#kemal.

weirdly, josie felt like she was in her element when she was in hospitals. maybe it was because she had been in so many through her years of volunteering through the church but when it came down it, it was probably because she had a soul that liked helping other people. and as much as she felt in her element, it didn’t sting any less to see kem in a hospital bed. she had convinced max to leave his side and get something to eat and told her she would watch kem. “so how are you feeling?” she asked him, as she sat down beside his bed. “do you need anything?”

one of josie’s favorite time about the winter was the holidays and the giving season. it was pretty cliche, but she always thought more about giving gifts than receiving them. even though her parents did give her plenty of presents for christmas, she found the real joy in giving presents to other people and giving back. which is why she was so happy to have high volume continue the secret snowflake tradition, even with jerry gone and high volume effectively gone as well. she was thankful that everyone had a wishlist because honestly, she wouldn’t have known what to get kem. sure, they were friendly but most of josie knew about kem was based on a lie. she was glad she got him though, because now maybe they could move past the fact that josie used to think he needed saving from drugs. she knocked on his door, hoping he was home.

josie banged on the vending machine. the damn thing ate her dollar when all she wanted was a poptart to get her through her shift. she huffed at the machine, willing the poptart to come loose so she could eat and get on with her shift. she uncharacteristically kicked the machine, hoping it would rattle the snack out of it. she winced as she realized she wasn’t strong enough and that she shouldn’t be kicking machines. sure, she was athletic, but she was no soccer player. she held her foot for a second before sitting down at a table. “do you think you can help me?” she asked kem, motioning over to the vending machine. “i tried kicking it but it didn’t work.”