Chapter 57

"So? Do you think your father is going to call the cops on us?" Tyler asked, as I kept driving away.

I wasn't even sure where I was going. I just knew I needed to put as much distance between me and the Torres household. Which was a little silly. I didn't think Josh's father would actually call the cop on us.

"Honestly? He's petty enough to do it," Josh sadly admitted.

Or maybe he would....

"It's fine. Our family knows good lawyers," Lexi replied automatically.

I saw Lexi's expression change ever so slightly from the rear-view mirror when my Pumpkin said that though.

Her mother knew good lawyers.

Josh might be the one that needed support right now, but Lexi wasn't healed either.

I wanted to hug her. But instead, I just smiled sadly at her through the mirror. She smiled back.

"What do you want to do now?" Tyler suddenly asked, trying to lighten up the mood. He probably knew what his sister was thinking about.

"I want to binge all the Terminator movies," Josh suddenly answered in a determined tone.

"Even Terminator Salvation?" Lexi asked, sounding a little worried.

Josh winced. "Even Terminator Salvation."

"How awful can that movie be, when the third movie lost its spot as worst Terminator movie over it," Lexi told him, making a disgusted face.

Josh nodded in agreement. "It's talent, is what it is. Creating that kind of mediocrity requires skills. Not good skills, but skills nevertheless."

It had been a while since I had heard one of Lexi's Terminator rants. It was nice to know that both her and Josh were so passionate about it, and could share that together.

I always worried a little bit, at the back of my mind, that my girlfriend and my friend might not always get along.

Josh hadn't always been Team Lexi after all.

So, I was glad they were both obsessed with James Cameron's franchise. They could share that al least.

"Your place or mine?" I asked Josh, wanting to know where I was supposed to drive us to.

"I guess mine is still a mess," Josh trailed, "But I do need to go take care of Miss Puss."

I nodded, and changed lanes to turn left to get to his apartment. "We'll put away the boxes."

"Alright."

So, I drove us back to his place.

Once I was parked in front is his building, we all got out of the car, Tyler leading the way of our little group.

"Why are you acting like you know where you're going?" Lexi asked her brother, her eyes narrowed.

The youngest Grayson gave his sister a shit eating grin. "That's because I know where I'm going."

"You really do love my brother more, don't you?" Lexi grumbled, making me laugh.

I wrapped my arm around her neck, bringing her closer to my side and kissed the top of her table. "Aw, my Pumpkin."

Lexi gave me a little nudge on the side with her elbow. "Your Pumpkin is a bit annoyed."

"I think jealous is the correct word," Josh said from the front.

Lexi sort of kicked in front of her, like she wanted to kick Josh. "You're lucky I'm being nice to you right now."

Josh grinned back at her, unaffected, hands full of Tupperware containers. "You're just saying that because you can't argue logic."

Lexi just stuck her tongue out at him, like a petulant child, making all of us laugh.

Tyler opened the doors for Josh as we got inside the building, and finally, the Graysons witnessed the mess that had become my best friend's apartment.

"Jesus, has your home been invaded by burglars," Tyler asked.

There were boxes everywhere, and stuff laying around that was not supposed to be here.

Sure, Josh wasn't a neat freak, but his apartment was never this messy.

"You can just sort of," since his arms were full, Josh, kind of kicked in a generally direction, like he was pointing at something, "move these boxes to the side so the couch and coffee table are empty."

And with that, he headed to the kitchen to drop his stolen Thanksgiving dinner.

Tyler, Lexi and I sort of just looked at each other.

"So what? Like pile the boxes in a corner to just ignore our problems?" Tyler asked.

I nodded, "Yup, makes sense."

Lexi chuckled and grabbed a box. "Alright, let's get to it."

With a few minutes of quick work, the mess didn't look too catastrophic.

After that, we headed to the kitchen where Josh was still hiding.

"Are you going to share some of that food?" Lexi asked, going to sit at the counter in front of Josh.

"Generally, I would say no, but since you guys helped me steal back my food, I can be generous."

With that he took out four plates, and after heating up everything, we grabbed everything and went to settle for dinner in the living room, putting everything on th coffee table and sitting on the ground around it.

We all kind of carefully took the food, trying not to take too much to be sure Josh would have enough.

Josh looked like he was fighting back tears, as he ate his potato mash.

"You know, this is good, but my dad's got a better turkey recipe," Tyler said, seeing my best friend's sad eyes, "The meat is always perfect. You could just come to our house for Thanksgiving and get better food."

I was grateful that Tyler was being welcoming to Josh. I wanted Josh to know he had people that loved him, even if his father was a dick.

"And you know Anita's cooking is just generally superior since she's a professional," I added.

Josh chuckled, shaking his head with a smile.

The thing was, it was probably true that Anita or Tyler's dad could do something similar or better.

But Josh deserved to have the food that brought him memories. He was allowed to have his mother's food.

He shouldn't have to plan a future where he would not be allowed to go home for Thanksgiving.

Even if it was the best option for his sanity and safety apparently.

We kept eating, while Josh started up the first Terminator movie, and him and Lexi started to share Terminator trivia, much to my and Tyler's entertainment.

It was cute their obsession with these movies.

"You know, I think this movie made me realize I was attracted to basically anyone. I had this huuuge crush on Kyle and on Sarah," Josh suddenly admitted.

Lexi nodded. "Fair, I was, and still am quite in love with Kyle."

I let out a gasp, pressing a hand to my heart. "Hey, your boyfriend is right beside you."

Lexi rolled her eyes at me, patting my cheek. "Sure, sure Blakey Boy. But you're not Kyle Reese."

I pouted. "My heart is broken."

"You'll heal," she said, patting my arm this time, and pressing a quick kiss to my cheek, making me grin.

"Kyle is so hot," Josh said, in a dreamy voice, staring at the screen with his face.

"And Sarah is freaking badass, and I wanted to be her, so I get why you'd like her too," Lexi mentioned.

"The power couple that never had a chance," Josh said, in a tone like he was choking up.

"Imagine if Kyle had survived," Lexi continued.

"Be still my heart."

"They could have had their hot dog together," Lexi said, fake choking up too.

"And raised John to be even more badass."

Tyler and I just shared a look, and tried not to laugh, shaking our head a bit, while the other two continued to ramble.

We got through the first three movies, before Tyler started to doze off, and Lexi did too, during the fourth film.

She wasn't a fan of Terminator Salvation after all, and Josh and her had already complained about the movie enough before.

I was pretty sure they'd agreed to a Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles marathon in the near future.

Lexi was sleeping in my arms now, and Tyler was breathing like someone unconscious behind me on the couch.

"You okay?" I asked Josh softly.

"Honestly?" He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I think I'm going to need to go see my shrink. But also... I think I need to get away from here."

The admission shocked me a little at first. "Weren't you the one that told me running away from my problems wasn't the answer?"

But even as I was asking this, I understood that his situation and mine were completely different. I was just being a little bit selfish. I didn't want my best friend to leave. I wanted him close.

"I just..." Josh sighed, "I need to be somewhere where people don't look a me like I'm a disappointment, and don't look at me with pity."

I narrowed my eyes a bit. "I don't look at you with pity."

"You kinda do, and it's okay, it's fine. But..." Josh ran a hand through his hair, looking like he needed to collect his thoughts. "I need... I don't know what I need, but I know I don't think it's here right now."

"So what? You just gonna up and leave forever?" I asked, sounding a bit too whiny for my liking.

Josh shouldn't be comforting me right now. I just hadn't expected him to say this.

But at least my best friend snorted at my question. "God, no, I just need, like a two weeks vacation. I need to go sit in a Buddhist temple and remind myself violence is not the answer."

I chuckled too. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Josh shook his head. "No, I'll go on my own. I think this is going to be good."

"If you think you need it, then I'll support you."

"It's just..." He let out a breath, staring at the ceiling like he was trying to keep the tears in, "it's been a lot lately, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

He didn't need to say ore, I could see it in his eyes.

Jayden. And now his dad.

He was always my support system. I just hated that fact that I couldn't be his.

I still had a long way to go, to be a better friend.

_______________________________

Happy Monday my little Pumpkins! <3

Writing this chapter made me realize I want to binge watch Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles again. XD That show was so good. Why did they have to cancel it. :')

That was like cancelling Firefly. Cancelling Firefly was a criiiiime. Do you guys also have cancelled favourite shows?

Sory for the late upload too. I didn't have my chapter for Patreon up, so I wanted to have it written before I uploaded on here. I keep saying this won't happen again, but this time, I mean it. I made myself an August list. I have plans this time. I put allowed screen time on all my electronic devices, and I have to do lists every day that I need to check on. I am going to be productive starting now. I have PLANS! 0_0 August is my Wattpad birthday month. Enough with the distractions. I was sick this week, and I ended up having to work an extra day, but this week should be fine. I HAVE PLANS. If I repeat it enough, I'll gonna follow them, right? :')

Alright. Leaving now. Got more writing to do. Less distractions to have! Ah. GO! I can do it. MORE WRITING.

Byyyyyye! LOVE YOU GUYS! See you all next week! <3