Sunkissed | Joshifer

Chapter 12

"Do I get streamers or something?" Sam asks as he joins me and Foster in one of the isles of the dollar store.

"Sure, if you're throwing a birthday party. For a nine year old," Foster replies.

Sam is a little too anxious for this party. I understand that it's his first he's ever thrown, but he just won't shut up about it. He's nervous about people not showing up, or the food running out. No matter what I tell him to calm him down, he finds something else to complain about.

"What about napkins, do we need napkins?" Sam says looking up and down the isle.

"Sam, we're throwing a party, not a banquet," Foster shakes his head.

Sam frowns and looks back to the shelves in front of him. I'm a little nervous for him, actually. He was sort of just thrown into this whole situation.

"Why don't you go look for some plastic cups," I suggest.

He nods and walks out of the isle.

"You have to be nicer. He hasn't done this before," I tell Foster.

"I know, but come on. Streamers, really?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Just cut him some slack," I shrug, turning back to the shelves.

My phone buzzes in my back pocket, but I don't bother answering it. Josh has been trying to reach me for the past hour, but I'm not giving him the time to explain himself.

It buzzes again and this time Foster takes notice of it.

"Shouldn't you answer that?" He asks leaning on the shelf in front of me.

"No, it's nobody," I lie looking away from him.

"Well it's obviously somebody if they keep texting you." He smiles.

"It's just you brother," I reply and his smile disappears.

"Who? Will?" He asks standing up straighter.

"No, Josh," I respond quietly. He mentally contemplates my words. I'm not sure what he's going to say, but he hasn't looked up from the ground.

"So, um, why-why is he texting you exactly?" He squints to me. "Actually, when did he even get your number? And how come I don't have it?" He smirks, holding out his smart phone to me.

I take his phone and click in his contacts to add a new number.

"That was pretty slick, Foster," I nod to him.

"It's just when of my many great qualities," He grins as he rocks back and forth on his heels.

I type my number in and save it to his contacts. I hand his phone back to him and he looks down to the screen.

"Sweet. So why is Josh texting you?" He asks again. I was hoping he'd forgotten he even asked that question.

"Nothing really important, I guess," I try to brush off the topic. Not soon enough, Sam rounds the corner with red plastic cups. I sigh in relief and walk over to him.

"Okay, I found cups," He says holding the stack.

"Dude, you're gonna need more than just two packs," Foster snorts.

"Why? Thirty seems like enough," Sam tries to reason.

"Trust me, nobody is going to reuse their first cup. You're going to need like two more packs," Foster says walking out of the isle and bringing Sam with him.

Once they're gone, I take out my phone and look to the messages Josh has sent. There's only three messages left.

"You can't just ignore me forever."