Just a Newsboy

Chapter 14

"My lack of contractions does not imply untruthfulness!"

He blinked and shook his head slowly, letting out a breath. "You're such a terrible liar."

"I just don't understand what you want me to say." I said. "There, I used a contraction."

"Look," he held up his hands, "you've been acting like this since last night's show."

"It was probably just your imagination."

"No, I know what I saw. Your muscles were tense, there was no conviction in your singing, and your dancing was sloppy—"

"Ouch?"

"And then before Aiden went to bed, she asked me if I'd seen Cricket, because she couldn't find her anywhere. What do you know about that?"

I shrugged, fiddling with my hands. "She was probably just tired and wanted to go to bed. She gets tired a lot."

Sky watched my face carefully. "Is something wrong with Cricket?"

"No." I lied, squirming in my seat.

"What happened with you and Cricket, Joshua?"

"Nothing!"

He rolled his eyes. "Josh, it's hilariously obvious that you're lying, so why don't you save your breath and just tell me?"

I sighed, looking down at my feet. "I don't know if she's okay with me telling anybody."

"What does that mean?"

I didn't say anything.

He frowned. "What could've happened that she wouldn't want you to tell anybody about?"

Again, I gave no answer.

"The only thing Aiden ever got weird about was when we..." he stopped, and I could practically hear the wheels and gears spinning inside of his head.

Then his eyes grew wide and his gaze snapped back up to me. "You didn't kiss her, did you?"

"Yeah," I admitted, unable to hold it back any longer. "Yeah, I did."

He slowly brought his hands up to cover his mouth. "Holy mother Hubbard."

"Sky, please." I groaned. "This is no time for Shrek references."

"Sorry, sorry, but," he let out a low whistle, "wow."

"Yeah."

"And she didn't strangle you to death on the spot?"

I shook my head. "No, she kissed me back. That's what's so weird about it."

"How...do you feel about that?"

I gave him a look. "I think you know how I feel about it."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, duh, yeah. Okay, how does she feel about it?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "I texted her a few times, and I tried to call her, but she hasn't answered me."

"What did you say?"

"I told her I was sorry, and that I wanted to explain myself, or at least apologize."

He furrowed his brow in confusion. "But you said she kissed you back."

"Yeah, she did, but then she stopped and ran away."

"Oh, my." He bit his lip. "This is a strange predicament, isn't it?"

I sighed, nodding. "How did it work with you and Aiden?"

"Hands down, it was ten times easier than this." He said, raising his hands in surrender. "She kissed me again within three hours."