‹ Prequel: Green Porcupine
Sequel: Meant to be

So Close Yet So Far

So Close Yet So Far

Ramona gets up the next morning with a slight headache and makes her way downstairs where her father is on the phone.
"Hold on Adie." He puts his hand over the phone, "Ramona, did Joey sleep here?"
"Uh, yeah, but he left early because he forgot his phone at the beach bash."
"Oh okay," Tre says nodding, "Yeah he stayed here but he forgot his cell phone at the beach so he went there. See, that's why he wasn't answering."

Ramona heads out to the garage where Joey is still asleep.
"Joey, Joey, wake up," She says shaking him but he doesn't. She panics and puts her finger to his neck. He still had a pulse but his breathing became really light. "Joey," She cries, "Joey please get up." She wipes her eyes and runs back into the house.

"Dad! Dad!" she screams.
"Ramona!" he yells angrily, he was upstairs. She runs up the stairs and he sees her, "Care to tell me why your room has the faint smell of pot!"
"Dad! It's an emergency!" she pulls his arm and leads him back to the garage.
"Ramona what's going on?" he demands.
"Joey got wasted and now he won't wake up," She cries as he sees her boyfriend passed out on the old sofa. He goes up to the sixteen year old boy and nudges him.
"Ramona, call an ambulance." She nods nervously, "NOW!" she runs into the house and picks up the phone and dials 911.

"911, what's the emergency?"
"I need an ambulance."
"What happened?"
"My boyfriend's unconscious and he's not breathing properly," Ramona says quickly.
"Emergency forces will be right there." She hangs up the phone and another burst of tears make their way down her cheeks.
"Mona, what's wrong?" Josh asks innocently. "Why are you crying?"
"Joey needs to go to the hospital. He's . . . sick."
"Okay," He says as he goes to hug his half-sister, "The doctors will make him all better."
"I hope you're right," She says hugging him back.

Ramona let's go of her brother then runs back to the garage.
"Get Bianca!" Tre yells at her as his finger is against Joey's neck. Ramona does as she's told and runs into the house.
"Bianca!" she yells, "Bianca!"
"Yeah Mona, you don't have to go into hysterics," She says rolling her eyes as she casually walks out of the bathroom.
"No time!" Ramona yells as she pulls her to the garage.
"Holy shit," She says as she sees Joey lying there.
"He might need CPR and I don't know how," Tre says looking up at her.
"Alright, get him off the sofa and put him on the ground," She instructs as Ramona watches with tears still flooding her eyes. Tre lifts the teenage boy off the sofa onto the floor. Bianca tilts his head back.
"Alright, he's breathing okay," She says calmly as she checks his pulse. "Did you call an ambulance."
"Yeah," Ramona says nodding.
"Open the garage door so they can get to him," she instructs and Ramona goes to the switch and presses it.

"Mommy, what's going on?" Josh asks worriedly from the doorway of the garage. Tre runs up to him.
"C'mon buddy, let's go see what Franky's up to," he says as he carries Josh away.
"What's wrong with Joey?"
"He's having a hard time waking up," Tre says fumbling with his words.

"I hear sirens!" Ramona says eagerly.
"Thank god," Bianca says looking down at Joey. "Go outside and tell them where he is." Ramona runs out to where the ambulance pulls up.
"He's in the garage!" She exclaims to the paramedics. They wheel a stretcher past her and into the garage.
"Go with him and I'll call Bill and Adie," Bianca says. Ramona nods and gets into the ambulance.

"I-is he going to be okay?" she manages to choke as the ambulance rushes down the street.
"It's hard to say," One of the paramedics state, "His breathing isn't as regular as it could be." Ramona's tears begin to increase.

The ambulance comes to a stop and everyone starts rushing around and taking Joey to I.C. She sits in the waiting room when Billie Joe and Adrienne run in.
"What happened?!" Adrienne cries.
"At the beach bash there was beer and well he got drunk and, and, I knew he'd get in trouble if he went home drunk so I brought him back to my place and this morning he wouldn't wake up," Ramona cries.
"Is he alright?!" Billie demands. She'd never seen him cry but now he had tears in his eyes.
"I don't know, they won't tell me anything." Billie Joe storms off in the direction of a group of nurses.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god," Adie cries into her hands, "This can't be happening." Billie Joe walks back to them.
"They're trying to get his breathing to regulate, if they can do that, then he'll be fine."
"And if not?" Adie asks looking up at her husband. He doesn't answer but the look on his face says everything. He sits down next to his wife and puts an arm over her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Ramona mumbles.
"It's okay, it's not your fault," Billie Joe says to break the silence.

"Mr. Armstrong," A nurse says coming up to the three distressed people.
"Yes."
"I've got good new and bad news, the good news is we've regulated your son's breathing."
"Oh thank god," Adie says standing up.
"The bad news is he still hasn't woken up." Everyone remains speechless, "If he doesn't wake up in twenty-four hours, it probably means he's suffered brain damage." Tears stream down Adie's face.
"C-can we see him?" Billie asks fighting back tears.
"Sure, follow me," the nurse says leading the three to a room where Joey is hooked up to several machines.

"My boy! My baby boy," Adie cries as Tre, Bianca and Jakob enter the room.
"Is he going to be alright?" Tre asks Billie Joe.
"If he doesn't wake up in the next twenty-four hours it means he's suffered brain damage." Tre doesn't say anything, he just hugs his long time band mate.

Later that day, everyone stays in hope Joey will come to.
"Bianca," Ramona says slowly, "How do you know C.P.R?"
"Oh, I took first aid courses in New York because I'd sub for dance classes and well it wasn't mandatory but it helped get jobs." Everyone started talking again to break the silence.

"Shut-up, shut-up!" Jakob exclaims and everyone falls silent.
"What is it?" Tre asks as everyone stares at the youngest Armstrong.
"Do you hear that?"
"Humming, Joey's humming!" Adie exclaims, "Blitzkrieg Bop?"
"Joey, Joey, can you hear me?" Ramona says with tears in her eyes.
"They're piling in the back seat," Joey moans, "They're generating steam heat."
"Dude! You're tenting!" Jakob exclaims all of a sudden disturbed, and Ramona embarrassed.
"Ramona?" Joey asks as his eyes flicker open. "Holy shit!" he says realizing his family is around him and he's hard.
"You know what, I think we'll leave for a couple of minutes," Billie Joe says as he herds everyone out of the room to spare his son as much embarrassment as possible.

"Is he awake?" The nurse asks as they leave the room.
"Yeah, all of him," Tre says as the nurse looks at him quizzically. "Erect?"
"Oh!" she says, embarrassed, "That tends to happen sometimes when teenage boys come to."
"He was also humming Blitzkrieg Bop," Bianca says confused.
"Now that, I can't explain," The nurse says about to walk away, "Unless that song has some significance to him."
"Why would that song matter?" Jakob chortles.
"Beats me," Billie says mid-stretch and yawn.
"Well all that matters is he's awake," Adie says happily, "Who cares what song he was humming." Only Ramona knew and she tried to hide her smirk.