waiting for superman | book three

one

Chloe and Cody stare at Josh and then glance at each other, startled looks in their eyes. Each of their eyes are begging the other to come up with some excuse, some lie, to cover up the truth- some fibbed story that can explain what they said Josh could not know, but neither can come up with anything. Neither of them can think of anything, so they stand there in silence, staring at Josh, waiting for someone to say something, to say anything.

Josh clears his throat after what seems like an eternal silence. "Can't tell Josh what?" he asks again.

"W-what are you doing home? I thought the team was going to dinner tonight to celebrate winning the tournament," Chloe stutters. 

"We are. The bus is outside. We wanted to see if the two of you wanted to come with us," Josh explains. The bouquet of daisies in his hand drops to his side, hanging upside down.

"I... um... I'm not feeling to well. I think I'll stay here tonight but thanks for the invite," Chloe mumbles. It is not a total lie. She really doesn't feel well, but it's not due to a sickness. It's due to the fact that her high is dwindling and withdrawal is setting in. Not only that, but the thought of sitting through an entire dinner with both Cody and Josh makes her stomach churn.

"Yeah, me too," Cody adds quickly. Too quickly.

"What's going on here? You're both acting weird," Josh questions, glancing back and forth between his girlfriend and his best friend.

"It's just been a long weekend," Chloe states. She walks over to where Josh is standing in her doorway and embraces him in a warm hug. 

He leans down and kisses her lightly on the lips.

That light peck on the lips pushes Cody over the edge. For years he watched Chloe love Josh and him treat her like just another one of his girls. For years Cody watched Josh choose every popular witch over sweet, shy Chloe. For years his heart broke for the girl he loved from afar while her best friend Josh friend zoned her. 

Then they got together and it was all rainbows and butterflies for the two of them, minus the minor bumps in the road involving Maddie. But Cody wasn't happy, because he had finally gotten a chance with Chloe and then it was taken from him when she forgave the jerk. He then got dragged into the relationship as the third wheel best friend, seeing them kiss while he craved to get that attention from her for years.

So that small kiss shared between the two after Cody and Chloe had their moment with the brownies made him explode.

"Oh, it was quite a weekend," Cody laughs bitterly.