Unsuspected Love

Part 11

As you and Joseph pulled up to Jamie's house you noticed he was already there. You both stepped out of the vehicle and made your way to the front door.

You felt nervous and awkward walking towards his home like this but Joseph wrapped his arm around your waist and squeezed you reassuringly, giving you a slight wink. "Relax. It'll be okay."  He assured you with a smile as he led you up to his front porch. He rang the doorbell. After a few moments Jamie opened the door "Come in come in!"  He greeted with excitement.

You walked cautiously into his apartment. "Make yourselves at home." Jamie exclaimed as he ushered you both further into the living room.

"So Joseph, what are you drinking? We've got some whiskey, scotch and beer, if you prefer..." he said, turning to look at Joseph.

"Uh - Scotch please." Joseph answered politely.

"Great choice." he replied cheerfully.
"And you (Y/N)? How about you? " Jamie asked, glancing at you, his brow arched in question.

You shrugged "Anything is fine" you responded simply.

Jamie chuckled, as he went to fetch the drinks. Once everything was laid out on the coffee table Joseph and Jamie both sat down comfortably on the couch, with you joining them. Joseph took a sip of his drink.

"To new beginnings" Jamie raised his glass.

You hesitantly clinked the glass against his as you eyed him warily. Joseph extended his glass as well, meeting the two of yours.

After taking a moment to adjust to the sudden change of atmosphere, you leaned forward and put your elbows on your knees.

Looking straight ahead, you waited patiently for Joseph and Jamie to say something. But neither seemed keen on it. They were both looking at you intently, as if waiting for you to speak first.

"Well what do you want to talk about?" you said impatiently.

It was still silent, you could feel the tension building in the air. This was awkward and you were tired of playing this game.

You excused yourself to the bathroom,  closing the door behind you and sighing frustratedly as you placed your palms against the cool tile walls. You couldn't believe how stubborn these two were. You weren't sure what to do.

All of the sudden you could hear their voices, but it didn't sound like a friendly conversation. Their voices started raising as you could now tell they were arguing. You rolled your eyes. Why couldn't these two act like normal humans and get over themselves. You sighed loudly before returning to the living room.

When you walked in all you could see were two grown men arguing, it took you a moment to realize they were arguing over you. As you stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, trying to decide whether or not to interrupt them, you caught their attention.  "Are you done?"  You blurted sarcastically. Both men turned to look at you with shocked expressions on their faces.

Jamie cleared his throat as he rubbed his hand across the back of his neck "Uh yeah, sorry....we uh....were just having a little discussion."

You narrowed your eyes "Really? And what about?"

They didn't answer your question.

"Ok, here's what's going to happen." You started as you grabbed one of the half full drinks off the table chugging it.

"First of all, you're both going to sit down and listen to me, and if I hear one word from either of you I'm leaving." You crossed your arms across your chest watching as both men nodded reluctantly.

"Now, I'm going to get everyone a fucking drink. Don't even look at each other while I'm gone." You stepped into the kitchen and decided to just grab the entire bottle, taking a swig before returning. You filled up the glasses on the table and set the bottle down before picking up one of them.

You took a deep breath before continuing "Look, I'm not about to stand here and watch two grown men who used to be good friends fight over me. It's ridiculous honestly. You both have two options here."

Joseph and Jamie just sat there looking at you silently, not daring to utter a single word. You could sense that their pride was hurt by your reaction. But you continued nonetheless.

"You can either work this out yourselves, but I see that isn't going well." You rolled your eyes. "Or.." you trailed off finishing your drink.

"You can both let me solve this problem and we can move on. But, there's a catch."

They both looked at you, a little frightened and a little curious.

"If you don't agree to this, then I'm going to leave." You said grabbing another drink off the table, you honestly didn't care who's drinks you were stealing at this point, you just needed enough liquid courage to get you through these next moments.

"Fine." Jamie finally spoke up.

"Fine." Joseph echoed.

You smiled triumphantly. "Good. Now, I'm going to go upstairs to wherever the bedroom is and you will both meet me there in 5 minutes. Please try not to kill each other in the meantime."

You said grabbing the other drink off the table and walked away, disappearing upstairs.

You could definitely feel the effects of the alcohol at this point and were feeling pretty confident in yourself and your new found assertiveness and how two men seemed to be powerless under your every word, but that could just be the alcohol talking you thought.

You reached the end of the hallway where you saw a partially open door. You pushed the door open with your foot and peered into the room. The lights were off, there was a bed in the center. You closed the door and began walking further into the bedroom. A few seconds later you switched on the light to reveal the rest of the room.

The bed had a couple pillows stacked neatly beside it. There were clothes strewn haphazardly across the floor.  On top of the sheets was a large grey t-shirt with some kind of logo that you didn't recognize. On the wall opposite you was a mirror, you squinted in an attempt to see yourself better. Your hair was wild, your face messy and your cheeks were bright red.

You brushed your hair down with your hands as you heard footsteps coming up the stairs. You took one last long gulp of your drink as the boys entered the room.