We're Not Related Anymore...

Cold Feet

Jacob: Present Day

A knock at the door has me startling awake. I get up groggily, forgetting I'm in Maddie's room until I open up the door and see Josh standing on the other side. His shock doesn't last long. 

"I see you didn't waste any time," he says and I force him out in the hallway so that we can have this conversation outside. I don't want to wake Maddie up. She's only just fallen asleep. "I need to talk to my sister."

"What do you want to say?" I ask, wondering why he's suddenly so agitated. Before I left for my interview, he seemed fine. 

"Look, I know you and Maddie are all tight again but not every single thing in her life needs to go through you."

"I'm just asking because it's late, Josh. There's no need to get so defensive," I say and try to stifle a yawn. 

"Fuck off," Josh says and his unexpected anger has me waking up properly. 

"What the hell is your problem?" I demand and I grab him by the shoulder and shove him so that we're further down the hall. The last thing I need is for our argument to wake up the whole floor. 

"Right now, you're my problem. Why couldn't you just leave her alone? Everything was finally going back to normal and then you had to follow her back to L.A. and mess things up again."

"God, you sound like my mother," I say with a bitter laugh. "Go back to your room, Josh. Whatever, you have to say to your sister can wait until the morning." 

He shrugs himself out of my grip and when he starts stumbling around the place, I realize what the problem is. He's drunk. 

"Fine," he says. "But you want to know something, Jacob," he says, leaning against his own hotel door. 

"What, Josh?" I ask, wanting to get this episode over with. 

"It won't last. You say you're a different person now but you're still the same person you've always been. People don't change. They never do. No matter how much you want them to." 

"What's this really about?" I wonder out loud, coming closer to him again. 

"I really loved her, you know? Betty, I mean. Sure she was vain and could sometimes be selfish and cruel but I saw another side of her and I thought it was who she really was..." 

His words are somber and they make me pause in front of him. "What's going on with Betty?"

"Why did no one tell me she was the one who posted the video?" 

"You knew about that?" I ask, surprised. He nods sluggishly. "Who told you?"

"You did. In your sleep when you got fucking wasted that one time. I didn't think it was true. I thought you were just saying unintelligible things in your drunken state. But then I got thinking about it and I realized how it made sense, you know. She had the biggest thing for you. I thought she'd finally gotten over it. Maybe she has but even if I could get passed that, I can't get passed what she did to my sister."

"Josh," I say and he looks up at me, his eyes clouded. "I think you should get some sleep. Tomorrow you have to decide if you're going to go through with this wedding."

"Go through with it? I have to..." he trails off, messing around with the handle of his door. 

I sigh. "Give me your room key," I say. 

"Oh," he says, suddenly remembering he has one. He uses it to let himself in and I follow him through the door before he shuts it. 

"You don't need to follow through just because everything's paid for. Rather let things end here than trap yourself in this marriage."