Just a Newsboy

Chapter 15

•••••Joshua's Perspective

I thought that being avoided by Alex would make things better.
I was tragically mistaken.

Over the past couple days, I'd nearly gone insane with anticipation. I'd pieced together an explanation for her, mapping out what I'd say if I got the chance, and replayed it over and over again in my head.

Every time I saw her, my speech crawled up my throat and grabbed ahold of my tongue, trying to catapult itself out of my mouth.

But every time she saw me, she turned and went the other way.

"Don't let it get to you too much." Sky patted my head before sitting next to me on the floor. "If she wants space, then she wants space."

I nodded, continuing my pre-show stretching routine. "Yeah, I know."

"I mean, it sucks, but, like, you can't do anything about it right now."

"I wish I could." I mumbled in response.

He gave me a sympathetic look, but didn't reply.

"There you are." Aiden's voice came from the doorway as she stepped into the room.

She ruffled my hair before moving to sit down next to Sky.

The redhead leaned close to her, puckering his lips out expectantly.

Raising an eyebrow, she muttered, "Hello to you, too," but gave him the kiss he was asking for.

"One more," he said as she attempted to pull away from him. "Please?"

"Fine." She relented, kissing him again.

"PDA." I said under my breath, rolling my eyes.

Aiden looked over at me. "What was that?"

"Huh?" I glanced up at her. "Oh, nothing."

She gave me a knowing look. "She's grown on you."

"Yeah, except right now, she won't talk to me." I snapped.

"I'm sorry." The violinist sighed. "I can talk to her for you, if you need."

I shook my head, standing to my feet. "No, I don't wanna push it."

Sky nodded approvingly. "That is very mature of you, Joshua."

"Yeah, look at me go." I managed to shoot him a small smile before turning and heading out of the room.

The dressing room hallway was pretty empty, considering that we had roughly five minutes or so to places.

That being said, it was to my surprise that I slammed into someone when I rounded the corner.

And I was even more surprised when I saw who it was.

"Alex,"

"That is my name, yes." She mumbled, moving to retrieve the script that I'd accidentally knocked out of her hands in the collision.

I stooped down and snatched it up before she could, handing it back to her. "Sorry, I didn't see you."

She shook her head, moving past me. It was then that I noticed that she wore her hair down and unrestrained. "It's fine."

"Okay."

"Wait," she stopped and turned back around to face me. "Um,"

I bit my lip hopefully, sliding my hands into the pockets of my costume pants. "Yeah?"

She cleared her throat, brushing loose strands of her hair out of her face. "Um, have you seen Aiden?"

My heart sinking, I nodded and pointed down the hallway. "She's in Sky and Jordan's dressing room."