"speachhhhhh".
everyone laughs, josh finding the strength to pull himself up as bryce whoops and yells for him to do a speech. public speaking has never been josh's strong point until recently but even now, he'd rather not say anything.
"alright, alright" he laughs, leaning on his chair.
the large group quiet down. william leans back as he sits on nessa's lap. he's rather tired after eating all that birthday cake and the excitement of seeing his big brother.
"first and foremost i'd just like to thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to come and help celebrate me being an adult, finally" josh starts, subtle laughter filling the room. he looks around at all his friends and family. he's one very blessed boy.
"celebrating my eighteenth birthday here in los angeles with my best friends would have been perfect enough but my family being here with me too? now that's just the icing on top of the literal cake. so ness, thank you. you really have no idea how much it means to me that you would go this above and beyond for me".
nessa squeezes william, a smile on her face as everyone looks at her with smiles also.
josh can feel sarah stare at him and if looks could kill ...
"and to you, sarah, my gorgeous girlfriend" josh speaks, moving the attention to the bitter blonde on his left.
she smiles, pretending that she's not enjoying the attention.
"you planned this night for me and i couldn't be happier about how i've celebrated my birthday. i find myself falling more in love with you each and every day. i love you sarah. thank you for all that you do".
the table falls silent, the words that josh spoke strikes everyone, including sarah. she gets up onto her feet and holds him- planting a kiss on his lips. josh can't bare to look at any of his friends or his parents or nessa.
she sits there on her chair with mads' hand on her leg for comfort. she knows she has no right to be upset that josh has a girlfriend but hearing him say that he loves her in front of his parents ? in front of their best friends? in front of her? it hurt like knives being stabbed into her back and heart at the same time. like she's repeating her worst heartbreak all over again. her heart feels shattered like broken glass, slicing and cutting deep. his words are like poison that drops from his tongue, killing her soul instantly.
"ness? i'm tired" william speaks, his voice little and soft.
in the midst of trying her hardest not to break down right there and then, nessa hadn't noticed everyone start to get their coats. she sighs, taking a deep breath.
"it's okay, i'm not in the party mood anymore so why don't we go back to the house? watch a movie and then go to bed?" she suggests, bouncing the small boy on her knee a little.
williams face lights up, "can we have popcorn?" he asks. ness nods her head.
the boy leaps off of her lap and runs over to his parents, letting them be aware of his plans.
nessa stands up, putting on her own coat and grabbing her things. she walks over to mads and jaden who are giving her sympathetic looks. she hates that they feel pity for her.
"hey listen, william is tired so i'm going to give the party a miss and head home with him and liv" nessa tells them.
"what? no, you have to come! it's his birthday" jaden protests. he'd hate for nessa to miss out celebrating with her friends over josh's poor choices.
she smiles sadly, giving a look to mads.
"she's not missing out on anything. nessa's driving anyways so it's not like she could drink and anyways, she doesn't have to do anything if she doesn't want to" mads sasses to her boyfriend. the two girls laugh as jaden holds his hands in mock surrender.
from across the room, nessa can sense a pair of eyes staring at her. she looks over to see sarah, clutching onto her boyfriends arm as he talks to his parents. the bitchy blonde makes sure nessa sees as she leans up and starts to make out with the birthday boy. nessa can't help but scoff, how classy must she be to stick her tongue down his throat in front of his parents.
"sarah! why don't you come with me" griffin says, pulling her arm gently and disconnecting the two. he takes her over to the bar, away from the family.
nessa takes this time to grab the kids and go home; that way she doesn't have to explain herself to anyone else. she walks over, william seeing her first. he runs over to her, holding his arms out. nessa lifts him up, the child sitting on her hip.
"can we go watch a movie now?" he whispers in her ear. she giggles, nodding 'yes'.
olivia puts on her coat, saying goodbye to her big brother.
"ready to go?" nessa asks her.
olivia nods, taking william from nessa who is reluctant at first. "i'm going to put you in the car" olivia tells him and he willingly goes, waving bye to his parents and brother.
"wait you're not coming to the party?" josh asks, the disappointment clear in his tone. josh's parents share a look.
nessa looks at him for the first time since he declared his love for sarah. she shakes her head, smiling sadly. "no. your brother and sister are staying at my appartment this weekend and i promised william we'd watch a movie, he's really tired" she explains.
josh doesn't want nessa to miss his party but she clearly isn't bothered about it. it hurts him to know that she doesn't want to be around him but he can't be mad, she flew his family out for his birthday.
"nessa we don't mind taking the kids back to the hotel if you'd rather go to the party" mrs.richards insists.
there's a glint of hope in josh's eye but it's quickly blinked away when he sees nessa shake her head.
"it's honestly fine, i'm looking forward to going to bed early" she jokes. "josh and i can do something another time for his birthday".
the second she said that, a light inside mr.richards' head lights up and he smiles.
"why don't you come bowling with us tomorrow! we're going for ice cream after it too" he invites, his wife loving the idea also.
nessa doesn't want to seem rude and she'd be a horrible friend if she declined. she just didn't want to intrude, especially if sarah was going to be there.
"are you sure? i wouldn't want to be imposing on family time" she says, josh's parents dismissing her concern.
"don't be silly! you are family! my kids love you"
mrs, richards comments, realising what she said only seconds later.
there's an awakened silence for a mere few seconds. josh and nessa exchanging a look and mr. richards mentally facepalming.
"well okay then, i'd love to" nessa smiles, giving josh's parents a hug goodnight.
they leave after saying goodbye to their son and nessa. the two friends stand in the same place, a silence hovering over them.
josh is the first to speak.
"sarah won't be there tomorrow. just us" he tells her.
"i wasn't-"
"oh come on ness. i know you've been distant because of her. she's not as bad as you think" he shrugs.
nessa simply can't stand and hear about how amazing sarah is right now. she raises her eyebrows and nods.
"i have to go now, have fun at your party".
nessa doesn't wait for him to respond. instead, she turns around and walks out of the restaurant, waving goodbye to her friends as she does. the amount of emotion she's feeling right now is something she would never be able to explain. the only thing she does know about them however is that hearing josh say he's in love with someone else broke her heart into a million pieces and gave her the wake up call she should have had all those months ago. she should have told him she loved him. that she was really in love with him. that she wanted to be with him and for him to be with her. she shouldn't have been scared to be with the one person she's ever loved. hearing him say he didn't love her anymore broke her in more ways than one. she hated herself for ruining things. she hated him for being the love of her life.
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told u guys i was gonna step up my updating game :))))
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