I woke up Friday morning knowing i wasn't going to school again. I looked at my phone to see six text messages.
Becca- Hey, noticed you've been gone the past few days and haven't heard from you since i dropped you off. You okay?
Becca- Oh also i emailed you all the answer keys to the assignments you've missed. Thank me by meeting me at the cafe sometime this weekend.
Becca- If you don't answer these messages by the end of the day i will personally come to your house and murder whoever is making you hate me.
I laughed and quickly typed a response to her saying I was okay but had some stuff going on. I let her know I would go to the cafe with her soon before reading texts from Josh.
Josh: Hey, hope you're okay.
Josh: Can we meet up and hang after school? I want to talk to you.
Josh: I need to know what Jacob told you about me so you can hear my side of the story. Please respond soon.
I sighed and texted back saying to meet me at the park at 5. I knew Jacob had a gig with his band tonight so it was the perfect opportunity to get out without him knowing I was hanging with Josh. I felt bad going behind his back and hiding, but I needed to know the truth.
I got out of bed and went downstairs to see a note on the kitchen counter.
Erika-
I had to run to work, it was unavoidable. I will be home soon. Please stay in the house and check your phone frequently.
Much love,
Mom
I sighed and tossed the note in the trash. At this point I was bored out of my mind and almost wished i was at school.
I decided to just have an apple for breakfast, I wasn't even hungry after last nights events but I knew it was crucial for me to eat. I spent the whole morning catching up on some homework assignments i was able to view online until Annette got home.
"Hey, what was up with work?" I asked as she came into the kitchen carrying some groceries.
She sighed, "They're just so stingy with the number of days I get off! Some middle school girl got an award and they needed me to go out and interview and write a section in the paper about her."
I laughed and prepared to ask her about going out tonight, "So listen, I know that things are pretty tense and you don't want me going out with my parents in town but-"
"No, Erika." She snapped, cutting me off before i could get any farther.
I sighed, "It's just to the park for thirty minutes! I'll be home way before curfew."
"Oh, the park! Splendid idea, the same place Lisa was with you last night." She said sarcastically.
"What if I went to Becca's house?" I asked.
She paused for a moment and considered my idea, "Only if she picks you up and you go straight there and then get driven back."
Crap, she knew Becca's car and Josh's car. I couldn't lie anymore.
"Okay, the truth is I want to talk to Josh for a bit since he helped me last night. I know that there's bad tension with him in this family but he deserves a chance." I confessed.
Annette replied, "What are you planning on telling your brother?" When i didn't answer, she knew I wasn't planning on telling him anything. "He may come here for an hour while Jacob is at the gig, but you have to tell Elizabeth first."
I nodded in agreement. It was a fair deal and I didn't want to lie to Elizabeth anyways. I quickly texted Josh saying to come here instead of the park and he responded with a simple"okay :)"
—-
Jacob decided to just not come home after school and went out to eat with his band, so my life got much easier when Elizabeth got home.
"Hey, can I talk to you?" I asked her.
She nodded, "Yeah, of course! What's up?"
I bit my lip, "So, I met Josh a few days ago at school and we hung out until Jacob told me the history with him. Last night he drove me home after I saw my other mom at the park and now he wants to hang out. I wanted to know what your opinion on him is."
Elizabeth was quiet for a moment. I could tell I had made her uncomfortable.
"If you don't want me to talk to him, I'll tell him I can't." I assured her as I grabbed her hand to comfort her.
She shook her head, "Josh was like another brother to me. It was like I lost my sister and gained brother. I loved him just as much as you and Jacob. When he stopped being apart of our life, I was devastated. I still miss him. If you can get him back, it would be the best thing that's happened ever, besides finding you of course."
I was taken aback, "Wait, I thought you dated him?"
She scoffed, "No! He's like a brother, I could never see him that way and I'm sure he could never see me as any more than a sister."
"Jacob said-" I began.
She cut me off, "Jacob holds grudges and gets his mind fogged by anger. Josh and I were friends and could never be anything more."
I smiled and hugged her, "Thank you for telling me the truth."
"Of course," She responded before looking at my outfit, "is that really what you're wearing when you hang out with him?"
I shrugged and looked down at my old, stained jeans and ripped t-shirt, "What's wrong with it?"
She raised her eyebrows, "If you're going to impress him, you're gunna need to borrow something of mine."
"Impress him?" I asked confused. She winked and I gasped, "Elizabeth, no!"
She laughed, "What, he is hot, you can't deny that!"
I shook my head as she leaped up and motioned for me to follow her. What had I gotten myself into?
—-
I looked at myself in her bathroom mirror in shock. I looked totally pretty, which was not a thought I had about myself very often. She had given me a pair of light-wash skinny jeans and a cute, yellow shirt. In addition to giving me her clothes, she also gave me a makeover by straightening my hair and doing my makeup. It wasn't over the top, just a natural look that brightened up my appearance.
Just on time, we heard the doorbell ring followed by Annette and Josh's voices. I quickly rushed down the stairs to save myself from the embarrassment of her talking to him too much.
"Hey, we're just going to go hang out downstairs." I told her.
Josh's eyes widened when we saw me and Annette cleared her throat, "Doors stay open."
I shook my head in disbelief and embarrassedly shouted, "Okay, we're going now, bye!"
I grabbed Josh's hand and pulled him down to the basement. We decided to sit down in the min-fake movie theatre and put on a show, even though we both knew we were going to just talk.
"So, what all did Jake tell you?" He asked jumping right into the conversation.
"Well, he said you guys were best friends. Told me how you guys have birthdays days apart. He also said you got jealous when you didn't make the football team and went after Elizabeth and his ex." I told him briefly.
He shook his head, "That's not entirely true."
"So tell me the truth." I begged looking into his eyes.
Josh looked back into mine and confessed, "Everything used to be great. Jacob was like my brother and Elizabeth was basically my sister. I was jealous when he made varsity, I mean who wouldn't be? But the anger was all him. I separated myself from him because he was too busy for me. I stayed in contact with Elizabeth since she had done nothing wrong but the anger of losing our friendship blinded him and made him think I was going after her romantically, which was insane."
"And what about the girl who cheated on him with you?" I questioned.
He bit his lip and looked down, "I will take credit for that. It was a stupid mistake. We got invited to this cool upper - classmen party since he was in football and I was on the basketball team. He brought her and we were all drunk. I regret it more than anything."
I nodded, it seemed to be a honest mistake and I could tell he was telling the truth.
"Why didn't you fight for Elizabeth," I asked, "you know she still misses you, right?"
Josh sighed, "I didn't want to make things worse. He is her actual brother, I couldn't compete with that. I just didn't want her to be hurt but I guess that was inevitable."
I understood everything now. Josh wasn't a bad guy, and neither was Jacob. They were both just hurt and confused by each other, felt left behind, and things got carried away.
"You should talk to him about this." I told him.
He shook his head, "He would never agree to sit down and hear me out."
I shrugged, "He's changed. He would do it if I asked him to."
"Well," Josh said, "if you can get him to agree to, that would be great."
"You should talk to Elizabeth too." I smiled.
He grinned, "Really, she'd want to talk to me?"
I nodded excitedly, "Of course!"
"You're one special girl, Erika." He informed me as we both smiled at each other. Eventually, the smiles faded as we continued to stare at each other and I felt my heart race. Was I falling for my brothers ex-best friend?
"Erika!" Elizabeth shouted from the top of the stairs, breaking our trance in each other.
I jumped up and moved away from Josh, "I better go see what she needs."
He nodded but didn't take his eyes off me. I felt him continue to stare even as I walked away.
"What's going on?" I asked once I got upstairs.
She quickly told me, "Jake got sick and he's on his way home. Unless you want WWIII you better get Josh out of here."
I thought for a moment before suggesting, "What if Josh doesn't leave and we got Jake to talk to him?"
She burst out laughing, "Yeah, and what if pigs started to fly?"
I rolled my eyes, "Liz, I'm serious!"
"Wait, actually? I haven't even gotten a chance to talk to him yet." She pointed out.
I pointed at the door, "Go on then. I'll talk to Jacob."
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A/N: I'm so sorry i haven't been able to upload, i seriously feel so bad when i can't get chapters up for you guys! I spent the whole morning writing on my iPad and it took me forever to get this chapter done 😂 Hopefully this extra long chapter makes up for it. I have the next four chapters set up so we should be back to daily uploads ☺️ Also, do you guys enjoy when stories have photos at the top of each chapter? I uploaded my old story with photos at the top of each chapter so i could do that again from now on if you guys care about that- let me know!
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Question for the Reader: What's your favorite color?
Author Answer: Pink 💕