✺ 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 ✺- Josh Kiszka

Part 19

I felt my mouth fall open slightly and my face go hot.

He told her he was 'with me?' I thought as I kept my eyes locked onto his. The loud rumble of the dryer echoed in the quiet room.

"Forgive me?" He asked with a small half-smile.

I shook myself back to reality when he spoke, remembering that we were still having this conversation.

"I mean, I don't think you're the one who should apologize," I said. "I treated you like shit today."

"It was justified." He replied, his smile growing.

"Not really," I responded with a laugh, looking down at my hands. "Forgive me?"

"Of course." He smiled wider when he said this, assuring me that everything really was ok.

We sat in silence for a minute before I piped back up,

"How did you know I saw you?" I asked, "I'm assuming Sam?"

He leaned back against the couch as he laughed.

"Yeah, it was Sam." He replied. "After our auditions on Wednesday, he acted a little stand-offish when I got back from school, but I figured it was just Sam being Sam.

I nodded and smiled as he continued. "But today when I got home, Sam, Jake, and I were in the kitchen talking about school and the band, when Jake asked how you were doing."

Josh laughed and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, scooting back farther into the couch. He looked nervous again.

"I told him something seemed off with you today. When I said that, Sam walked over to me all pissed, and he let it slip that you had seen me, calling me a 'dick' and a 'lead-on.'

"Ah," I said, feeling guilty again. I leaned back onto the couch, our shoulders touching slightly, and I felt Josh lean farther into me.

"And when Sam let that slip, you decided to...." I started looking over at him with a grin, "come to my house without me knowing?"

"Yeah, I didn't really think that one through," He responded. "When Sam told me, I just had that 'oh shit' feeling wash over me. I just grabbed my keys and drove over. I couldn't handle the fact that you probably hated me, and I needed to fix it." He said, sighing, "And here we are now."

I never hated you, I thought myself, but not saying it out loud.

"Thank you." I replied, "For coming here."

In my peripheral vision, I saw Josh look at me. I turned my head and met my eyes with his. We were so close to one another. It was almost unbearable.

Josh looked down, untangling his hands and placing one on top of mine. I felt my heart fly out of my chest and my head go fuzzy. His hand was soft but strong and cold at the fingertips. I looked back up at him, and he was smiling. He's always smiling. My mind loosened, and my nerves and apprehension slipped away all within that moment. But it was short-lived.

A sudden creak sounded from down the hall, followed by the sound of quick footsteps. Josh pulled his hand off mine and set it back into his lap as Violet rounded the corner.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," She said, an unwieldy look on her face as she looked from me to Josh. "Sam called and said you need to get home. Your mom has been trying to get a hold of you, no one knows where you are." Violet added a lot calmer I had expected her to be.

Josh leaned over and grabbed his phone that was sitting on the couch. When he opened it, I glanced over. His screen was flooded with texts and missed call notifications.

"Damn it," He muttered, standing up from his spot next to me on the couch.

I didn't want him to leave. The loss of contact between us felt cold and uncomfortable. I stood up next to him as he dialed his mom's number, putting the phone to his ear.

I heard incoherent yelling from his phone as he closed his eyes and sighed.

I remembered his clothes that were still in the dryer. I walked over and opened it, even though it was still running. His clothes were still slightly damp, so I tossed them in a plastic grocery bag and brought them back over to him.

"You sure I can take these back with me?" He gestured to my clothes he still had on.

"Yeah it's no problem, I don't wear them that much anyway." That was a lie, but I didn't mind the idea of Josh having my clothes.

"Thanks," He replied before slipping on his shoes. "See you tomorrow?"

"Actually," I said, hesitating and looking over at Violet, who was still leaning against the hall door, "We're taking tomorrow off, just for an 'us' day."

"I see," He said, looking from me to Violet. "Well, I'm still open for suggestions for this weekend."

"Great," I replied, smiling.

He opened the door and walked out onto the porch. It was still pouring out, and the dim yellow glow of the street lights made the rain look like little diamonds falling onto the road.

Josh set his pointer and middle finger to his forehead and tipped them off in that same goodbye he did on that first day we walked together. I laughed, watching him from the doorframe as he walked through the rain and into his car.

When I closed the door and turned around, Violet had already made her way over to me.

"I'm surprised you're not flipping your shit," I said to her, walking back to the living room and sitting on the couch.

"Well I can't flip my shit if he did nothing wrong," She replied, sitting herself next to me.

"You heard us?" I replied with a heavy laugh, turning my head to look at her.

"Not on purpose," She said, reciprocating my laugh, "The house is dead silent and the walls are thinner than paper."

"That's embarrassing," I replied, running my hands over my face and pulling my legs up onto the couch beside me.

"No, I think it went well. If you trust him and believe he's telling the truth."

"I do," I replied with complete honesty.

"Good, then so do I." She said simply, grabbing for the remote.

Her saying this made me feel incredibly relieved. I believed Josh, but convincing her would have been a struggle.

"Can we watch our movies now?" She asked, grabbing the paper bag of movies from the floor to her lap, dumping them onto the couch next to us.

"Yes," I replied, a smile forming on my mouth. I was so relieved that I wouldn't have to worry about Josh and that we were ok now. And even more to know that Violet is ok with him too. I began to relax even more and enjoy the night with my best friend.