Blueberry Scones (MxM)

Chapter 11 - Camping pt II

After a little bit of driving, the car was still quiet. I caught sight of Aaron sleeping soundly in the mirror, but Joshua was still awake, his head angled towards the window. I laughed lightly, still focusing on the road. Joshua turned his head to look at me so I said, "Aaron's asleep. I shouldn't be surprised. He likes to catnap."

Joshua laughed at my joke, sighing as he rested his head back, closing his eyes for a moment. "I hope this trip will be fun. I can tell you of all people need it," he said, opening his eyes back up again to look at me.

"It is nice to get out for a bit. I haven't gone camping in forever," I agreed.

"Hey, if you need me to take over the driving at any point, I can," he offered, and I smiled at the gesture.

"Thanks, I'll let you know if I do. I'm good for now, though."

We sat in comfortable silence, the sound of the low music playing between us. I tried to focus on the road and not let my mind wander. In a few hours, I'd be stuck with Erin. I was eager to speed up this whole break thing, but I also worried things would get worse. Hopefully, the others didn't do anything to make things worse. Knowing our friends, though - especially Ryder - they'd do something. It'd suprised me how not ready I am to talk with him, but my brain and body were both fighting with each other. My body felt tense and ready to bolt, while my brain tried to rationalize confronting Erin now.

"Hey, Wren?"

I turned my head to look at Joshua for a moment, focusing back on the road as I said, "Yeah?"

"So, uh, it's been a little while since we first got to know each other, and I just wanted to... ask you something," he started, his face angled away from me.

My brow furrowed but I continued to stare straight ahead, wondering what he was getting at. We had begun to form a friendship at that point, but whatever Joshua was trying to ask seemed kind of... personal.

The future beta cleared his throat, trying to work up some sort of nerve. "Well, I - no, you - um, this is a lot harder than I thought it'd be," he continued, laughing nervously as he rubbed at his neck.

"Joshua, whatever you're trying to say, just say it. It's okay."

Joshua sighed, and I saw from the corner of my eye that he let his head hang a bit, staring at his hands folded in his lap. "Well, it's about... mates."

"Mates?"

"Y-yeah, mates, specifically yours-"

"Mine?"

My hands tightened ever so slightly on the wheel as I tried to figure out where this conversation was headed. Was he going to try and counsel me or something? Like he was one to talk. He'd just met his mate, so how would he understand anything? When my anger started to rise, I quickly stamped it down. I didn't know what Joshua was trying to say, so I didn't need to jump to conclusions. "Why are you asking about my mate, Joshua? Don't you have your own issues with your mate?"

"Well, yeah, I do," he trailed off after that, going silent for a moment before he started up again with, "but I just... I wanted to try and talk to you about it again."

Right, we'd done this before, back when I was still messed up over the whole Erin thing. That wasn't to say I was not messed up anymore, but I'd definitely had more time to process. "But there's nothing to talk about, Joshua."

"Yes, there is," he said firmly.

"Why are you even bringing it up right now? I'm in the middle of driving."

"I know that, but I figured it would be easier now when we were mostly alone," Joshua tried to reason.

I huffed, glancing up at the mirror to check that Aaron was still asleep. "Joshua, there really isn't anything to talk about. Like I said before, I've given up on finding my mate."