The Boy I Used To Know ( A Josh Hutcherson FanFic)

Chapter 32

Annie is in her apartment, sweeping the dust off empty shelves and arranging her books on to them, when the phone rings.

"Hey, Silverman."

She takes a deep breath before answering. She knew he'd be calling for her to come back to Kansas. Annie was done with the whole crawling-back-on-her-knees thing.

"What is it, Kayne?"

He chuckles in reply. It's been weeks since they last spoken to each other. And by last spoken, she means last spat at each other. Annie looks at the time on her watch.

"Look, Kayne. You have exactly 2 minutes to tell me what you want. I am busy."

"Annie, I'm sorry."

"No, you're not."

"I don't care if you accept it or not. It just needed to be said. And Josh--"

"No, I am going to stop you right there. If you're here to relay a message, you can hang up."

"He's done for."

She doesn't reply. Her grip on the phone tightens.

"Annie? Look, if you don't want to talk, just listen to me, okay?"

She remains silent.

"He's been throwing his pills out. No more chemo, no more treatments. Josh doesn't want to continue and the doctors can't do much to convince him otherwise. After Nurse Judy was transferred, he hasn't been able to trust anyone but me."

"What is his parents' decision?"

"They haven't visited or called in awhile. Off in Ibiza with Lucas. Bad cell signal, apparently."

"Are they still paying for his treatment?"

"He wrote them to cancel it. He's just boarding for now, until they return. Your mom was here a couple of days ago. She says she can take him in but he refuses to go with her."

Annie shakes her head in frustration. Here it is again, the guilt-tripping, the messing-with-her brain.

"Tell him I am in New York and I won't be able to fly home for another couple of months. At least not until my paycheck comes in."

"Paycheck?"

"From the Met. I've got a job here now, Kayne, as impossible as it sounds."

"No, no. I am glad you got the job."

She doesn't know what else to say. It is not like she is going to pack up and fly across the country at a moment's notice. Annie sighs.

"I'll tell him about the job. Come back or don't, it's your choice."

The phone clicks, followed by a low buzz.

***

Josh turns around to face the window. Kayne had left it open so he wouldn't feel so claustrophobic. A nurse enters the room, setting his food down, and clears her throat.

"Joshua, eat something. I've pulled some strings to get you your mac and cheese. Don't let it go to waste."

Josh simply shrugs his shoulders and pulls the covers over his head. The nurse shakes her head in exasperation before leaving. Nobody quite cares anymore, Josh thinks. He knows the entire ward is against him, even his family, Annie, Kayne. He knows he isn't worth the thousand of dollars spent on his treatments, because he's never going to get better.

Josh falls into a light slumber, the mac and cheese sitting untouched at the corner of his bed.

Kayne walks into the room, his crutches make a loud clacking sound that wakes Josh up. He hobbles over to Josh's bed and presses a light kiss on his lips.

"Good whatever-time-it-is, love. I just got off the phone with your girlfriend."

"Don't say that," Josh groans.

"Say what? Girlfriend?"

"Yeah. She's not my girlfriend anymore."

"Sure, if you say so. Listen, she's got a job at the Met, so she won't be able to fly--"

Josh sits up on his bed, a surprised look on his face.

"The Met?"

"Yeah, the fucking Met. Anyway--"

"Why is she in New York? She's got school!"

"Hutcherson, jeez! It's summer and she's probably interning, I don't know. Point is, she's not coming back until she gets paid."

"Oh, whatever then."

"Don't 'whatever then' me, Josh. If you're disappointed, I can try again."

"No, don't bother her, Kayne. It's fine."

Kayne exhales angrily. For once, he has had enough of Josh's self-pitying.

"Fine. When you pull the damn plug, I hope you're happy, surrounded by all these chairs and my empty flower vases. You're pushing everyone away, Hutcherson."

Josh looks away, speechless. He knows Kayne is right.

"Maybe you are better off on your own," Kayne spits, right before he closes the window shut.

***

Annie contemplates over a cup of tea. She looks at the crooked clock on her wall and places her head on her palms, tired of her situation.

After a long day of work, all she truly needs is a warm hug and maybe, just maybe, to hear his voice once more.

She picks up her phone and goes on Facebook. Her mother had just uploaded a picture of her at some picnic with some people Annie doesn't even know. Good to see that her mom is getting out of her comfort zone, she thinks. She scrolls down further.

Her finger stops scrolling when she sees a status update by Josh's mother. There's a picture of them on a yacht, drinking champagne. Lucas looks happy with a goofy hat on. Josh's dad looks happier, holding up a bottle of Bollinger in one hand and holding onto his wife's hand with the other. They're as far away as they can be from Kansas, from Josh. Her heart starts pounding, anger begins to rise as she types out a comment.

But she immediately deletes it. It's not worth her effort. They're moving on even before he's gone. She knows he's alone and he's more alone now, without her or his family, than he's ever been.

She closes the app and switches to her dialler. Her thumb knew exactly what to type before she places the phone to her ear.

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A/N: Hello again, everyone. I'm back with another chapter. Honestly, if you're still reading, hit me up and I'll write you special something. It's been a year since I last updated and almost five years since I started this story. Thank you for all your support. I am going to continue writing the next few chapters and you'll finally be able to see how things end up for Josh, Annie and Kayne. Until then, don't forget to vote, comment and all the good stuff.