I Think I Kinda, You Know | Joshua Bassett

71 - Thank You

(A/N: This is the last chapter before the epilogue. And it's also much longer than usual, so... Enjoy!)

There he is. Standing right in front of us while everyone is cheering "Happy new year!", isolating the loud sound of the firework.

To be honest, I almost jumped a little when I saw him. He looks... Different. He still has a big scar on his forehead from the accident. He looks skinnier than last time. He looks like he's been missing a few days of sleep. He has dark circles under his eyes. He looks... Messy.

He's looking directly at me with a shocked face, as if he doesn't know that I'd come. We make eye contact, but none of us is saying anything.

No one even notices his presence. No one but me. Everyone's having too much fun screaming and jumping up and down. Until suddenly...

"Josh?!" Frankie says loudly almost like he's screaming, getting everyone else's attention. "How long have you been standing there?!"

"JOSH!! You came!" Sofia says.

"We thought you weren't gonna make it!" Larry says.

"Uh... Yeah... I changed my mind last minute."

Everyone seems confused. But no one says anything. It's awkward.

"Well... What are you waiting for? Let's celebrate!" Sofia says, breaking the silence.

She walks toward him and give him a sparkler. She then takes a lighter from her pocket and lights it.

"Josh come on let's take a picture!" Matt calls. Both Sofia and Josh walk closer to the group.

Josh stops right next to me. We make awkward eye contact one more time.

"Ready??" Matt asks, holding the phone, acting as a selfie stick with his long arm.

Wait, we're taking the picture already? How about the position? Is this position alright? What about the pose and how who's standing next to who? You know... For a better outcome.

"Three... Two..."

Oh, okay we're taking the picture right now-right now. I smile as fast as I can and try to make my pose so that it doesn't look awkward. We end up taking a few pictures with slightly different poses.

And, he ends up standing next to me in the pictures.

"WAIT! Let me see let me see!" Liv frantically jumps up and down and runs toward Matt to try and see the pictures on his phone. She bumps into me and pushes me to the side while doing that and, of course, it created a chain reaction where I also bump into the person next to me, which happens to be the person I want to interact the least. Josh.

"Uh, sorry," I awkwardly say to him.

He doesn't say anything back.

We awkwardly just stand there next to each other for like a whole minute. I just wanna go home. This is a nightmare.

"How's your head?" He asks suddenly, not making eye contact at all.

"What?" I blurt.

"Your head," he answers. He turns his head and his eyes to meet mine. "You hit your head pretty hard back then."

"Oh! Uh yeah... It's good now."

He nods and slowly looks away.

I probably should ask about him too.

"How about you? You know... With the surgery."

"It went well."

"That's good to know."