Josh's POV.
I wake up to the sound of pots clattering. I hesitantly get out of bed to see what's going on. I don't feel well. At all. In fact I'm sweating like I have a really bad fever. Great that's the last thing I need. It must have been from the rain last night. But I honestly don't care if it meant Emma's safety, I couldn't let anything happen to her.
Lazily, I drag myself downstairs and towards the kitchen. As I approach I hear loud murmurs.
"Son of a bi-"
"Hey what's going on in here? You're going to wake up the whole house!" I edge in around the corner of the kitchen to see a strange sit.
Connor sits on the floor struggling to pick up all of the pots and pans he dropped. He looks up at me but quickly turns away when he sees that it's me. But I was able to catch a glimpse at him. He looks exhausted. It looks like he didn't get any sleep. There are bags underneath his eyes and he looks like he's been... crying?
"Oh, sorry. I guess I'm always screwing things up aren't I?" He stands up and wipes his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.
I can't even look at him in the same way. What a coward.
"Whatever, just keep it down." I turn to walk away but his voice stops me.
"Josh, wait. Can I talk to you? I know you're pissed off and everything but just hear my side of the story?"
I weigh the options in my mind. Maybe I should let him "explain". I mean he's my brother and as much as I hate him right now, I can't stand to see him cry. I slowly edge my way back into the room and take a seat on the kitchen stool.
"I'm listening."
Mickey's POV.
I've been awake for two hours now. Why I always wake up so early, remains a mystery. As I scroll through my twitter feed on my phone, I notice that I have new followers. Josh and Connor found me on twitter I guess. I follow them back. Followed by their follows, are hundreds, maybe a thousand, new followers. Most of them are girls who I've never met before. And then realization hits me.
They must be fans of Josh.
I scroll further into my notifications and see a lot of messages for me.
@joshaddict: Who is this Mickayla girl and why is Josh following her?
@peetasloafer: Josh never comes on twitter and when he finally does, he decides to follow her?!
I laugh at how jealous, or should I say dedicated, his fans could get. I start to read more.
@bemypeeta: Who is this ugly piece of trash Josh is following?! What a slut.
@hutchermine: Mickayla, whoever you are, back off, you are just a worthless waste of space. Stay.Away.
I decide to leave a quick tweet.
Hello to all my new followers. Just wanted to say that your hateful comments aren't necessary. Feel free to unfollow me if you're gonna be a**holes. Later :)
I shove my phone away seeing as there were thousands of unread tweets like that. How can people be so insensitive? It obviously doesn't bother me because I know how defensive and insecure people can get. But what if I wasn't as strong as I am now? Comments like that could be really hurtful. The funny thing about it is that I haven't done anything wrong. They probably think I'm dating Josh. Hah! As if! Whatever haters are gonna hate I guess!
Just as I begin to relax, I hear a loud clambering coming from downstairs. Which reminds me, I'm starving! I hop out of bed, silently, trying to not wake up Emma. I'm still really worried about her. What happened last night? What did Connor do to make her run away? I push these thoughts aside as I open the bedroom door.
I notice Josh, looking half awake, making his way downstairs as well. Deciding it was best not to disturb him I follow suit. But then I have a sudden urge to pee. Great this house is huge.
Two minutes later, after wandering around the house, I finally find a bathroom.
"Thank you Jesus!" It takes all of my will not to run straight inside.
After finishing my business I finally head to the kitchen, but stop when I hear voices.
"Josh wait! Can I talk to you? I know you're pissed off and everything but just hear my side of the story?" I think it's Connor who says this.
A long pause later Josh replies.
"I'm listening."
I decide to stay out of sight. I'm not usually one to listen into other peoples conversations but maybe I'll finally find out what happened last night.
"First off, I'm sorry for yelling at you yesterday. I was just really confused."
Josh doesn't respond.
"I'm stupid for thinking that what I did was acceptable."
Josh lets out a laugh.
"Extremely stupid." he says.
"Yeah I just realized that. I should have stopped this from happening sooner. It wasn't fair to Emma, it wasn't fair to you. She liked the person she thought you were. And I should have known that things were getting too serious."
I sit out of sight straining my ears. I'm so confused. What does he mean?
"Dude you think? What ever happened between you and Emma might have been real but that doesn't erase the fact that you lied to her for two months." I hear him huff out his breath.
Wait what's going on..
"I know. And I regret everything. I'm a coward. Everything you said to me last night was right. Its just, I love her Josh. I really do. We've been through so much in the past two months. She's told me things that no one else knows about her. She opened up to me. I love her personality. I'm the biggest idiot in the world! I should have known that she would never feel the same way.
Right before she stormed off, she said that she did like me, or you, before I told her everything. Josh, just please don't hold this against me. You have every right to be furious. What kind of brother does that? And the thing I regret most is lying to you. I impersonated you, something that only a freakin desperate lunatic does. I'm sorry Josh I'm so sorry." Connor's voice trembles.
There's a moment of silence before the conversation continues.
"You really messed it up this time didn't you? I can see how much you care for Emma. And I'm sorry too, for what I said last night. I shouldn't have said what I did. Look, I forgive you, but know that I'm still really angry. Not just about the whole impersonating thing, but about you hurting Emma. I can see how much she means to you. I've never seen you act this way about a girl." Josh says.
"I really do like her. I know this is way too much to ask for but can you please, please just help me apologize to her, or even just get her to talk to me. I need to find out how she really feels before I... before I move on." Connor pleads.
Another long silence.
"...okay. But just don't get your hopes up. I'm not sure, if I was in her shoes, that I would forgive you. How should I approach her about this?" Josh asks.
"I actually have an idea. You could maybe take her to Starbucks or something. She loves Starbucks, and just get her in a warm place before working me into the conversation? I think that would be the best way. It might be a little awkward because she essentially doesn't know you as well as she thought she did."
"I mean, I guess that could work. But just remember what I said. Don't get your hopes up."
"Thank you, Josh. For forgiving me and helping me out. I owe you." Connor says sincerely.
"Yeah you do."
Woah.
Everything hits me all at once. Emma's been texting Connor and not Josh. Emma likes Connor and not Josh. This is crazy.
I slowly stand up suddenly dizzy from all of this information. I work my way to the stairs. That's when I accidentally step on a piece up bubble wrap. Why the heck is there a piece of bubble wrap on the floor?
"Mickey? How did you sleep?" Josh calls out looking at me. He seems to think that I just walked down.
"I slept well! But the most important question is did you guys make breakfast cause I'm starving?!"