Clara's response is all I need to know I'm not wanted here. A place once where I meet my best friend and meet my favourite band is now a place where I regret coming this morning.
I walk out of the shop without even bothering to try and explain myself to Clara, she clearly doesn't want to know my side of the whole situation. I guess that's understandable but I thought our friendship would've meant more to her.
I head towards the nearest park, which happens to be the one where I spent the day with Josh. My instinct takes me straight to that tree, I need to think about all of this. Obviously, I want Clara back as a friend but I don't want her to feel like I'm always ditching her for Tyler and Josh. I need to somehow meet in the middle. Just how is that even possible?
Not even 10 minutes later I hear a voice calling my name, I can only assume it's Josh. I don't move from my spot under the tree. Maybe it's that I'm lazy but probably because my feet have fallen asleep and I can't actually move them.
"Penny! There you are, I was wondering where you went" Josh yells from a short distance, him still panting from the short run from the shop to the park.
"I talked to Clara" Josh states simply. Usually, I would be annoyed at someone going against my wishes but Clara wasn't going to listen to a word I said or typed. "She said she'd consider forgiving you. She won't admit it to you but she mentions how boring it was without you around" Josh explains, smiling lightly at the small but significant amount of progress. I smile as well. Considering isn't exactly definite but it's close enough, or at least as close I'm going to get for a while.
"Uh, well" Josh starts, slightly stuttering on his words. I give him a questioning look and he continues. "I kind of invited her to lunch with us and Tyler" He reveals, seeming to be scared of my response.
I sigh in relief. I thought he was going to tell me something terrible. I smile and Josh takes that as a sign that I'm totally okay and fine with it. I mean it will be slightly awkward, but nothing I can't handle. I'm the queen of awkwardness now.
"Come on then, let's go find Clara" Josh beams, now leading me, more like dragging me back to the record shop. Eager much.
But the time we meet Clara standing outside waiting for us, it feels as if my arm was about to be pulled off. I look at him confused. Why is in rush a rush? "I want to see Tyler. Hurry up, he'll be wondering where we are" Josh whines like a child. Sometimes I swear him and Tyler are together. They both heavily imply it.
Their friendship is relationship goals.
Josh fills the silence on the way to lunch with small talk. "So how's everything been?" He asks, kind of already knowing the answer. "Boring, the shops been really slow lately. But Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz showed up the other day, apparently hearing about the store from a friend" Clara laughs. I wonder if it was Tyler, Josh or Brendon. Probably Brendon. That seems like a Brendon thing to do.
Not long later we bump into a dazed Tyler. "What's got you distracted" Clara giggles before giving Tyler a short hug. "Neither of you guys replied to my texts, I was worried" Tyler sighs. Him being cut short by Clara's phone going off, obviously the texts he was stressing about. "Well we're here now" Josh laughs, patting Tyler's back.
"Stop worrying about us, we're fine" Clara adds before following Josh into the restaurant, leaving Tyler and I outside. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Tyler questions, I nod in agreement. 'We're fine?' That could mean many things. But then Tyler could just be in love with Josh and thinking of something completely different.
We're fine? Could it of really been that easy?