When Anna Met Josh

Chapter Five - Growing

Josh liked me.

He liked me like that.

He wanted to date me.

I had abruptly scuttled home after he'd sent that snap; I didn't want an audience and my friends would've interfered with our conversation, making me say things that I wouldn't normally.

"Well? Xx" his snap came just as I walked into my house, I had left Poppy's in such a rush that I hadn't had time to reply to him. That, and I was in total shock. It was another thing that no one had ever said to me before and had caught me off guard. After everything that had happened over the last week I felt good enough for no one; and the fact the Josh had just walked into my life and had turned everything that I knew upside down confused me even more. I was just waiting to be woken up from the dream.

"Sorry, haha I was just walking back from my friends... I really really like you too <3 xx"

I regretted it as soon as I had sent the message. It wasn't a total lie... I did really really like Josh, but just not in the way that I had now let him believe. And now there was no way of getting out of it. It would break him and that would be the last thing that I would want to do.

Maybe Erin would be right? Maybe if I did try things out with Josh I'd realise that I did see him as more than a friend. I'd have to try things out with him now.

Another night of talking followed.

His favourite food is macaroni, his favourite band is Bastille, his favourite ice cream flavour is mint choc chip. When he was younger, he wanted to be a pilot. He's scared of losing people he loves and spiders. He used to play the trumpet when he was younger but he stopped it once people started bullying him for it. Once, he had a house party and burst his trampoline after too many people went on it. At a party his friend had, he got so drunk that his friends had to carry him home. He had gerbils when he was younger but they had both died by the time he was 11.

His favourite fruit is a kiwi, his favourite film genre is horror. He hates the Eurovision Song Contest and slankets. He has a secret passion for art galleries. He went to Disneyland when he was 4 and ran away from Mickey Mouse, despite begging for days before the trip to get his picture taken with him. When he was 3, he fell out of a shopping trolley head first. He prefers Facebook over Twitter, he prefers night time over day time, he prefers Blur over Oasis.

At his old school, there was apparently an identity crisis going on; all blonde-haired girls dip dyed their hair blue and wore skin tight trousers. It was apparently just the blondes. When he was younger he went to Beavers, but he didn't like it so he left. He wants to travel all the way around Europe by the time he's 50. He wants 4 children; 2 boys and 2 girls, he also wants to get an Alsatian and an Audi A1. He has 3 nephews and a niece and 2 of his nephews live in France. There's a guy at his work called Albert, but he gets called Bert. He doesn't hate his job at the supermarket, but he doesn't love it either. Once, there was a woman that came in because she'd lost her credit card, who was only about 4'5, but was called Mrs Stretch. Another time, a kid fell face first onto the supermarket floor and wouldn't stop crying, so Josh gave him a Kinder Egg, to try and cheer him up a bit. It didn't work, but it was cute of him.

He was from up north. He lived in Elgin. Milly had been right, which irritated me more than it should've.

We stayed up talking to each other until 3am. He fell asleep before I did; I waited up half an hour, waiting for a message until I finally realised that he'd fallen asleep. I didn't want to stop talking to him. The more we talked, the closer I felt to him and the more I didn't want it to end.