Crazy Love

Chapter 16

Mel's POV

I still hadn't cried yet, I sat in Josh's pickup and stared blankly out the window. I was exhausted, sore, and embarrassed. Josh hadn't said much either, his jaw kept flexing and un flexing. He gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

He turned to me as if he was going to say something but changed his mind and turned away.

"If you're going to say something just say it," I said sharper than I intended.

He looked at me, sympathy showing in his eyes.

I didn't want his sympathy.

"D-did... he.. Did he...." he stammered.

"Rape me?" I finished looking back through the window. "No," I said trying to sound strong.

Josh must have been done trying to talk to me because he looked back to the road.

We pulled into our neighborhood but drove past my house and into the garage of his.

"Josh what the hell?!" I said angrily.

He didn't answer as he got out of the door and walked to my side, he lifted me out of my seat and carried me inside.

As soon as we walked through the door his pug Kozmo circled around my ankles. I ignored him and tried to run to the front door.

Josh grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder.

"Let go of me!" I screamed, kicking and punching like a little child.

"Feisty." he said with no humor in his voice.

"You're in no condition to go home, your mother would think that you were..." he stopped in midsentence. I knew what he was going to say. raped.

I huffed and put my hand on my chin, he carried me upstairs and put me on the bed.

As soon as I hit the bed I realized just how tired I was.

I passed out within five minutes. I woke up in the middle of the night screaming, Josh came running in his boxers holding a lamp.

"Are you ok?" He said wildly, swinging the lamp around as if he would see an intruder at any second.

"Yeah, I'm fine sorry I woke you up." I said putting my head in my knees, I had the worst headache.

"Its ok," he says with a sigh. "I'll be in my room if you need me," he turned to leave.

"Wait... will you stay in here with me?" I whispered.

Did I really just say that?

He looked taken aback.

"S-sure, I'll just go grab some blankets," he stuttered.

Josh came back with some big blankets and a pillow, he made a bed on the floor and made himself comfortable.

"Goodnight Mel," He called up to me.

"Goodnight Josh," he couldn't see, thank god, but I was smiling.

I woke up three more times that night, each time I had the same dream. I imagined Brady pushing himself on me, I would yell at him to stop but he wouldn't listen, I felt so powerless.

Each time I screamed Josh held me until I was done crying, then would go back down to his make-shift bed. The last time I woke up I asked Josh to stay with me, after that I didn't have any more nightmares about Brady.

When I woke up in the morning Josh was already gone, so I went to find the bathroom to wash up. When I saw myself I almost threw up, now I knew why Josh wouldn't let me go home last night. My cover up had all rubbed off on my pillow, and all of my acne was red and irritated. My eye make-up was smeared so I looked like a raccoon, and my hair was sticking all over the place. I immediately got to work, combing through my hair with my fingers and washing my face with a wash cloth I found under the sink.

When I was done I went to grab my make-up bag from my purse but stopped when I realized where I was.

I was at Josh's house. How could I forget?

We had been neighbors forever, but I had never actually been in his house. His parents weren't the type of people to host Christmas parties. Actually his parents weren't the type of people to talk to anyone, besides themselves.

It was beautifully decorated, everything looked like it was placed exactly where it belonged.

I went downstairs to go home, but stopped when the smell of pancakes wafted through my nose. I hadn't eaten pancakes since I started to lose weight, brought back too many memories...

I followed the smell to the kitchen. I saw Josh standing next to the stove with a perfect stack of buttermilk pancakes next to him.

I cleared my throat which made him turn around. He smiled and pointed towards the stack of pancakes, a look of triumph on his face. I couldn't help but smile back, he was such a goofball.

I grabbed a plate and one pancake, then proceeded to the island, Josh grabbed four and came to sit by me.

We ate in silence, for neither one of us had anything to say. The pancakes were delicious, where did Josh learn to cook like this? I sighed with pleasure as the pancake melted into my taste buds.

Josh just chuckled as he shoved a whole pancake into his mouth.

"So... Friends?" He offered glancing up at me nervously.

After what happened I guess we couldn't be anything but friends, maybe acquaintances but to be honest, I wanted to be friends.

"Yes, I would love to." I said without a hint of doubt in my voice.

Never in my life would I have guessed that I, Melissa Harper, would be friends with Josh Weatherly.