Infection

Chapter One: Josephine

I had promised myself that I wouldn't spend another summer at Gretchen's diner. I lied. This place was honestly irresistible to me at the moment, because of a certain person.

Which led me back to the diner. I sighed and took out a mop and scrubbed the floor. My friend Wendy Gretchen, daughter of the owner, ran over to me, her face beaming with excitement.

"Josey, did you hear? Posey and Oliver have broken up!" Wendy squealed.

"Yeah, I could tell they wouldn't be together very long," I honestly didn't see it coming, but she looked so happy I didn't want to extinguish that. She'd had a crush on Oliver that had started way back in sixth grade.

"I heard he dumped her because Everly started calling her pussy, and she completely flipped, like a full on psycho." My eyes widened, Posey had always been fairly chill in my experience.

"Hey, can I take over moping," said a voice, the voice belonged to Owen Gretchen, adopted brother of Wendy. "Oh, I just need to finish this, then I can go home," I explained.

"Just go home right now, I got this covered," He took the mop from my hands and replaced it with my purse. I took the mop back. "My pay is going to be deducted,"

Owen rolled his eyes, "By how much, a dollar?" I scrunched up my nose, technically it was 50 cents. "I just want to mop the damn floor!"

"Whatever," Owen mumbled. I felt a rush of confusion. Most of the time, I was getting the mop shoved into me, not away from me. "Also here's a note from my mom,".

He forcefully took the mop as I grumbled thanks as I opened the note.

Dear Josephine

I'm aware you only work during the summer, but do you think you can work during the school year for just 4 hours a day? Thanks.

-Para Gretchen

I had so many questions. What's the time that I'm expected to work for? Why couldn't she just tell me this? Why is Owen the one who handed me the note and why not tell me what she wrote?

"I'm sorry, I can't,"

Owen's eyebrow raised, "Why not, I mean the hours are perfect! You'll work from three to seven p.m. after school!"

"How about I tell you after I'm done mopping?" I said, snatching the mop back for the final time. Owen mumbled something under his breath.

>/#"[=@

I finished the last parts of the floor, and after putting the mop back, I left the diner. I circled behind the diner, where I had parked my mom's car. My eyes widened, "Owen!" I exclaim, seeing him leaning against the passenger door of the car. A smirk played on his lips, revealing his dimples. I walk over to him, "Thanks for snatching my mop, douchebag," I comment, before leaning into his arms. His chest falls and rises in a content sigh, I press my ear underneath his left collarbone and hear his heart speed up.

When I lift my head, his deep brown eyes snap open. I run my thumb against his jawline and see his breath hitch, and my mom's words echo in my head after I brought Owen over and announced that we were dating. I can tell he makes you happy darling, keep him close.

His eyes soften as I thread my slender fingers through his ash-brown hair. I feel his arms snake around my waist, drawing me closer, and sending a warm tingle through my torso.

Our foreheads slowly meet. We stay like that for a moment, our eyes drifting closed before he tilts his head and our lips meet, an electric shock running through my body. He brings one hand up and cups my face, softly breaking the kiss. He opens the passenger door and slips in, pulling me onto his lap.

I giggle as he shuts the door and he meets our lips again. I gasp as he slips his hand under the hem of my shirt, "Sorry," he quickly says, jerking his hand out of my shirt, "It's okay," I say, not meeting his eyes.

He grabs my jaw gently and angles my face to his. "I should've asked first, it won't happen again." I nodded.

"Forgive me?" He asks, tilting his head to the right slightly.

"Okay," I say, smiling shyly, curling up against him.

>/#"[=@

"WHAT!" Aurora exclaimed, "You can't work during the school year!" I sighed. I knew this would be Aurora's reaction. She hated Owen for unreasonable causes. Some of which being, he has bad grades, he's dated lots of girls before me, and he keeps trying to touch me where I've told him I'm uncomfortable. 

I chose to ignore her, "Should we invite Cora and Zach over?" I ask. She sighed, flopping onto my bed. "Alright."

I pull out my phone and send a text to Cora. "She said that she is going to be here soon," I got another message from Cora. "She says she's working on something,"

Aurora grunted "Probably playing Super Mario cart with Zach," She shifted, "I wish I was with them," Her eyes skimmed over to my backpack. "It looks full,"

I raised an eyebrow " Of course it's full, it's a backpack,"

She rolled her eyes. "It looks TOO full," She jumped from the bed and unzipped the bag. Which contained nothing but school supplies.

"Nerd," She lamented, "Wanna watch a movie?" I shrugged, then nodded, pulling my phone out. I texted Owen, asking him to join us, but was left on delivered.

Me- wyatt wyd im gonna watch a movie with Rory and im inviting a few ppl over if u wanna come

Professional Idiot- i wish i could join you im at a party tho

Professional Idiot- dont bother asking owen cuz hes here too

My stomach dropped with slight distraught. Owen had never told me he was going to a party. "Let's watch Scream," I suggested, brushing the feeling off as I searched for the remote. The scream movies were my personal favorite

Aurora shook her head "I think Clue would be a better movie," she replied. I rolled my eyes at her playfully and pouted my lower lip out.

"I wanna be scared though," I groan, "Pleaseee."

"You baby," she complained, trying to force back a smile, and I laugh triumphantly as I click onto the movie.

Horror movies are my favorite. Always have, always will be. There's something about the thrill that you'd never get to experience in real life. Hopefully. The way that you know something's wrong, and the character's still don't. The rush of pride when you figure out what it is before being explicitly told. And the complete adrenaline rush at the climax, where everything's led to.