For the cameras(Jey uso)

Five.

My eyes blinked open, I thought that it was the middle of the night due to the clouds fogging up the sky.

I heard the muffled sound of a tv in the distance. My first instinct was to pull myself deeper into the covers at the cool breeze flowing in the room, but I quickly realized that said sheets were not mine.

I sat up with a sharp bed looking ay the foreign room around me. White walls that had few things hanging on them. The big desk in the corner of the room, the memories from the night before  came flooding in.

I got up realizing that I had one of Joshes shirts on which fell to my upper thigh. I walked through the hallway and down the stairs holding my pounding head.

"Good morning Mira." Josh yelled from the living room. "God can you never shut up, my head hurts." I wince.

"Yeah because you drank the whole bar." He said standing up. "I drank the same amount you did- where is your ibuprofen?" I asked opening a drawer.

He laughed at me before opening a cabinet and  handing me the bottle. "Thank you." I said taking it out of his hand.

I poured myself a bottle of water and took pills quickly.

I walked over to his front door, slipping my shoes on. "Um what do you think you're doing?" He said walking towards me.

"Im going to get my car from Jonathans house and go home." I say bluntly. "No you are not." He said with some aggression in his voice.

"Yes, I am." I said matching his tone. "It not safe out there, no you're not." His tone this time was more potent.

"What makes you think that?" I question his confidence. "The tornado watch that was sent out. Did you not see how bad it is outside." He says opening the blinds to a window near us.

Looking outside I actually got a good look at how bad the stork was. I thought it was just some rain but it looked like a squall had formed over the town. I backed up a little realizing that he was actually right.

I took my shoes off and walked over to his couch, crashing down on it. I grabbed the remote and turned on a good Tv channel realizing I was probably going to be stuck here for a while.

"So what do you want to do while we wait for this storm to pass." He says breaking the silence between us. "Um I want to watch tv." I say sitting up straighter.

About ten minutes later everything in the house turned off leaving us in the dark. "No fucking way." I whispered to myself looking around.

"So much for just watching tv." He sighed standing up. "Go turn it back on." I said turning towards him. "I cant the power went out. Thats not how it works." He said with a snarky tone.

"You have this big ass house and no generator?" I questioned him. "No thats some white people shit." He said pulling some candles out of a drawer.

He walked over to the coffee table and set the candles down in a random pattern, lighting them one by one.  The golden flame lighting up his face as he sat back down on couch.

I watched as he sat quietly, his chest rising and falling slowly. I got up and started walking back upstairs because if I was going to be stuck in his house I was going to be far away.

I shuffled back into his room lying down on his bed all I could see in my mind was his face, lit up by the candles, so content and calm. Most of the time I saw Josh he was on edge or was irritated.

That was the first time I had seen him that placate in years. I forced the shallow smile on my face away.

I took a small nap but was woken up by everything in the house abruptly turning on at once. About a minute later Josh came into the room.

"You can't sleep all day." He said behind me. After a little of debating weither I should just pretend to be asleep or do answer, I answer. "There is nothing else to do here."

"That is a lie you could hangout with me." He suggested cautiously. "Why would I want to do that?" I asked turning over. 

"Ok then be rude." He said going towards the door. "Ok fine what do you want to do?" I ask sitting up to face him.

"I think I have stuff that we can bake." He says sounding surprised. "Ok go look, in going to change." I said looking at my outfit.

He nodded and left the room closing the door behind him. I put the leggings I hand on the night before and grabbed another on of his shirts to wear. I looked at myself in his full body mirror, messing with my hair a little before going down stairs.

I met him in the kitchen he had three boxes of cake mix out. He turned around hearing my foot steps. "Are we making three different cakes?" I ask half joking.

"No I just thought we could have choices." He said messing with the boxes.

"Well obviously we are doing red velvet." I said walking towards the boxes and picking up the red velvet one. "I was hoping you would pick that one." He said putting the other two back.

I watched as he pulled a big bowl out of a cabinet and places it in front of me. I opened the box and ripped open the bag inside, placing it inside the bowl.

"Can you get.. two eggs and a half cup of oil please?" I ask walking to the sink.
He quietly nods at me grabbing everything I asked and settling by the counter.

I put everything in the bowl with the mix without spilling much. Josh handed me a wisk but I stop before mixing. "Do you want to mix? I feel like I've been doing everything else." I ask him.

"Oh no it's fine you can do it off you want." He says quickly. "Here take it." I said hanging him the wisk and moving out of the way.

He took my spot in front of the bowl and started to mix. I walked over to the oven and grabbed the pan bringing it over to the bowl.

When Josh signaled that he was done mixing I sprayed the pan so he could pour the batter in.

We put the pan in the oven and set the timer to 30 minutes. I realized looking up from the oven and at Josh how civil we had just been.

Not a single backhanded compliment, or rude look, a mean comment. We just hung out, like, friends.

Maybe Paul was right after all, we could become friends again.

The oven dinged and we both looked over from the couch, get up to take them out. "Here I'll get it." Josh said grabbing the pan out of the blazing oven.

The smell of rich chocolate hit our noses like a nice breeze. It was warm and inviting almost like a nice grandmas house.

"It smells good." He said looking over at me. "Yes it does, we did good." I said meeting his eyes. After a little bit of awkward eye contact I broke away turning my attention back to the cake.

"Do you have frosting?" I asked not knowing what else to say. "I'm maybe let me check." He said rubbing around to find some.

He came back to me with a look of defeat. "We don't have frosting."

I laughed at him quietly. "It's ok it's a good cake anyway." "Yes let's enjoy it." He said grabbing a knife to cut it.

I watched as he cut the cake into tiny squares, trying his best to make them even though they ended up being very wonky.

He put a piece down gently on a plate and offered it to me which I accepted.

"Wow this is good." I said with my mouth half full of cake.

"Look, outside," He added pointing towards there window behind me. I turned around met with the blue sky pushing through the blinds. It was as if the storm never happened, it looked so nice out.

I turned back around and smiled at Josh, he reciprocated gently. "Do you want me to drive you to Jonathan's house?" He asked putting his fork down.

"Yes, please." I said. "Ok let me get my keys." He said standing up and walking away. I walked back to the door and slipped my shoes on waiting for Josh in the door way.

He quickly met me by the door opening it up for me. We sat in his car for a little bit quietly just enjoying the silence before it was rudely interrupted by the sound of Josh turning on his car. "Alright let's get you home." He said shoving the car into reverse.

"Finally," I joked.