The Tattoo // Joshler AU

Chapter Twenty Six pt. 2

"Josh? Josh!" I felt small hands shaking my body violently.

"Debby? What are you doing?" I asked groggily, rubbing the sleep from my surely bloodshot eyes.

"Josh! I was so scared. I came home and saw you like that, I thought..." She didn't have to finish the sentence. We both knew. It's odd how death is a topic so many shy away from. It happens, it happens every day, and yet people think that so much as talking about it will bring it upon. We should know better than to think it's such an expected thing all the time. Bad things come at unfortunate times.

"I'm okay," I assured, unsure of who I was trying to convince at that point. Debby frowned before grabbing my arms and pulling me up off the couch. I caught a look at my wrist.

The tattoo. It was fading.

"That's it! We're going out tomorrow whether you like it or not and we're gonna have some fun," she declared, and I knew there was no arguing.

"Okay."

"Now I guess we should probably both get some rest," she said. I nodded, already half-asleep as she exited the room.

~~~

I was painfully awakened by a blinding light filling the room.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Debby exclaimed cheerfully as she yanked open the curtains to let in the light. I groaned, pulling the blanket over my head to shield myself. Although, I couldn't help but smile. Debby cared about me, truly cared, when no one else did. "We're hitting the town."

"Fine," I grumbled, stumbling off the couch and wincing as I banged my ankle on the coffee table. I lay on the carpet on my back, holding up my arms as if in surrender. "I'm okay, I'm okay." Debby giggled. Things felt normal again, in that moment. It was nice.

"Come on, we're getting coffee," she announced. My thoughts immediately went to Tyler. It was the closest coffee shop and, let's be real, the best in town. Debby had gone out and brought us drinks from there on many occasions, tearing off the label so I wouldn't know, but I always did. But actually going there, seeing him, that would be harder. But...I think I was finally ready.

I knew I'd want to see him eventually, before my time was up. I just didn't know it would feel so soon. Granted, I only had 6 days left before I died, it just all went by too fast. Maybe it was time to see him.

"Don't worry, he doesn't work Sundays," Debby said assuringly. Oh. Well then.

"Uh.. okay. Sounds great," I muttered, slipping on my shoes and a jacket. It didn't matter that it was already March, I still felt cold all the time. Just another unfortunate symptom of my approaching demise. Great.

"You get a table, I'll get our drinks," Debby offered once we got to the cafe. I nodded in response, looking around for a good table. I settled on one with three chairs by the window, using all my strength to move one of the chairs over to a bigger table that only had two anyway. And then I sat down and waited for Debby, tapping my fingers against the cold metal of the table's surface.

I let my cheek rest against the window, my breath forming a foggy cloud on the glass, in which I drew a heart with my finger. It quickly faded.

"Hey! Got our drinks," Debby said cheerfully, winking as she set them down on the table, tearing me from my thoughts. I smiled at her, taking a sip of the hot coffee. Suddenly, I heard the ring of the bell that indicated someone walking in. Debby's eyes widened.

"...fine, but next time you want someone to take your shift, don't call me." I knew that voice. It was a hard one to forget. Maybe I'd get to see Tyler today after all.

"Don't look now, but...someone's staring at you," she whispered, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. I rolled my eyes. We both knew who she was referring to, and I couldn't help but turn my head and look at him, only for three seconds. And that's when I found out how long a second can really be.

The first second, our eyes met, and he seemed to look right through me, as if he didn't even know me. He seemed ghostly, broken.

The next second, he looked sad, lonely even, staring into my eyes with this terrible, guilty and pained look.

And the third, his eyes were welling with tears, and I knew he was sorry. He said it all with his expression, with the way his hair was messy and face was unshaven, and in those three seconds, it didn't matter how much he'd hurt me.

Because I could see how much he regretted it. And in three seconds, we had an entire conversation with nothing but our eyes. And then my gaze shifted down, down to his hands, his right one and then his left, down to the finger where his engagement ring rested only a few weeks earlier. And where it rested no longer. I stood, walking over to him, the rest of the world fading away until it was only us.

"Tyler..." I had no words, I had no idea what to say. I had no idea wether I should forgive him or berate him. All I knew was that I'd missed him, and that I wanted him in my life during my final days.

"Josh, I'm sorry, I was just overwhelmed and I didn't know what to say, and Jenna was waiting for me back home and I just... I'm just so sorry," he explained. I shook my head to dismiss it. I would have forgiven him even without an explanation. I hugged him, not caring who saw.

"So you and her are really done?" I asked hopefully, preparing to hear him say no.

"Yes."

"Why?" I wondered aloud. They'd always been so close, it was odd how they'd split so quick. What happened?

"You," he answered simply, his voice sounding strained, as if he was going to cry.

"Me? I don't understand..." But he'd walked away. When I told him how I felt, he'd walked away, not so much as a glance in my direction. If he felt the same way, why would he do that to me? We could have been together all this time, but he made me think he didn't like me.

"I was with Jenna, I didn't want to admit it, I thought she was my soulmate for years. You have to understand it was difficult for me to just let her go."

"What do you mean? She treated you like trash, and you had trouble 'letting go' of her? The moment I saw the initials on your wrist, I knew. I knew we were meant to be together. And I also knew I was going to die in six days until now, now you're just barging into my life and changing everything I had planned. You hurt me! I told you time and time again that Jenna wasn't right for you, but you never listened."

Tyler looked shocked. "So, you don't want to be with me?"

"Of course I do!" I exclaimed. "I always have. But you can't expect me to just be over this in an instant. I forgive you, of course, but you still hurt my feelings. You made me think I was going to die. I've been on Debby's couch for nearly a month, I haven't gone out, I've been coughing up blood, I'm tired all the time. And it's not your fault if you didn't feel the same way about me that I did about you, but if you did, you should have just told me."

"I know. I know I should have told you," he whispered.

"It's okay," I sighed. "Just kiss me, you idiot." He grinned, complying with my request.

And I swear I'd never felt so alive, and not just because I was, well, no longer dying.

People try to describe what it's like, but you really have to experience it. And once you have, you simply just know you were never supposed to be with anybody else. It's so...perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

A/N: and that's a wrap !

thank you all for following me along throughout the amazing journey of this story and i really really hope you all enjoyed it as much as i did. and again, thanks to all my readers and fans, i love all of you so much

~ b.c.