What This Could Be- Joe Jonas Fanfic

Chapter 39: An Unbreakable Sibling Bond

*Taylor's POV*

"Go on," I crossed my arms, "Call her. Do your magic and fix it then."

With hesitancy, he put in my passcode and went to what I assumed my contacts, straight to Lucy's. He hit the call button and put it on speaker phone.

I wasn't worried. I knew it would go straight to voicemail.

Except it didn't.

Why was it ringing? It shouldn't be ringing. This couldn't be real.

"Hello?" a young man's voice answered. One that I didn't recognize.

Joe looked at me for assistance, not knowing exactly what to say as I never told him my brother-in-law's name, "Hey! I'm so sorry if I'm bothering you, but is Lucy there?"

"Lucy?" the man responded, "There's no Lucy here. Sorry, man, seems like you've got the wrong number."

His stare never left me, probably noticing all color had drained from my face, "Okay. Thank you. And I'm sorry, again."

I sat on the edge of the couch as the call ended, my eyes wide staring into the abyss. I didn't know what to feel or think in total dissociation.

"We can call your mom or dad," he suggested, his tone significantly calmer, "I'm sure they have her new number, right?"

A new number? She shouldn't have a new number. That was her number, her voicemail. How could they not have told me?

He put his hand on my back, "Do you want me to call them and ask?"

Shaking my head, I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. All I wanted was to tell Liv, but that wasn't even an option. I never even told Joe we were no longer friends.

He quickly grabbed his phone from the table and typed out something before setting it back down, wrapping his arms around me, "Do you wanna talk?"

I gulped to try to swallow the lump that was forming in my throat and shook my head again. My fear was losing everyone. I was hoping that wouldn't have come true, but it had.

Resting his chin on top of my head, we sat there silently together as he just held me. There was nothing he could say that would help. He knew that, which is why the sudden knock at the door hadn't surprised him.

He left the living room to answer the door, leaving me on the couch. I was too numb to react when he emerged back into view, until I saw Liv walking behind him.

Immediately, I ran towards her as Joe stepped away. I loved him, but he wasn't who I needed in this moment. Only Liv would have been able to understand.

Liv surprisingly reciprocated as we both wrapped our arms around each other, almost knocking us down by the force of our bodies colliding. "I know," was the only thing she had to say to make me break.

"I'm sorry," I managed to say through my sobs, "I love you. I'm so sorry."

She slightly pulled away to cup my face with her hands to look me in the eyes, "I love you. I'm here, okay? I'm sorry."

"I want us to be okay again," I admitted while she wiped my tears that kept on cascading down my cheeks, "I miss you so much. Nothing's been the same without you."

With tears forming in her own eyes, she replied, "I miss you too."

Joe brought out a tissue box and placed it on the coffee table. "I'm gonna head out for a little to give you guys some space to talk, but if either one of you need me, call me, okay? I'll just be down the block," he said as he ran his fingers through my hair, wiping a tear away with his thumb before taking his hand back.

"Thank you," Liv responded for us.

He gave her a smile before turning back to me and quietly stated close to my ear, "I told you a sibling bond can always be fixed." With a wink, he grabbed his phone and slipped his shoes on.

"I love you," I told him. I really, really did.

"I love you," he smiled, walking back to give me a kiss before leaving Liv and I to ourselves.

I turned to Liv, who already was giving me a look of pity and disappointment, "I want to tell him. I just... don't know how?"

"I think the first step is saying it out loud for once," she replied, pulling me on the couch and cuddled me.

"I can't," I whispered, "Not yet."

She leaned her head against mine, "Have you thought about getting some help?"

I turned to face her, raising an eyebrow, "You really asking me that?"

"Okay. Disregarding where we met," she held back a laugh, "That place was super depressing, let's be honest."

"Exactly why we left after my third meeting," I smiled, reminiscing on how close we had gotten since the first day we met, providing light for one another at the darkest times of our lives.

"No, but seriously," her expression became serious again, "like a therapist or something."

I leaned back against her, "I don't know."

"Think about it, yeah?" she responded, "Because I don't want you to lose him. He's... He's an amazing guy, Tay, but there's going to be a time where he won't completely understand if it's too late."

What if it was already too late, though?