Small Town Southern Charm

Chapter Thirty

It’s been a few weeks and it was officially summer. I was going to the beach with Josh, Johnny, JoAnna, their dad and his wife. I was kind of skeptical at first but I gave in after a while. I knew that there was going to be an argument between Josh and Johnny but they both told me that there would be no arguments.
The second night at the beach we were all heading back to the hotel from the beach. As we were walking my phone began ringing, I looked down at the phone and seen Thomas’ name.
“Hey.” I greeted through the phone.
“You need to come home. Now.” Thomas spoke quickly.
“Why?”
“It’s Jody, you need to get here.”
“What? What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s sick. Just get here now.”

As soon as he said sick, I began crying. I had to get to my best friend, I had to get to her soon. Josh was looking at me like he wanted to know what was going on and Johnny was looking the other way talking to JoAnna.
“I need to go, I need to get home. Jody’s sick. I need to get there.” I told them.
“Can’t it wait? Just stay here and when we go home you can see her.” Johnny told me.
“Come on, I’ll take you there.” Josh told me while grabbing my hand.
‘Don’t even think about going with him.” Johnny told me while walking over to where we were.
“Johnny, let them go. Her friend is sick.” JoAnna said.
“No, she’s not leaving with him.”
“Johnny, I suggest you back the hell off of her. She needs to be with Jody, she’s going to be with Jody.” Josh told him.
Johnny followed us all the way to the car, telling me I better not get in the car with Josh. I looked back at Johnny before getting in the car to see his face full of anger. I cried the whole three hours home, Josh held my hand the entire time.
“She’s going to be okay, baby.” Josh told me just as we got to her apartment.

I ran into her apartment without knocking, I went straight to her room. There she was laid in her bed, pale and sad.
“Jody, what’s wrong?”
“I’m sick.”
‘How? What’s wrong?”
“I have cancer, Tara.”
“No, no. Please tell me you’re lying. Please.” I cried.
“I’m sorry Tara. I’ve known for a few months.”
“Since when, Jody?”
“A little while after graduation.”
“No, please. Please.”

Josh walked around the corner and came over to where I was. He wrapped his arms around my waist and helped me up from where I was.
“Let’s go outside for a minute, Tara.” He spoke softly.
“I can’t leave her, Josh.”
“She needs sleep, baby. We’re not leaving, just going outside so she can sleep.”

I agreed and we walked into the living room and sat down. Josh wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him. I was so upset about Jody but all I could think about was how Johnny had acted.
“Don’t worry about him, Tara.” Josh told me as we sat there.
“Why did he act that way?”
“Because he’s selfish.”
“I want to go tell Jody good night.” I told Josh while getting up from the couch. “Are you sleeping?” I asked as I walked in her room.
She shook her head and waved her hand for me to come over to her. I sat down on the bed beside her and she grabbed my hand.
“I want you to promise me something.” She spoke.
“Anything.”
“I want you to love Josh like it’s going to be your last day on earth.”
“I’m not with Josh?” I replied.
“You will be. I know you will and I want you to cherish every moment you can with him. I want you two to have beautiful babies even though I won’t be here to see them grow up.”
That made me burst into tears. Just her talking about not being here made me feel weak.
“You’ll be here.” I spoke softly.
“No, I won’t. I know I won’t, I know my time to leave is coming. I’m okay with it, I really am. I know I’ll see you guys again and I’ll be here with you guys, I promise. I want you to know that I love you both with everything I am, that’s why I didn’t tell you guys that I was sick. I hate that I’m not going to be here for you to talk to whenever you’re hurting. But you’ll be with Josh so you won’t be hurting like you have been. Josh loves you with everything he is, he wants you to be with him as much as you wanted to be with him a year ago.” She was starting to cry now.
“Shh, don’t cry.” I said while hugging her.
“I’m okay with dying, it just sucks that I won’t get to see you and Josh get married or have kids. I won’t get to be your bridesmaid but I know you’ll find someone for that spot.”
“No, I want you to be there.”
“But you know I can’t. You know I would if I could. You and JoAnna, you’ll become friends.”
“No, never.”
“I know you will.”
“How?”
“I can just feel it.” She smiled weakly.
“Go to sleep, Jody.” I spoke in a mere whisper.

“Okay, but if I don’t wake up in the morning…I want you to know that I love you and I’ll be with you.”
“Don’t talk like that Jody. You’ll wake up.”
“I don’t know. Good night Taralyn.”
“Good night Jody. I love you.”

I quickly walked out of the room before bursting into tears again. I fell to the ground and began sobbing.
“Shh, baby, it’s going to be okay.” Josh told me.
“No, it won’t. I’m losing my best friend, Josh.”
“I’m here for you.”
“That’s the thing. You’re here for me and my boyfriend isn’t.”
Josh didn’t say anything else to that, just wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. I cried and cried then cried some more. The entire time Josh held me close to him, I ended up falling asleep in his arms. When I woke up around 3 that morning, Josh was passed out with his arm around me. I slid out of his grip and tip-toed to Jody’s room. I looked in and she was sleeping peacefully. I slid into her bed and laid down beside her, I couldn’t believe that my best friend had cancer and she hadn’t even told me about it. I looked at her pale face and I just wished that I could take all of her pain and worries away.

“Tara, wake up. Come with me to get some new clothes.” I heard Josh whisper into my ear.
When I finally opened my eyes I noticed that I hadn’t just been dreaming about Jody being sick. There beside me, she was sitting up watching television with pale, sick skin. I wanted to hug her so bad and make her feel better but I was too scared that I would hurt her. She looked so fragile in this bed and it made me feel weak.
“Okay, do you need us to do anything Jody?” I asked while lifting up.
“No, I’m fine thanks. My nurse lady should be here in a little while.” She smiled weakly.
“Okay, we’ll be back as soon as we can.” Josh told her while grabbing my hand.

When we got in the vehicle to leave, I plugged my phone in to charge some and when it finally turned on, I had quite a few calls and texts. Most of them were from Johnny.

Texts:

1) Johnny [9:43pm]: Can’t believe you actually left with him. I thought you wanted to be with me.
2) Johnny [10:04pm]: Are you going to text me back?
3) Johnny [10:11pm]: Hello????
4) Johnny [11:36pm]: Baby, can we talk? Please? I need to explain.
5) Johnny [12:17am]: I’m sorry okay? I know I fucked up. I was selfish.
6) Johnny [1:13am]: What the hell ever. I can’t believe I have waited up all night for a text or call. I’m going to bed.

The last text was from a number I had never seen before but the message was sent at 6 in the morning. It read:
Hey Tara, this is JoAnna. I got your number from Johnny’s phone. I’ve been up all night with him and he is a mess. If I were you, I wouldn’t want to forgive him either. He was a complete asshole to you and Josh last night. He’s really sorry and I just wanted to let you know that. In case he didn’t already tell you that. We’re coming home today so we’ll probably be seeing you. Please, forgive me for the way that I had been acting towards you. I want you to know that I’m here for you through this and I would like to be friends. And I’m truly sorry about Jody, I know how close you are to her. Well, text me back if you want.

That text left me completely shocked, I honestly had no clue what to say to that text. Was JoAnna really being nice to me? Or did she want to throw something in my face.

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I know it’s been a while but I’ve been kind of busy with other things. I plenty of ideas in my little brain for the next story and I’m excited!
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