Just The Girl (under editing)

Chapter Thirty Six - Josh, It's Sasha

When I woke up, I really didn't want to open my eyes. I knew I was gonna be in a lot of pain from sleeping on the floor all night, and to be honest I just couldn't be bothered. I was just about warm, but not the kind of warm I get after sleeping with Josh's arms around me.

Slowly, I peeled open my eyes, expecting the pain to hit, but when it didn't, and I noticed I was in Josh's room, by brows knitted together in confusion.

I thought I fell asleep on the floor downstairs?

Shrugging it off, Josh must have carried me up, I groaned quietly and turned over, smiling when I didn't feel any kind of discomfort. See? That's an advantage of having an amazingly sweet boyfriend.

When I came face to face with more blanket, and no Josh, I sat up, a little confused as I looked at the alarm clock on the night stand. It was six forty in the morning, in other words, far too early to be up.

Josh's side of the bed was cold, as in the kind of cold when nobody's been in the bed for ages, or maybe hadn't even been slept in.

I rubbed at my sleep filled, tired eyes with the palms of my hands, yawing loudly and stumbling out of bed.

I wanted to know where Josh was, if he carried me to bed then he was definitely here, but yet he wasn't in bed, and obviously hadn't been for quite sometime, and it was really, really early in the morning.

Slowly, and carefully, I gripped hold of the banisters to make sure I didn't fall down the stairs in my sleepily disorientated state.

I could hear movement in the kitchen, so I walked in that direction, still wearing my onsie from last night. I hugged myself to keep warm, smiling at Claire who sat hunched over a cup of coffee at the breakfast bar.

Her head popped up when I walked in, and she smiled at me, although it seemed a little forced.

''Morning Rosie.'' she said quietly.

''Morning.'' I said back, trying to keep my tone light, rather than show the concern as to why she seemed so down.

Her eyes were a little red and blood shot, and she was up and about very early, although she was still in her dressing gown and slippers.

''Is everything okay?'' I asked her, sitting down opposite her on the other side of the breakfast bar.

She nodded, trying to brighten her smile, but I still saw through it. I wasn't going to pry though, it wasn't my place.

I smiled and nodded, pretending I believed her before speaking.

''Do you know where Josh is?'' I asked, curiously, yawning again.

Her fake smile fell instantly and she averted my gaze, instantly making me even more worried.

''Claire?'' I pushed.

''I don't know where he is.'' she mumbled.

''It's just that it's really early and I don't think he's been in bed for ages...'' I told her, trailing off.

She sighed deeply, before taking a deep breath and meeting my eyes again. The sadness I saw in them shook me to my very soul, making me begin to panic. Was something wrong with Josh? What was going on here?

''Rosie...'' she started, obviously trying to think of how to word it, ''Today isn't a very good day for Josh.'' she told me.

My eyebrows furrowed in thought as I tried to figure out why, or what she was talking about, but I came up blank.

''What do you mean? Is he okay?'' I worried.

She nodded, ''Yes Rosie, don't worry he's okay, it's just today....It's the anniversary of his Dad, he's normally pretty distant.''