me & tomfoolery

Overnight pt. 3 | Josh Hart Short Story

Two weeks later...

"Have y'all seen Josh?" Sonja asked taking a seat next to Mikal and Donte. They both looked at one another before shaking their heads. "You supposed to be meeting him or something cuz?"

"Not exactly."

"I think Sonja Bridges likes somebody, but what do I know." Donte jokes. She rolled her eyes at the insinuation. She didn't know him well enough to like him. "Donte you're taking it too far. I befriended him, haven't seen him, normally see him around y'all and I don't so I asked."

"Wassup Yaya." Jalen greeted taking a seat next Donte. "Hey Jay."

"Damn, why she sound disappointed?"

"She looking for Hart." Mikal shrugged. "Oh, he coming. He was right behind me."

Josh walked through the cafe, with his head down and headphones up. He didn't want to talk to anyone, he just wanted to eat and go back to his room. Sonja watched as he walked past the area they sat in to get in line. More of the basketball team showed up which caused her to sneak away from the table. Walking through the crowd she found her way to him.

"You don't seem to be in the mood to be in public, so I'll offer you my Tupperware to so you can sneak your food out." He looked down to her and nodded. Walking to the nearest booth, she took his plate and carefully placed the food in the container before closing it and passing it to him. He stood up, giving her a short "thank you", before walking away.

She sat there disappointed as she faced opposite of where he walked. "You coming?" He asked turning around to stand next to the booth. "Umm, yeah." She took his container and stuck it in her bag with her own food.

••••

Josh's room was clean and she liked that. In his room he had a mini fridge because his roommates sucked and they always took things without permission. His housing had gotten messed up at the end of last spring and he got stuck with four stranger while Jalen and Donte were able to be roommates.

"You gonna eat now?" Sonja shook her head no. She wasn't hungry. "Okay, make yourself comfortable, I'll be back. As soon as he walked out, she looked around a bit before taking her shoes off and placing them near his desk. Today she wore a two piece black set from MYOUTFITONLINE. She loved their basics and how they felt.  The weather was still a bit warm at the beginning of the semester so it would be awhile before she would have to wear coats.

Josh reentered with his food, placing it on the desk. With his back turned to her, he took his sweatshirt off and tossed it in his hamper. His grey tank and royal blue sweat shorts were a great combo against his skin. He walked back to his desk to eat, watching her as she looked around his room.

"This photo is so adorable," there was a photo of him smiling with a life sized Mario and Luigi with a kool-aid smile on his face in the middle of who she assumed to be his siblings. "Cutting right to it though." She placed the photo back in its spot carefully, "what's been going on with you?"

She hadn't spoken to him in two days and that's because he didn't respond to the last message she sent. She was big on allowing people their space, but something about Josh made her want to inquire.

"Just school."

"Yeah, try that with someone else." She laughed sitting down on his bean bag chair. She knew it would be awhile before she got up from that position. "The season about to start. Just been stressed Sony. That's it."

Her demeanor softened, she knew he loved basketball and that he eventually wanted to go pro. "Regular stress or extra stress?"

"Extra. It is what it is." She awaited for him to expand on how he felt but he didn't seem willing. "I won't force you to talk. But I will say, you can't hold shit like that in all the time. It does your body terrible."