BF(F?): A Josh Richards Fanfiction *completed*

1

"Hurry up, Haley!" Mom yelled from downstairs. "You can't be late for your first day of junior year, and I can see Josh coming out of his house now!"
Shit. He was supposed to text me before he went outside, so I could avoid that whole conversation with Mom. "I'm coming! I'm almost done!" I tossed my hair over my shoulder, taking one more look in the mirror. After four different outfit changes, I had finally settled on a pair of torn mom jeans and a cropped hoodie. It wasn't my best first day of school outfit, but it would have to do, especially since Mom and Josh were rushing me.
"Bye, Mom! Love you!" I said, grabbing an apple off of the counter and kissing my mom on the cheek before sprinting out the front door.

"Hey, bubs," I greeted him, sliding into the front seat next to him. "What happened to the heads up that you were supposed to give me?"
"Um, yeah, sorry, I forgot about that. I had a late night last night," he replied absentmindedly.
I looked at him curiously. "Late night? Doing what?"
"Listen, I don't know if I should tell you," he chuckled awkwardly as he pulled out of his driveway.
"Alright, kiddo. If you say so," I laughed, turning to stare out the window. He would tell me in due time, and that was all I needed.

We pulled into the parking lot, and Josh turned the car off quickly. I reached to open my door, and I turned back to see Josh still sitting, staring at the steering wheel. He hadn't wanted to talk about it before, but if it would get him to homeroom on time, he didn't have a choice.
"Alright, Josh. What's going on?" I asked, slamming the door shut again.
He shrugged. "I, uh, I don't really know. I mean, I was fine, right? No, everything's fine," he stammered. I wasn't sure who he was trying to convince: me or himself.
I put a reassuring hand on his arm. "You don't have to pretend with me. What's going on?"
"I hung out with Nessa last night!" he blurted out.
"Why is that a bad thing?" I asked. "You've had a crush on her for literally forever."
"That's the thing," he explained. "I don't think that she feels the same way."
"Okay!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands together. "You can't let a what if affect our first day of junior year. Can we please go inside? We can ask her to sit with us at lunch if you want. Then it won't be weird with just me and Jaden."
"Oh? That's going well?" he asked.
I nodded. "Now enough talk, more walk!"

Josh and I made our way to our homeroom, and we met Jaden in the hallway on the way there. "Hey, cutie," he greeted me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder before greeting Josh. "What's up, man?"
"Josh is gonna sit with us at lunch today. I'm gonna see if Nessa wants to sit with us. I think that it could be fun," I said, wrapping my arm around Jaden.
We crossed over the threshold of our homeroom, and Jaden kissed me on the forehead before sitting down next to me. I saw Josh roll his eyes as he sat in the seat behind me. "Stop it," I whispered. "I really like this one."

When the bell rang, Josh and I split up to go our separate ways. "Don't forget to talk to Nessa about lunch. I'll see you then. Love you, bubs."
Jaden and I walked to our first class of the day. "Where did the Nessa suggestion come from?" he asked.
"He's our best friend. Where do you think that the Nessa suggestion came from?"
Jaden stopped in his tracks. "Did he finally make a move? God, I'm so proud of him!"
"Me too, Jay. I want him to be happy. He deserves at least that much," I replied.

The day seemed to fly by, and before I knew it, I had met up with Jaden to walk to lunch.
"Have you talked to Josh?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. He and Nessa are gonna meet us at lunch."
We walked into the cafeteria, and we found the two of them sitting at a table near the door. "Hey, guys," I greeted them, sliding into the seat across from Josh. "Anything good in here today?"
"Is there ever?" Nessa joked.

We sat in almost awkward silence, and finally, Jaden decided to break it. "So, Nessa, how did you and Josh start hanging out?"
Nessa shrugged. "Josh asked me to go to the beach with him on the last day of school, and we kept seeing each other all summer."
I dropped my fork. "All summer?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "I've really gotten to know Josh over the last few months, and I think that he's great."
"I think that's awesome," Jaden interjected, sensing the tension at the table.
"Excuse me," I said, getting up from the table.

I made my way out to the hallway, trying to keep myself calm. Josh and I told each other everything, so why hadn't he mentioned that he and Nessa had been hanging out together all summer?
I sat down on a bench near the cafeteria door, taking a deep breath. I felt someone sit down next to me, and I felt myself hoping that it wasn't Josh.
"Hales, can we talk about this, please?"
"We don't talk anymore, Josh."
The look on his face hurt me more than I thought that it was going to. "That's not fair, Haley."
"That's plenty fair, Joshua."

"Why are you being like this?" he asked me.
"You're my best friend, and you didn't even have the decency to tell me that you and the girl that you've fallen for have been hanging out all summer long?" I exclaimed.
He pursed his lips. "I see. You didn't fill me in on anything with Jaden, but I'm supposed to tell you everything with Nessa? I don't understand why it doesn't go both ways."

The bell rang, and I looked up at him. "We can talk about this later, Josh."