"L A B E L S"

Episode 110

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"It was only just a dream...so I travel back that road

Will you come back?

No one knows...

Cuz I can still feel it in the air

See your pretty face

Run my fingers through your hair...

It's was only just a dream." He finishes the slurred lyrics with a long swig of beer before leaning his back against the tombstone and looking up at the sky. "Are you there? It doesn't feel like you're here. Everyone says you can still feel someone's presence after they're gone but you died and...you're just gone. I can remember and I can see you clearly when I close my eyes but...I open them and you're still gone. No figments of my imagination...no gusts of wind...nothing. It's just empty." He takes another swig of the beer bottle in his hands while keeping his eyes focused on the starry sky above, the twinkling light scattered like glitter on a dark blue piece of velvet. "Maybe I should ask for a sign. People like asking for signs in movies. So...give me a sign, Dani. Give me some hope."

"What makes you think she's any less stubborn in death?"

Joe turns to his left to see a familiar blonde haired girl walking towards him, a quizzical look across her tanned face. "You shouldn't be here."

"I'm not so sure you should either." She sits down beside him, unconcerned with her new blue jeans on the dirty ground.

"You're supposed to be in the city, making something of yourself and instead here you are..." he turns to her, his face resembling that of a frightened puppy. "Why did you come back?"

"Because you're my best friend and right now you're hurting so here I am, right now." She smiles and gently bumps his shoulder, sending a small smile to his lips for only a moment.

"I'm sorry that you can't have one full week in the city without having to come back to babysit me," he apologizes before taking a swig of the beer in his hands.

She takes the beer from his after the last swig and shakes her head. "No, you're not; being sorry means attempting to change what you've been doing." She tries to come off as sounding humorous and stands to her feet before helping Joe stand as well.

He loses his balance a moment but quickly releases her hands once he gets to his feet. "You know, you don't have to come every time they call! Why do you pretend to care so much?!" His anger and frustration with himself was all pouring out towards her as his drunken slurs burned through the air like fire.

Taylor fumes at his words and at the situation as a whole. "The only one pretending here is you! Pretending that you're not strong enough to get through this, pretending that you need alcohol or me coming to babysit you every week for you to move on! You, Joseph Adam, are the strongest person I have ever met and Dani knew that! She gave you hope everyday she was alive because she believed that! To sit here, at her gravesite, with a bottle of beer and a hopeless attitude is a disgrace to her memory and everything she gave you before she left." She lowers her head for a moment as the beer bottle hang loosely in her left hand. "So, don't sit here, asking more from her. She gave you everything you could ever need," she steps forward and lets him hold the beer bottle while she straightens the collar of his shirt with a small smile, "you're just too drunk to see it."

He stares at her a moment, his eyes bloodshot but his mind very coherent. "Thank you."

She motions towards the car. "Go sit in my car, I'll be there in a minute." She jerks the beer bottle from his hand before nodding towards the car. Her eyes follow him as he walk in an effort to make sure he kept his balance. Once he is safely inside she allows herself to look down at the stone beside her feet. "He will be okay. I promised, remember?" She smiles before turning on her heel and following Joe's path to her parked car.