once they got back into the car and began to drive, rosemary picked up her journal. she wrote something down, but josh didn't mind. when he looked over, he noticed her brow had furrowed.
"what's up?" josh asked, taking a glance at her quickly before looking back at the road. rosemary, of course, didn't say anything. She just held out her journal and let him see the page she was on. there was a list, all the places they had been. all of them were crossed off. they were done.
"oh." josh's shoulders dropped, returning his eyes to the mostly barren road. "so that's it?" josh asked, then realizing that it was friday. it had been six days since they left, and their road trip was meant to be a week. it'd take a day to drive back to columbus. it was over.
josh put her address into his gps, and he was right. they'd be back at eleven at night on saturday, the same day they left the week prior. on the whole way back, all that could be heard was siri telling josh where to go, and the scribble of rosemary's pen. josh looked over at her every so often, and he noticed that the journal she was writing in wasn't the one he was used to.
josh almost jumped when rosemary reached for the radio volume halfway through the ride back, since she hadn't moved an inch since they started driving again. she pulled and aux cord out of her backpack and plugged it into the middle console. she began to play some music from her phone before she returned writing in that book josh hadn't seen before. her music was nice, soft and smooth. it reminded josh of her.
her music was calming. it was really chill, but not so much so that you'd fall asleep listening to it. some of it was repetitive, some had a little bit of singing, but most was instrumental.
they made it back home at eleven thirty, a bit after josh's gps predicted. the streets in front of rosemary's apartment were empty aside from the occasional single car. it was strange since her apartment building was right in the heart of the city.
josh saw his car parked in the same spot as when they left, and it was like they hadn't even gone anywhere. he parked in the garage of the building, watching as rosemary didn't move despite them parking. she was writing at the same pace as she had been the whole ride, on the last page of her book. she wrote a final thing right at the bottom of the last page and closed the book. she sighed and slipped the book into the backpack she brought, getting out of the car and beginning to get josh's things from the trunk. she helped transfer all of it to josh's car, then once everything was packed away in his trunk, they just stood there staring at each other. that is, until rosemary looked back at the building, then to josh again.
"oh. uh- yeah." josh slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans, not knowing why he felt so sad to see her go. they had been day and night together for seven whole days, and now they were just supposed to be alone again? rosemary nodded and began to walk away, the same feeling sturring in her.
"i could walk you up to your apartment if you want." josh picked his head up, deciding that he didn't want to leave her yet. rosemary had her hand on the door but paused when she heard josh. she looked over at him, that famous closed lip smile sneaking onto her face. it made josh smile. she nodded towards inside, and josh was already jogging to catch up with her.
"welcome back, ms. michaelson." the receptionist josh had become so familiar with greeted. "and mr. dun." she nodded at josh, which josh reciprocated. rosemary waved, and that was that. though it was such a simple interaction, things like that were the reason he loved coming to rosemary's place so much. the plants in the lobby, margret robinson always reading a new novel in the sitting area every time he came in, the apartment rosemary lived in that felt empty when you look at it, but once you know the person living there it seems to be the best place on earth.
"this has been a lot of fun." josh said as they stepped into the elevator, rosemary then putting her key into the little slot under the floor number that was her apartment. "the most fun i've had in awhile, actually." he added, his gaze trained on his shoes.
a few moments of silence lingered between them, and josh had to get something off his mind he couldn't stop thinking about. "thank you for taking me on this whole thing. i've been really down lately and i didn't know what i could do with the whole album and everything and be working on it constantly, and then you come in and you listen to me talk and you make me food and your dog is really cute, and you in general. you're so perfect and great and you've helped me more than i can say-"
"you got something on your shirt there." she interrupts him, and when josh finally looked at her, he noticed the smile on her face. it wasn't that closed lip smile he knew. it was a full-blown grin. that made josh smile too.
"where?" josh then looked down at his shirt, pulling it out away form his body and trying to tilt his head down impossibly low to try and see the spot under his chin she had pointed to.
"no it's right there..." she walked over to him and pointed to right under his chin, then in one swift movement used her finger to lift up his chin and meet his lips with hers. josh was understandably surprised at first, but he soon found his eyes fluttering shut and one hand resting gently on her waist, the other cupping her head as he deepened the kiss.
the ding of the elevator and the doors opening didn't at all concern josh in the moment, nor rosemary. they both didn't move, just staying in each other's embraces that they had been waiting to be in for so long. sadly though, rosemary was the first to pull away, stepping out of the elevator right before the doors began to close, leaving josh shocked.
before the doors closed completely, rosemary waved like nothing happened. josh waved back in the same way, except he had a massive smile on his face.
the mirror on the back wall o the elevator caught josh's attention, where he then noticed that his lips were now a bit glossy form her lip gloss. he quickly licked his lip, smiling again afterward.
it tasted like honey. as sweet as she was.
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a/n: oh damn i made it happen
i usually don't like putting media up there, but if you want some tunes to bop to while you read i highly suggest listening to that. it fits the mood pretty well in my opinion.
also, whoa, i've never thanked y'all for the reads i get. thank you. idrk how much i have (i make it a rule that i can't look too much os i don't get an ego) but however much it is, thank you for reading.
