Long Away

Chapter 52

It was already late when they arrived at Gwil's house. Too exhausted to even fully unpack his suitcase, Joe grabbed the small bag with his bathroom supplies, and headed into the shower. In the meantime, Gwil prepared dinner for the two of them.
When Joe came downstairs in a clean shirt and a pair of sweatpants, Gwil was just setting the table.
From the kitchen came a delicious smell of pasta and sauce.

"That smells amazing," Joe said.
Gwil smiled at him.
"Thank you. What do you think about opening a bottle of wine? I think we could use that tonight."
"Or ten," Joe said in his Deaky-voice. Gwil chuckled.
"Yeah, maybe not. Though that would be one way to get closer to Ben."
"Might be worth a try," Joe sighed.

Gwil raised an eyebrow at him.
"You are still joking, right?"
Joe hesitated a second too long before answering.
"Yeah, of course. Just joking."
"I think you're only getting one glass," Gwil decided. He patted Joe on the back when he walked past him into the kitchen to check on the pots that were still on the stove.
"I guess that's fair enough," Joe mumbled to himself. Not that he had been completely serious, but it had been a long day and he was too exhausted for any kind of optimism about the situation. Thinking of Ben, injured and without consciousness, made him sick. It would be hard to wait even for a day before he could talk to him, let alone a whole week.

Gwil turned off the stove and set the pots on the dining table. Joe sat down and waited for him to fetch the wine from the pantry.
It felt almost strange being here without Ben and Rami. Now that Joe came to think of it, he had never visited Gwil on his own. It would have been nice under any other circumstances.
Gwilym came back and filled two glasses for them.
"Thanks," Joe said when he placed one next to his plate.
"You're welcome."
Gwil sat down across from him and put food on both of their plates.
"I hope you will like it. It's nothing too fancy since I didn't have that much time."
"Don't worry about that. Smells better than anything I could make anyway," Joe chuckled.

"Maybe I could teach you a few of my tricks, if you want. We'll have some time to kill the upcoming days," Gwil suggested.
"That sounds like a good distraction," Joe agreed.
"Well then, buon appetit." Gwil raised his glass.
"To Ben's recovery."
Joe did the same.
"To Ben's recovery."

~~~~

That night, Joe was haunted by nightmares. Not only did his mind paint disturbing pictures of an injured Ben, the thing with Roger also brought up all the memories and pain from the time when Joe's father was still battling cancer... and eventually lost.
Joe woke up in a cold sweat. The alarm clock on his bedside table showed that it was 4:51 in the morning. With a grunt, Joe rolled around. He knew if he fell asleep again, the nightmares would continue, but of course he also didn't want to make any noise and risk waking up Gwil. He grabbed his phone that had been charging over night. When he saw the notifications from the band group chat, he groaned. Poor Rami had been trying to contact them for hours.

Rami: "I heard about Ben and Roger. This is all so awful. I'm in shock" 11:47pm

"Do you know which hospital Ben is in?" 11:47pm

"Guys??" 1:01am

"If you find out any news, please tell me immediately" 1:24am

"I am seriously worried. Why is nobody answering???" 3:05am

Joe: "Hey Rami. So sorry we forgot to contact you in all that stress! I flew over to England and am now staying with Gwil. The only news we have about Ben is that he's in an artificial coma. The doctor Gwil spoke to said that they should be able to wake him up in a week, and that we can visit him then." 4:53am

Joe sent the message and waited. Rami came online almost immediately.

Rami: "Oh my god" 4:54am

"Poor Ben" 4:54am

"I will definitely fly over as soon as I can. Do you have room for one more?" 4:55am

Joe: "Gwil is still asleep. But if it's alright with him, I would be happy to have you with us. This is all so crazy..." 4:55am

Rami: "It really is. How do you feel now? I know Ben means a lot to you." 4:55am

Joe: "I'm honestly not well. I've been having nightmares. I'm really worried about him." 4:56am

"And of course the thing with Roger doesn't make it better" 4:56am

Rami: "I figured. I'm sorry, Joe. You know you can always talk to me when you need to, right?" 4:56am

Joe: "I know. Thank you." 4:56am

Rami: "If you don't mind, I am going to bed now though. I need to be up early tomorrow and I doubt I'll be getting enough sleep as it is." 4:57am

Joe: "That's alright. Good night, buddy" 4:58am

Rami: "Thanks. I'll text you again tomorrow" 4:58am

Joe closed the chat. Hopefully Gwil wouldn't mind having Rami over as well. Joe could really use all the mental support he could get right now. He spent the next hour distracting himself with social media. When he figured it was an acceptable time for him to get up, he quickly went through his morning routine in the bathroom. There was not much he could do about the dark bags under his eyes though. He had a feeling they wouldn't be going away anytime this week.

As quietly as he could, he snuck downstairs. He wanted to do something to repay Gwilym for his hospitality. He googled for bakeries in the area, left a note on the dining table and headed outside to get the two of them something nice for breakfast.