Josh takes Celeste home first. We say our goodbyes and he waits for her to close her house door behind her before he takes off.
Once he leaves her street he coughs to clear his throat.
"Hey so umm.." he starts. He's nervous. "Why didn't you ever mention you guys kissed more than once?"
"I didn't think it was a big deal. She told me I'm not gay therefore unworthy of a lesbian relationship basically. Plus we had just made up." I say. I wonder if he's jealous and why she even mentioned it.
"She also mentioned you guys made promises. Hers was telling you to give me a chance." He adds. He keeps his eyes on the road.
"Josh.." I begin to say. "I know what you're thinking. It's not even like that. I've felt things for you before I even felt them for her. And she rejected me!" I gesticulate. "She had always wanted me to go after you. She constantly talked my ear off about how much you liked me."
"How long did you know?" He asks. He looks over for a split second then back to the road.
"Know what?" I ask, confused.
"How long did you know I was into you?" He slams on the breaks and pulls over to the side. "Tell me. How long?"
I think about it. "Alice may have mentioned it once right before Anne passed. She asked me if it was okay if she made a move at her birthday party. She told me she knew you liked me but that she wasn't sure I felt the same. She asked, tried to see how I'd feel about it." I pause to gather my thoughts for the next part. "Does it really matter? How long did you know you liked me before you fucked Alice?" I wave my hands between us. "Can you drive please? My aunt wants me home and there's a psycho on the loose!"
Josh starts to step on the gas and we get home within a few minutes. He didn't answer me the whole car ride. Not until I opened the car door.
"I don't want to lose you," he says racing to my door to give me his hand. He tries to help me out of the car but I refuse.
"I don't even have a belly yet, relax." I say as I get out of the car. He closed my door behind me. He gets in front of me and he passionately kisses me and grabs me. He doesn't give me tongue, instead he pulls away.
"I want you to know that day with the cake…" he paused. He puts his right hand on my cheek. "She said she could never compete with you. That in my heart I knew that. She was right you know?"
"That's so sweet." I blush I touch his left hand with mine. We have our index fingers holding one another. "And just because it took me a while to realize what's been there all along doesn't mean I never saw you. We just thought you were gay for a while there." I laugh. He laughs too.
"I could never be gay with a heart that only beats for you." He smiles. We rub our noses together. This was real love.
We walk into the house holding hands. Aunt Cheri and Sarah are both sitting on the living room couch, drinking coffee out of fancy cups with the matching small plate.
"Finally!" Sarah says.
"What in the actual fuck!" Aunt Cheri says, she stands up immediately. "How dare you not tell me you're carrying a psychos baby!" She races towards me. Josh stands in front of me. "And now you're trapping this young man! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Aunt Cheri is practically screaming at me. And I don't know what it is but it's starting to make my eyes watery. I want to cry.
"I'm sorry.." I say softly. Josh squeezes my hand as I hide behind him.
"You should be way more than sorry!" Sarah snaps. "Where the hell do you get off thinking my seventeen year old son is going to raise another mans child?"
"You will not talk to her like that!" Josh shouts. "I offered, this is all my idea!"
"I didn't even know if I wanted it…" I add.
"Decision made, you need to get it aborted. Like yesterday!" Aunt Cheri is losing it. She's starting to point and wave her hands in the air. She is furious.
"No.." I say softly.
"What did this girl just say?" Sarah stands up.
"She said no mom." Josh snaps at her. "No means no right?" He looks over at me then back to Sarah and Aunt Cheri. "This is our baby now. We're going to keep it."
"Like hell you are!" Aunt Cheri says.
I step forward. "I am. And you know if Anne were here, she'd be so disappointed and disgusted that you out of all people would tell me to get an abortion!" I shout at Aunt Cheri but run off crying.
"I love her mom and I'm staying with her through every step!" I hear Josh shout and his footsteps that follow afterwards.
I'm sitting on my bed when he comes in. I stare out my window.
He sits next to me.
And it feels just like yesterday that Anne passed and Josh just happened to show up. Just in time to comfort me. He wraps his arm around me and I lay my head on his shoulder.
"It's us three against the world." Josh says. He kisses my cheek that some tears ran through. I grab his hand. He holds mine.
"I love you." I finally say.