One Night ✔️

Chapter Twenty

"Bitch... what?!" Alex gasped, covering her mouth.

"I woke up this morning with his arms wrapped around me, and it was one of the best feelings in the world," I told her with my hand on my chest, attempting to calm the rapid beating of my heart.

"He freaking gives me heart palpitations and even though I'm a little scared, I want nothing more than to be with him."

I took a breath, trying to steady myself as I looked back at my stunned best friend. Moments later, she pulled out her phone and began typing.

"Are you kidding?? I bare my soul to you and you're not even going to respond? Isn't this what you wanted?!" I questioned, raising my voice again.

"Um... what are heart palpitations?" she asked.

"You know what? Google it," I retorted, quickly seeing the cashier before storming out of the diner.

"Sienna, wait!" Alex called after me.

I halted at the corner of the street with my back facing her. "Are you ready to be a good friend and help me?"

"Yes, I'm sorry."

I turned around to face her.

"I'm just shocked that's all. I can't believe my two best friends actually..." She trailed off, making an obscene hand gesture.

"Well, how do you think I feel?" I asked, dropping my arms to my sides in exasperation.

"I know, I know. Okay, tell me everything from the beginning," she said as we began walking down the sidewalk in-step.

Starting with the night Joseph and his parents came over for dinner, I told Alex about everything all the way up until prom.

"That explains the whispering over the phone and the whole 'sleeping together' thing," Alex commented as the realization began to dawn on her. "Talk about foreshadowing."

"So, he called you that night?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"What did he say?"

"He was just filling me in on your situation so I'd have an alibi in case your mom came over to check in."

"So that was after I passed out."

The two of us walked for a while, passing house after house, fence after fence.

"If I'm being honest, it wasn't in my drunken stupor that I realized I liked Joseph. I felt something for him the night he took me to the cliff, but it wasn't as intense as it is now. Every other moment after that just solidified my feelings."

"I'm happy for you, Sienna. I really am. But Joseph has been through a lot, some things that still affect him to this day... he has the best heart though. Please don't let him down and please don't hurt him," she said, giving me a pointed look.

"I promise I won't."

"I'll be telling him the same thing. On another note, I still can't believe he almost fought that guy at the bar."

"Yeah, it was scary." I crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm just glad he didn't get hurt. I'm even glad that sleaze came out okay cause if the look in Joseph's eye was anything to go by, he was ready to unleash a demon."

"Mm. I can't say Joseph's ever lashed out like that. But fast forwarding back to the present, has he contacted you at all?" she asked.

"No. I really hope everything is okay."

"I haven't heard anything. Want me to give him a call?" Alex suggested.

"It's up to you."

She pulled her phone from her back pocket and dialed Joseph's number but was instantly sent to voicemail.