Kiss

Kiss Me Again. - Josh

As her eyes crack open, Tasha feels the effects of the night before come crashing down like weights all over. Her head feels heavy and her lungs are pleading for fresh air after what she assumes was a night of chain smoking cigarettes. Somehow she always ends up bumming at least half a pack off of Josh when they drink tequila. Speaking of her best friend, as her eyes adjust to her surroundings, she realizes she's in his room, the blankets pulled up under her nose giving off his familiar scent; and he's no where in sight.

Checking the ancient alarm clock on the nightstand, she learns that it's almost half past noon. Early for a Saturday. Stumbling out of bed and to the bathroom down the hall, she rifles through the drawers to find her toothbrush that she'd bought especially for the Kiszka residence. After staying here as many times as she has, it was a necessary purchase. She glides her fingers through her hair, taking out a few knots and then uses a wash cloth to clear the remnants of mascara from underneath her eyes before making her way down stairs. There she finds Jake, leant against the refrigerator, jeans on with no shirt, sunglasses covering his tired eyes and the orange juice carton turned up. Sam is perched atop of the island, in pajamas that Karen definitely bought for him, eating from a takeout container. And there's still no Josh.

"Hey there sunshine. You look like I feel right now." Jake states as he looks over his shades towards her.

Cracking a lazy grin she responds, "You must feel like shit then." Walking over to Sam she slides the food away from him and snags the fork from his hand, taking a bite for herself. He gives a grumble but says nothing. "Whare's JOwsh?" She asks with a mouthful of cold noodles.

Noticing the way Sam glances to his older brother and then furrows his eyebrows, she gives them an odd look. What's going on?

Letting out a sigh, Sam answers her, "Said he was going to the lake. He's been gone for a while now, though."

"Oh." Tasha acknowledges. The lake is Josh's favorite place to go when he has the urge to get creative, whether that be to paint, write songs or jot down ideas for a new film. Most of the time he asks her to join. She always sits quietly and reads or finds something to do while he works.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Jake inquires.

She hadn't really thought back to the night before yet, but no she didn't really remember much at all. That's usually how it was, though. Eventually pieces would come together throughout the day. "Not a thing after we played that ridiculous drinking game you boys came up with." She returns.

They're quiet for a spell. Too quiet. "All right, just give it to me straight, what the hell did I do?" She groans as she pinches the bridge of her nose between her eyes.

Sam hesitates, "Well... You started getting a little handsy with Josh, which, you know, is normal for the two of you, but then..." He trailed off and Tasha's heart began to sink. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. This can't be good. Did she tell him she's been in love with him for, well, forever? Kiss him? Sleep with him?! Shit.

"Josh kissed you." Jake blurts out.

Wait, what? Josh kissed her? Not the other way around? But then, why was he not here now? Why had he gone to the lake all alone? So many questions start bouncing around her mind until Jake finally adds even more news.

"And you pushed him away and took off upstairs. I guess you passed out, and I assume Josh slept on the couch." He finishes, looking at the floor and biting the inside of his cheek out of habit.

Without saying anything else, Tasha grabs her car keys from the counter next to Sam and heads out of the door. Holy shit. Why would she have pushed him away? Josh is all she's ever wanted. The lake isn't too far, it only takes her about fifteen minutes to get there. Parking next to Josh's vehicle, she takes a second to take a few deep breathes, this was going to be interesting.

She makes the trek down the trail towards the lake, where she finds Josh sat next to a large pine tree, notebook in hand and his pencil working away. He has yet to notice her presence.

"Hey." She breathes out, almost to quiet for him to hear. But he does hear and his tensed jaw falls slack just slightly as the pencil comes to an abrupt halt.

She can see the way he swallows hard when he looks up at her. She can see the pain flooding those brown eyes she loves so much. It makes her heart ache slightly. Josh scoots himself over just a bit and pats the spot beside himself, closing his book and setting it to the side. He looks towards the water while she makes herself comfortable on the cool ground beside him. They're quiet for a moment. Her picking at her nails and both of them overthinking everything.

"Josh-"

"Look-"

They both start at the same time, making them stop and stare at one another. Josh looks away first but then continues speaking. "I'm so sorry Tash, I shouldn't have kissed you, I just- I ruined everything."

"No Josh, I did. I don't know why I pushed you away, honestly, I don't. I've wanted to kiss you for so long and I just-" She cuts herself off and begins to chew at her lip. Maybe he's apologizing because he really didn't mean it. Maybe it was just the tequila. Maybe... maybe she really did just ruin everything with her admission.

But then Josh is looking at her, eyebrows raised and a hopeful look in his eyes. She feels the tension building as they're eyes stay fixed on each other, it builds until she finds herself murmuring out a small request.

"Kiss me again."

Josh doesn't even need time to think about it, he's leant over and pressing his lips to hers in seconds. In that moment, the memories come flooding back from the night before.

'They had already played some stupid drinking game that they had made up on the spot, basically just their excuse to get even more tanked than they already were. Now, Sam, Danny and Kenzi were dancing around the living room singing Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger. Tasha was sat in Josh's lap as they laughed at the others, one of his arms was wrapped around her waist as she played with his fingers on the other hand. They were always very touchy when drinking and sometimes even when they weren't.

Out of nowhere, when the chorus hit once again, Jake slid into the room with the help of the socks on his feet. He had his sunshades on and a gray fedora on his head as he animatedly began belting out the lyrics. Sam came over and pulled Tasha out of Josh's embrace and began spinning her around. She was laughing and having a great time with her friends when she was hauled back into someone and their lips pressed against hers. All she could see was the gray fedora and she quickly realized it was Jake. Jake has a girlfriend. Jake is Josh's brother. She's in love with Josh. Next, she was pushing away from him and running up the stairs with her head spinning wildly.'

"I thought it was Jake." She mumbles as Josh pulls away slightly. His brows furrow and he gives her a 'what the hell' look. "I remember now. Last night, when you kissed me, I thought it was Jake. The hat, I seen the hat and Jake had been wearing it, you, oh my God."

A laugh bubbles up from his chest and it makes her smile. "Well, I'm very happy to know that if my brother were to ever kiss you, you would shove him and make a break for it."

Tasha giggles and grabs his face, bringing his lips to hers once again. After a lot more kisses and and a few caresses, she finally pulls back and asks if he's ready to head home.

"Actually, I'm feeling incredibly inspired right now." He replies with a large grin.

Picking up the notebook once again, he turns to a clean page. Tasha pecks his cheek and rests her head against his shoulder as the pencil goes to work once again.

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[[ Author's Note ]]

The prompt for this piece was "Kiss me again."

My first piece in so, sooo long guys. I have such a hard time finding the will to write anymore, much less the time to actually do it. I hope this was enjoyable. I have a list of 20 prompts that I'm going to try like hell to fill for this book. Feedback is always appreciated, constructive criticism included!

Thank you for reading this far! :)