Chapter 51 — work boy
"Do you think he's alright?"
"I don't know — he seems to be doing fine, but still..."
"I know. As calm as he's been, this is just not him,"
"Tell me about it,"
"I mean, since when did he start caring about school dances? And actually helping out — wonders never cease,"
"What are you guys talking about?" Josh walks over to the two girls who are so occupied into their discussion they don't even notice him approaching.
Both of them jerk up and Val drops the notepad she has in her hand.
"Smooth," Josie mutters from beside her and Val just scowls at her.
"Nothing," Val smiles at Josh, "I was just telling Josie here about the things she should know if she wanted to join the social committee next year,"
Josh doesn't even look like he heard the reply — his mind seems to be constantly occupied these days. He nods anyways and turns to the vast gym hall that is being temporarily transformed into a ballroom for the winter formal, "Do you need help with anything else?"
"Wow," only then does Val even properly takes in their surroundings and is nothing but struck in absolute awe, beaming, "You really have outdone yourself, Josh,"
And he really has. Josh has completely thrown himself into work and solely focused on winter formal and getting everything done in the events of the previous work. An idle mind gives place to unnecessary and unwanted thoughts; thoughts that he doesn't want to pay any attention to at all — so he never allows a second of relaxation to him at all. He keeps himself busy all day and all night, sleeping only when he is wore down to the bones and then wakes up to the same rhythm all over again.
It works. He is fine. He is going on. Or at least that's what he's convinced himself of.
Valerie has been working on decorating the hall gym for the winter formal for almost a month and even with the help of a few other students who are in charge of the formal, she was nowhere near done. That is until the blond showed up. And now within the span of only three days, he has somehow managed to turn the bland place into a festive one. It is more than she'd imagined.
Curtains are draped over the poles, banners are hung highly and right in position, the decorative items (glitter stars, ribbon, lights) — they fill the place.
"This is gonna be the best winter formal ever," Valerie exclaims gleefully.
"No," Josh mumble, swalking over to the made-up stage and climbing on it, "There's something not right here," he says and starts plucking out the alphabets that are stuck on to the wall.
"Wha— Wait, wait, wait," Val runs to him, and pulls him away, "What are you doing, crazy?" she asks.
"They look a bit slanted," he tries to dodge her to resume his work but the girl is quick to block him.
"No, they don't. They're good— no, they're perfect,"
"I can make it better — we've still got time till the formal, don't we? And it's not like there're other works to be done,"
"Well there're still the balloons — but we have to wait until the formal's day for that, so that they don't deflate. And then tomorrow we have to go the caterings to make sure they've got the right orders and that they'll deliver it to us on time, and then the photo booths, we have to get that tomorrow too,"
"Exactly — tomorrow," Josh exclaims. "But today... today we still have time,"
Val face palms herself and then turns to Josie who is looking at them amusedly, "Can you please talk some sense into your brother? I don't think he'd let us go home otherwise,"
"Val, you forgot something," Josie states, signalling to the other girl to play along.
"What?" Valerie asks.
"The cake,"
"What cake?"
"The cake you said that you needed for the formal but forgot to order — that cake," Josie raises her eyebrows and then nods to Josh.
"Oh right," Val fortunately catches up to what the younger one is planning up to. "Umm, Josh, could you drive–"
"Yeah, sure," he doesn't even wait until she finishes with her request — he is just grateful to be put on a task.
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"Of all the bakeries," Josh grumbles as he pulls into the parking lot.
"No other shops will take our order," Val insists.
"We could try bribing them," the blond argues.
"Children," the youngest one is surprisingly the calm-headed one, as Josie tries to be the pacemaker between the two friends. "We're already here, so let's not argue anymore,"
"Fine," Josh sighs, "But I'm not coming in,"
"Really? Don't you want to see your boyfriend?" she teases him.
She doesn't know that the said boyfriend is not there anymore. None of them know. Josh hasn't told them.
He adamantly shakes his head. This can be a perfect opportunity for him to tell them, but he doesn't.
"Fine, no one is asking you to," Valerie scoffs, rolling as she gets out of the car and makes way towards the bakery; Josie follows her as well.
"Wait, guys," Josh grumbles, getting out of the car as well, "You are supposed to convince me otherwise,"
Although Josh knows that he wouldn't be there, in the bakery, his heart still stupidly picks up its pace as he and the girls enters the shop. Maybe, just maybe he is still there.
"Welcome to— Josh?" Jules is the one at the bakery and she is surprised to say the least to see the blond at the shop.
"Hey," Josh awkwardly greets, and then turns to his sister and friend, "This is Josie, my younger sister and Valerie, my best friend. Guys, this is Jules," he purposefully avoids introducing who she is, not even wanting to utter his name.
Why s the only name he always wanted to hear suddenly becomes the name he can't even think of, let alone say out loud?
He knows Val and Josie have their suspicions, by the wary look they have him, by the way they talk to him as if he was little child, but so far they haven't pushed him for any information. Well Josie had one night when she found him in his room and asked him why he wasn't with him and he'd just snapped at her. He felt guilty about it later, but he can't really be blamed — he hardly has any control over his feelings and emotions anymore.
"Nice to meet you all. Come in," Jules smiles, "How can I help you lovelies today?"
"Oh, actually we were hoping to see if Ell– Oww," Josie steps on Val's foot before she can make a mess out of everything.
Glancing at her brother who has walked away from them and is looking at the other baked items on display, she looks back at Val and shakes her head. Val just raises her eyebrows in confusion — she doesn't know how her friend can basically transform into Hulk in a second if she even mentions his name. And so Josie steps forward, and takes control of the situation.
"Um actually our school's having winter formal on Saturday, like on the day after tomorrow, and we were planning on having a cake but unfortunately forgot to order it. We tried all the other bakeries, but none would accept our order on such short notice, so you are basically our last hope," Josie displays the sweetest smile she can muster, but Jules hardly needs any persuading.
"Of course," she says in a beat, "If you could just choose what kind of cake you want and all the toppings,"
"Oh thank you, thank you," Josie gushes, and then turns around and beckons her brother to come join in the discussion.
He resists at first, saying he isn't interested, but can't say no when Jules calls him as well. Only when Josh joins in, does Josie finally get to executing her little plan.
As both Val and Josh are busy going through the catalogue choosing the best type of cake, Josie looks around and starts asking Jules questions innocently.
"Is this your bakery?"
"Yes," Jules smiles at her, "Opened it a few years back with my girlfriend,"
"Nice, so only you and your girlfriend work here?"
Josh is shooting his sister pointed glare but she ignores him.
"We do get some high school students working for part-time during the holidays, but other than that, it's only us,"
"Oh, so I came across a boy the last time I was here — was he a part-time worker too?"
Jules glances at Josh momentarily who has gone rigid, before turning back to Josie.
"He's my nephew — he was just visiting for a bit, and wanted to help out while he was here,"
Josie is thrown off by her answer and looks at her brother who isn't looking at her anymore. Valerie too seems confused.
"Visiting for a bit?" Val chimes in, curious.
"Yeah. He left about a week back,"
"I'm gonna go," Josh stands up abruptly, and dashes out the shop.
"Wait," Josie tries to stop him, but he is faster, she turns to Valerie who asks her to go after her brother while she finishes their order.
"Josh," Josie goes after her brother, "Stop, where're you going?"
"Why did you do that?"
"You won't tell anyone anything — what else was I supposed to do?"
"Not that,"
"He left, Josh?" Valerie joins them. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"What does it matter anymore?" he groans.
"We're your friends — you should let us be there for you,"
"What is that going to change?"
"I don't know, but maybe you don't have to suffer alone,"
Josh just scoffs in return.
"Is that why you've been acting like a relentless machine these past few days?" Josie asks.
"I don't wanna talk about this anymore," the blond snaps, "I never wanted to talk about this — you guys should've just left me alone,"
"Can you please for a second stop behaving like the whole world is against you?"
Josh just ignores the comment and takes out the car keys and throws it at Valerie who catches it in time.
"You guys go home. I wanna be alone for a bit,"
"But Jo-"
"Just go," he says and walks away.
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