My Best Friend's Boyfriend | BxB

16. Took You Long Enough

This chapter is dedicated to all you quiet peeps out there. Let them do the talking and we'll do the thinking ✌.

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"Gale? Are you coming down or what?" Gale's mother yelled from the ground floor.

It was twenty minutes later, and Gale was standing in front of his mirror. He had hurried through his shower, but dressing was keeping him. He had never paid much thought to what he put on. Jeans, T-shirts and shirts didn't require much thought, after all.

"Coming!" He yelled back, giving one last look at his reflection.

Khaki pants, red plaid shirt and vans.

Okay? Too much? Too little?

He turned away from the mirror, grimacing. Was he seriously stressing over what he was wearing?

Was he nervous?

Because of?

Matt?

"Losing it," he muttered to himself as he picked his phone and left his room.

His mother was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. She gave him an appraising look, nodded. "Took you long enough," she said. "Don't you need a sweater? It's a cold night."

"I'm fine, Mum," he half grumbled, not wanting to go through clothe selection yet again.

She shrugged and turned towards the door. "Alright, come on. Let's go."

Here goes.

Lucy Miller opened the door, looking elegant in a simple black dinner dress. Gale stood behind his mum, half hiding as the two women exchanged pleasantries, and his mother handed over a bottle of wine to their host. Lucy let his mother in, then it was just him and her.

"Hello, Gale. How have you been?" She greeted, a small smile on her lips.

"Great, Lucy. Thank you for inviting us over," he replied. He had long gotten used to calling her by her first name, as she preferred it that way.

"That's good to hear, dear. And you know I love having you over, it can get quite lonely here," she said, ushering him in. He saw a slight frown come over her face before she asked, "When did you boys finish football practice?"

"Uh, half past six," he answered. "Coach kept us a bit longer today."

She stopped in her tracks. "Were you with Matt?"

He nodded, frowning too. "Yes, he was at practice. Why?"

"He is not back yet. I've tried calling his phone but it's switched off. He is never late, and he would have told me if he had plans after school."

Gale's frown deepened. "I don't know where he could be."

They came into the living room, and Gale spotted Emily seated on one of the couches.

"Emily doesn't know, either," Lucy said, answering his unvoiced question.

Gale glanced at the clock on the wall. It was quarter past seven.

"Could you call some of your friends? Maybe they would know where he is?" Lucy requested, looking more disturbed each passing second.

Gale nodded. "Sure," he said, taking his phone out of his pocket.

"Thank you, I'll be in the kitchen," Lucy said and disappeared towards the kitchen, where Gale could hear his mother talking to Emily's mother.

Emily turned over to look at him. "You don't know where Matt is?"

Gale shook his head as he scrolled down his contact list. He dialed Evan's number.

"You didn't leave school together?" Emily asked him.

"No," Gale answered, as he listened to Evan's phone ring.

In a few minutes, he had called five of their teammates, and they all confirmed Matt leaving on his bike, but nobody thought he was headed elsewhere other than home.

He was going to try and call Kellan next, when they heard raised voices in the kitchen. He and Emily exchanged glances, but didn't move towards the other room.

They didn't have to wait long though, as Lucy rushed back into the room, clutching onto a small black clutch and her phone. The other two women followed behind, with Gale's mother carrying what seemed to be Lucy's coat.

Gale noticed the tears shining in Lucy's eyes, and he immediately knew something had happened. His heart thumped away in his chest, as if already sensing that something was wrong. Emily shot up from her seat and came to stand beside him.

"Peter just called," Lucy said, stopping to talk to them. Peter was her husband. "Matt had an accident, he is at St Raphael's."

Gale heard Emily's sharp intake of breath beside him. As for him, he could barely breathe. An accident? Matt? How? Before he could completely process it all, his mother was talking.

"I'm going with Lucy to the hospital, you'll stay over at Emily's, okay?"

He started nodding, then stopped. "I want to come," he said.

He was okay, right?

Matt was going to be okay.

Her mother shook her head. "No, Gale. You stay..."

"I want to come too," Emily said, her words rushed. Somewhere in the middle of it all, she had clutched onto Gale's hand, her fingers pressing his skin tightly.

"Kids, it's a school night, you will see Matthew tomorrow."

"No, mum. It's not like we would go to school tomorrow without seeing him, so how about we just go now," Gale protested.

The three women exchanged glances. Gale's mother gave a sigh. "Okay, we are all going. How about you get a sweater first, though? You too, Emily. He is in surgery right now, we will wait a while before we see him."

Surgery? What sort of accident did he get into?

Gale wanted to know the answers, but at the same time he wasn't sure he could handle them, so he hurried to get ready, unconsciously sending up prayers that everything would be okay.

He would have gone through a thousand dinners at Matt's instead of having such a nightmare suddenly thrown into his face.