The Boy I Used To Know ( A Josh Hutcherson FanFic)

Chapter 17

It's been two weeks. Two weeks since Annie walked out and didn't come back. Josh is lying on his bed, wide awake at 4am as usual. A part of his brain won't shut up about Annie and how he was so stupid to not even give it a try. Another annoying distraction is Kayne. Three weeks was all it took to beg the nurse-in-charge to secretly move him somewhere else. Like Josh's head, Kayne wouldn't stop reminding him about Annie or their conversation before she stormed out. He was a broken record, going on and on about how Josh should stop keeping her hanging, as if something was bound to develop eventhough it won't. If he didn't know any better, he'd think Kayne was trying to drive a wedge between them. Then again, he' only known him for 3 weeks.

What kept him up tonight was a particular conversation he'd overheard. While he was fake sleeping last afternoon, his dad had visited him and his doctor came in. A few snippets of the conversation kept replaying in his head like the music in Walmart on loop.

".... there aren't any changes in the result..."    "....getting better, even in the slightest?"

"I'm sorry."   "Tell me, doctor..."   "...time is precious..."   "How long...."

"Treasure it, Mr Hutcherson. I'm sorry."

Every reply was a blow to his chest and when he tuned back in again, another reply knocked him back out. Time is precious. As he thought about it, his heart raced. His time couldn't be up, not yet. He sat up and leaned over to read his medical report. There was an awful lot of messy scrawls of medical terms that he didn't understand. He stared at it blankly for awhile then put it back just as Kayne shifted in his sleep.

"Dude, you're up? It's like 3 in the morning." He complained, voice rough with sleep. "Go back to bed then. And, for the record, it's 4am." Josh replied coldly. Kayne groaned but he sat up, ruffling his hair.

"I couldn't shut my damn brain." Josh told him. Kayne nodded. "Are you thinking..."

"No, not about her." Josh said. Kayne nodded again. They were silent for awhile.

"You know when you told me you loved her, did you mean it?" Kayne asked. "Can we change..."

"No, answer me, Josh." Kayne looked at him with eyes so intense, Josh just swallowed and gave in. He sighed before nodding. "You really did?" Kayne pressed. "Yes. Yes, damn it, Kayne. Now will you quit..."

"But you can't?" Kayne asked, ignoring Josh's plead to change the subject. He sounded like he was trying to make sense of it. 'What do you want, Kayne?" Josh asked.

"To understand. You. Annie. I never really--" The he stopped and started again. "You love her but you can't have her because you don't want to want her. Is that it, Josh? How cliche, though, right? Forbidden love and all that bullshit." He chuckled. Josh kept quiet, he didn't want to have the same conversation all over again but he didn't have anything to do and maybe, just maybe, he needed to listen to Kayne's blabbering to make his thoughts from earlier go away.

"Look, Josh. Like I've said 37 times, make a decision. Let her go or make her stay. Your choice, man. Dont keep her--"

"Hanging on. Alright, alright. Jeez, Kayne. When I asked for a roommate, I didn't expect to be given a psychotherapist."

Kayne rolled his eyes. "Sometimes, there are things you have to let go. Have you never heard of that quote? Um... what was it?"

"If you love something, let it go. If it was meant to be, it'll come back." Josh replied, monotonously.

"Exactly!"

"But in my case, things are different.There isn't any time to wait." Josh told him. "That's why I'm so confused. I want her, I want to love her, even if it is only for a short while but if I do and then I die, I'm not the one who'll have to live on with a broken heart and have to accept the fact that the person I love has died."