35: Ouch

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The car ride home was mostly silent. At one point he'd caught you off guard by reaching over and gripping your hand and pressing it firmly against your thigh. When he moved to shift into a higher gear, you took the opportunity to bring your far knee up and lean against the window. He didn't take the hint and still rested his hand on the thigh closest to him letting his thumb caress the soft material of your leggings.

When you pulled up, you tried to hop out and rush into the house, quickly. Josh caught up and stopped you:
"Hey. Hey. Are you okay?"

You tried to push past him: "I'm fine, Josh."

Josh reached his hand up and pushed the whisps of hair that had fallen out of your ponytail behind your ear. He smiled, gently:
"I never meant to hurt you."

You weren't prepared to have it out in the front yard at 7 am and risk your neighbors... or worse your parents hearing so you lied:
"You didn't."

He pulled your chin up for a sweet kiss before reassuring you:
"I meant what I said. I like you."

You needed those words and hoped against everything that he meant that. You let him kiss you again getting lost in the softness of his lips and warmth of his tongue. The feeling you'd felt in his room, seeing that photo and again when he told you he wasn't looking for anything serious right now, crept over you again. You pulled back and he pulled you back into a tight hug.

You pulled together your resolve and told yourself you would force yourself to move onto someone actually willing to entertain the chance of a relationship. You turned and headed inside before your tears could betray your cool. 

When you got inside there was a note from your parents letting you know they had gone out of town for the weekend. Of course they were gone. That explains why you never got a text asking why you weren't home. You were 20 years old but ever since you moved back home, your mom was suddenly worried about your comings and goings. You'd experienced half a year of freedom in your dorm last semester but that all came to a crashing end with a drama-filled explosion that you still hadn't begun to deal with. (Author's Note: Yes that's foreshadowing😌).

You were startled back to the present by your phone going off. Either Chase saw the makeout session in the yard and was calling to get an update or... You looked down to see a message from Josh. 

Fun? Of all the adjectives, THAT one should have pissed you off the most but still the devastation we were trying to head off was stayed by a boost of serotonin

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Fun? Of all the adjectives, THAT one should have pissed you off the most but still the devastation we were trying to head off was stayed by a boost of serotonin.

You felt a smile start to creep in and dropped the phone on the counter to distract yourself. Home alone, that might be hard.

Do we believe him and keep trying?

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