Author’s Note: I do NOT condone driving while under the influence. Please drink at the legal age in your country and drink responsibly.
Vale was volatile after the break up. More so than usual. He became reckless and messy. Something that did not mix well with his job. One of his more frequent clients recommended he take a short break. So be it, as long as it doesn’t interfere with his job. What he was going to do during the break, he had no idea.
First thing that came to mind was to drink and drink heavily at that. Vale sat on the balcony, bottle of Jacopo Poli Arzente Brandy. A special liquor he and Zahar used to drink on special occasions or celebrations. Not like those are gonna happen anymore. The bottle sat open on the table, no glass in sight as Vale was drinking straight from the bottle.
His head started buzzing after the first bottle went down completely without a hitch. “There goes about $250.00.” Vale mumbles out. “Who fuckin’ cares.” He gets up from his seat and stumbles into the kitchen, looking for anything else he can drink. Unfortunately, there’s only shitty American liquor, but hey, that’ll get you drunk quick. He picks up a bottle of tequila and pops the lid open. He goes to smell it and almost gags.
“Strong. Just what I fuckin’ need. Stupid Zahar, leavin’ me all alone. -hic- Who does he think he is!” He chugs it straight from the bottle, instantly regretting it. “Fuck. I need some time to -hic- cool off,” he slurs out. He’s drunk at this point, having been drinking for hours already.
Vale heads towards the front door, clumsily dropping the keys to his apartment and car, before picking them up and wobbly heading towards the garage. It takes longer than normal, but he makes it and gets in his car. He fumbles getting the key into the ignition and becomes frustrated. “Fuck! C’mon already,” he yells. When he successfully starts the car, he revs it, putting it into drive and speeds out of the garage.
He’s speeding down a busy city street, ignoring lights and other cars. He doesn’t know where he’s going, he just wants to be anywhere but home. It doesn’t feel like home anymore. Soon enough, he enters emptier streets leaving the city, going over 100 mph. What he fails to realize in his drunken rage and stupor is there is a deer walking across the empty roads.
“Shit shit shit!” He screams as he tries to avoid the animal. He does, thankfully; however, Vale ends up swerving right into a street pole and crashing immediately.
The next thing Vale sees are bright white lights and hears the beeping of monitors around him. He groggily looks around to notice he’s no longer in his car, but a hospital room. There’s a nurse at the end of his bed reading a chart when she notices he’s awake.
“Hello, Mr. DeLuca. So glad to see you’re awake! You had a rough crash back there. Good thing your airbags went off like they did or else you might not have escaped with just a broken arm, some minor cuts and bruises.” The nurse is rambling things off, but nothing makes it into Vale’s ears. He can’t help but feel like something is off. Really off.
“Well of course not! You just survived a car accident,” the nurse cheerfully explains. She goes on again and this time Vale closes his eyes.
“Mr. DeLuca? I need you to stay awake for me! C’mon, sir. I’ll get you some water.” Before anyone expects it, the machines start sounding off alarms. Vale’s vitals are dropping dramatically. More nurses and a few doctors rush in. While they try to figure out what’s wrong, one of the nurses looks into his chart for an emergency contact. Zahar Bista, 26, emergency contact number 214-***-****.
Zahar is at home watching TV when his cell phone rings. He picks up his phone and sees a number he doesn’t recognize, so he ignores it. It’s late at night anyway, why would someone random be calling him? It isn’t until the phone rings a second time immediately afterwards that Zahar gets an uncomfortable feeling. It’s the same number.
“Is this Mr. Bista? I’m Amy Drake from Mercy Hospital. We seem to have a Mr. DeLuca here and we need you to come up to the hospital immediately.”
“Is this some kind of joke? Do you know how late it is? I’m hanging up.” And Zahar pulls the phone away. Before he can click end call, the nurse chimes in more seriously.
“He’s been in a motor accident. He’s…not responding well. Please. We need you here as his emergency contact.” Zahar’s eyes widened in shock.
“I’ll be right there.” Zahar grabs his keys and heads straight for Mercy.
Zahar pulls into the hospital parking lot as quickly as he can. He’s out of the car, sprinting towards the hospital entrance and towards the guest services desk.
“Hello, I’m Zahar Bista. I received a call for Vale DeLuca. Can anyone point me in the right direction?” The nurses page through their system and find the room Vale is occupying. They point him in the right direction and Zahar is off speed walking towards Vale.
When he arrives at the room, he gasps at the scene in front of him. Vale is hooked up everywhere with tubes, lines, and wires. He’s been bandaged all over, and a cast has been applied to his left arm. The nurses notice him at the doorway and usher him inside, shutting the door behind them.
“Mr. Bista I presume?” The head nurse asks.
“Good. You’re…going to want to be here to hear this.” The nurse explains the situation Vale ended up in, retelling the story the paramedics got from the crash site. Zahar just stands there dumbstruck. Vale hates driving unless absolutely necessary. What could have caused this?
“His blood alcohol content was way above the legal limit, so we can assume that he got into the accident due to driving while impaired. I know this isn’t easy for either of you, but please support him the best you can. He’s going to need it these next several weeks. The nurses say a few more things before giving both men some privacy. Vale’s unconscious at the moment and Zahar takes a spot in a chair next to the hospital bed.
“What the fuck were you thinking DeLuca?” Zahar whispers out, not wanting to cause a scene, but also not to disrupt any nearby patients or staff. “Why would you drink and drive? Especially after what happened to your parents. I can’t imagine you doing this…” Vale’s hand twitches slightly before returning to normal. Zahar eyes his hand and carefully grasps it.
“Don’t be stupid and get yourself killed, you idiot.” Zahar mumbles out. On his free hand, Zahar looks at his watch for the time. 3:14 am. “Guess I’m sleeping over, huh?” Zahar brings the chair closer to Vale’s bed and leans over into it, but not close enough to disturb the injured male. He stares at Vale’s face, cut and bruised from the airbag deployment and glass from the windshield. “I can’t live without you Vale. Please.”
The morning light shines through the pale curtains of the windows, waking Vale up. He groans in pain, trying to shift in the bed, but notices a heavy weight on his left. He looks down to see Zahar hunched over in the chair, holding Vale’s hand, snoring. Vale tries to remove his hands from Zahar’s grip, which only stirs the other male awake.
“V-vale? You’re awake.” Zahar says sleepily.
“Yeah…” Vale rasps out, throat hurting. He could drink a gallon of water right now, but I doubt they’d let him.
“Why would you go and do that!” Zahar bursts out. “Why would you drive drunk? Why would you almost kill yourself?” Zahar is exasperated. He’s tired and angry, confused, and hurt.
“I don’t remember anything other than seeing a deer and trying to not hit it. Should I have done that instead? Killed two things instead of one?” Vale’s voice is quiet and small, unlike his usual boisterous self. Zahar sighs heavily, too groggy to properly argue with Vale this morning. Neither of them were in the shape to do so. Instead, Zahar stands up.
“Leaving now that you know I’m o-” Vale doesn’t even get a chance to finish his sentence before Zahar has his arms wrapped around the injured male’s neck, careful not to press too hard.
“Be careful, Luca. Please.” Vale’s eyes widened in response. He carefully lifts his arms and places them around Zahar, as comfortably as he can considering his position and broken arm.
“M’ sorry, dove…” Vale could feel the grip on him tighten just slightly. They stayed in this position for a while until a knock was heard on his door and a nurse walked in. She greeted both males cheerfully.
“Good morning Mr. Bista, Mr. DeLuca! Glad to see you awake this fine morning. I have some good news and bad news, some of which I’m sure you’ve already picked up on. First thing, you’ve broken your left arm but it’s a clean break, should heal in no time. You’ve acquired a few lacerations on your chest and legs, including minor irritation burns from the air bags.” She continues on with the prognoses, running through each injury like a well oiled machine.
“The good news is we don’t need to keep observing you since your injuries are quite minor in comparison to the wreckage. So! You’ll be free to go in a few hours; however, you cannot drive yourself home.” She turns to Zahar for this next part. “Mr. Bista, would it be possible for you to take Mr. DeLuca home?” She looks at Zahar expectantly. Zahar lets out another sigh.
“Of course. Is there any paperwork I need to sign off on for him?” She nods her head and asks him to follow her to the charge station. Zahar turns around when he reaches the door.
“I’ll be right back.” He smiles slightly. Vale just watches him leave the room behind the nurse. He leans back down into the bed, slightly uncomfortable. He’d kill to get all these wires and tubes off of him. However, he listens to Zahar, takes a deep breath, and exhales slowly.
Vale clasps his hands together almost in prayer. “Sorry mom and dad. I never meant to repeat what happened to you all those years ago. I hope you can forgive your son.” He mumbles to himself. It’s silent in the room aside from the monitors beeping every so often. His body aches and his mind is whirling. God he fucked up, but Zahar showed up. For him. Even through all the shit Vale has put him through. He smiles just slightly.
When Zahar returns, Vale is back asleep. Like the nurse said earlier, they won’t be discharged for another few hours, so Zahar lets Vale sleep. All he does is take a seat next to the pink haired man and hold his hand.