Yes, Sweetheart

Chapter 3

It's official: I can't stop stressing over physics.

Even when I put the book away, I panic over the idea that I still don't understand the material. Being that this was never a problem before, I guess you could say I was taking this a little harshly. Still, it was involuntary, and I couldn't control my obsessing behaviors.

So when I threw on a light pink blouse and denim jeans for the morning and headed outside to meet Josh, I swiped my textbook and brought it with me, almost as an afterthought.

I hopped in Josh's car, smile bright. He grinned right back - until he saw the book in my hands.

Before he said anything, I started, "Please, I won't touch it the entire time. Only if we have a few minutes in passing, I'll see if I can understand it. But I promise if it goes on for any longer than twenty minutes I'll put it away and not touch it for the rest of the day."

Josh, acquiescing, shut his mouth and nodded. He started to drive, backing up out of my driveway to start towards the nearest restaurant. I slid one of my hands over to touch his leg, and he gently patted my hand with his own before returning it to the wheel.

When Josh and I went out, we almost always stopped for food first. It was an unspoken tradition, really. He was always starved from high metabolism and constant exercising, while I was just happy to eat, really. My metabolism was still fairly high as well, leading to us going out to eat every time we spent time together.

Josh pulled into the nearest restaurant, which just so happened to be a Mexican place. It was small, quaint, and had great food. A bonus, it was near my house.

Josh slightly wrinkled his nose, and I rolled my eyes. He disliked Mexican food, but likely just wanted to eat food and was settling for the idea that it was close.

Regardless, I followed him into the restaurant, and a ghost of a smile touched my face. I really liked this place, if only for the atmosphere and the food. Not only was the food remarkable, but music played and traditional papel picado hung from the ceiling. It was so authentic, it made my day every time I visited.

Josh spoke to the waiter, and both of us sat down at the offered table. He picked up the menu, leafed through it, and placed it back on the table.

"What are you getting?" I questioned him, mostly out of curiosity.

"I'll figure it out. Probably just a taco or something. No need to explore if I don't like the food," he shook his head and justified.

I frowned. So what if he wasn't wild about the food? He never tried anything new when we went out to eat, and he didn't even pretend to enjoy this outing. Clearly he wanted to go to his place, but was regretting stopping here for an early lunch.

Still, the waiter returned in a few minutes, and we ordered. As I chowed down on my own chile relleno, I watched Josh pick at his food, dissatisfied.

When he saw me watching, he grinned.

"Hey, Aria, don't give me that look. Just because I don't like it here doesn't mean that I can't take you here since you do. I like seeing you happy with me every once in a while, y'know?"

His wide smile made me shake my head, but smile slightly as well. He did make me happy, and I was always grateful for the time we spent together.

We finished up eating, and Josh paid for our food while I headed back outside. I got into Josh's car, a generic sort of Ford, and lamented the current loss of my car. I'd love to go get it back after we went to Josh's house, I'd just have to mention it to him.

The public transportation in the area was certainly not very reliable, given the college was in a suburban area about fifteen minutes from home. Consequently, I needed my car to get around and drive to classes on Monday.