Falling Too ~ Josh Dun

Eighteen

Allison POV

I woke with a start to find the other side of the bed empty.

I sleepily sat up searching for Josh, after I came too, I noticed the shower was running.

"I'll just wait till he gets back before getting up," I thought as I checked my phone. It was only slightly after 4 in the morning. I wondered why Josh was up so early. Then the anxiety hit, I was leaving with 3 guys I've only know for about 3 weeks. I'll be gone for 7 days with no escape route. This is the stuff of movies and nightmares. This was not a good idea. But I guess it's too late to back out...

I could feel my breathing quicken searching for a way out. Right as I was considering faking an illness or PMS, Josh walked in drying his hair with a towel. He was wearing a plain white shirt and ripped black jeans.

"Oh good, you're up!" He said with a kind joy that was unique to him.

I tried to hide my anxiety. If nothing else, I get to spend 7 days with my guy. And that was worth it.

"Hey," I said through a yawn as he sidled over to the bed and sat down next to me.

"How'd you sleep, baby?" He asked genuinely as he held my hand.

I sighed "it was lovely."

"Not as lovely as you I'm sure." He said with a half smirk, half blush.

He remained holding my hand but dropped the towel that was in his other one and moved it to cradle my cheek. He was so warm. He radiated love. He stared deeply into my eyes, a soft smile forming.

"Ally, there is no one else I would rather go on tour with. I'm so glad you decided to come along."

Before I could gather my thoughts enough reply, his warm lips were on mine.

I could have stayed there for ever but we were rudely interrupted by a harsh knock on Josh's door.

"JOSH you better be awake!!" Tyler actually yelled from the opposing side.

Josh pulled off me with the greatest look of annoyance I've ever seen. He took long strides to the door and angrily opened it.

"What? Tyler you woke up Ally." He said, lying to try and pull Tyler back to the world where other people existed.

"Dude. Your shirt is actually sticking to your chest. Could you dry off any less?" Tyler said. "And is Ally still in bed? You know it's like 4:15 right?"

I groaned, audibly annoyed, to help Josh's case.

"Tyler, I know we're all supposed to be down stairs by 4:30. We will be there. Now please leave." Josh sounded like an exasperated and angry father.

"Fine" Tyler answers and shuts the door.

"Now where were we?" Josh asked walking slowly back towards me, running his hand through his damp hair. The look on his face made me feel nervous. It also reminded me to have a talk about my much-needed boundaries and my past. I let that roll off not wanting to think about either.

"Joshy, Tyler is annoyingly right. I should get up." I sprang out of bed quicker than he could get back to where I sat. "I gotta change my clothes," I said hinting it was time for him to leave.

"Okay, I'll go make us some coffee." He sweetly smiled, understanding what I needed.

He grabbed his phone that's was on his dresser and walked out.

I let myself take a few seconds to decompress before putting on new clothes. My most comfortable pair of jeans, a pullover hoodie, a beanie and a pair of slip-on shoes. I looked in the mirror, reassuring myself of what I saw. My hair looked nice, I had clear skin, my outfit was very good, and I was going to spend 7 days with my boyfriend. I could do this.

I grabbed my last few things from Josh's room and the bathroom down the hall before walking downstairs.

Josh whistled at me when he saw me causing me to blush. He abandoned his spot in the kitchen to cross over to me.

He carefully placed one hand on my hip and the other around in-between my shoulder blades.

"You are beautiful, Ally." He said in a handsomely low tone.

We stayed embracing each other until the coffee pot beeped.

"Oh, sweet coffee" we heard Mark and Tyler say in unison as they came into the kitchen.

5 minutes later, we all sat around the kitchen table with our cup of coffee and a frozen waffle. Tyler went over every point of the itinerary in great detail.

Mark, who sat across from me, rolled his eyes every time Tyler said: "got it?". Which was quite frequently. It made me laugh which just made Tyler more agitated.

"This is gonna be fun..." Josh sarcastically mumbled under his breath.

"Alright. Everyone go to the bathroom one more time and double check you have everything before meeting in the van when?" Tyler asked.

"5:05" Mark, Josh and I all answered together.

"He'll relax once we're on our way right?" I asked Mark.

"Oh, not a chance." He responded with a goofy grin.

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Josh POV

The four of us sat in our crappy white van. Mark was taking the first shift driving. Tyler was in the passenger seat, finally starting to relax.

Asleep, Ally and I shared a bench seat towards the back.

She looked so beautiful, so small and fragile. I had angled my body into the corner so she could be more comfortable. My arm wrapped around and I drew patterns on her upper thigh. Her legs we tucked up on the seat so I could easily reach to her toes if I wanted.

I tried to pull her close to me to pad for any bumps in the road. I kept tracing mindless patterns on her as the Ohioan scenery folded back. I couldn't get my mind off seeing her scars yesterday. It made me angry to think about. That this beautiful girl could ever be hurt so badly to do that. I didn't like being angry so I tried to think about nice things.

That I could spend this much time with this girl that made me so happy. I wanted nothing in the world more than to keep her safe. I know she hasn't had a good past, I want to show her that things can be better. That people do love her, no matter what issues she may have. But I also had to remind myself to go slowly with her and give her time...

"Josh...?" Tyler asked almost sing songish. Indicating he had been trying to unsuccessfully get my attention.

"Yeah, sorry," I answered snapping back to this dimension.

"I asked if you were hungry? Should we stop for lunch?" Tyler asked with an air of concern in his voice.

"Lunch? What time is it?" I asked. I thought we'd only been in the van for an hour, max.

"Almost 12. So stop then?" Tyler answered.

"Um yeah. Wherever you guys choose."

I looked down and the girl sleeping in my arms. I hated to wake her up, but she probably was hungry.

"Ally," I whispered and I tried to gently shake her. She just sighed and wiggled a little bit. It made me smile, but I tried again. This time her eyes fluttered open to show her deep hazel eyes staring into my mocha brown ones.

She gave a small smile when she registered where she was.

"Good morning, Jishwa." She mumbled.

"Good morning, Ally girl," I said smoothly as I brushed the hair from her eyes and helped her sit up. "We're stopping for lunch so I thought I should wake you up in case you were hungry."

She sleepily nodded her head as she brushed the hair out of her face.

Man, she's cute.