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Six months later
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It was starting to get warmer. She liked the warmth better than the cold, but she had gotten used to it. The sun was more present now, but everything was much duller compared to when she was with Josh.
Josh.
Her heart ached at the thought of his name. He was back in Michigan now. Their tours were done, for now. But now it was more interview based. They were working on a new album, well, that was what Ronnie had told her.
When she had gotten back to Michigan, Jo was there to take her home. Emery had said nothing that night. She cried everything she could and she had been numb. Jo tried her efforts of talking but she soon stopped.
The next few months were hard for her. She had to get used to not seeing everyone again. She had to go back to what she used to do. Work, go on girls nights, and then back home. However, at night, she would look up Josh Kiszka on the internet just to see how he was doing. He looked worse than when she saw him. But he had to hit rock bottom. And every night, her finger hovered over his name to call him. And every night, she hesitated.
She went to the hearing of her sister and mother. Robert Windsor was on the run, but they had froze his bank accounts. He would never survive without his money.
Her sister, being the one who hurt Josh, was sent to ten years in prison with a chance of parole. Her so called mother was not so fortunate. Forty years. She, and Robert, had been doing embezzlement and selling drugs to their patients.
She looked her mother in the eyes that day and said, "You don't control me anymore."
She only frowned and turned away. But she had stopped and turned with a smile. "Was it nice meeting your father?"
"What?" Her eyes moved to someone behind her. Emery looked. Titus. Ah, that explained things. Emery turned with a smile, "Thanks!" Elvira was not expecting that kind of reaction and she was unhappy for it. "Good luck in prison. Maybe this will teach you how not to treat someone. Of course, they'll take advantage of you. Just like you did Josh."
After the court case was finished, she went on with her life. She didn't tell Titus that she knew who he was. She wasn't ready for that yet. She needed to go back into routine for now. She was still going to her therapy sessions with Dr. Adelaide. Things were going well and she had helped her cope with her break up.
Emery had decided to cut her hair short. She needed something different. She even colored the ends a little. She liked it.
"Emery," her boss broke her from her reminisce. "I have to leave. Close up shop, okay?"
She saluted him lazily with two fingers, "You got it, boss."
She flipped through her magazine, but stopped. It was her sister's trial. And it mentioned Josh's name. She cringed. I don't think he wanted people to know, but now they did. She passed it, going through a few more pages when she saw a Greta Van Fleet interview. They were being questioned about their band and everything, when the interviewer mentioned about the case.
"So, Josh, I understand that you went through something."
"Uh, yeah."
"And I wanted to know, how'd you get through it? How'd you cope?"
"Well, not very good at first. I pretty much shut out everyone. Especially someone very important to me. She was there through everything and I just took a lot of my anger on her though my words. I guess that goes against what we're preaching, yanno, with love, peace, and unity. I forgot myself completely. Until my brother yelled at me a few times. I had to hit rock bottom. I got the therapy that I needed. I'm not gonna be the same and I'm always going to be working on what happened to me."
"I'm sorry you went through that -"
The bell on the door rung and she looked up. "Welcome to... Oh, hey Jake."
"Hey." He stood there with his signature wild look and pulled his fingers through his hair.
"The records are in the next room."
"I, uh, wasn't here for that. I came to apologize."
"For what?" She straightened from her position on the counter.
"For what I said. Um, about you not being worthy to be with my brother."
Ah, he was focusing back on what Josh had said six months ago. "Jake, you were looking out for your brother. And you were right. I'm not."
"No, no." He moved forward, and huffed out a breath. "You don't understand. When you left... god, I wish I had made you stay. It was horrible. He was already broken, but then he just shattered." Emery heart tightened. Jake closed his eyes to shut out the memory.
"Jake, don't torture yourself. You did what you thought was best. I'm not judging you. I think in a way, it was good that we broke up. We were going through things. We couldn't save each other without one of us sinking."
Jake smiled tightly, "Who are you?"
Emery chuckled, "I know. I surprise myself sometimes." They were awkward for a few moments. "How is everyone?"
"Pretty good."
"That's good." She shook her head, finally getting the question out of the way. "How is he?"
"Better. Way better. It's almost like he's himself now."
Emery nodded, "That's good."
"Yeah. You should come by. We're having a barbeque and stuff, so?"
"Maybe. I don't know if I'm ready."
"Totally understandable. Um, I should get going."
"Alright. Have a good rest of your day!"
"You too."
She was glad that it was Friday. She was bailing on girl's night. She wanted a night just to herself. She thought she deserved it. She picked up the box of records that she needed to organize and went to the room with the records. It was too quiet for her likening and decided to play some music. And on the record player was Greta Van Fleet. She decided to go with it. She still loved their music. The songs flew by, but one made her stop. You're the One made her always think about him. He was the one, for sure. Maybe in the future they would cross paths.
She hummed to herself, disregarding the bell. If they needed her, they would find her. She slid a record in the right place and moved her hips to the song. She turned to get another one when she saw someone standing in the doorway. She stopped.
He was here. In the flesh. Only a few feet away from her.
