Small Town Southern Charm

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I decided that I wasn’t going to go home until after the dinner was over. I didn’t want Mom and Dad asking me where Johnny was or why he wasn’t coming. I tried to call Jody but she didn’t answer so I decided I’d ride over to Josh’s house to see what he was up to. When I pulled up I seen that his truck was in the driveway when I got to the door and knocked his mom came to the door.
“Oh hey, Tara.” She smiled.
“Hi, is Josh home?”
“Yeah, he’s out on the back porch. Come on in.”

I walked out onto the back porch and seen Josh sitting there with a cup in his hand. I knew what it was a soon as I seen the cup, he was drinking Jack Daniels and Coke.
“What’s up?” I ask before sitting beside him on the swing.
“Nothin’ much. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Johnny having dinner with your family?”
“Johnny wouldn’t go, so I decided to not go home until the dinner was over.”
“Oh.” Was all he said. “Is that why you look so upset?”
I just looked at him and shrugged my shoulders.
“What’s goin’ on?” He asked.
“Um, he’s leaving.”
“Leaving?” Josh stiffened beside me.
“Yeah, he got a job offer where he was living before. With some guy he knows, he said that he’s going to be staying in that town for a little while, so he can get everything situated. He told me he’d come back as much as he can though.”
“That asshole.” Josh mumbled to himself.
“Don’t be mad at him, he needs to take the job it’s something he likes. Not that I knew it until today but he seems to really want it.”
“What is it?”
“A tattoo place.”
“Shit, I thought it was something.” He said before taking a sip of his drink. “You want some?” He asked while offering his cup to me.
“I have to drive home, goof.”
“You can stay here tonight.”

Josh’s POV:

“You can stay here tonight.” I told her after she rejected the jack.
“I don’t know if that would be a good idea.”
“Screw him and what he thinks. Tara, you’re my best friend.”
“Josh, please.”
“Tara, please stay with me. I need you to be here with me.”
“Okay.”

I needed her here with me because I missed having her beside me at night time. I missed having her beside me when I get up in the mornings. I missed laughing at her messy hair in the mornings when she woke up. The thing I missed most was having her wanting to stay with me every night. When she had feelings for me, I didn’t realize it until it was too late. Now it was too late and she had my ass of a brother. The brother that was going to end up breaking her heart all over again. The brother that I had to clean up after when he decided he had to get away.

“So, you want me to go fix you a drink?” I ask her.
“Yeah, why not.” She smiled.
I could see the pain in her eyes and that killed me. We sat out on the porch just drinking, she had her head resting on my shoulder. In that moment everything felt right, it felt like I was meant to be there with her. Everything was right until her phone began ringing, I looked down as she was looking at it, the call was from Johnny.
She answered the phone and I could hear Johnny asking where she was and what she was doing. At first she seemed kind of nervous to tell him where she was and what she was doing but she told him. He sounded a little pissed off but he didn’t say anything that made me want to go kick his ass.
“Sorry.” Tara mumbled up to me.
“For what?”
“Him calling.”
“It’s fine, he’s your boyfriend now.” Not that I want him to be…

I didn’t say anything else about the subject and she seemed to get the idea that I didn’t want to talk about it. We just sat there in that silence again and I liked it that way. In the silence there was no way I’d let it slip how I really felt about their relationship.
Around 12 we decided to go in and go to bed. She was asleep within ten minutes of being in bed and that’s when my phone vibrated.
Johnny: Meet me tomorrow at the diner. We need to talk.
Me: Yeah whatever you say.
Johnny: Just be there at 12.
Me: Sure thing.

I didn’t really want to meet him because I didn’t know if I could control myself when I seen him. I didn’t know what I would do or say to him but that’s his fault. I wasn’t going to tell Taralyn about meeting him because I knew she would try to stop it.
I didn’t really sleep, I just stayed awake and watched her sleep. I watched her sleep like I had done so many nights before when I couldn’t sleep. But when I use to watch her sleep, I thought that there was going to be a time when I woke up beside her every morning for the rest of my life. Now as I watched her, I didn’t know if I’d wake up beside her anymore. This night could be the last night we ever sleep in the same bed and I hated to think that. I wanted to know that one day she would come home to me and I would be able to wrap my arms around her and tell her how much I love her.
When Tara woke up she told me that she had to get home. She had been looking at her phone before she told me that so someone must have texted her. It was 11 when she left so I went and ate breakfast then decided to leave for the diner. When I got there Johnny’s vehicle was there so I walked in, when I found him I walked over to him.
“I’m here, what do you want?” I asked once I got up to him.
“To set boundaries.”
“Boundaries?”
“Yeah, with Taralyn.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
“You guys can hang out, sure but I don’t want you to stay at each other’s houses. I also wanted to try and fix things between us. I want to act like brothers.”
“Act like brothers? You are no brother to me, you are trying to control Tara and I won’t let that happen.”
“How am I trying to control her?”
“She can’t stay at her best friend’s house? That’s not controlling her?”
“No, it’s not. It’s setting boundaries. Look, I know you guys are close but I don’t want her sleeping with some other guy when she won’t even stay the night with me.”
“Wow, this is bullshit.” I said while getting up from the table.

Taralyn’s POV:

When I went home Mom and Dad wanted to talk to me, they didn’t look happy at all when I walked in. They were a little mad that I didn’t reply to any of their messages or return their calls, they said they were worried to death all night. Honestly, I had forgotten all about calling them to let them know that I wouldn’t be coming home.
“So, why weren’t you here for dinner last night?” Dad asked.
“Well, Johnny said he wasn’t coming back over here. So, I just went to Josh’s house and stayed the night.”
“He’s not coming back over here?”
“Nope, he said that he wasn’t coming over here for you guys to say sorry when you’re not really sorry.”
I left shortly after that because I didn’t want them to ask me anymore questions. I just drove over to Jody’s house to see what she was up to. When I got to her apartment and knocked on her door she didn’t answer, the door was unlocked so I walked in. When I got in her bedroom, I seen her on her bed crying her eyes out.
“Jody, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothin’, I’m okay.”
“Really? You’re balled up in your bed crying your eyes out. I haven’t heard from you in weeks, what’s going on?”
“I’m just really stressed out, that’s all.”
“I don’t believe you but okay.”

I knew something was really wrong with her, I mean I knew my best friend. She was pale as a ghost, she looked horrible. I hated that she didn’t want to tell me what was going on but I wasn’t going to pry.
I spent the rest of the day hanging out with her, trying to cheer her up. Every time I would think she was better, she would burst out into tears again. This was more than just stress making her act like this. I needed to find out what was going on so that I could help her.
_____________
Ahh! I hope everyone liked this one! I’ve been thinking about how this story is going to turn out and I have to say I’m pretty excited! I would really like if you guys would tell me what you think!
Vote and Comment!
Xoxo :]