"Hey!"
"Hey, Ash," Josh spoke after he answered his phone and put it on speaker. Tyler was sat next to him on the couch since they two were watching TV moments before his phone rang.
"What're you doing?" She asked.
"Sitting with Ty and watching American Horror Story," he answered, glancing at Tate Langdon on his paused TV.
"Cool. Do you guys wanna come over and hang out tonight? We haven't hung out as a group in awhile and we literally all hang out like twice a week," she laughed.
Josh bit his lip anxiously. It was Thursday and he was trying to avoid them as long as possible. Turns out that didn't last long when most of your friends actually cared about you.
"I'm down," Tyler rested his head on the back of the couch and looked at his friend. "J?"
Josh sighed, still not wanting to tell Tyler about the party. The last thing he wanted to do was stress him out when this was the last little time of peace for awhile before he leaves. "Sure," he replied with a tight smile.
Tyler shot him an unconvinced look before Ashley spoke again. "Great! Be here by 7!"
"Will do," Josh looked down at the ground and he could see Tyler was upset. "See you then."
"Bye guys," she sang before the call ended.
Tyler looked over at Josh but Josh didn't want to look up cause he felt guilty. In all the years they've been friends he's only kept one secret and it was that he ate on of Tyler's Pizza Rolls while he was in the bathroom when they were in the seventh grade. And he told Tyler right after dinner because he was spending the night and didn't want that to ruin anything.
"What's up, Josh?" Tyler questioned softly. "You've been acting off since the party and you never told me what happened."
"I'm fine," Josh assured.
"No you're not," Tyler pressed.
"Ty," he gave him a smile. "I promise. I'm alright. Let's just keep watching until we have to leave," he pressed play on the TV remote to avoid any more conversation with his friend.
---
When they boys walked into Ashley's house (she had texted them a little earlier and told them to just come in) they were not expecting the scene they saw.
Hayley, Meagan, Sarah, and Dallon were all twisted together with their limbs intertwined as they played twister. Ashley sat criss cross on her coffee table with the wheel and Jenna was next to her giggling her her friends. Josh frowned when he saw Brendon on the couch next to Pete, the two talking and smiling. The brunette spotted Josh scowling at him and he only rolled his eyes, going back to Pete.
Josh turned to Tyler and the older gave him a reassuring smile.
Suddenly, Ashley noticed them walk in. "Hey guys! We ordered pizza about half an hour ago and already ate there's some in the kitchen if you want it," she flicked the plastic arrow and it spun for a few seconds before landing. "Right foot red, babe."
Hayley attempted to shift her foot from blue to red but Sarah's hand was in the way and she toppled over, bringing Meagan and Dallon down with her. "Yes!" Sarah cheered. "I won! Suck on that!"
Brendon let out a laugh and stood up, pulling Sarah into him and giving her a kiss. She smiled into the gesture and they pulled apart a second later. "You're so cute."
"Shut up," she hit his arm lightly and blushed.
Josh wanted to beat his fucking ass.
Sarah still had no clue, obviously, and Brendon was acting as if nothing has happened. He looked over and saw Dallon glare at the scene. So he was pissed too. Josh just didn't know why.
"You two wanna play?" Ashley looked at Tyler and Josh.
"Sure," Tyler shrugged and walked over. Josh decided to take this chance and talk to Dallon while everyone else was occupied. He saw Meagan was now sitting by her boyfriend so they wouldn't hear the conversation either.
"I'll sit this round out," he told them with a sad smile and he saw Jenna sigh.
"You sure?" The blonde asked him.
"Yeah, thanks though, Jen," he sat down on the other couch and watched take his sneakers off.
"I'll play again," Sarah piped up.
"I wanna play," Ashley stood up. "Will you spin, Jenna?"
"Sure!" She grabbed the cardboard and scooted towards the edge of the table more.
"We need one more person," Sarah pointed out.
"I'll join," Brendon headed over. "I wanna see if I can beat my kick ass girlfriend."
"Okay lets start!" Ashley called and Jenna spun the board.
"Left hand on yellow, Ash."
"Pft. Easy," she stuck her hand on yellow.
Josh tuned them out and saw Dallon standing in the doorway sipping on a bottle of water. They locked eyes and Josh waved him over. Dallon put the lid on his drink and obeyed, sitting down next to Josh.
"Hey," Josh spoke.
"I thought you hated me," Dallon replied.
"That's a weird way to say hello," Josh looked at Dallon and gave him a half smile. "I don't hate you. Yet. It depends on your answer to my question."
"What's your question?" he asked even though Josh had a feeling his friend already knew.
"What happened? At the party?"
Dallon sighed and set his water on the ground next to him. "He told me he and Sarah broke up."
"What?"
"We were texting before the party cause he wanted to pick me up and he said he broke up with Sarah cause he liked me. He told me there were no hard feelings between them and she was fine if Brendon wanted to flirt with me. We had a great time on the way to the party and it continued when we got there. One thing lead to another and we ended up in Pete's guest bedroom and he was sucking my dick," Dallon let out a humorless laugh. "I was an idiot. Did you know I never stopped liking him?" he looked at Josh. "When we dated in freshman year he wanted to breakup cause things felt weird since it was fucking freshman year and I didn't want to ruin our friendship so I agreed that it would be better to just be friends. When he showed signs of liking me back and breaking up with his girlfriend for what seemed like me I was ecstatic."
Josh really didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry."
"Do you hate me now?"
The red haired shook his head. "No. I believe you. You didn't do anything wrong. You were falsely lead."
"It just sucks, y'know?" Dallon asked. "Nothing will ever be the same. Not with me or Sarah or Brendon."
"He's a fucking prick," Josh said out of nowhere as he watched Brendon kiss Sarah as they were mixed together on the board. "And he needs put in his place."
"Josh no what are you–"
"This is bullshit," Josh called out, causing everyone to fall silent. "I've been here twenty minutes and I already want to fucking throw up."
Ashley shot everyone on the mat a look and they untangled themselves and stood up. "Josh? What's wrong?"
"Don't you fucking dare," Brendon growled, giving Josh an angry look.
"Fuck you!" Josh stood up, furious. He could tell everyone was uncomfortable but he really did not care. "I've watched you go around and act like everything is fine the whole time I've been here. How fucked in the head do you have to be to think this is okay? What is wrong with you?"
"Josh..." Tyler said quietly.
"What the hell is going on?" Sarah raised her voice. "Josh, why are you attacking Brendon?"
"Cause he's a shitty person!" He shouted. "He hooked up with Dallon at Pete's party last weekend while you were out of town. He had to tell Dallon you two broke up and were on good terms so he could give Dal a blowjob because he's a good person and would never fuck over his whole friend group that has been around for years."
It was so quiet in the room you could hear a pin drop. The silence was broken, however, when Sarah let out a sob.
"Sarah..." Brendon looked at her.
"Is it true?" She asked him through teary eyes. He stayed silent and Josh saw Sarah clench her hand. "Answer me!" She yelled.
"Yeah," he replied.
Sarah took a step back from him and covered her mouth, letting out another cry. Jenna quickly got up from where she was sitting on the table and went over to her, pulling her into a hug. "It's okay," she soothed. As she held Sarah, she sent Brendon a look that would send him six feet under if it could kill. Josh has never seen her that angry. "You're a fucking dick."
"Oh get over yourself, Jenna," Brendon scoffed. "You think you can act all high and mighty just because you didn't act on your crush on Tyler? If he wanted a hookup you would be on your knees begging him to fuck you senseless because that's how far up his ass you are. You're fucking obsessed with the kid. At least I got some instead of being a creep and fantasizing about him all day."
Josh saw Tyler's eyes widen. Jenna's faces turned bright red and tears filled her eyes.
"Get our of my fucking house," Ashley interrupted in a quiet voice. Brendon just stood there, hands clenched. "I don't know what's gotten into you but you're just pathetic. You have three seconds to leave before I beat your ass and you know I will."
Brendon didn't say anything as he walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him. Sarah instantly began crying again and Josh could hear Jenna sniffling too.
What the hell did he do?