Love Him

Part 9

The next day, we had two French exams. The reading comprehension in the morning and writing in the afternoon. During our two-hour break in between, I hung out with Ned, Crystal, and some of their friends - having lunch with them also. Trevor joined us too. I could see that I wasn't the only one trying to avoid our original group. I was okay with Nick and obviously Mariah, but there was no way I wanted to be around Lance. And, if I were to be completely honest, I had no idea how I felt about Joshua. But I knew I wasn't in the mood to see him. Not at the moment anyway.

Right after my last exam, I headed straight home. I got a text later from Mariah asking if I was okay and perhaps wanted to hang out with the whole group the next week. Obviously, I replied no and reminded her how Lance had talked shit behind my back. She  told me to let it go cause I didn't hear it come from him exactly and it was causing drama on the group chat, which Lance had apparently removed Josh from. I was honestly  confused by her response. I couldn't understand why she would side with Lance. If it was to keep the group together, then screw that! Making me seem like the main cause and irrational one in this situation was the last thing I needed.

Later that evening at seven, I received a call. It was from Josh. I considered not pickin' up but then realized that if he called to defend Lance's side over mine, just like Mariah had, then I preferred getting the conversation over with. I answered my phone, the call between me and Josh starting off super awkward. "I feel like I haven't spoken to you in a while," he said.

Since yesterday really, but I mumbled, "Yeah." Considering how much time we spent together, I guess this was rather different.

"Didn't see you at all today either."

"Yeah..." What else could I say? I closed my eyes, cringing inwardly at how painfully awkward this conversation was.

Joshua let out a little sigh. "Are you mad at all of us?"

I opened my eyes. "No. Is that what everyone thinks?"

"Mm... well, you did leave the group chat again and you didn't hang out with us today. We didn't know where you went."

"Oh. Well, it's not that, Lance is the one I have an issue with."

"Yeah, we know, it's just - I don't know..." Joshua trailed off.

"What?" I wanted to know.

"You're putting us all in a tough position."

I frowned. "How?"

"We're a group, but now there's a division between you and Lance, and everybody, and- it sucks not having you around." Joshua sighed. "There's literally so much drama going on because of this that Lance kicked me off the fuckin' group chat. Plus, you putting us in a position to choose is hard. Especially for Mariah. She's like, your best friend but she also loves the group. You're making this hard for her."

"She said that?"

"Well, no. But I can tell."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not putting you guys in any position to choose," even though you guys clearly chose Lance over me, "and, you can't tell everything."

"I know I can't. But I sure can tell that you're mad about something." Obviously. "Listen, forget the stuff I said about Lance. I was already mad at a bunch of things at once yesterday, and then he started to talk about why I shouldn't go for you, I got mad and we got into an argument. I shouldn't have told you he said all those things."

I wasn't buying this fake, sappy story. "You don't have to lie for him," I said firmly.

"I'm not, okay? I'm sorry for starting all this drama."