REPLAY [ krtele / kritz / krii7y ]

sᴇɪ

STAGE ONE, DAY THREE:

john keyes was on a plane to his hometown, the seating arrangement wasn't exactly ideal, but it was better then nothing.

john was by the window, toby sitting to the right of him. beside toby was mason with headphones shoved so far in his ears, john thought they might come out of his ass. behind john was cameron. behind toby was eric, the kid who insisted on keeping the weird helmet on his head. behind mason was jay, in the row next to john and friends was matt. they hadn't brought two other friends, so poor matt was sat in a seat all alone.

john had been on this plane for three hours now and he was getting a bit restless, his conversation with toby about the clouds had lost it's spark and died out exactly five minutes ago. he was bored again, so he opened his mouth. "d'you think dead people really go to heaven or hell?" he asked quietly, looking at toby.

toby looked up quietly, rubbing her eyes sleepily and shaking her head. "i think they go to their favorite place." she whispered, "i'd like to go to my favorite place when i die."

john smiled softly, his mind conflicted on pulling up a memory with jaren or a memory with toby. "that'd be nice," he whispered, looking down at the clouds below them. he hoped that jaren was in his favorite place, having the time of the life that he never got to fully experience.

"why?" toby questioned after a moment, her voice soft since mason was trying to fall asleep. also because eric was asleep behind him, eric never got much sleep.

"thinking about jaren," john confessed after a moment, "d'you remember him?"

toby frowned, nodding softly and remembering the funeral. it was a sad day for everyone, she remembered how john had collapsed in front of jaren's coffin. she remembered how his mother's boyfriend had dragged him out of the church to calm him down and how he didn't return to the ceremony. "i remember jaren," she whispered after a few minutes of silence. "he was such a sweet boy."

john had to focus on keeping his tears inside before speaking, "i miss him sometimes." he whispered, "i..i miss him."

"that's okay," toby assured him, "it's alright to miss him. you were real close with him, weren't you?"

john went to tell toby that he and jaren had dated, but he didn't want toby to connect the dots. he didn't want toby seeing that john gave jaren hanahaki, "yeah..we were."

he could just imagine jaren next to him, his bright brown eyes looking up and his mouth opening to tell toby that, actually, the two had dated. however, jaren would never be opening his pretty mouth again, because john had ripped his life away from him.

⏪

toby and john had talked for hours, only stopping when john started coughing loudly, earning looks from older people on the plane. they looked back to their respective places when john stopped.

but john had only stopped because three lilac petals lay on his elbow, of course, he couldn't let toby see what flowers they were and quickly hid them. only to hear a soft, "you have hanahaki, john?" erupt from toby's mouth.

john sighed, nodding quietly. toby looked heartbroken, to say the least, looking at john with wide..concerned eyes. "get the surgery, please? who gave it to you?"

"it's nothing, rocky, they'll love me soon enough." john assured her, smiling softly.

"what if they don't?" toby whined quietly, john frowning.

"i'll get the surgery before the third stage, alright?" he whispered.

"what far into it are you?" toby chewed on her lip, trying to come up with a way to save this unsaveable boy.

john keyes shifted, shrugging quietly. "if mine is like jaren's..i'll be in the second stage by midnight tonight."

toby's mouth opened slightly, shaking her head. "get the surgery, john, please?"

"it's alright, rocky." john whispered once again, leaning back and closing his eyes, throwing the petals into his bag.

toby nodded hesitantly, leaning her head back and only stopping when a soft 'thump' resulted from her head hitting the back of the seat. her eyes fluttered closed and john watched her for a minute.

⏪

midnight, 12 a.m. john woke up to his body shaking violently as he choked, toby jerking awake at the rustling and watching john.

john didn't know she was awake, choking for a moment before coughing into his elbow. he retched, coughing loudly before slowly settling down.

toby closed her eyes, john moving his elbow and setting four full lilac petals resting on his elbow. he moved slightly, not noticing when one fluttered away from his arm and landed on toby's lap.

john keyes tossed the petals in his bag, closing his eyes and slowly drifting off to sleep. that's when toby decided to open her eyes, seeing what had landed in her lap and feeling the tears prick at her eyes.

toby lyons had just realized that she had given john keyes hanahaki, and he wasn't going to give up in trying to get her to love him.

the only problem with that? the boy that toby lyons loved did not sit to his left, he sat to his right.

because the boy he loved was mason bradford, not john keyes.

as cameron mckay had told john, he'd get his payback for what he had done to jaren. because karma truly was a bitch.

( four more chapters 👀 )