"A Sanctuary Safe and Strong"(Marianas Trench)

Chapter 19

Josh disappeared back down the hallway, hesitating for a minute before he allowed himself to turn the doorknob and let himself into the spare bedroom. As Matt had said, the mess was cleaned up, the bed was made and the suit that had been hanging on the mirror was no longer in sight. "Matt...," he said, shaking his head, still not quite believing that the guitar player would go to so much trouble just for him. Josh had always sort of known that he was important to his friend and bandmate, but it wasn't until now that he realized how much he really meant to Matt. Not everyone would go that far just to make sure he was okay.  

Glancing over his shoulder once more, he still couldn't get rid of the anxious feeling that he was being watched, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary even when he eased the closet door open and peeked inside just to be sure. Thank God. Josh shut the door and quickly moved back across the room to pull open the drawer of the nightstand. Inside, he found both his wallet and cell phone, right where Matt said they'd be. Score another one for the brunet. If his hair had been a honey blonde colour and he was female, about thirty years older, he really could have been Josh's mother with the way he was always pointing out the singer's lost items, the same way she had when he was younger. 

Shoving the drawer closed, Josh got the hell out of Dodge before the same panicked feeling from the night before came back and had him sprawled out on the floor, screaming for Matt again. He ducked into the bathroom to grab his jeans and tshirt from the curtain rod where Matt had hung them to dry. A little stiff, but still wearable, he figured, making his way back into the younger man's bedroom and shutting the door behind him. 

A brief phone call to the auto mechanic revealed that his car was ready to be picked up at any time. Josh was happy about that, but very unsure as to whether he'd be able to drive it without proper use of his right arm. Guess I'll figure that out when I get there. The real test, though, would be trying to get undressed and redressed all on his own for the first time. He hadn't needed this much help since he was three or four years old, and it infuriated him that he was so dependent on someone for something this basic now.  

"I can do this. I can damn sure do this," he said out loud, working to shimmy out of the sweatpants Matt had loaned him. Twenty seven minutes later found the singer lying on his back down at the foot of the bed with his feet planted on the floor, panting and sweating heavily. He'd managed to get undressed, leaving Matt's clothing, sans socks and underwear, in a pile on the dresser. Off was decidedly easier than on, Josh realized halfway through the project. 

He'd only managed to get his jeans pulled up to his thighs, and his tshirt was hanging loosely around his neck, but he couldn't manage to manipulate either article of clothing all the way onto his body. His sneakers were pretty much a lost cause, since he couldn't tie them with one hand, and just the idea of trying to do it had left them abandoned on the floor in front of the closet where Matt had apparently moved them the night before.  

"Fuck me," Josh whined, lightly tugging at the shirt and hoping it would miraculously slide the rest of the way onto his body. He took a deep breath and let go of the fabric between his fingers to reach up above his head. Grabbing at the immobilization sling he'd managed to pull off when he'd first started this stupid endeavor alone, he pulled it down onto his chest then raised it into the air, flinging it across the room. The blond cringed when it hit the wall with a loud thud. "Goddamn fucking thing!" he yelled, groaning quietly and shoving his hand through his hair in frustration. 

A soft knock on the door caught his attention. "Josh?" Matt's voice came through from the other side, sounding concerned. "You okay, man?" The singer could hear the hesitation in his voice. "You need help?" 

Gritting his teeth and feeling his cheeks flush with more embarrassment and defeat, Josh nodded, even though the younger man obviously couldn't see through the wall. "Yeah," he replied just barely loudly enough for Matt to hear him. 

"Decent or not, I'm coming in." The door opened and the expression Matt had on his face was pity, which Josh immediately hated, but understood. He saw the brunet slowly look him over from head to toe, visibly taking in the half-dressed mess that he saw lying in a irritated heap on the bed.  

"Well, you got part of the way there, anyway." A slight smile played across his face as he strolled up to the edge of the bed. "Sit up." 

The singer took the brunet's hand and heaved himself upright. His shirt was carefully pulled over his arms and dragged down his torso, his shoes were untied, slipped onto his feet and re-knotted. Then, once he stood, his pants were hauled up and fastened. Finally, Matt retrieved the sling near the wall across the room and dropped it over Josh's head, holding it in place while the singer shoved his arm into it, all without a single word about the audible fit the younger man had quite clearly overheard from the next room.  

"That was better than yesterday. We're getting pretty good at this. It only took fifteen minutes. Not bad for only the third time," Matt noted, looking over at the clock.  

"Maybe not for you," Josh muttered under his breath sarcastically, still bitter that he needed help for something like this. 

"What?" 

"Nothing," the blond responded, blowing Matt off with a shake of his head. Quick! Change the subject before he asks again, Josh thought, his mind racing through a list of things he could segue into. "Umm...so, my fuckin' car is finally fixed and ready. I can pick it up today if you still wanna, you know, give me a ride." 

"I said I would, man. If you're ready, let's go," Matt agreed, turning and striding out of the room, down the hall and straight to the front door. He pocketed his wallet and picked up the keys, twirling them around his finger while Josh tried his hardest to jam his own keys, wallet and cell phone into his pocket using only one hand. 

"Hey!" The younger man pointed at Josh's shoulder. 

"What??" he asked, looking up and over to his right, startled and worried that he was unknowingly bleeding to death again or something equally scary. 

"Can you drive like that?" 

It was just one more time that he was thankful for small favours. He'd bought an automatic instead of a stick-shift when he got his car and, had he gone the other way, he definitely would have been shit-outta-luck, for sure. "Dunno, dude, we'll see, won't we?" Josh raised his left shoulder in a shrug and walked out the front door toward Matt's car, leaving the guitar player trailing behind.