semi-automatic ; j.d

eighty eight ; so long and thanks for all the booze

yes the chapter name is from an all time low song

🌿🌸🌿

it's the middle of the night, and mia wakes up alone.

initially, she's not sure what brings her out of sleep - the lack of warmth beside her or the missing presence of josh's arms around her. either way, mia is confused.

"jish?" she calls out, voice scratchy from sleep and eyes heavy. after getting up from bed and bringing one of the throw blankets with her around her shoulders like a cape, she heads out of the bedroom.

her hand slides against the wall until feeling the light switch. the sudden gleam illuminating the otherwise dark hallway makes her wince, but even still she keeps walking through the apartment until she finds josh in the living room.

he's curled up on one side of the couch, phone in one hand while his other is being used to pet winston the cat who's perched on his lap.

"joshie? what are you doing?" asks the sleepy girl while pulling the soft blanket tighter around herself. she shuffles into the living room and slowly sits down beside josh.

he lets out a quiet exhale and wraps his arm around mia's shoulder. "i couldn't sleep. too much on my mind, i guess."

mia curls up to his side. "like what?"

"tour stuff," replies josh. it's three in the morning and his head is pounding from being up so late but he can't do anything about it when his mind won't let him fall asleep.

"but you love touring?" she points out, a small frown on her face.

josh nods, because he does. "i know, i know...just gets stressful, that's all. plus i'm not exactly looking forward to not seeing you."

"oh," mia blinks slowly. but she doesn't want josh to know that she's bummed out about that, too, so she quickly tries to make him feel better. "it'll be okay, josh. we'll be okay. b'sides, we still have a couple weeks till you go."

josh winces. "a couple days."

this takes her by surprise. "what? i thought you guys weren't leaving till november?"

"so did i," he replies reluctantly. "but apparently the booking schedule got moved up, so we're leaving a lot sooner than we thought."

mia doesn't want to know the answer to the question she's about to ask, knows it'll only make her sad. but for some reason she asks anyways. "how soon?"

instead of meeting mia's glance, josh stares down at the sleeping cat on his lap. "three days."

this is all it takes for mia to feel her heart sink with disappointment and her stomach twist with dejection. she swallows in attempt to rid herself of the forlorn emotions. "for how long?"

"two months in asia," josh begins, the weight of his words swallowing him whole and pressing hard on his chest. "and then another in canada, and then two in the u.s."

five. mia already hates the number the second she does the math. five months of sleeping alone, five months absent of kisses and cuddles and hugs. five months without josh.

"i mean i - i can probably come out to visit for a couple days in between," she says in attempt to make it seem less terrible than it actually is.