The Reason Is You

Chapter 4

Olivia was sitting in Gabe's living room sketching some designs for the wall in the bar while she waited for Gabe and Josh. As she was sketching, she smelled a very familiar scent and looked up and saw Josh walking towards her to join her on the couch. He looked a bit more dressed up than he did yesterday, probably because of the meeting with Louie. He was wearing a blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up halfway, tucked into his dark jeans. Today he wasn't wearing his glasses, but she did notice that he did his hair in a nice coif.

"Mmm, you smell nice," Olivia commented.

Josh blushed as he sat down next to Olivia to put his shoes on. "Thanks, Liv. How are your designs coming along?"

"Wanna see them?"

"Sure." Josh leaned over towards Olivia and looked through her sketchbook. "Wow, these are amazing Liv!"

"Thanks. I'm not sure which one would match, so I thought of doing several to show you all and you can decide."

Olivia turned to look at Josh and almost kissed him because of how close he was. Suddenly the two were very aware of the fact that their faces were nearly touching.

Josh moved away first. "I like them all," he said as he leaned back against the couch. "Although this second one looks really nice. I like the lettering in it, it's very unique. I haven't seen anything like that before, and I think it'll make the bar more distinct."

"Hmm, I agree."

Just then, Josh's phone rang. "Oh, I need to take this. It's my landlord." Josh excused himself and went out onto the balcony to take the call.

Gabe came out into the living room and noticed Olivia was alone. "Where's Josh?"

"He's out on the balcony. His landlord just called."

"Oh, okay. So, you ready for this meeting with Louie?" Gabe asked as he joined Olivia on the couch, taking the spot Josh had vacated.

"I think so. I made a couple of sketches and you all can decide what you'd like. Hopefully, Louie lets me design that wall."

"He will. Louie's a great man. He's been so supportive of everything Josh and I have wanted to do, so I don't see why he'd say no."

Josh walked back into the room with his eyebrows furrowed.

"What's up man?" Gabe asked.

"It was my landlord. He said the damage was pretty extensive and probably won't be fixed until after the weekend."

"Hey man, don't worry. You're more than welcome to stay however long you need."

"Thanks a lot, man. I really appreciate it. I'm gonna swing over to my place before heading to the bar though, while my landlord's still there. I still wanna talk to him in person, and I'll go grab a few things and move things around too."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Olivia asked.

"No, it's okay. I'll be fine. You guys can go ahead and just let Louie know I'll be there shortly after. I shouldn't take too long."

"Okay, sounds good. Just call me if you need anything," Gabe replied.

Josh walked towards the door. "Yeah. I'll head out now and meet you both there."

"See you!" Olivia turned her attention to Gabe. "Hey Gabe, how far away does Josh live now?"

"Not too far. He actually lives a couple of blocks away from the bar... why do you ask?" Gabe inquired suspiciously.

"No reason."

"You wanted to go with him and check out his place, didn't you?"

"What? No, of course not. I was just wondering. Why don't you two just live together again?"