<Claire's POV>
I jump up, running to the ambulances to show the paramedics to my mom. I'm still having a full fledged panic attack, so everything goes by like a blur. All I remember is the paramedics using a defibrillator on her once or twice, and then announcing she was dead. Then everything went black.
---
I wake up on the couch with a raging migraine.
"Oh. Oh god. That hurts," I mumble under my breath.
"Claire! You're awake. Do you remember anything? You fainted last night," Josh explained. He looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep. It was already morning, so I imagined a pretty large amount of time had passed.
"All I remember is the paramedics using the defibrillators and then... no... I remember they said she died. My mom is dead. I don't have a family anymore. No. Nonononono.... Oh god. I can't pay for this house... I can't access her funds... I'm dead meat, Josh," I crumble with every word I say.
"Oh no. That's horrible... I don't know what to do..." Josh sets his forehead into his hands. He's crumbling under the weight of pressure that just hit him like a boulder.
"I don't know either..." I sigh. I've lost almost all hope. Josh suddenly perks his head up.
<Josh's POV>
Claire had just lost the last of her family, as I was just informed by her anxiety attack. I didn't know what to do. I suddenly had an idea, it may work, but I didn't quite know yet.
"Hey Claire?"
"Mhm?"
"I think you could go on tour with us. Since you have no place to go now, we could take you in."
"What? No. I'd just be a stupid bother to you guys," she said.
"Actually no. Tyler likes you already, have you noticed that? That's kind of hard to do in less than a day of knowing him. I should know, I've known him for five years now," I laugh a little.
"You sure? I wouldn't want to be a nuisance," she asked.
"Absolutely," I assured her.
"Well, since I have literally nowhere else to go except hit the streets, okay."
"Awesome! I'll tell Tyler," I say, opening my phone.
Josh👽 and Tyler💀
J: I know, I know, it's really sudden but Claire's kinda homeless now.
T: If you're asking me if we could take her in, then absolutely. We have a few extra bunks, so that's a good thing. Tell her to pack her things. Bus call is at 2:00.
J: Will do. Thanks man.
T: Not a problem.
"He said yes. Pack your things. Bus call is in a few hours, so we gotta get moving," I inform her.
She shoots up the stairs like a kid on Christmas in reverse.
Within about 10 minutes, she's down the stairs again, now with a largely sized suitcase.
"Great. Shall we?" I get up to walk to the door.
She nods without a word.
---
After I return the rental car, I got a cab to the approximate location of the bus. I see Tyler standing by the front door of the bus, waiting.
"Hey Josh, Claire," he greets, before giving Claire a hug. "Extremely sorry for your loss," he mumbles.
"Thank you, Ty," she gives him a sad smile.
After Claire gets her bag in the storage area of the bus, we hang out for a bit. Yet again, another awkward silence in the past 24 hours I've known Claire now. It gives me time to think.
So, her mom just died. But how? I'm not gonna ask that right now. I'll wait a few days and see if she wants to talk about it.
My mind jerks to another topic.
Am I going too fast with Claire? No, all I did was get her number. And who knows if I actually do have feelings for her, anyway?
Claire sighs and puts her head in her hands. I couldn't help it but ask like the sadly impatient but worried self I am, "You wanna talk about it?"
"Mhm," she said. Both Tyler and I look at her, telling her she has all of our attention.
"It started a couple years ago. My dad had been murdered by a gang in the city. My mom hadn't been okay since then. She started to take mental pain killers, but it got out of hand as she continued. Her pain got so bad to the point where she was downing almost 20 pills at a time. All of the money she was paying for the medicine caused us to go into a bit of debt, which is why I couldn't go to college or move out. I tried to get her help, but she refused. I tried so much, but I just couldn't do it. Our relationship started to fall apart, to where saying a word to each other at all was a rare occasion. While I was gone doing my show, I think she got to the breaking point. I'd also found a container of the pills, which I quickly cleared out before you came in, Josh," I nodded. "And yeah. Josh called the ambulance, and it turned out she was gone for a while yeah?" She turned to me.
"Yeah, that's right," I replied.
"So, they couldn't save her. And even though we ended off with a horrible, almost breaking relationship, I still miss her now," she finished without a tear on her face, and I now understood the reason why.
She leaned back on the couch and said, "Change the topic?" Tyler was still looking at her with shock, but I nodded.
A/N: Whew. This chapter took a lot of thought. 969 words!1!1! Give me some ideas, and I'll see if I'll add them later on in the book. Until next chapter!!
