Together let's breathe - Josh Dun fanfic

16. Josh

"Is this the last time I'll ever see you?" This is my last shot. Maybe saying this is a little dramatic, but I want to get through to Marie. Maybe the idea of losing me forever will make her rethink what she is saying.

"It doesn't have to be."

I almost say "It won't be if you come with me now." However after a moment I realize what she is really saying. She is offering me a chance to prove myself. She wants to trust me, but she can't yet. Honesty I don't blame her for feeling that way. What proof have I given to her that I am the man I say I am? Right now all she knows is I like having sex and that Debby still wants in my life.

"I'll make sure it isn't." I accept her challenge.

...

I'm back on an airplane headed back to a place that isn't home. Marcus sits next to me and next too him is a woman that got Marie's unused ticket. Nobody on the plane seems to know who I am so I can pretend I'm nobody. I can blend in and be a random stranger. No one knows that the man next to me is more than a friend, but here to protect me. They also don't know that the woman next to him was supposed to be someone else.

"Maybe we started out too big, like you need small things to show you care." Marcus says.

I feel a buzzing in my pocket and pull out my phone to ignore a call from Tyler. I told him what time our flight was leaving and that I would call him before. I also told him I'd be able to bring Marie back.

"Yeah I think you're right. I just need to figure out what I can do from the road."

"Lucky for us, we have a few hours on this flight to think about it." Marcus is the forever optimist and can always find the good in anyone. Maybe that is an odd trait for someone who has the job of recognizing the one bad guy in a crowd of thousands, but he makes it work. "Tell me what you know about her and I can help you with your next step."

Even in my short time with her I feel like a know a lot. I know how her blue eyes sparkle in the sunlight and shine through the dark. I know that she tries to hide her face when she laughs. I know that she has a scar on her knee from falling off her bike when she was five. I know she has a tattoo of a skull on her shoulder that is covering up a butterfly she got when she was seventeen. I know she has a soft low moan that she only makes when I clamp my finger tips onto her hips. I know she is smarter and more beautiful than she thinks she is.

"Her favorite flowers are sunflowers." I say.

"Now that is something we can work with."

It's almost midnight by the time I get to my hotel room. I stand with my shoulder leaned against the wall staring at my empty room. This room looks like the room Marie and I stayed in after our date. It looks like the bed where I was sitting when I first saw her in the shirt I now sleep in every night. This is a room I can't be in alone.

To Tyler: Can you come to my room?

Tyler: Number?

To Tyler: 223

I hear footsteps down the hall then a knock at my door. I open it to see Tyler with dark circles under his eyes and his hair a mess.

"Did I wake you?" I ask moving aside letting Tyler walk into the room.

"I couldn't sleep until I knew you were okay. When you ignored my calls I texted Marcus so I at least knew you were alive."

"I'm sorry I just needed time to think before I could talk about it."

"I worry about you Josh."

"I know."

I know because he has had to worry so many times before. Long before Debby and Jenna it was just the two of us. The first time it happened was when Tyler was living with his brother Zack and I was living in a tiny crappy apartment trying to make it on my own.