Simple.

The librarian walked over to the three of them, her lips pressed in a thin line and her eyebrows furrowed. “Excuse me,” she said in a loud whisper, “you’re disturbing everyone who is trying to read. Now, because you don’t know how to be quiet, I’m going to have to ask all three of you to leave.” She raised one eyebrow.

Josh almost wanted to protest, tell her he wasn’t the one making the noise. But a nagging feeling in the back of his mind told him to go out and have some fun before the inevitable happens. So Josh didn’t say anything while Abatha told the librarian to go fuck herself. She turned on her heel and walked off. Noella looked at Josh , shrugged her shoulders and began walking, too. Josh followed the two girls outside the library but he wasn’t sure what to do next.

“We should go to Starbucks or something,” Abatha said, looking at Noella.

Awkwardly, Josh began to turn around, but he saw Noella look at him. She looked at him and her eyes asked the question, ‘Are you coming?’ She was biting her bottom lip and slightly nodded, signaling that, yes, Josh was coming. A smile tugged at Josh’s lips and he nodded, too. So with his hands in his pockets, he followed Noella and Abatha to Starbucks, stealing glances at the short girl beside him as Abatha carried on a conversation by herself.

And the whole time, Josh ignored the feeling that things weren’t going to be so simple anymore.

--

“Hey, Mom. I’m home,” Josh called out, slamming the door behind him.

His mom’s head poked out of the kitchen before she walked over to him. “Where have you been, Joshua?” she asked, one eyebrow raised, face etched with concern.

“I was… uh, hanging out with…” He stopped. Are they friends or merely acquaintances? Josh cleared his throat. “Friends,” he finished. “I was hanging out with some friends.”

His mom let out what seemed to be an airy scoff. “Who, Joshua? Chris? Brandon? Landon? Did you call them up or something --”

“Uh, no, Mom. N-Noella and, um, Abatha.” His mom gave Josh a weird look but smiled. She decided to leave him alone.

“Okay. Well, I’m glad you had fun,” she concluded and walked back to the kitchen. “Oh. And you’re dad called.” Josh could hear the distaste in his mom’s voice. “Make sure you call him back, okay?” He practically heard his mom roll his eyes.

Josh smirked and walked to his room. He sat down on his bed and grabbed the phone and dialed the not so familiar number.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end was gruff, sleepless.

“Hey, Dad. You called?” Josh took off his hat and tossed it across his room. He sighed. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to his dad.

“Yeah, bud, I did. Um, I just wanted to check on you. Are you feeling okay?” Awkward. Awkward. Awkward.

“I’m feeling good. Is that it?” Josh had his thumb already pressed gently on the end button.

“Yeah. That’s it. Well, also… We-we should hang out. Go to a basketball game before… Before… y’know.”

Josh scoffed. “Before what, Dad?” He acted as if he didn’t know what his dad was going to say. “Before… What?”

Josh’s dad coughed on the other line. “Josh… Before you… Goddammit, Josh. You know what I’m talking about!”

Josh laughed. A loud, humorless laugh. “Fuck you,” he said in a whisper. “Fuck you,” he repeated, just louder. “Fuck you!” he yelled into the phone, using every ounce of power he may or may not have had and threw it across the room. Unfortunately, he didn’t use much strength so the phone didn’t break into itty bitty bits and pieces.

But that’d be such a cliché.