Don't Let Me Be Gone (Twenty One Hours)

The Search

Josh left the party and his heart was still thumping. He hated the guilt he felt. He hadn't bugged Tyler much about what was going on between him and Jenna because the fact of the matter was, he already knew. Jenna had called him crying earlier that day.

She'd been calling him more and more the last couple months, mostly to bitch about Tyler. I guess she thought he would understand since he had to put up with a lot of Tyler's emotional baggage which resulted in a lot of mood swings and paranoia. She would call him when he was with him and he had started lying for her, telling Tyler it was his mom. He figured it was just a phase, that she'd get over her doubts and be all about Tyler again. But that day never came. 

And Josh loved Tyler. They were like family. He never wanted to see him hurt or be the actual person hurting him. But he'd grown to love Jenna as well and it was tearing him up inside. 

At first, it was just a great friendship. She was always around, always laughing at his jokes. Sometimes they'd gang up on Tyler and really stick it to him. They were buds. 

But lately, the way she looked at him stirred up all the wrong kind of emotions. He hadn't let a single person know. Not anyone. Not even Jenna, although for some reason she chose him to reach out to. This only fuelled his desire for her. He wanted her to be happy. He wanted Tyler to be happy. He saw clearly that they were no longer happy together and he felt ashamed he played a part in it. 

Tyler had mentioned a few things about Jenna that bothered him, but he never went into detail. Things like, he thought she was someone else, that she didn't want to start a family, that she was letting things get to her head, that she was having too much fun without him.

Josh had boiled it down to Tyler's obsessive nature and how he had certain expectations about how he wanted his life to be. 

Josh was the total opposite. He wanted to have as much fun now as he could. He and Tyler were at a pinnacle in their career and he agreed with Jenna, why start a family now when they were on the road so much? He had a feeling that there was a little more than meets the eye concerning Tyler's expectations of marriage. Maybe Jenna had become too wild, too carefree, too rebellious. He didn't see the problem with that. He didn't think Tyler would ever be such a square either, so he was confused.

But right now, Jenna was his mission. Where would she have gone?

He took the elevator down to the Casino lobby but didn't see her anywhere, just mangles of people wandering around with hopes of winning big.  He walked through the slots to the bar, but no luck. He did a few laps around the poker tables and the roulette station. Still no sign of her.

He took out his phone and texted Tyler.

-did she come back up?

-negative, I'm with Steph, headed to her room.

Josh raised his eyebrows at that text. He figured Tyler must really be out of it if he thought Jenna would appreciate him being alone in a hotel room with another woman, even if he was just looking out for Jenna's friend.

But where was Jenna?

He decided to check outside before heading down to the restaurant and buffet area. He knew he'd just get sidetracked by all the food.

He made his way outside around the back of the Casino and marched his way around to the front. The air gave him a chill. He was just in a white t-shirt and black jeans. He'd left his coat on the bus before it dropped them off. 

When he turned the corner and walked up to the waterfall they had noticed on their way to the party, he saw her sitting on one of its outer benches with her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her knees in a grey woolen shawl.  

She looked breathtaking. Even with her eyes filled with tears and her mascara smudged and her tangled blonde hair blowing in the soft breeze, Josh had never seen anything more stunning.

He knew what he had to do.