his hand in hers, kissing the back of it as her lips tremble. 
                          
"What—"He coughs from the dryness in his throat, wincing in pain as he does. 
                          
"Here, here." His mum fusses, lifting a straw to his lips, letting him slowly swallow a few mouthfuls, feeling the cool liquid against his throat and down through his body. 
                          
"What happened?" He tries again, his voice hoarse and raw sounding. 
                          
"There was an accident." His mum whispers. 
                          
"Zeppelynn!" His eyes shoot wide, "Is she okay? Her accident." 
                          
"No mate, your accident." Michael suddenly appears in his sight, "You got in a car accident. You're the one in the hospital." 
                          
"Zeppelynn? Is she okay then?"
                          
"We don't know, our focus has been on our bandmate who sustained a serious concussion and whiplash and decided to not wake up for twelve days." Luke makes his appearance in the range of view Calum can see. 
                          
"Twelve days? No, wait. What day is today?" He asks suddenly, feeling very confused. 
                          
"April 18th." Ashton's eyes furrow. 
                          
"What? No, we were in Germany. Zeppelynn was there with me. It's June." He frowns. 
                          
"It's April 18th mate, you were in a bad car accident on April 6th while headed to the hospital to visit Zeppelynn after working in the studio all day with us. Your car ended up on its side and they rushed you to the hospital with a severely dislocated hip and fear of other injuries. Upon examination, they found concussion and serious whiplash in your neck, thus this ugly brace. After popping your hip joint back into its socket they took scans to see all the damage, you are lucky you didn't break anything, just strained and sprained ligaments and tendons around your hip." Michael shakes his head, eyes glossed. "For the last twelve days we've all been here waiting for you to wake up." 
                          
"The damage to your head and neck was extensive and they were worried the swelling was putting too much pressure on your spinal column. They weren't sure you would wake up. But you've had moments, when we thought you might be coming back. Glimpses of facial expressions or a twitch of a hand, we kept believing." Ashton adds. 
                          
"Mali? Was Mali here last night?" He asks, trying to wrap his head around the idea that he'd dreamed up the whole summer. 
                          
"Ya? Why?" Ashton nods. 
                          
"I just... I've been living the next two months in a dream I guess? I thought it was real. We released the single, played Wango Tango, went to Europe... I was on a date with Z and suddenly it was all weird, like Ashton, and mum, and Mali were suddenly invading the scene and I couldn't make any sense of it." He frowns. 
                          
"The three of us were here last night." his mum smiles softly, Mali went back to your place this morning to get some sleep and take a work meeting from there. 
                          
"So wait, I've been asleep for almost two weeks?" 
                          
"Yes."
                          
"I'm so confused. It was so real, all of it." he frowns, chewing on his lip as he stares at the ceiling.