Unexpected

8

A pattern formed after that, every waking breathing minute Josh and I would be texting, talking on the phone, grabbing coffee or a bite to eat, or I'd be at the gym either in class or fitting in a quick workout with Josh between his hectic schedule. I couldn't quite believe that this was all real and wasn't some weird dream.

The thing that surprised me most was that even the more I got to know him, the more I liked him. We had quite a few similarities, we were both extremely competitive and neither one of us wanted to back down in even the stupidest competitions like who could balance on their foot longer or down their coffee the fastest. Another thing we had in common, which had surprised me, was we were both religious. It wasn't all that surprising for people to be religious of course, especially in Middle America, but it was surprising for someone like Josh to not only share the same faith, but to be passionate about it. Don't get me wrong, we weren't quoting scripture while sipping on our coffees, but it was comforting to know we shared the same beliefs, for as little as we'd both talked about them.

My parents were both quite strong in their views, and had instilled the same in my siblings and I. We attended church regularly, my siblings and I all had our own copies of the bible and prayer journals to match. Of course, my parents weren't so naïve to think that we never broke any of the rules they'd implemented, but they hoped for us to always uphold the standards and values the best we could.

While I hadn't had more than a kiss or two, I knew Biz for instance was a lot freer with her affections and how she saw fit to respect our religion. I didn't judge her for that, and I wasn't against exploring things with the right person, but until now I hadn't met that person. Until Josh.

Josh and I hadn't kissed or anything yet, but I could feel the sparks almost tangible between us. Every time his hand would accidentally brush mine or he'd shoot me one of his gorgeous smiles I was tempted to lean in, to take the bull by the horns and kiss the guy.

Speak of the devil, my phone began to ring, and I accepted it, flopping back onto my bed with a gigantic smile on my face. It had officially been a week since my grounding, and I was more than happy to have my car and therefore freedom back.

"Katie B!"

"Joshy B!" I parroted, relishing in the way even his name could bring a perma-smile to my face. "How was your training?"

"Tiring," Josh mock whined. "I'm starving actually, did you want to go grab dinner?"

The only thing that frustrated me about the entire situation was that we hadn't defined anything and sometimes it left me second guessing myself. Did Josh want to grab dinner as in what you shared with someone you wanted to date, or dinner like a meal you shared with a friend.

"Sure!" I said brightly, trying rather unsuccessfully to hide my enthusiasm. "Where were you thinking?"

"Chipotle?" Chipotle didn't scream romantic, but I knew it was Josh's absolute favourite place to eat. I doubted a week went by where he didn't eat there at least three times.

"I'm down," I agreed glancing at the clock which read 4:30. "Should I meet you there?"

"No, I'll come grab you," Josh replied. That was something I'd grown to love during my weeklong hiatus from driving, I never thought I'd be the type to like being driven around but there was something almost sexy seeing Josh expertly maneuver through traffic. It was almost intimate being confined to the small space in his muscle car, getting to hear what kind of music he liked listening to.