Page 65 of Floored By Love

I had a dream I was home. It was Thanksgiving. I wasn’t hungry at all, but I hadn’t eaten yet. Something smelled off in the kitchen. I walked in just as my mother opened the oven, releasing a giant cloud of black smoke as she swore and pulled out what used to be the turkey. The smoke alarm started going off, and I headed to the back door to open it and wave it to stop the alarm, but it kept beeping and beeping and it wouldn’t stop.

17

Lucas

Vrrrrrrrrrr. Vrrrrrrrrrr.

Ugh. I rolled over to look at the clock. It was one in the morning.

Vrrrrrrrrrr. Vrrrrrrrrrr.

Who is calling me? It’s so late.

O and I had stayed out later than we planned, dancing. Responsible Alex left after the first bar. I ended up crawling into bed just before midnight.

I grabbed my phone to look at the screen. It was Ty.

“Ty, it’s late. This better be good.”

“He’s fine, Luke, but I wanted to call you first.”

I felt my heart rate speed up. I heard a tone in his voice.

“What do you mean? Who’s fine?”

“Cam’s in the hospital. There was a fire at the dorm. He-”

He kept talking, but I felt my heart drop under the bed. Throwing off the covers, I flicked the light on and immediately started getting dressed. I threw some stuff from my dresser and the bathroom into a bag and I was in the hallway before I realized I didn’t know where I was going. I put the phone back up to my ear.

“Luke? You still there?”

“I’m on my way. What hospital?”

“Saint Thomas.”

“Text me the floor and room number.”

I hung up, already in the elevator, and checked my phone for directions.

Fuck.

It was Wednesday night. The Tube wasn’t running this late. I’d have to find an Uber or a taxi. I pulled Uber up and, even though my hands were shaking, somehow typed in the data. Luckily, it looked like a busy night in the area. I didn’t question it, only waiting a few minutes for a pickup.

“Cheers!”

“Hi, can you drive as fast as legally possible? It’s an emergency. My friend is hurt.”

“Consider it done.”

Thankfully, he took my request to heart. We made it there in under fifteen minutes.

“Hope your mate’s alright,” he called out to me as I ran toward the entrance.

Somehow, I kept it together enough to ask the receptionist where to go. I knew visiting hours were over, so I assumed she either recognized me or Ty let her know I was coming. She didn’t hesitate to point me towards the bank of elevators I needed. It felt like forever before one arrived, and I checked my phone for the fourth time to see if Ty had sent any updates. He hadn’t, and no one else got on, so in under a minute, I was on the fifth floor.

“Hold on, sir. Can I see some ID?” A security guard was holding his hand to stop me from going further and a pair of guards blocked the exits.

Why the fuck is security here?