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7

"Morning Aria!" Jenna greeted me with a smile.

I sat up and looked around. To my right was Josh, sound asleep, snoring softly. His arm had been wrapped around me. He was warm. We were in the living room, lying on the couch.

"He's been asleep a few hours. He took you out here and you both were out. I tried to wake you up for breakfast but you guys sleep pretty heavy." Jenna chuckled. 

I smiled sheepishly.

"Hungry?" Jenna asked. "I made pancakes."

I scrunched my nose up. "No thanks, I'm not all that hungry."

"If you change your mind, just ask."

I nodded and stood up, deciding to get changed for the day.

"Aria?" A raspy voice came from beside me as I got up. Josh had woken up. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"To get changed. Jenna said there's pancakes if you want them."

"Mmm," Josh smiled to himself. "My favourite."

I went to the room I had been in the night before and pulled out some clothes that seemed suited for the weather. Cold, wet and rainy. Typical Ohio weather.

Once I was satisfied, I made the bed and left the room, making sure to close the door behind me.

"Aria," Tyler happened to be walking past. He placed his hand on my shoulder. I tensed up, and he seemed to notice, making him take his hand off with an apologetic look in his eye. "Feeling better?"

I nodded and tried to rush back to Josh. I felt bad, but he just scared me.

"Aria, I have a proposition." Josh looked up from behind the counter in the kitchen.

I looked in his direction and he continued.

"I don't know what the deal is with the paperwork and stuff is at the moment, but how about we go check that out, then go to my parents house. Only if you want to."

"Okay." I said, nodding.

"Alrighty," Josh smiled. "You look nice."

"Thanks."

"Ah, sleeping beauty has awoken from his slumber I see!" Tyler walked into the kitchen, his voice raised. I decided it was probably best to leave the two boys alone, and I went to go see what Jenna was doing.

As I walked down the hallway and into the room that Jenna was in, I was greeted with a warm smile. "You look nice."

I chuckled lightly. "Josh said that too."

"It fits you well," Jenna closed one of the draws as she placed one last thing away. "You okay? Tyler told me about last night."

"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged. "I feel bad though."

"Why?"

"Well for one, Tyler asked if I was feeling better from last night and I replied with a lame answer. Wasn't even an answer to be fair. And I pushed him away last night when he was the only person there to help. I don't know why, he just—"

"Scares you?"

"Yeah."

"I promise you Aria, he isn't going to do anything bad. But if he does anything you don't like, you've just got to say something. You've only been here a day, you've only known us for a day. It's only natural that you're going to be weary of everyone."

I looked to the ground. "Josh said I had a panic attack." I tried to change the subject.

"Sounds like it. Tyler used to get them all the time, and Josh gets them every now and then. You aren't weird, you're perfectly normal."

"It's not the first time it's happened."

"Josh told me that. That's mainly why he's hoping to get everything sorted today so he can take you somewhere to help a bit."

"What would they do? How could they help? Isn't it something you just have to deal with?"

"If you're getting them often, then no. You see, it's pretty obvious to everyone — especially Josh — that you probably have some sort of anxiety disorder. Josh does too. He knows how hard it is, so he wants to help you. I shouldn't be having this conversation with you, Josh should be, but oh well."

I nodded, taking everything Jenna had just said in.

"Give me a hand with putting away these clothes could you?"

"Sure."

As Josh and I sat in the front of the car, getting ready to leave to go fill out the paperwork, Jenna came outside.

"So are you two coming back here tonight?" Jenna asked.

"Might stay the night at my parent's house, but we'll stop by if we do to grab her clothes and stuff." Josh answered.

Jenna nodded. "Have fun. Don't get into trouble."

Josh and I chuckled and waved goodbye to Jenna, who watched us drive away.