Presidents, Spies, and Boys, Oh My!

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I bit my lip and twiddled my thumbs as I waited for Joshua. It takes approximately twenty three minutes to get from the White House to here (I don't feel like calculating the exact amount right now. I'm too damn nervous). I glanced at the clock mounted on the wall next to the TV facing my bed. It's been twenty five minutes. Did something happen? Is Joshua- Whoa, okay, freak out much? He probably just got caught in traffic! My brain screamed at me and brought my back to reality. I really gotta stop freaking out so much...

Suddenly, slightly startling me, I saw a nurses head pop around the curtain blocking off my bed from my neighbors. She was an African American woman wearing plain color pink scrubs and a stethoscope around her neck. Her plastic white name tag read the name Samantha. She smiled a polite smile at me. I gave a small smile back, forcing my hands to stop twiddling and sit in my lap calmly. 

"There's someone here to see you, Miss Rhinehart." she said as the very boy I'd been waiting for stepped around her.

I glanced at Joshua as Samantha left us alone, moving onto my neighbor. Joshua shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, glancing all around the sterile white room except at me. I cleared my throat and tried to ignore my flip-flopping stomach. Joshua took the seat sitting next to my bed, which I always kept there for Garret and Addy. One of them would come in every evening to check-in on me and see my healing progress. He rested his elbows on his thighs, finally making eye contact with me. The awkward tension between us was as thick as molasses. I tried not to let myself stare at his beautiful eyes. 

"Hey." I said softly.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" he asked, letting his gaze quickly sweep over me before returning back to my face.

I shrugged. Two weeks of being in the hospital hasn't brought me much closer to recovery. My doctor says it's gradually improving, but still improving nonetheless. 

"Fine. It's slowly getting better." 

Joshua nodded, looking down at his feet. An awkward silence blanketed us, the only sounds being the ones typical for a hospital. Heart monitors, TVs, nurses and doctors talking in low voices about different patients statuses. Out of my peripheral, I saw Joshua look up. I turned my head to face him at the same exact time, not being able to take the agonizing silence any longer.

"Joshua-"

"Ember-"

We said eachother's name at the same time. I closed my mouth, biting my lip. Great. Just great. Now it's even more awkward. Joshua opened his mouth again to speak, but so did I. I couldn't help it, I chuckled.

"You go first." I said.

"No, Ember, you."

Are we really doing this?

"No, Joshua. What were you going to say?"

"What were you going to say?"

"One of you just talk already!"

The voice came from my neighbor, sounding amused. Joshua and I laughed. The awkward tension broke for a quick minute. When our laughing subsided, Joshua spoke. 

"Ember, I'm sorry about how I've been treating you. You probably think I hate you. The truth is, I avoided you all summer because..."

He trailed off. I waited, staring at him intently. 

"What? You avoided me because...?"

"Because I like you, okay!" he burst out, raising his voice.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. My heart skipped a beat. 

"Because I like you. Ember, I think about that kiss we shared all the time. I didn't come out earlier about this because, well, you're a spy! And my bodyguard. I didn't want to make things awkward between us."

He watched me intently. I studied all the emotions running through his eyes. Love, pain, sadness, anger. Why would he be angry? Sighing, I licked my dry lips and took his hand in mine, making direct eye contact with him. Here goes nothing. 

"Joshua, I like you too. I've thought about that kiss night after night. Dammit, I feel like such a bitch for telling you we wouldn't work. I thought, maybe, in the beginning that we wouldn't work out but now...I wasn't sure if you liked me back or not. The last thing I was is for our potential relationship to be complicated. I-"

He didn't even let me finish. Before I could even comprehend what was going on, his lips were on mine. I froze at first, my brain still processing, but eventually let myself sink into the kiss. I closed my eyes, wrapping my good arm around his neck. He kissed me gently at first but then grew more passionate. His right hand rested on my waist while his left cupped my cheek. I tried to move closer, but my ribs screamed in pain and I sank back into the pillows. Joshua remained standing, kissing me over and over and over. The hospital seemed to melt away, leaving only us in our own little bubble. Soon, all too soon, he pulled away. His face was still inches from mine as we stared into each others eyes. I smiled. Best. Assignment. Ever.