"Joshua, I'm not so delicate. I can go home alone. It would be rude of you to leave them halfway",I told him, just loud enough for him to hear.
He bent down and whispered in my ears,"Its alright Issy. I'd rather walk you home and spend time with you." His whispering in my ears sent a tingling sensation throughout my body and I blushed furiously.
He chuckled at seeing how easily I blushed at every small thing he did. I didn't argue with him and let him walk me home.
While I was leaving, Elizabeth called Joshua and came to his side and said,"Joshua,you said you'd drop me home. I don't even have my car today."
I looked at her and realized that she was probably not happy with me, to have interrupted their date?
Joshua looked at her and said,"You can wait for me at Miley's place. Miley and Issy are neighbours, so call me when you're done."
I felt a little awkward at how Elizabeth stared at me, so I said,"Joshua, you guys continue with what you planned earlier. I can manage going home myself. Its just here."
"Are you sure Issy? I can walk you home",he insisted, but I didn't want to be the villain here, taking him away from Elizabeth's company, so I stuck with my decision to go alone.
"I'm a hundred percent sure. Its rude to leave your friends midway just to accompany me",I said and walked away from them.
As I was going out, Roy came behind me saying,"They're not my friends, so let me do the honours to walk you home."
I turned back to look at Joshua,whose eyes seemed to be staring daggers at Roy, and I shrugged and gave him a smile as I left the parlor.
"Is there something going on between you and Joshua?",he asked me after coming out of the parlor. I didn't even know what was going on between Joshua and I, so I asked him,"What does that have to do with you Roy?"
He was taken aback at my reply. I had never spoken to him that way in the brief few years we dated. I was always ever ready to give him explanations about my relationship with other guys, but now, I had not only not answered his question but had cut him off completely to not interfere in my life.
"I was just asking, Issy. Joshua and Elizabeth, they go long way back,and even their parents are good friends with each other, and if ever he was to choose between you and her, he might end up choosing her", he simply told me, and though I knew I was no match for Elizabeth, I still felt a little sting in my heart.
After we reached my place, I thanked him, and went in without inviting him in. I knew I was being rude, but Gabby and Aurora would eat my ears off if I invited him in, and I didn't need Alyssa to call me again or spam my phone with her messages.
Just as I entered the house, my phone beeped with an incoming message. It was my mom asking me how I was doing, with he list of all the do's and don'ts during pregnancy.
I chuckled at my mom's long message and replied her a short,"Everything is alright mom and I'm following everything you have asked me to"
I hit send and kept the phone in my bag as I went to the kitchen to keep the ice cream in the fridge.
"Get a room you two", I said as I entered the kitchen and saw Aurora and Leo kissing the hell out of themselves.
"Sorry Issy you had to see that, but I'm not sorry kissing my fiance",my cousin replied and I looked at Aurora, who had a big grin plastered on her face, and she showed me the ring Leo had proposed her with.
"I'm so happy for you sister-in-law", I said as I went to hug her and congratulate her and did the same with Leo.
"What did I miss?",Gabby said as she entered the kitchen and gasped dramatically when she saw the ring on Aurora's finger.
"Way to go Leo. You've robed me of my best friend now",Gabby whined as both Aurora and I gave her the eye roll.
"This calls for a celebration eh?",I said, and we soon arranged for a take away dinner for our celebration.
The delivery guy brought us our ordered food and we started on the dinner. "So, how did you pop the question?",Gabby asked Leo, which earned her a poke on her forehead from Aurora, who was sitting opposite her.
"What, I'm just asking the man how he proposed my best friend. If its not satisfactory, I'll make him do it again", she declared and we all laughed at her antics.
After dinner was done, I came back to my room and went for freshening up, without even bothering to take my phone from my bag.
I had a nice soak in the bath and changed my clothes, and prepared to go to bed. I remembered about my phone that I left in my bag, and went to retrieve it.
Once I found my phone, I noticed that it had around six missed calls from Zeke's number, and a couple from Miley. I wondered why Zeke and Miley had called me and decided to call them back.
When I dialled Zeke's number, he answered it in the first ring.
"Zeke? I'm sorry I was...",I started telling him, but he cut me off mid sentence as he said, "Issy, Joshua got into an accident. He was injured quite seriously and is currently being treated in the hospital."