Chapter 82

After class, I dropped Lexi and her brother off at their house and drove up to Josh's place.

I figured he would be a good enough distraction from not sharing a bed with my girlfriend tonight.

The roads were still a bit of a mess, and finding parking around Josh's apartment was a nightmare, but I finally got to his place.

I could see while I headed to his floor, that some of the apartments downstairs were occupied. I wondered who Josh had decided to let stay.

When I walked in Josh's apartment, he was sitting in front of the television watching some reality tv show. It felt strangely mundane.

"Hey," I announced, taking my boots and coat off.

"Hey..." he replied and turned to look at me and then a stupid grin filled his face. "Oh."

I frowned, worried. "What?"

He made a circling motion towards my face. "This sense of serenity I'm seeing on your face right now, is only achievable through coitus."

I rolled my eyes, hoping I wouldn't turn red and betray myself. "Stop saying nonsense."

"Your face is red."

Fuck.

"It is not."

Josh just grinned, turning off the television. "I hope your fruit bears many harvests."

I threw my head back, letting out a whine. "What the fuck is that even supposed to mean? Are you implying you want me to knock up my girlfriend?"

Josh got up from the couch, and raised his arms towards the ceiling. "May your seed find plowed fields"

"I'm not even gonna dignify this with an answer."

"MAY THE FLOWERS BLOOM IN THE GARDEN OF YOUR PANTS."

"NONE OF THE SHIT YOU'RE SAYING MAKES SENSE."

Josh just ignored me, and ramble don. "I could have been a great poet. I could still be. Maybe I should become a great poet. Start smoking a pipe. Grow a mustache. Let out long sighs while staring at the horizon and thinking about the war."

I turned around and grabbed my coat from the rack. "I'm going home..."

Josh laughed. "Aw, come on, you just got here, my favourite little deflowered maid."

I let out a sigh, but put my coat back on the rack. "You're aware that regardless of whether or not Lexi and I had sex, I'm not a virgin."

"Maybe not a crotch virgin, but a heart virgin."

I rolled my eyes yet again. "Please make me some food instead of rambling nonsense," I said, motioning towards the kitchen, and Josh led the way.

"Am I your cook? I feel so used. So dirty," Josh said in a whining tone and then jump around to face me doing finger guns with his hands and added too enthusiastically, "Is what you said last night!"

"I should have gone back home," I sighed to myself.

"Nah, we're gonna have great fun. I'll stop teasing you," Josh said a little too mischievously.

Once I was seated on one of the stool around the counter, and Josh was taking stuff out of the fridge, I asked, "So? What are you up to these days? Any new great plans?"

"I've been thinking about learning how to code. Kinda looks cool. And that way it would be easier to manage this whole app thing I'm working on with Todd."

"I don't see you coding. I feel like you'd get bored quickly."

Josh glared at me. "Hey, I can focus on stuff."

I shook my head and grabbed a carrot he'd just put on the counter. "Not for that long."

"I can focus, I am a focused guy,"

"Persistent borderline annoying, but not focused."

"FOCUSED!"

"Well, if you want to do it, do it," I said with a shrug. As I'd said, my best friend was a persistent guy. If he set out his mind on doing something he usually achieved it. "You want to take a class?"

"Not sure. I suck at school, so maybe not class."

"Youtube videos?"

"Maybe. I am mostly autodidact."

It was true. Josh had always done things on his own, taught himself everything without anyone's help.

I wondered if he felt lonely. He must be. I knew he missed my brother. I knew his family, well his dad mostly, sucked.

When I was living my jolly life, I never really thought about this.

Was Josh lonely?

"Well, whatever you decide to do, I support it."

"Thank you," Josh said, with a genuine smile. "Oh, speaking of supporting my plans. We're going to Mont Tremblant next month."

I snorted. "What?"

"Yep. I want to go snowboarding, and I want you to be allowed to drink while we're there, but I also don't want to cross an ocean. So. Mont Tremblant."

"Really?"

"It's a quaint little town."

"Can Lexi come?"

Josh's smile turned wicked. "I don't know, can she?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "None of your goddamn business."

"But no, she can't come."

"What?"

"NO CHICKS!" Josh announced raising one finger up, and shaking it.

"Is the no chick rule because of Daphnee?"

"You know what? I think women are too complicated. I think I'm gonna stick to men for a while."

"Women or Daphnee?"

He shook his hand at me. "Shush."

"What has she done?"

Josh let out an annoyed sigh. "What hasn't she done? She still has my Kurt Cobain jeans you know? She keeps saying she's going to wash them."

Wait? "You've never washed them?"

"You don't have to wash jeans Blake."

I made a gagging face. "I am officially grossed out. Just know that one day when you're out I'm gonna come here with Anita and we're gonna wash all your clothes."

"Everything but the jeans. And that one cashmere sweater your mother bought me one. You shouldn't wash cashmere."

"I don't know what to say about this. I can allow the cashmere. But not the jeans. The jeans is gross."

He shook his head. He was cutting food, and not really paying attention to me. "It's not gross."

"I feel like I can't look at you the same now."

He looked up from his knife and said, "I can't look at you the same either, now that you've popped your cherry."

I threw my head back, annoyed. "A loooong time ago."

"Yesterday."

"A looooong time ago."

"Yesterday for sure," he said, pointing at me with the knife he was holding. I had no idea what he was cooking, but I had no doubt it was gonna be good. "Not before. It's quite recent. Either yesterday, or you skipped school and it was today."

"A looooong time ago."

"Was it everything you dreamed it would be?" he continued.

Persistent.

"It's the condescending tone that makes me not tell you anything about my sex life."

"Oh? And here I thought you had no sex life."

"I'm gonna throttle you."

"Is this the kind of thing you like?"

"Jesus..."

Josh burst into laughter. "I'm just teasing you because I'm jealous of your happiness, don't take it to heart."

It was weird, the cheeriness of his tone and the words he'd just said.

The odd thing with Josh was that he was often joking around, never really serious. It was hard to know how he truly felt.

"I wish you'd be able to find someone that makes you as happy as Lexi makes me," I admitted seriously.

With half a smile on his face, Josh shrugged. "I already found them."

"Daphnee?" I teased.

My best friend rolled his eyes. "Not the Beatles lover."

"Jayden liked the Beatles too, you know," I trailed softly.

Josh still had a small smile when he said, "Hate all the Beatles lovers."

I didn't push it. I wanted him to tell me how he was feeling, but I also didn't want to make him sad. It was a little strange, to talk about my brother with him now, because I'd be so clueless about their relationship.

The best I could do was be there. When he was ready to talk, I would gladly listen. 

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Happy Monday my little Pumpkins!

I was missing Josh, so this is a Josh chapter. I need to upload Weird and Weirder. And also, like all of my stories. I need another week off, really, so I can just write. This whole working thing is really unfortunate when it's taking prime writing time away. 

Oh well. I'll figure something out. Better time management would definitely help me. 

Anyyyyyyway! As always, if you want chapters in advance it's at patreon.com/kariannegiard and if you want updates in general it's usually at instagram.com/kaygiard.

Alrighty! Have a wonderful week! Love you guys! <3