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

13

"Hi, Mom," he greeted her. She was facing away from us, rummaging through a pile of mail.
"Hi, sweetie. How was your- oh," she replied as she turned to look at him. "I didn't realize that you had company."
"You're not mad?" he asked, letting go of my hand to hug her.
She chuckled. "I didn't say all that, my love. Now, I know I raised you better than that. Are you going to introduce us or what?"
I liked her already. "Hello, Mrs. Hossler. I'm Haley."
"Please, call me Amy. Jaden's been talking about you all summer. It's wonderful to finally meet you," she replied, ignoring my extended hand and pulling me in for a hug instead. "You're just as beautiful as Jaden described you to me."

I blushed, and Jaden cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Mom, you're gonna scare her off."
"Oh, hush, you silly boy. If you didn't scare her off already, I'm sure that there's no getting rid of her," she joked, hitting his arm playfully. "What have you two been up to today? School doesn't let out for another hour, right?"
Jaden and I both waited for the other to talk, and I finally spoke. "Dude, this is your mom. You can explain."
Amy laughed. "Yeah, dude. What's going on?"
"We skipped again today," Jaden said, avoiding eye contact as he scratched the back of his neck. "I'd rather not talk about it, but you know how it's been lately."
"Um, excuse me, I'm gonna go use the restroom," I interjected, sensing a little bit of tension.

As I headed down the hallway, I heard Amy begin to question him. "Jaden Isaiah Hossler, did you give that girl that hickey?"
I chuckled softly to myself, pulling the bathroom door shut behind me. This situation was definitely less than ideal to meet his parents in, and I wanted nothing more than to call Josh and talk about it. My heart dropped in my chest a little bit as I thought about all of the arguing that we had gone through today. That wasn't very best friend behavior of either of us.

When I came back out from the bathroom, Jaden and his mom were sitting on the couch. "Jaden was just telling me a little bit about you, but you know how boys are. Why don't you tell me a little bit about you?" she asked, patting the couch cushion next to her.
I sat down, trying to make myself more comfortable with the situation, especially since she had noticed the hickey like I thought that she would. "Well, uh, what's there to tell?" I began. "I'm an only child. Uh, my parents are divorced, and I haven't seen my dad since I was, like, ten, maybe? Jaden and I met through Josh. He's my neighbor, and our moms have been friends since college," I blurted, barely taking a breath.
"Your mom and Patti are friends? I just love Patti. Josh is a good kid. I'm glad that you guys have him in common," Amy replied. "I'm sorry to hear about your dad, sweetie. I can't imagine how hard that must be."
I shrugged. "Last that I heard, he got remarried, and he has three kids with his new wife."

Without warning, Amy wrapped her arms around me. I didn't want to cry about something as stupid as the deadbeat dad that had abandoned me almost ten years ago, but the feeling of her arms wrapped tightly around made all of the hidden emotions about him rise to the surface. "I'm so, so sorry," she whispered. "No one should ever have to go through something like that."
After hugging her back for a few seconds, I pulled away, wiping tears from my eyes. "Nah, it's good. I won't cry over someone that didn't think twice about me. Thank you, though, Mrs. Hossler."

Before she could even respond, their front door opened again. "Was it just everyone come home early day or something?" Jaden groaned.
"John! Guess who we get to finally meet?" Any announced excitedly, pulling me to my feet. "This is Haley, Jaden's girlfriend."
"It's wonderful to finally meet you, Mr. Hossler," I said, extending my hand to shake his. Just like Amy, he ignored my hand, pulling me into a hug.
"Glad you're here, Haley. Our Haley is actually going to be in town tonight, and she's coming over for dinner. Sophie and Clayton, too. I'm sure that they will all be so excited to meet you."

I looked at Jaden, suddenly confused. "My sisters and my sister's husband. Sorry. If I had known that we wouldn't escape the whole family thing, we definitely wouldn't have come here."
"Oh, stop," I laughed. "I'm happy to meet your family. Besides, you already met all of mine."
"Oh, won't you invite your mother to join us?" Amy suggested.
I groaned internally. "Um, of course. I'll give her a call. Excuse me."

I stepped outside, sitting down on their front porch. Out of habit, I dialed Josh's number, and a part of me didn't want to hang up. Before I could even decide, he answered.
"I'm sorry for how I acted today," he said, not bothering with a hello.
"Um, can we talk about that later? I just need my best friend right now," I said, picking at a stray thread on my leggings.
He sounded confused, but he didn't question it. "Sure. What's up, Hales?"
"I just accidentally met Jaden's parents with a huge hickey."
He burst into laughter. "You're joking. Did Amy and John say anything?"
"It's not funny!" I protested, ignoring his question. "If that wasn't enough, they invited me and my mom to dinner, where I will also meeting both of his sisters."
"Wait, that's great though," he replied, confused again.
"Josh, you don't understand. This hickey is huge."
"You're dramatic. Did you tell your mom about dinner yet?"
Oh shit. "No. I called you first."
"Girl, get off the phone with me and call your mom. I'll talk to you tonight," he said, hanging up.
I guess we were doing this.