𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 ↠ 𝐉𝐎𝐒𝐇 𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒

5 | 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

   MELISSA WATCHED AS THE TREES FLEW BY, ATTEMPTING TO GET USED TO BEING ON THE BUS. The seat beside her was unoccupied. Chase had sat there, but Noen asked him if he'd wanted to make a few tik toks — to which the raven-haired boy quickly agreed and scampered off to sit beside the older boy. Meanwhile, Josh sat a few rows behind her, completely bored out of his mind with his eyes wandering throughout the bus as music played through his headphones. His blue eyes landed on Melissa's figure, taking a second before taking his headphones out.

Melissa looked beside her as someone suddenly sat down. A small blossom of red spread across her cheeks as he grinned her way. "Hey," she greeted, trying to control her overly growing smile.

  "Hey," he responded, not noticing how many of the others eyes had now placed their attention on the duo. He twiddled with his headphones for a second before offering one towards the raven-haired girl. "Want to, uh, listen to some music?"

     "Sure," she laughed lightly, making Josh smile wider as she accepted the headphone and placed it into her ear. As Josh pressed shuffle on his playlist, I'd let you win by Ports, began playing. Melissa instantly brightened at the familiar tune.

  "I love this song!" Both teenagers exclaimed in unison, causing the duo to burst out laughing at the coincidence. Soon, their laughter quieted down and all that was left was the quiet chatter of the other teens and their favourite song blasting from the headphones. And with time, the two fell asleep.

✧ ✧ ✧

      "Wake up, lovers!" Jason shouted at the top of his lungs, shaking Melissa and Josh from their sleep. The bus was stopped and everyone was cramming their way to the door to get out and only the duo were left sitting; if you could call it that. Melissa's cheeks heated as she raised her head off Joshs' chest and untangled her legs from his. The brunette did similar, lifting his head from where it'd been rested on hers and sending her a tiny smile.

  Melissa handed Josh his headphone back, and stood at the same time he did. She attempted to calm her overly beating heart, but it did nothing. She couldn't deny the fact that her whole heart was in a whirl and stomach in a knot. The whole day had seemed like a dream so far. How was it possible, that the guy she'd been secretly obsessing over for months was interacting with her in all the ways she'd hoped?

     "Where are we?" Josh asked Jason, who stood just in the aisle beside their seats.

"We're at Target. Chase wouldn't shut up about getting snacks, so..." The teenager shrugged, finally moving out of the way for the duo to get out and headed for the opened bus doors. Without more words exchanged, both Melissa Stewson and Josh Richards left the Lights Out Tour bus with flushed cheeks and a happier mood.

✧ ✧ ✧

    "I still can't believe you like Cheez Itz," Chase Hudson snickered, carrying two very full grocery bags in his hands as he walked alongside Melissa towards the tour bus. She shrugged in response, very happy with the amount of stuff she'd bought at Target within the span of twenty minutes or so — she truly hadn't kept track once so ever, once Chase snatched her away from Josh to sprint around the store for snacks. "They're gross. It's factual, my friend."

       "Okay, Hudson, think what you like!" She laughed, stepping onto the bus. Very surprisingly, her and Chase were the first two done shopping. So, they were both alone on the bus — excluding the bus driver, who sat bored on his phone playing Knife Hit. The raven-haired girl made her way to her previous seat, placing her bags at her feet as she sat in the cushion closest to the window. Without hesitation, Chase sat in the seat beside her — but, left the middle cushion empty. Even though this was their first time meeting in person, the young boy knew exactly what Melissa would be using the middle cushion for. Just as he guessed, she began ruffling through her bags and pulling what she'd wanted for the moment out and placed them on top of the middle seat. Seeing Chase's entertained expression, she quirked her eyebrow. "What's that look for?"

    He scoffed, shrugging his shoulders as he put his bags on the floor and pulled out what he'd been craving — which was a small packet of ranch corn nuts. "Oh, nothing." His smirk grew as she scoffed lightheartedly at him. As he tore open his food packet, he remembered what they'd been talking about before he moved to sit with Noen. "So, let's get back to what we were talking about before." Melissa hummed, not actually remembering as Chase did. "Damon is the better man."

     "I swear to god, Stefan Salvatore was the best, most handsome, better man!" She exclaimed, beginning to list her never ending thoughts on the show that'd consumed her life since September of 2009.

✧ ✧ ✧

   Josh jokingly shoved Joe back as the two boys made their way onto the bus. His eyes landed on Melissa and Chase — who both sat deep in conversation. About what? He had no idea. The brunette felt a sting of something he wasn't sure of. Originally, he thought they'd be sitting together again, but it turned out they weren't. The seventeen year old sighed quietly as he followed Joe to the back of the bus and across from the only other two seated. And as the bus filled up, his eyes continued to wander towards the duo and wonder what they were talking about that had Melissa so invested.

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲: 𝗌𝗍𝖾𝖿𝖺𝗇 𝗌𝖺𝗅𝗏𝖺𝗍𝗈𝗋𝖾 >>>
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