𝐍𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐁𝐎𝐑

46

mikey walks into the room, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder. "kio and i have a brand deal to do together but he said i could come here early because he'd be back late from the airport which he assumed you'd be at" the boy explains, taking a seat next to josh casually.

     josh looks at him with sad eyes. he's too emotional to kick his ass right now.

   "so why are you not at the airport anyways?" mikey asks while he grabs a handful of chips from the doritos bag.

josh ignores the tuna fish taking his snacks and instead ponders to himself. why should he tell mikey? why does he even care? why are they even talking to each other in the first place?.

"none of your concern" josh mumbles, turning his controller back on and ignoring mikeys presence.

holding his hands up, mikey surrenders.

"okay but if you ask me-"

"nope, didn't do that" josh interrupts, his thumbs moving the control gears on the controller and his eyes darting all over the tv screen.

"well here's my take on it anyway. you love her and she obviously loves you and instead of you showing that you're happy for her and her big news, you're projecting your fear onto her and that's just not working out for either of you" the curly haired boy scoffs.

josh contorts his eyebrows and shifts in his seat to face mikey. he puts down the controller and stares at the brown eyed tuna boy.

"i'm not afraid. why would i be afraid? afraid of what?".

"of her not coming back to you. it's totally rational but you're just going about it the wrong way. you need to let her know that you're proud of her and excited for her because i know you are josh. your fear that she'll do so well for herself that she'll forget you and fall out of love is masking how you truly feel. don't let her leave thinking you don't care, tell her why it's so hard for you" mikey explains, surprising them both. when did he turn into such a shrink? and how does he know exactly what josh is feeling?

something clicks in josh's slow brain and he leans forward, grabbing his car keys from the coffee table and standing up.

"thanks tuna, i actually needed that" he smiles, leaning down and kissing the top of mikeys head.

mikey yells something but josh is already halfway out the front door. he rushes over to his car quickly, strapping himself in and turning on the ignition. the engine roars to life and within seconds josh is driving out the driveway and onto the streets of los angeles. he uses the bluetooth to call jaden who doesn't answer. as josh gets closer to the airport he feels his heart pounding out of his chest, his stomach churning with anxiety. what if she doesn't forgive him? what'll he do then?

after what feels like an hour drive, josh finally pulls into the drop off lane at the airport. he puts the car in park and wastes no time in getting out. a few people make snarky comments and whatnot but he ignores them while running through the entrance and standing in the middle of the airport, glancing up at the notice boards. he looks for the new jersey flight gate number and again, runs full speed towards the area. josh can't believe that he's currently reenacting a scene from every romance movie ever and it's rather amusing to him.