“What can I say?” He smirks. “I’m locking you in.”
“I don’t know, Josh. We’re not even dating.” I want him to ask me. I want things between us to jump to the next step, but I don’t want to ruin the good thing we’ve got going by adding the pressure of a label.
“That’s only because I haven’t gotten around to asking you. It didn’t seem like something that should be done through a text. So, what do you say, Layla? Be my girl?”
I want this, but the reality of our situation is that it won’t be easy. “We live two hours apart. How do you expect this to work?”
“Same as it has been. We’ll see each other every weekend, either you coming down there or I’ll drive up. We’ll text during the day and FaceTime at night.”
I shake my head, still unsure on the idea of a long distance relationship. Ashley was unfaithful, and he lived five minutes away. Two hours… anything could happen.
“You could have any girl, Josh. Why me? My family is a level of crazy you can’t begin to understand. I’m in school and still working, so my time is going to be monopolized. You should…”
He silences me with a searing kiss. One that makes me forget all of my doubts for a minute. I want this. I shouldn’t fight it, but I’m scared.
“Nothing in life worth having is easy. What’s the worst that’ll happen?”
I fall too hard and you break my heart?
“Say yes. Please?”
“Alright, Josh. Yes.”
“Girl.” Hattie plops onto the couch beside me. Her living room is tiny, but because of the open concept, having five people crammed into it doesn’t feel so bad. It helps that the guys are on the floor, playing some video game where they shoot each other. “What are you wearing for the Halloween party tonight?”
“I thought Halloween was on Monday.”
“You would know that.” Hattie rolls her eyes and takes a sip of her lemonade. “Well, we can’t party on a weeknight. Now can we?”
I shrug and pick at the fries left in my Chick-Fil-A bag. There’s not much left, but thinking about the holidays makes me nervous. Even though Halloween isn’t one I’m expected to call home about, it means Thanksgiving is around the corner, and then Christmas. My parents will have my head if I don’t show up to at least one of those. Not to mention, with holidays comes gifts and I can’t exactly afford to be handing money out like that. I grab another fry, then frown when I realize there’s no more.
“Are you hungry?” Hattie arches a brow at me. I shake my head, dropping the empty cardboard container into my bag. She looks at me a moment longer then says, “So, I was thinking we should have a theme.”
“Isn’t dressing up a little… I don’t know, high schoolish?” That’s a stretch in my opinion. The last time I put on a costume, let alone did anything for Halloween, I was twelve.
“First of all, I’ll pretend like you started that sentence with no offense. Secondly...” Hattie grabs the throw pillow beside her and wacks Josh in the head.
“Dude?” Josh looks away from the screen, long enough for Hattie to smirk, and someone in the game kills his avatar. “Damnit, Hattie. That was my last life.”
“Well, maybe if you spent more time here and not on that stupid farm you wouldn’t suck so bad.” She crosses her arms and smirks, like her statement is supposed to hurt Josh’s feelings. Only, I know that despite its hardships, Josh loves what he does.
“Yeah, because getting high and playing games all day will pay my bills.” He climbs off the floor and wiggles himself between Hattie and me on the couch. “I’m good.”
“Have you thought about your costume for the party?”
Josh puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me close. I rest my head on his chest, feeling that heat build inside me again. It’s been a week since we started dating. Since he gave me the orgasm I’ve failed to recreate.
No matter how hard I try, my fingers can’t do what he did. I was hoping Josh could help me out tonight, but I guess we’re going to a party. Damn.
“Layla and I are doing the Blue Lagoon thing. You know her in a fringe skirt, hair covering her tits, and me with my wang out.”
“Wait, what?” I stare at Josh, waiting for him to tell me he’s joking, but he’s straight faced, looking at the screen.
All of the sudden he laughs and shakes his head. “No, I haven’t thought about my costume. There are more important things on my mind than that.”
“We should go shopping together!” Hattie squeals and jumps off the couch. She walks over to the TV and pushes the power button, earning a few choice words from Landon and Sam that she chooses to ignore. “Up. We are heading into town.”
Josh