One Night ✔️

Chapter Nine

As the days turned into weeks and weeks to months, Joseph effortlessly slotted himself into my life, becoming one of the best things about it. When Alex and I would study at the library, he'd be there sitting in the chair across from me.

No matter what he was doing, whether it was when he absentmindedly tapped his finger in a 1-2-3 rhythm when he was deep in thought, wrinkled his nose when he was hungry, or when he'd be immersed in his camera reviewing shots he'd taken the week before, I was always stealing glances at him.

Sometimes I'd look up to find Joseph staring right back, and each time, his eyes were shimmering and wild with something unidentifiable. I'd tear my eyes away, battling with my heart to keep calm, only to hear a short chuckle coming from him knowing he'd provoked me with just a single look.

He also seemed to read me and understand me more thoroughly than anyone ever had. It was in the way he knew intuitively how to calm me. It was in the way he kneaded the muscles in my shoulders, tight after a long day at my desk. It was in the way he sensed when I was craving sweets and surprised me with cookies. I was quickly adapting to him and him to me.

~*~

On the way out the door, my mom stopped me.

"Where are you going?" she asked, arching a brow.

"I'm going to the library with Alex and Joseph before school starts, remember?"

"Joseph, that's the boy whose house you went to, correct?"

"Yes."

"I want to meet him."

"W-what do you mean?? Why??"

Please no.

"I'd like to know the company my child keeps," she answered, folding her arms across her chest.

"Mom, Joseph is a good person. Like I told you before, he and Alex have been friends for over a decade. She wouldn't have even let me near him if he were a person with bad intentions."

"Huh. Well if you two think so highly of him, then surely it wouldn't be a problem if I met him. What are his grades like? Have you met his parents? Are they good people? Did they go to school? In fact, I'd like to meet them too."

I felt my patience dwindling and my head swelling. "Mom, I really should get going. Alex is waiting for me outside. May I please leave?"

"You may. But I'll be calling Jenn down at the library to check in later."

I sped out the front door and down the block where Joseph and Alex stood talking outside of his car. I bent over with my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath.

"Whoa, you okay?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright. It's just... my mom being my mom. The usual. This time I was just much more eager to leave."

"Then shall we be on our way?"

"Immediately."

Joseph hopped into the front seat and I was heading for the back when Alex blocked the door with her body.

"What are you doing? Move it," I muttered

"Get in front."

"You get in the front. I wanna sit in the back."

"Sienna, just get your ass in the seat."

I didn't dare argue any longer, not with that stubborn mule. Why she was so insistent on me sitting in the front escaped me, but I didn't want this to seem like a bigger deal than it was. I slid into the passenger seat and buckled my seatbelt, shooting a glance at Joseph who was adjusting the mirrors.