Overwhelmed by the sudden peak in his career, Josh is forced into lying and alienation from his family, and close friends. The boy tries to hold on to privacy as long as he can, but it becomes more difficult when an untruthful and cautious Josh meet...
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My crown, my kingdom, for a do over.
☼ Josh
After making a detour to back to our apartment and getting clean, casual clothing, we made a run to Phoebe's school. It was nerve wracking to even drive past the extensive building, not only due to my social status or the fact that I had Phoebe with me, but because the last few times I was here I not only helped her escape, but also sprained her ankle at an attempt of helping her not crash onto the ground.
I met her father then. He had a tall frame and square shoulders. A beard hugged the entirety of his jaw, grey hairs showing in clusters among the dark brown hair. I remember his large hands shoving me into the ground, his breath hot and musty against my forehead. At the time, he was defending his daughter from what he thought was a malicious act; I've got the bruises to prove it. Granted that wasn't the way in which I would've liked to meet my girlfriend's father, but things were slightly different back and nothing really mattered.
But it matters now.
After requesting to drop her classes and somehow coaxing all her teachers to sign the form, all we had left to do was get her guardian's approval. This could've been done as easily as a teenager dropping out would be expected, but proved to be much more complicated for Phoebe, seeing as he mother refused to ever contact her again. With a sliver of hope and a mountain of luck, we got her father to agree to meeting and discussing the idea.
I have been parked for unusually long and should probably step out and join Phoebe, at least that's what my watch would suggest. Killing the engine, I wrap both hands around the steering wheel tightly and take a deep breath. I stare through the windshield at Phoebe who was standing in front of the car, parallel to me. She swings back and forth on her heels, looking in different directions. Exhaling, I step out and walk towards the brunette. I am close enough to touch her and I should because I know she's nervous, because ignoring it would be selfish, but I keep my hands to myself.
We stand in front of her old house. It seemed pretty mundane with it's muted sky blue walls and black framed windows the wrapped around the entirety of the single story structure. I can see the top of her tree house creep up from above the low roofing, the trees almost hiding it from the street view. Aside from my car, there is no vehicles to be seen in the drive way nor path of houses. Everything was growing increasingly eerie every second we stood outside waiting for her dad and I was starting to get desperate.
He doesn't make an appearance for another ten minutes, which, Phoebe reassures me, is not a sign he isn't showing up, but a sign that he didn't want to, which does little to nothing to calm the nerves in my stomach. When I hear him approach us I don't hear his voice or even feel his presence build up behind my back; I hear his feet. Heavily almost dragging themselves across the yard of someone else's house. He steps with his whole boot on the ground, serving as hint that his feet (and him) were not only big, but were prepared to kick my ass. At the last moment I look up from the keys I was toying with and drag my eyes from the ground all the way up to his face. He was wearing light denim pants, brown shoes and a grey shirt that read 'Jimmy' over his heart.
