Behind the Cameras - Joshifer

Chapter 14 - Lunch

Jen's POV

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I picked up the hotel phone and dialed Josh's number. He picked up after a couple rings.

"Hello?"

"Hey Josh, it's Jen."

"Oh hi Jen, what's up?"

"I'm going to the apple store to get a new phone. Wanna come with me? On the way there we could stop somewhere and have some lunch if you want."

"Uh..... lunch? Like a.... a date?"

His voice began to shake slightly. He sounded nervous. But why? Oh. That's why.

"N-no. Not a uh... not a d-date just umm.... two friends out to lunch," I answered anxiously.

"Oh ok. Well if you want to I uh.. yeah ok. Sure, sure. It uh... yeah that sounds good."

"I'll come and pick you up at the uh.... the hotel entrance."

"Yeah ok. See you soon."

The call ended. I exhaled a huge breath of air I wasn't even aware I was holding in. I can't believe my friendship with Josh has become so awkward. Ever since we admitted our feelings for each other, we've been so distant and secretive. Why can't things just go back to the way they were before? Why couldn't we have stayed friends? I don't want to be in an intimate relationship with Josh, but I don't want to lose him either. I love him, but I'm not sure if I love him the way I'm supposed to. Thinking about this is giving me a headache.

I threw my hair up into a ponytail, slathered on a little bit of natural makeup, grabbed my purse, and headed to the main lobby of the hotel.

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"Hi I'm looking for Josh Hutcherson," I told the woman at the front desk.

"Alright, I'll leave him a message. Could I have your name please, miss?"

"Jennifer."

The woman picked up a telephone and left a message for Josh.

"Hello Mr. Hutcherson, there is a young lady down at the front desk. Her name is Jennifer. Would you like me to send her up?"

The woman paused and I could barely hear Josh's voice answering through the phone.

"Alright, yes I'll tell her. Okay. No problem. Have a good day, sir."

She hung up and put the phone back down.

"Mr. Hutcherson said he'll be down in a few minutes. Feel free to relax while you wait." The woman gestured to a group of chairs, couches, and tables for guests staying at the hotel.

I carefully sat down on a beige chair that had a plump, white pillow resting on it. I thought about stars; I thought about grass; I thought about pizza; I thought about filming; I thought about Josh. He came hurrying into the lobby, patting down his hair with his left hand and securing his shoe around the heel of his foot with his right hand. He was wobbling on one foot in order to correctly insert his foot into his shoe. To be completely honest, he looked like a mess. But it was a cute mess. A cute mess that never failed to make me smile.

"Ready to go?" He panted, having finally succeeded in getting himself prepared for the day.

"I'm ready if you are," I laughed.

Grinning ear-to-ear, we walked outside and stepped into my car.

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"This food is pretty good," Josh commented.

"Yeah. Too bad they don't have pizza."

We both held in our laughter. People were already staring at us with confused curiosity. The last thing we needed was to be labeled as mental cases for bursting into random guffaws.

"I'm glad we're having this lunch. It gives us a chance to chat."

Josh looked a little worried, but I chose to ignore it.

"Look Josh, I like you. You like me. I really like you, but I'm not sure I love you. I mean, I love you, but I'm not sure if I love you the same way you love me."

He nodded, uncertain of what else he could do.

"I've been thinking..... and.. well................ I think maybe we could try things out and umm... well if it doesn't work we can still be friends. What do you think?"

At first, I was answered with silence. A few minutes later, he spoke.

"If you're ready to take our relationship further I would gladly accept. I just..... I just don't want our friendship to get damaged because of this. I know we'd still be friends and all but things would be incredibly awkward. I'd love to date you but I want to make sure you're the one who's happy. I want you to be happy with whatever happens. I don't want this relationship to dent our friendship."

His gaze latched onto mine. We were staring into each other's eyes.

"I'm ready for a relationship."