My Brother's Best Friend: a Josh Richards FanFiction -complete-

Part 3: Scandal

I crept up the stairs slowly. I stood outside Josh's door, trying to work up the nerve to knock, when the door opened suddenly. "Hey," he whispered softly.
"Hey, can we talk?" I asked, suddenly more nervous around him than I ever had been before.
He shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it tonight. I've had a long day, and I don't want to end it arguing with you when I already started it by arguing with Nessa."
Ouch. His words felt like a knife. "I'm sorry," I said softly, looking down at the ground.
He lifted my chin so I was looking into his eyes. "Let's go get this breakup party started, huh?"
I laughed. "You're not mad at me?"
He shook his head again. "I can only imagine what Jaden was saying to you. If I were in your position, I probably would've done the same thing."

We walked downstairs together, much to the surprise of Jaden and Blake, who were still talking at the foot of the stairs.
"We're having a breakup party," I said. "Want to join?"
Blake stood up. "What the fuck is a breakup party?"
Josh and I looked at each other and laughed. "My friends back home always needed cheering up when they broke up with someone, so I started calling it a breakup party. It works, ask Bryce," I said, walking past them and into the kitchen. "Josh? Where'd you put the bags?" I called out.
As if he could read my mind, he was already bringing the bags into the kitchen. "Perfect! Will you get a bag of popcorn started for me?" 
I started rifling through the cabinets, looking for a large bowl. I dumped the Doritos in the bowl first, and Josh looked on, confused. I added the candy, mixing with a spoon while we waited for the popcorn.
Blake walked into the kitchen. "What are you doing?"
"Breakup party snack," I said, pouring the bag of popcorn into the bowl and mixing again. "Next step, we would normally choose a rom-com, but you can just choose your favorite movie."

We settled into the living room, with Jaden and Blake joining us. Josh picked a movie, but I had a hard time focusing on anything other than his arm around my shoulder.
Bryce came down the stairs about halfway through the movie. "Um, what's going on down here?" he asked, eyeing Josh's arm around me.
"Breakup party," Josh said, quickly scooting away from me and turning to look at Bryce.
"Yeah? Little close there, buddy," Bryce replied, obviously skeptical.
"Bro, chill. Do you really think anything would be happening with Jaden and me sitting right here?" Blake said, snapping Bryce back to reality.

"Thank you," I mouthed, avoiding eye contact with Bryce.
"Whatever. I'm going to Addison's. Don't wait up," he said, grabbing his keys and leaving.
We sat back in silence, watching the movie. As I grew tired, I laid in Josh's lap.

"Bro, Bryce is gonna be pissed," I heard Blake say.
Josh was running his fingers through my hair. "It's not a big deal. He knows how I feel. I'm not really sure how she feels right now."
"Um, she definitely likes you, man," Jaden was saying.
I didn't want them to know that I could hear them, so I stayed laying in Josh's lap.
"I'm gonna talk to Bryce. I don't want to do anything that he doesn't support. If he supports, then I'll talk to Bailey."

I woke up, still on the couch, and headed to the kitchen. Bryce was sitting at the table. "Hey, bubba. Whatcha doing?"
Bryce looked up at me. "Good, we need to talk."
"What about?" I asked, sitting down next to him.
"Josh."
"Oh, yeah? How is he?" I asked, choosing to play dumb, even though that hadn't worked for me thus far.
"Don't do that. I know you know what I need to talk to you about," Bryce said, hitting the table angrily. I flinched. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."
"No, it's okay," I whispered.
"Do you have feelings for Josh, Bailey?"
I looked down at my hands. "Yes," I said softly, avoiding eye contact. "I'm so sorry, Bryce. I didn't do it on purpose. It just happened."
"I'm trying not to be mad, Bails, but this is my best friend we're talking about here."
I sighed. "If you want me to leave it alone, I will. My relationship with you is more important to me than any boy."
"I don't want you to be unhappy for me. Josh came to me tonight, you know? He told me that he's been interested in you since we came to Maryland. If you feel the same way, I shouldn't keep you from that."
I looked up at him. "Do you mean it?"
He shook his head, and I wrapped my arms around him, enveloping him in a hug. "Wait a minute. I didn't say I was going to be happy about it," he said, hugging me back. "It's late. Go get some sleep. Love you."
"I love you, too," I replied, kissing his cheek before heading upstairs to my room.