Ginny and Josh woke up the next morning turned away from each other, and on the opposite edges of the bed. Ginny felt Josh sit up, and she pretended to be asleep, she didn’t know what to say to him. After last night neither of them knew what to say to each other.
She heard him go into the bathroom and do what sounded like splash water on his face. She opened her eyes and swung her legs over the side of the bed, her cast cluncking on the floor when she hit the ground.
“Good morning...” Ginny said as Josh walked out of the bathroom.
“Morning.” Josh said as he sat next to her on their bed, “Can we not have it be like this?”
“What do you mean?” she said.
“We are both pretty screwed up in the head and hating each other or whatever you want to call this hostility, is not going to help anything.” he told her.
“Yeah I guess so... But how do we help this, situation?” she asked, scooting closer to him.
“Well I don’t think that acting as if nothing happened will solve anything, so maybe we need to talk about this Ginny.”
“But I don’t have anything to say. I said everything I needed to last night Joshua. I mean, I know you have things to deal with that I can do nothing about, and I have things to deal with that you can do nothing about.” she said, scratching her cast on the floor.
Josh sighed, he hated that she was right. With all his heart, he wanted to be able to help her, and he wanted her to be able to help him. But there really wasn’t much the other could do. Josh would never know what it is like to be left alone emotionally, and Ginny would never know what it was like to see the one you love so hurt.
Although the cause of their pains was no more, they both remembered what it felt like to have the pain.
“I have an idea.” Josh said, facing Ginny, “So we both have these memories right? Well why don’t we make new ones. Good ones. To replace the bad ones.”
Ginny smiled, “That’s pretty smart Joshua. I know where we could start.”
“Where is that?” Josh asked.
“You could sign my cast. I just so happen to have a sparkly silver sharpie on hand.” she said with a big smile as she handed Josh the marker and lifted her leg onto the bed.
Josh took the marker from her and wrote ‘Your Joshua’ on her bright pink cast.
“Your handwriting looks girly.” she giggled.
“Hey don’t criticize my handwriting I can still draw a penis on there.” he said with a straight face.
She laughed at his joke and then her face went blank, she went deep into thought.
“What is it?” Josh asked.
She looked at him, “I have to go back to work tomorrow. At least make an appearance. How much did you tell everyone?”
“I told them you had a cold, and that I tripped and fell and that was how I got my wrist thing, but you weren’t here for that. So I guess we have to turn a cold into a broken leg and a nasty face scar.” Josh listed off with a sigh.
“Joshua can’t we just tell them what happened, and not lie.” she said in that same sweet voice she’d used the night prior.
“Woah slow down there Mary Poppins, I lied to them all for almost three weeks. They’ll get mad at me if we start telling the truth now.” he pointed out.
“Joshua I don’t think that's what they’ll be worried about if we tell them we were in a car accident.” she reminded him.
Hearing her say those words hit him like a ton of bricks. Her sweet little voice throwing such violent words at him. So blunt and innocent in their infliction yet so sharp and harmful in their meaning.
He took a moment before answering, “Yeah, you’re right. But, I- I don’t think... I can’t talk about it. I put so much into my lie and I still want to believe it. I’m not sure I can talk about what happened without breaking down. I’m sorry.”
Ginny put her arm around his shoulders and gave him a hug.
“I can tell everyone Joshua. I can tell them.” she smiled, “You just stand there being handsome.”
He sniffled, “I hate this.”
“I know. I know.” she sighed.
The two spent the rest of their last day alone together watching movies in their bed. Josh insisted that Ginny not get up because the clicking of her cast and the squeak of her crutches made him nervous. She just laughed it off and found it nice to have her own personal butler.
They had fun that day. It was nice for the both of them to relax after having told the other how they felt. Just being with the other seemed to satisfy them both.
They watched movies late into the night until they both fell asleep in each others arms.
The next morning Josh woke to his alarm he had forgotten he set and Ginny woke up soon after him. The two sighed and got ready for the hard day they were facing.
Ginny knew she couldn’t film anything, her cast was something her character lacked. She was just going so Josh didn’t have to lie anymore. To her it seemed she was taking some of the weight off his shoulders by volunteering to tell everyone the real story.
When the couple arrived at set, just like most of the other days, Jen was there by her car at the same time they arrived.
Ginny and Josh looked at each other one last time before exiting the car and showing the world what had happened to them.
“Hey Josh, Ginny oh my gosh what happened?” Jen asked as she saw Ginny.
She took a deep breath, “Josh has been lying these past weeks. I didn’t really have a cold, I was in the hospital. Me and Josh were in a car accident.”
“Oh my god what! Why was I not told of this? Are you guys ok?” Jen asked them both.
“Well Josh is fine, he just hurt his wrist and got a bad cut on his arm, and I,” Ginny motioned with her eyes for Josh to walk away and he did, “I was on the side that got hit. So I had this broken leg, I also broke my wrist, and I had brain surgery. I was in a coma for all these days. And please, don’t blame Josh for not telling anyone. He was scared, really scared. We’re both ok now.”
“Ginny I can forgive Josh, as long as you are both actually ok. You are right? Nothing you’re not telling me this time?” Jen asked with a smile.
“We are both actually ok,” Ginny smiled a small, forced smile, “we are fine.”
After explaining what happened once to Jen, Ginny was already exhausted and she could tell Josh was trying his hardest to stay strong. It pained them both that they had to stay apart most of the day. Everyone wanted to see Ginny and wanted to know what happened, and Josh couldn’t hear it. Ginny would wave Josh away every time she went through her injuries to someone new.
When their day was finally over, they both sat in the car for a few minutes with their faces buried in their hands.
“I hope I never have to do that again...” Ginny said with a sigh.
“I hope you never have to either.” he offered, “Ginny thank you for doing that for me. It must be hard for you to talk about it too. I just, I don’t even know. I never want to talk to another person again.”
“Joshua, I love you and it’s no problem telling people, really.”
He smiled to her and she offered a smile in return. They both sighed, shaking off the awful day they had just had.