Pathways // Gawsten [Book 2]

11 - Fixing Mistakes

By the next day, Geoff and Otto still hadn't spoken to Awsten. Otto had remained in his room for the rest of the day with Geoff bringing him food periodically. No one blamed him for isolating himself, they completely understood. Geoff was avoiding Awsten as best as possible. Geoff was possibly more mad than Otto; he had explained everything he could to Awsten, and he was still acting out. He didn't know what to do with him anymore. 

Jawn was in the middle. He didn't know who he should be talking to, so he kept himself away, only talking when it was necessary. They all hoped by the next day it would be better, but no one was completely sure. 

In the morning, Otto, Grace, and Geoff were already downstairs in the kitchen, dressed, when Jawn comes downstairs. He was carrying his mac book and had an odd look on his face, almost like he was uncertain about something. Geoff was the first to notice it, and he immediately asked about it,

"What's wrong?" He asks before anyone can even greet him a good morning.

Jawn placed his mac book on the table and sighs, 

"People know you and Otto were in Houston alone." Jawn begins, and puts his hand up to stop Geoff from interrupting,
"And now they know you're back in England... Everyone's asking questions, and I'm not sure you guys have the answers."

Geoff and Otto immediately look at each other, both equally as nervous. They knew this was coming, but they'd never planned on it happening under these circumstances. They imagined when people discovered they'd been living in Houston, that they would still be in Houston. The two had never even considered they'd be back in England, acting like nothing was different.

"Could you guys not just say you needed to stay in Houston for the grieving process, but we wanted to be here?" Grace suggested, but Otto just sighed and shook his head,

"I don't feel okay lying to our fans." He said in a dull tone, and Geoff nodded in agreement,

"It's not like you can tell them the truth, bae." She said truthfully. She wasn't wrong, they couldn't just blurt out the whole truth.

"We'll have to speak to our management about it, amongst other things, and see what they want us to do." Geoff shrugged before standing up and putting his mug in the sink. Everything was suddenly so different again and none of them were expecting it. He stood in the kitchen, thinking for a few moments. Grace was right, in some capacity they were going to have to lie. It was unavoidable.

"You guys know me and Zakk will be here to help you guys all along the way." Jawn said, leaning against the kitchen wall, and smiling sympathetically at his friends. He was perhaps the most level headed out of them all. Even though he'd gone through it all like the rest of them, he'd always been the most calm one, and the one to recover from things. 

"We know, and we're very thankful." Otto said.

"We did have an idea though... I'm not saying reveal everything, but if your management agrees, we think you should make a video explaining everything." Jawn suggested timidly. He watched as Geoff turned around with an unreadable expression and watched as Otto's face blanked. But before either of them could say anything, Grace intervened,

"They'll think about it." She said warmly, and smiled at Jawn with a look that said 'drop-it'. 

After that, they were sat in silence until there was a knock at the door. Grace couldn't stop the way her heart began to beat quicker than usual; it had become an automatic response, after having her boyfriends death announced to her. Geoff stood up and walked to the door without saying anything until he opened it,

"Hello?" He asked, confused. On the other side of the door was a man in a moving uniform, and at the end of the driveway on the road was a moving fan.