I Dare You ➢ Joshaya [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 29

"We're going on a date tonight."

My eyes connect with his as I look up from my paper cup. He breaks his gaze when he turns around to grab something off the shelf behind him.

"I don't have a say in this?" I ask, a smile tugging at the corners of my lips. He locks his eyes on mine again as I watch his face expression carefully.

"Of course you do." He grips the box of cones tightly in his hand, looking over at the door every now and then, afraid his dad might just barge in and scold him for taking too long in retrieving some cones. "But, you're obviously going to say yes." One eyebrow was arched, almost as if he was challenging me to say the opposite.

A part of me did want to say no, just to crush his ego a bit. "Where are we going?" I questioned.

"Josh, hurry up!" Trevor's voice travels into the storage room of 21 Flavors. I look down at the cones in his hand, urging him to go.

"They can wait," he says, responds absentmindedly. "Is that a yes, then?"

He stares at me with an undecipherable expression, awaiting an answer. I swallow the lump in my throat that had formed from just his gaze. My heart goes into overdrive as I force myself to maintain eye contact.

"The world doesn't revolve around me, Matthews," I whisper, not sure if I want to speak so loud considering our proximity. "The customers are waiting."

He waits a moment longer, before he steps back. "Your break ends in five minutes," he informs, heading towards the storage room door. I follow him with my eyes. When his hand contacts the door handle, he turns around. "We can go wherever you want," he says briefly, before exiting.

I fight the urge to smile as I make my way out of the room.

My eyes open wide as I notice how many people are currently in the shop. I watch Josh struggle to open the plastic bag of cones, as Trevor glares at him for taking so long. A long line of people wait in front of the two with annoyed expressions.

I look down at my phone to realize I still have three minutes until my break is officially over, but I find myself reaching for the cap that goes with my uniform and approaching the third cash register.

"Maya?" Josh questions, with a confused expression on his face. "You're still on break." He finally gets the bag open and places the cones where they're supposed to go.

"It's fine," I reply, asking the man in front of me for his order.

The wind refuses to greet us as we walk out the huge shopping mall. I find myself looking down at Josh's hand every few seconds. He looks around almost as if he's distracted. When I'm about to open my mouth to ask him what's on his mind, he's already speaking.

He shields his eyes from the glaring sun when he looks at me. "I'll pick you up at six," he tells me, slowly turning away.

"Wait, Josh," I say, "where are you going?" Confusion was most likely evident on my face as I watch him turn around to look at me again. He offers a smile just when I begin to think maybe I hurt his feelings earlier. "Are you, um, mad at me?"

He lets out a laugh and responds instantly, "No, I thought you were the one that said we were keeping this on the down-low." I furrow my eyebrows at his words when he explains, "Lucas is behind us."

I prepare to act natural as Josh walks away and Lucas approaches. "Maya, hey," I hear his voice before I even have the chance to turn around and look at him.

I look down instead of up at him, averting my eyes from the sunlight. "What's up?"

I take note of how dirty and old my shoes look compared to his and hope to remember to ask my mom for money to buy new ones. I finally look up to ensure he doesn't find anything suspicious. The blue shirt he has on doesn't fail to make his eyes pop.

"Just thought I'd head over to get some ice cream, but it seems you and Josh," he gestures in the direction Josh went, "just got off."

I clear my throat, suddenly finding it difficult to act natural about the fact that Josh and I are dating. "Yeah."

"Something wrong?" he asks, when he's about to step foot into the mall.

I watch a couple of people shoot him glares as they try to exit the building. "I'm really tired," I respond, offering a smile to make it seem as if nothing was on my mind. He nods, before smiling and walking inside the shopping mall.

I finally begin to walk home, taking out my phone to check for any missed calls or texts. I skim through messages from Riley and Farkle until my eyes land on a missed call from an unknown number. I disregard it, locking my phone.

By six-fifteen, I'm sitting on the couch in my living room, wearing a T-shirt and leggings, with my bunny slippers. I stare at my phone, feeling guilty for the thousandth time because I told Riley I was busy when she asked me to come over.

My phone alerts me of a message from Josh, which succeeds in snapping me out of my thoughts. He tells me to come downstairs.

I smile involuntarily and make my way out my building. I instantly catch sight of Josh inside a black car. He hasn't noticed me yet, so I walk over to the passenger's side of the car. Luckily, the door is already unlocked so I take a seat inside.

"Oh, hey," he greets, finally looking up from his phone and noticing me. "You ready?" He takes in my outfit, with the help of the streetlights and the light from his phone.

"Yeah," I mutter, staring at the dashboard of the car, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Is this your car?"

"My dad's," he says absentmindedly. "Are those bunny slippers?" He grips the steering wheel, but continues staring at me. I think back to the white sneakers I wore earlier and the promise I made to myself to not wear them again. I stare at my slippers whilst biting my lip, knowing I wasn't about to tell him these were my only other option, aside from the one pair of painful high heels I had stored in the depth of my closet.

"Um, yeah. So what?" I reply defensively. "What's wrong with them?"

He removes one of his hands from the steering wheel to touch my arm. "Nothing. You look beautiful." He shoots me a grin, before asking me where I want to go.

"Away from here," I reply vaguely, shifting my eyes from his gaze.

I promise to make the next chapter longer. Sorry for making you wait so long. ;(