This Is Not an After School Special

"So, that's Josh, huh?" Mom asked me as she watched Josh approaching our front door through the living room window.

I rolled my eyes. "You've met him before. And be nice. If you make things weird, I'll loathe you forever."

"Don't be so dramatic, Becky. It's just a high school romance."

"Yeah, and at one point you and Dad were just a college romance. Every relationship has the potential to turn into something more. You don't know for sure that we'll break up."

"But you and Matt-"

"Stop," I commanded, letting my irritation boil over. If nothing else, I had to give her credit for her determination. "Josh is here because we want to make this work. Josh," I reiterated. "Not Matt."

"Okay, fine," she seemed to be sulking a bit. "I'll be nice."

I began walking to the door before Josh had even rung the bell. When I opened it, he had his hand raised and poised to knock. He gave me a quizzical look for a moment, then grinned.

"Happy to see me?" He questioned, a glitter in his emerald eyes.

"Always," I grabbed his hand and pulled him inside quickly, shutting the door firmly in his wake. "You've already met my mother, of course," I said, gesturing vaguely to the woman lurking in the living room. "And Dad will be home in a few minutes. So for the moment, you're safe."

"Somehow, I don't believe that's the general consensus," he murmured, his eyes resting on my mom.

The two of us sat down on the couch, and I was determined to remain by his side, no matter what. I didn't blame him for the way that his sisters had separated us, since I wouldn't have been able to stop them once they put their mind to something, but that didn't make me want to risk him slipping away from me tonight.

"You're the one that's been teaching Becky how to sing?" Mom asked, trying to sound polite despite the edge to her voice.

"Mom," my tone was warning. I couldn't wait for Dad to get home; she wouldn't act like this when he here.

"Fine," her voice turned wispy and she waved me off. "I'm going to go check on dinner. You two kids be good while I'm gone."

"I am so unbelievably sorry," I apologized once Mom had left the room.

"Everyone has a crazy parent. Don't worry about it."

"But your whole family was so nice and welcoming to me. She's not being very friendly. It's not fair to you. She's just pissed off because you're not Matt. She wants me to date him so badly. It's kind of disturbing, really."

Josh chuckled. "Matt and I aren't that different, you know. He's a little quieter, and a little better with the ladies, but we've got the same sense of humor. That, and we're both band and choir geeks."

"You know, a couple of months ago I would have made fun of you for being in those things, but now I'm not so sure that it makes you a loser. I have fun in choir now that I know what I'm doing."

"I'm glad that you do," he said sincerely.

His hand twitched, and I knew that he was wondering the same thing as I was. How far away was my mother? Would she catch us if we made some kind of affectionate gesture? I was pretty sure that I knew the answer, but I was starting to enjoy taking risks. I cuddled up against his side, pulling my feet up onto the couch beside me. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me even closer. He smelled good, and I breathed in deeply to try and capture his scent.

The front door slammed, and I jumped a bit but didn't move. Josh's arms tightened for a moment, then released me. He didn't want to get caught in this position when my father walked in. I, personally, didn't see the big deal. Things could have been worse. I could have been groping Josh or making out with him when Dad got home. But I wasn't. And Josh never would have let me. Despite my mother's impression of him, Josh was nothing but a respectable kid.

I sat up straight just as my dad entered the room. He looked exhausted, and I wondered whether his bad day was going to affect his interrogation of Josh. Dad noticed us sitting on the couch, and seemed to suddenly remember that he was supposed to meet my boyfriend. He put on a fake smile and offered Josh his hand.

"You must be Josh. I won't lie and say I've heard a lot about you, but I've heard a little bit."

Josh shook his hand timidly. "Nice to meet you, sir."

Dad looked a bit shocked by Josh's polite attitude, and he raised his eyebrows in an impressed expression. "I'm just going to go and clean up a bit, and then I'll be back."

When Dad left, I grinned at Josh. "I think he's already pudding in your hands."

"Pudding?" Josh fought back a laugh. "I think the expression is putty."

I frowned. "Great, make me look stupid. At least this happened when we're alone. Matt would have a field day with something like that."

"Speaking of Matt," Mom began in a bold tone as she carried a tray of iced tea into the room. "Becky tells me that you're friends with him, too, Josh."

Josh nodded. "Yeah, we're in choir and band together. He's a great guy."

Mom already looked disinterested. "And how long have you two been together?"

"Not long," I jumped in defensively. I really didn't want to witness her reaction when she found out just how long I'd been lying about my relationship status with Josh.

Dad's expression was full of amusement; he was actually enjoying watching me squirm. I wondered briefly if this kind of torture could be viewed as child abuse.

"So, you're graduating this year?" Dad finally joined the conversation.

"Yeah, it seems kind of weird to think about that," Josh let out a strained laugh.

"Any plans for after high school?"

"Uh," Josh glanced at me for help. I already knew why: what would my parents say if he admitted that he was hoping to be a musician? "I'm going to take some time off before going back to school," he said after a brief pause. "I just want to be sure before I go and spend all that money, you know?"

Dad nodded in agreement. "That's a responsible thing to do if you're not totally sure. It's a lot of money to waste if you're just going to decide that you want something else out of life later on."

"So, you'll still be around here next year?" Mom appeared slightly disappointed. "You're not going off to college somewhere else?"

"No, I'll still be here. Even if I was going to school, I would still stay in Vancouver."

I felt myself smirk at Josh's response. It was foolish of Mom to even hope that he would leave, of course. He could go to school for almost anything here. But it was still nice to know for sure that I had a bit more time with him.

"Do you think that you'll still want to spend time with a high school girl, though?" Mom sipped from her glass, pretending to be nonchalant.

I could tell that Josh felt uncomfortable. I felt the same way. I opened my mouth to say something, but Josh beat me to the punch.

"Do you really want me to break your daughter's heart? Because that just doesn't seem like something that I would ever want to do. I may not have known Becky very long, but she's made a huge impression on me. You've raised her well; she's an amazing girl. I don't see any reason that this should have to end just because I'm not enrolled in classes anymore."

I stared at Josh, awestruck. My parents seemed to be at a momentary loss for words as well. Josh's cheeks grew a continuously deeper shade of red as we all gazed at him. After a long moment of silence, Mom cleared her throat.

"Dinner should be ready now."

Mom and Dad immediately got up and headed to the kitchen, but I stayed where I was.

"Thanks, Josh," I whispered to him.

"For what?"

"That was really nice, what you just said."

He shrugged it off. "It's not a big deal, Becky. It's the truth."

The rest of the night was a bit easier to handle. Mom toned down her efforts to weasel in between us, and Dad seemed genuinely happy with my relationship with Josh. They were watching over my shoulder when Josh left, so I gave him an awkward hug before he headed out the door.

"I think she's safe with him. I kind of like that kid so far," Dad told Mom, making sure that he was loud enough for me to hear.

Mom sighed heavily. "Yeah, he seems like a good guy."

"Way to hide your disappointment, Mom," I mumbled as I walked past her and into the living room. "Oh, and thanks for assuming that I would pick a terrible guy to be my boyfriend. I have standards, you know."

"I see that now. I'm sorry I wasn't more supportive before."

I ignored her insincere apology. "So Dad, you like him, huh?"

Dad nodded. "Yeah, keep him around for awhile. But don't do anything stupid, Becky. Don't forget about the rest of your life. There are other things that should be important to you right now."

"I know, I know," I turned on the TV and began channel surfing. "I'll keep my grades up. Well, as 'up' as they've ever been."

Mom and Dad went into the kitchen to talk more, and I caught snippets of the conversation.

"He could be a good influence," Dad was arguing quietly.

"I don't want her getting too committed to a boy when she's this young."

"She's smart; she has her priorities in order. Odds are, this will be over as fast as it began. Just let her have this."

Rolling my eyes, I got up from the couch and headed to my room. I'd always been closer to my dad than to my mom, but this was ridiculous. Shouldn't a mother want to see her daughter happy? I was sure that she wasn't being this negative on purpose; she really didn't have it in her to be that way. But she seemed to be trying awfully hard to make me see her perspective.

I hadn't realised just how stressed I'd been all day until the stress was suddenly taken away. Now, all I felt was exhaustion.

The next morning came all too soon. I was still half asleep when I headed out the front door, sipping from a juice box. Because of my drowsy state, I didn't notice that Matt's truck was absent until I was reaching for the door handle of a small blue car. I frowned and leaned down to peer through the window. Josh smiled at me.

"I hope it's okay that I'm picking you up today. I called Matt last night and convinced him to let me come and get you before school. He didn't seem to care, he just said that he would talk to you before class," he explained through the open window.

I nodded and climbed inside. "So will this be a regular thing, then?"

"If you want it to be."

"We don't have all that much time to ourselves, so it really wouldn't hurt my feelings if you drove me to school. It gives up a couple of extra minutes alone."

"I'm glad to hear that you feel that way. I was hoping that you would agree with me."

I buckled myself into the seatbelt as Josh put the car into motion. "I think even my dad would agree. He thinks you're a good kid."

"That's funny, that's the exact same words that my dad used to describe you."

"So why do I get the feeling that they're both missing something?" I joked.

Josh shrugged. "Maybe they're just not looking close enough. Hell, maybe none of us are looking close enough."

"Yeah, maybe," I couldn't erase the wonder in my voice. It felt like I really was missing something when it came to Josh, even though we were just kidding around. But there would be plenty of time to learn one another's secrets later on. After all, now I knew for sure that he was sticking around for at least a couple of years. For now, I was just interested in taking things day by day.