Broken Together // J. Washington

Jealousy

I sit beside Ashley and Matt on the steps of the lodge. Not because I wanted to, but because we were waiting on Chris and Josh to get the damn door open and let us all in. It was freezing outside and felt as if I was slowly turning into an ice cube. I didn't like that feeling and I'm pretty sure that nobody else did either.

"Hey guys!" Josh says, smiling and waving his hand in the air, "and hey beautiful." Josh walks towards me and I stand up to hug him back. We kiss and then Chris jumps in, making us laugh.

"Everyone make it here okay?" Josh asks everyone, Ashley being the only person to actually answer.

"Well, more or less. But it's good to see you!" Ashley says happily, still holding her legs together. It really is freezing out here.

Matt is holding his arms in front of his chest and is looking away from everyone like he's upset. I didn't ask him what was wrong because he looked so agitated and I didn't want to make anything worse.

Josh took notice and was walking with Chris when he asked, "What's up with him?" I hear Chris answer as they walk away, but I couldn't exactly make it out. Instead, I sat and waited until they got us inside to speak with Josh. I was very nervous and still unsure if I should even tell him. But it was eating at me. I needed to tell him. He deserved to know. Besides, I don't know what to do and I don't want to make a decision without him. This was too important. I couldn't be selfish anymore.

I was standing with Ashley and Sam when Ash decides to yell at Chris, "We're freezing our buns off out here!"

"She has a point you know!" I yell, trying to warm myself up by moving around. I see Chris trying to unfreeze the doorknob to open it from the inside. He opens the door and begins to act likes he's all that and a bag of chips.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week!" He says, as he bows in front of us, making Ashley giggle like a little girl. Sam and I knew she had a huge crush on Chris but for some reason she wouldn't tell him or even act on it. I didn't know why she just wouldn't tell him, I mean if she really liked him she probably would have already asked him if he liked her.

But before anyone could move, a huge wolf jumped out from behind Chris and ran outside of the lodge. We were all very scared but then laughed it off just as easily.

"Crap that thing freaked me out." Chris says, trying to catch his breath and calm down. Sam and I just continued to laugh at him, making turn red as a tomato in front of Ashley.

"What was it? Are you okay?" Ashley asks him, still laughing from him jumping. He sighs and looks at the ground for a second in defeat.

"It was like a bear o-or a tiger or something!" Chris tries to explain. Clearly he has no common sense. I mean a damn tiger? In Michigan? The fuck is he thinking?

"In what world does that make any sense?" I ask him, laughing at him for having no education.

"I-uh. I dunno..." He says, laughing and scratching the back of his neck. After a couple of seconds, we all walk into the lodge to hopefully get warm, it was fucking cold outside.

"I'll get a fire going." Josh says, getting to the fireplace as quickly as he can to warm the place up. I was still very anxious to tell him. It seemed like time was getting away. I wanted to tell him and give him to time to think it over.

"Hey, whenever you have a second, can I talk to you about something? You know, in private?" I ask him, whispering in his ear. He looks at me a little concerned, but then smiles.

"Of course, just let me get this fire started." He says, and continues to light the fire. I sit on the couch and try to find a way to entertain myself for a few minutes. More like trying to find a way to take my mind off of what I'm going to tell him.

"What's up party people!" Mike comes in, yelling happily with his hands up in the air. Looks like he's in an awful good mood. Mike and I aren't really close, the only real reason we know each other is because I'm dating Josh and they're close. Not as close as Josh and Chris but a close friend.

"Hey!" Jess says, just as excitedly as Mike sounded. I look over at Matt and he immediately looks up at Mike like he wanted to kill him. I get up and go to Matt, something just felt wrong.

"Make yourself at home, bro." Josh chimes in, trying to be a good host.

"Will do." Mike says, walking towards to the couch and nods his head back at Josh.

"Come on in. Take a load off. Have whatever you want. You just take whatever you want anyway, right?" Matt says, angrily. Although, I'm not sure why. Why the hell would Matt be mad at Mike? Matt was not the type to get that defensive over nothing. There had to be something going on that nobody knew about.

"Woah, easy there cowboy." Mike says, trying to keep from getting into a fight with Matt. After all, Matt was the starring quarterback for the football team, he was a pretty strong guy. Then again, Mike worked out too, he was a tough guy.

"What the hell were you doing with Em out on the trail, huh?" Matt challenges, making Mike furrow his brow for a second before defending himself and Emily. I understand now why Matt is mad.

"Hey! Let's not do this right now, okay?" I stand up from my seat and get in between them.

"Then when should we do this, Bella? He kissed my girlfriend!" Matt argues with me, but I'm on his side.

"I know, I'm on your side. Dude, you have to chill first, okay? I'll take care of this." I say, reassuring him. I look over at Mike and see Jess beside him.

"Mike, what happened? Be honest or so help me god-"

"Nothing! I don't know what he thinks he saw, but it's not true." Mike says, trying his best to convince me otherwise. If we was lying, he was doing a damn good job.

"Okay, well. Can you guys just agree to not kiss each other's girlfriends. Is that do-able?" I ask, looking at both of them. Mike nods and then so does Matt.

"Problem solved! Now, was that so hard?" I ask them both, smiling as I successfully put my hands on my hips. For a second, I wasn't scared, nervous or at all worried about my current situation. I was happy. But, I see Josh and he smiles at me. Maybe everything was going to be okay. But, still I didn't know if I could tell him the secret. Maybe he didn't need to know...

"Okay, I'm going to go take a bath." Sam says, before heading upstairs. I nod and smile up at her. I look back at Josh, and he smiles and puts a hand out in front of me. I grab it and he pulls me closer. I could feel his hot breath on my neck, and he had one hand in mine and the other on my hip. I was still nervous, but he managed to take my mind off of it all. For that, I owed him something, a kiss.

I pulled him close, and planted a kiss on his lips. The kiss seemed to make everything stop. Time. Everyone. Everything.

"Ahem." I hear Sam cough, and wait for us to look at her.

"There isn't any hot water..." She says, looking down at the floor, like there was something interesting down there. Way to ruin the moment, Sam.