Daisies in the Night

Just... stay away

Alex walked to Joshua carrying two cups of soda, "well at least the drinks are not late." Joshua smiled and took one cup. Joshua was all cleaned up, shaved, hair looked nice and was wearing a shirt tucked in. They were in an engagement ceremony. The church looked beautiful but the people who were supposed to be engaged were late. Alex looked at Joshua for a second and shook his head. Joshua closed his eyes, "What is it?" Alex said, "Nothing." Joshua took a sip of soda and said, "Just say it already."

Alex cleared his throat and said," Didn't you ever imagine this stuff? Getting engaged, married?" Joshua laughed, " I... did."  Alex nodded, "Well you never talked about it with us." Joshua gave a confused smile, "and why would I say that to you guys?" Alex laughed and shook his head, "I don't know. I guess you out of all people would say stuff like that, you're so cringe." Joshua's eyes widened and he smiled, "you don't say. Also wasn't it you who said I didn't need to share everything, just share the problems and you'll be there for me or something like that." Alex thought for a while and said, "I don't think I ever said that... but it sounds like something James would say." Joshua nodded his head, "Oh right, it was James."

Alex turned to him, "Even James has talked about getting married and all, and we thought you would last longer than James." They both laughed and drank their sodas.

I really didn't share anything with the boys did I... 

Alex tugged on Joshua ," Look there." he pointed to someone in the crowd. "Where?" Joshua asked.  Alex tried to point precisely but then saw someone looking at him weirdly so he put his hands down. 

He thought for a while and said ," 3 o'clock, the girl with the red hat." Joshua saw her right then and laughed, "You've been playing way too much Valo." Alex laughed and added, " You remember the group chat we had in middle school. with the girls from other schools."  Joshua looked at Alex in the eyes, " You had what?" Alex paused for a second, "Oh, you didn't know... Oh right it was just James, Sam and me. Anyways, she was one of the girls we used to talk with." 

Joshua thought for a sec and said, "You just sounded so suspicious there." Alex shook his head, "Come one what do you think we did? We just talked, with boundaries." Joshua nodded with a skeptical look on his face. Alex continued, "Where was I... " Joshua pointed at the girl with his head, "The girl with a red hat." Alex nodded, "Yeah, she was so unfiltered. Was hard to believe she was a Christian." Joshua asked, "she still like that? " Alex shook his head, " I don't know. Haven't talked in years. No one there stayed in contact. Anyways, she's real trouble. Hope she doesn't recognize me." 

The church started getting noisy, the couple had arrived. Alex was supposed to be in the photography team but he was with Joshua chilling. So, he started walking around so that John, the main photographer would not scold him, "I need to run around taking pictures. It's just an engagement why do they need two photographers" he sounded annoyed. Joshua laughed and pat his back as he walked away. 

As Alex walked away Joshua saw Samantha, Joshua's classmate from middle school. She walked towards him with her friend, the girl in the red hat. Right when Joshua waved to Samantha someone called, "JOSHUA!" It was John. Joshua finished his soda as John walked over. John had a camera in his hand, "Alex was supposed to put this up on that tripod, dude is running around taking pictures. Can you go and set this up?" Joshua took the camera, "Sure, do I need to start recording?". John shook his head, "Just set it up and plug in the mini-HDMI cable there." Joshua took a look at the camera," so, recording through OBS?" John looked at Joshua, "No, just streaming, can you start that? All the links are already set." Joshua nodded, "Yeah, sure." John did a fist bump and said, "Thanks again." 

He turned to Samantha's enthusiastic voice, "John?" John gave a weak smile, "Oh hi Sam, weird seeing you here..."  Samantha stated to follow John as he tried to walk away from her. Joshua stood there confused with the camera in his hands. 

"The clingily ex." A female voice spoke up, "That's what you'd call her I guess." Joshua turned over and nearly slammed into Samantha's friend. She moved back a little as Joshua did the same, "Oh sorry." Joshua said quickly. She smiled, "You need to set that up I assume. Should start walking." Joshua agreed with a smile and nod. Joshua gave a slight bow and started walking by himself when that voice appeared again, "How do you know Sam?" Joshua was startled. The girl was walking right next to him. 

"We went to the same middle school..." Joshua said with a creeped out tone. The girl laughed, "Sorry if I'm bothering you. Sam's the only one I know here and she's off with John so..." Joshua gave a kind smile, "No, it's fine. I just thought we parted ways back there." "Sam and me went to the same high school." The girl continued, "So you're Joshua? Samantha had so many stories about you and your friends. Funny I actually know some of your friends." 

Joshua plugged the camera in and as he was scrolling through the laptop he said, "Oh, you do?" The girl nodded and said, "Were a few but I just remember Sam, not Samantha but the other guy." Joshua laughed and nodded, " Yeah, the other Sam. He sure does know a lot of people." Her eyes got bigger, "Right? He's mutuals with everyone it's so weird." Both of them laughed as Joshua made a few clicks on the laptop and moved away from it. 

Samantha walked up to them, "He wasn't so rude before. I regret dumping him." Joshua stared at her, "You dumped John?". Sam didn't look happy, "Yeah, long story. Anyways. You guys met, great." She turned to her friend and said, "We should go now." The girl nodded in agreement. Samantha waved at Joshua and walked away and her friend put out her hand in front of Joshua, "I'm Daisy by the way, was nice meeting you." Joshua took her hand for a handshake and said, " and I'm Joshua but you already know that - they laughed- was nice meeting you too." They both let go and she walked away saying, "See you around."

Joshua turned around and saw Alex maneuvering his way through the crowd towards him. Before he could say anything Joshua laughed and said, "She was with Samantha. Just met her because of her.". "our Samantha ?" Alex asked. Joshua nodded. Alex fidgeted with his camera and said, " Okay, just stay away from her. She's bad news." 

Joshua gave a big nod and said, "I'll probably never even see her again. Don't worry. Let's go before John finds you." and he pushed Alex back into the crowd and walked away with him.