Radio Show Girl | Josh Kiszka

2

I changed it to 3rd person!!!

Stella quickly locked the bathroom door behind her. The small, baby blue, rectangular room seemed to be closing in on her as she met her own eyes in the mirror. She watched as her dark brown eyes filled slightly with tears, and Stella felt a lump in her throat forming. She sniffed once, dabbed the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand, and tried her best to swallow and forget about the large lump forming in her throat. It had been years since she had any contact with any of the boys from Greta Van Fleet. They had all been friends throughout high school. Stella had first met Josh through theatre, and then all the boys one by one until they were all friends. Stella had always had a thing for Josh. He was charming, possibly the most charming boy she had ever come across, and back when they were in high school they would always try out and get into the same musicals; though Josh would always get a lead role and Stella was pushed to ensemble.

She smiled softly, remembering when he had told her they were starting a band, and asked if she would come to practices and gigs, even though she herself couldn't play an instrument to save her life. And she had agreed. For years she followed them around, Josh more than the rest, and for years she endlessly supported them. But then things got complicated. Though nothing ever happened between the two of them, Stella always believed that something would. She saw the way he looked at her, and he must've seen the way she looked at him. Either Josh was the dumbest human alive, or he was going out of his way to ignore every hint she had possibly given him that she wanted something more. Even Jake, Josh's twin brother had made a point to talk to Stella about it one evening.

It was their last gig of senior year, and the small house was about to burst full of underage teenagers. The living room had been turned into what one could possibly call a stage, with a drum set set up in between two amps and a microphone stand. Stella had never been the one for big parties, and she stood quietly in the corner, red solo cup in her hand as she stared at the kids before her, enveloped in their own worlds. She smoothed down her tiny black dress for what felt like the 50th time that night (an anxiety coping mechanism) and took another sip from the cup. She only drank wine, and was onto her second cup of the night. Stella pushed some lose hair behind her ear and her eyes lit up when she saw Jake approaching her. He moved his hand to bring the hair out of his eyes, and he was holding a red solo cup like Stella. He smiled to her, and loudly over the noise said:

"I've been looking for you." He sipped on his cup, and stella knew it was something stronger than the wine in hers by the way he was standing.

"Oh really?" She asked, returning the smile. "It's taken a while".

"Yeah sorry about that." He leaned up against the wall next to her, and cleared his throat.

"So are you going to do something about Josh? It's almost the end of high school, you know. And we don't know what things will be like next year." The mischievous look in his eyes was replaced with one of sadness as he finished his sentence. Stella felt herself turn bright red and she smoothed down her dress again.

"You definitely look good enough to make a move tonight. And Josh didn't bring a girl." He added, letting his eyes move down Stella's body. The boys usually didn't do things like that, but the mix of alcohol and a teenagers mind made manners fly out the window. Stella giggled, but looked out into the crowd instead of meeting Jake's eyes.

"I don't know.... what if he doesn't reciprocate?" She asked nervously, biting her lip and meeting Jake's eyes again. Jake laughed.

"I promise you." He looked below her face again. "He will." Stella swatted at him playfully.

"Fine." She downed the rest of her cup, and handed it to him. "I'm going to find him". She tucked her hair behind her ears, smoothed her dress out one last time, and patted Jake on the shoulder as she moved past him, starting to make her way through the sea of teens. What was the worst that could happen?