leave me lonely | joshler

9. meet

I realize now that Darren's wife has the same name as Tyler's niece but they won't ever cross paths in this fic so it shouldn't be confusing my bad.

It was late afternoon and Josh had just picked his kids up from school. He had gotten off early due to the huge heat wave that they were currently having in Ohio.

The 3 of them were in their living room watching tv. Grayson was sitting on the floor playing with his toy trucks while Laila was up on the couch with jim and her dad.

Josh was playing with Laila's earlobes, a habit he's always had, when he looked at the time and noticed it was a little bit after four. He sat up and stretched his body since Laila was laying on him.

"Darren, Mia, and Aria are coming over for dinner tonight. Mia is gonna make her famous chicken fajitas." he announced to his kids.

They both nodded their heads. "When?" Laila asked her dad.

"Around 5. It's 4:15 right now so we have 45 minutes." Josh explained to her.

In the meantime, they took Jim outside to use the bathroom and he cleaned up his kitchen and got out the pans, spices and utensils that Mia would need. At 5:05, Josh heard knocking on his door.

"Hi Grayson and Laila!" Aria said while walking in. After greeting eachother, the 3 of them instantly ran to Laila's room to play.

"Well that was easy." Josh noted as they all walked into the kitchen. Mia grabbed the chicken and peppers that she brought and began putting it in the pan to cook.

"So, Darren told me you met someone at the bar on Friday." Mia said smirking.

Josh rolled his eyes. "I met a friend at the bar on Friday." he corrected. "Her name is Bea. She's sweet." he informed.

Mia "ahhed" outloud. "I see. Darren is a fat liar he made it seem like you guys were vibing." She added while giving her husband a fake dirty look.

Darren put his hands up in defense. "Don't look at me, I was just trying to help my friend get some pu—" he started before Josh instantly cut him off.

"Our children are present down the hall!" he shrieked at him.

"He literally has no filter. Aria asked me what 'Go fuck yourself.' meant because she heard her dad say it while he was playing fortnite." Mia groaned with embarrassment.

Josh's eyes widened. "Darren!" he said while trying to stifle a laugh.

"Father of the year right here." he smiled sheepishly while pointing at himself.

While they were talking, Grayson came in the kitchen and sat down next to Darren and Josh. "T-they kep-pt t-trying t-to put me i-in d-dresses s-so I l-left." Grayson said mortified.

The 3 adults looked at eachother before erupting into laughter. Grayson's face heated up and he groaned. "N-not funny!" he scolded them.

Josh ruffled his hair. "Sorry bud. I have two sisters so I know what it's like. You're gonna have to deal with that for the rest of your life." he admitted to the boy. Grayson's eyes widened and he let out a dramatic sigh against his dad's chest.

Mia was finishing up the fajitas and Josh was getting the plates out when they heard a loud bang come from Laila's room followed by laughter.

"Aria Rose!" Darren yelled.

Josh laughed and mimicked him. "Laila Jasmine!"

The two girls giggled louder before they appeared from the twin's room. "Yes?" they replied innocently.