✺ 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 ✺- Josh Kiszka

Part 8

Josh shifted himself away from me and quickly stood. Danny watched him, his mouth curved up into a smile and slightly open, amused by what he walked into.

I stood up after Josh and brushed myself off. I felt my face get hot with embarrassment, and I knew it must have been bright red.

I looked up at Danny, and he stood there, obviously waiting for an explanation as to what he had seen, but I stayed quiet.

I think Danny had decided to drop it because he didn't say anything else about it for the rest of the hike back. None of us did. We walked in almost complete silence for an hour until we arrived back at the car.

Occasionally I would glance over at Josh, and he would have the same unreadable expression plastered across his face.

Shit, is he uncomfortable? I thought, Well, obviously he's uncomfortable, I am too, but what if this changes our situation and he's too awkward to be around me?

The thoughts made me even more nervous as we made our way into the parking lot. Josh retrieved his keys from inside my bag and handed it back to me without saying a word to me or even looking at me.

No, no, no. I thought as I felt a wave of nausea run over me. We all got into the car and started on the forty-minute drive back. I had propped my elbow on the side of the door and rested my chin in my hand, looking out of the window.

Please, please don't let this ruin the new thing we have. I thought. I didn't even know what this 'thing' was. Josh and I were just barely friends. I've only started to get to know him for a couple of days.

Danny suddenly interrupted my thoughts,

"Are we just going to stay silent for another hour, or can we get rid of the elephant in the room?"

"There's nothing to talk about." I replied, playing dumb, hoping he would drop it.

"Nothing? Sure, if you call making out as friends nothing." Danny said.

"We didn't kiss." Josh spoke up. His tone was sharp, almost mean. It worried me.

"Yeah but your faces were less than two inches from each other, with your hand around her waist. That's not really a normal hiking activity." Danny retorted.

I felt red hot embarrassment bubble up inside me again. The remembrance of how Josh reacted and was acting towards Danny and me made my emotions thunder inside my head. I felt tears begin to form in my eyes, and I looked down at the floor in front of me. I could see Josh pull his eyes away from the road and look over at me. A tear fell from my face and landed on my leg right then.

Fuck, he definitely saw that.

"So?" Danny persisted.

"Please drop it." Josh replied, clearly more angry this time.

Danny didn't respond, and we were quiet once again for the rest of the car ride.

After what felt like an eternity in that car, we arrived back at Josh's house. We all got out, and Danny immediately went inside. I grabbed my keys from my bag, slung it over my shoulder, and headed to my car.

As I reached for the handle, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned my head, and Josh was standing behind me.

"Hey," Josh spoke. "I'm sorry for that, I didn't mean for all of that to be so awkward." He said.

"It's ok. There's nothing really either of us could have said." I replied, feeling my face grow hot and tears fill my eyes once again. I looked down and blinked them away, but when I lifted my head, Josh's eyebrows had pinched together, and he was looking at me sympathetically.