One Night ✔️ Editing

Chapter Eighteen

This chapter will contain mature scenes (:
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My heart rattled in my ribcage hearing his words. For the second time tonight, I thought I was going to faint.

"Are you okay?" he asked, bracing my back.

"I just- can we sit for a second? I need to sit."

I squatted to sit down on the steps in front of the school, but Joseph stopped me. "I brought my car. We can hang out there for a minute. I don't want you to ruin your dress sitting on the ground."

A nervous titter escaped me. "Oh, thank you. I appreciate it." I latched onto his arm as we made our way to the lot to find Lucy.

⋅. ✯ .⋅

After sitting for a while, the air leaving and entering my lungs started to steady. Joseph set a lively and much less nerve-racking mood with some classic 80s music. With our heads thrown back in laughter, we sang along to Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'.

"I'm just a small town girl!" Joseph sang.

Turning in my seat, I gave him my full attention along with the spotlight- aka turning on the inside car light. He was illuminated in an artificial yellow glow.

"Oh? You're a small town girl?"

"Mhm. Livin' in a lonely world! I took the midnight train goin' an-y-where." Taking my hand, he encouraged me to sing the next part. "C'mon, Mariposa. Be my city boy tonight."

I missed the first couple of lines because of the fit of giggles that overtook me, but I let him finish and joined him in the second verse. Boy, did he do a mean air guitar.

"A singer in a smokey room, the smell of wine and cheap perfume. For a smile, they can share the night —"

"It goes on and on, and on, and on!!" Joseph held his phone to his lips like a microphone and belted out the lyrics with passion. As often as I said I wouldn't do it, I found myself grabbing Joseph's hand to get a turn at the "mic." We went back and forth.

"Don't stop believin! C'mon Joey!"

"Hold on to that feelin'!"

"Streetlight! People, ohhhhhh!!"

His ending air guitar solo was just as badass as the first one, and I could say with confidence that at that point in time I had reached peak happiness. It was also at this moment that I knew my feelings for Joseph had been too intense to any longer be considered platonic. The gravity of this scared the daylights out of me, and I needed to talk to Alex like... last month.

I was having a little trouble believing the night was real. That I had been dressed to the nines and danced the night away with the most amazing guy I'd ever met. Hell, I didn't want this night to end either.

"So," I started, half-kneeling in my seat.

"Up for another duet?" Joseph asked, getting ready to crank up the radio.

"With you? Always, but that's not quite what I was going for."

"Go on then," he said, tilting his head in my direction.

"My mom and dad are supposed to be out for the majority of the night."

"Mhm?"

"Do you maybe want to come back to my house and extend the fun?"

His brow quirked in surprise.

"I don't- I didn't mean it that way. It's just that I'm having a really good time with you and I'd really hate to part ways so early. Not when we have time to make more sweet memories like this sick jam session."