Caffeine Cold - Joe Trohman / Pete Wentz fanfic

5

The next morning, I woke up to an empty bed and the smell of coffee next to the table at the side of my bed. Next to it was a note saying, "Hey JoeJoe, we're downstairs eating. Join us when you're awake. Xo."

I couldn't help but smile at how well this was going. I was beyond happy and even though I knew she hadn't heard me telling her that I loved her, I had at least said the words out loud for the first time. I just had to make her love me.

She said she had a flexible job. Our buses had wifi. I could slip in the suggestion and she could always share my room. I really didn't mind. Who wouldn't want to wake up to Judai every morning. I decided I would broach it with the guys later.

I walked downstairs and was met with a tearful Judai and Pete hugging one another. Patrick was on the phone and Andy was staring into space. "What's going on?"

Pete choked out, "It's Tiff man. She's dead, she killed herself."

I was in shock. There was no way. Her cancer was in remission. She had two beautiful sons. I was so confused at how unlike Tiffany this seemed. Things like this didn't happen to us.

"Pete, man, I don't know what to say."

He shook his head, "I've got to head up to L.A. and make arrangements. Look after the boys. Sorry guys, I just can't tour right now."

Judai spoke for the first time, "I'll go with. I can help."

I stood in and placed a hand on Pete's shoulder, "We're all going. This is a family matter and we're going to deal with it together."

Judai had now come into my arms and was sobbing violently against my chest. I knew nothing I could say would make any of this better. Patrick was now hugging Pete while he cried silently, all of us in complete shock.

After a few minutes, Judai gained some composure and stated she was going to book our flights for as soon as was possible and Andy took charge of informing management. I had to ask the daunting question of what we were going to say to the fans.

Pete shrugged, "There's no use covering it up, eventually the truth will come out. We'll just have to go with what really happened."

To face this as a normal person would probably be hell but I felt so badly for Pete who was constantly in the spotlight and would be dealing with this ordeal very publicly; not because he wanted to but because people felt entitled to know what was happening in our lives.

Andy had finished his call and told us management had given us a six month break to handle things. Soon after, my phone rang with Marcus's number on the caller ID. "Your manager just called me. Tell me it's not true."

I sighed, "Yeah, it is Marcus. We're flying back to LA as soon as Judai gets us tickets. We'll need a security team. Pete can't deal with this shit right now."

"I'm already on it. Send me the address of where you guys are and travel times and I'll arrange the security detail in the meantime." He hung up without another word, I think Patrick had told Judai to book an extra ticket for Marcus because she arrived back from her office with confirmation of six flights already checked in online so we'd only have to be at the airport thirty minutes before take off.

As Judai explained this, she moved in closer to me and I couldn't stop myself from putting an arm around her shoulder. Since I towered and outweighed her, I engulfed her easily. I wanted her to feel comforted and to take away some of her pain.

It was going to be a lot harder making someone grieving for their long time friend genuinely fall in love.

A/N credits to LeViNeFrEaK for the use of Tiffany from "The True Meaning of B.A.E." Find out what really happened in the sequel, "Memories of B.A.E" also on LeViNeFrEaK s page