Be My Escape

If someone were to ask me what my own personal hell would look like or who I would encounter while there, there’s a ninety percent chance it would be very similar to my father’s office, and I would repeatedly run into Beth and Jake on a daily basis.

Oh wait.

Work was nothing short of awkward; not only did I have to deal with Jake and the tension between us from our ridiculous breakup, but I also had the pleasure of dealing with bitchface Beth and all of her unpleasant remarks.

I was having lunch with Dan and Josh one afternoon and explaining to them just how awkward and terrible it really was when Josh came up with a plan.

“You know, I could pick you up from work one afternoon, if you wanted. That’d show Beth her place,” he smirked, after taking a bite of his burger while we ate at Nando’s.

I shrugged and took a bite of my chicken wrap. “She’s just such a bitch!” I exclaimed. It was the truth, and I knew Josh knew it, so I don’t know why I was stressing it to him. “I mean we all know that, but Jesus. It’s a whole new ball game when you get to experience first hand every single day.” I rolled my eyes as I finished my chicken wrap.

“She’s a slag and a bitch and a million other bits I could be callin’ her, but I won’t. But yes, you’re right Peyt. Which is why I say let me pick you up today, yeah?”

I looked at Josh skeptically for a moment, but then figured why the hell not? What did I care if Beth hated me even more? I didn’t quite frankly. I would have rather she hated me, actually. So I shrugged and nodded. “Sounds fine to me.”

Josh smiled at me across the table as he finished his food. But for some reason, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy about this plan. I shrugged it off and pushed it aside, because it was going to happen even if I did feel uneasy.

***

“I’m going to head out,” I smiled at my dad as I peeked into his office that afternoon.

He looked up from the paperwork on his desk and smiled as he took off his glasses. “Alright, love. Have a good night.”

I nodded. “Can we have dinner again soon? I’ve been meaning to come over, it’s just been a little hectic recently,” I said sheepishly. I felt bad. I hadn’t seen my dad or Hanna since I babysat the other day, and truthfully I was missing them. I didn’t know what I was going to do when I actually went home for good.

Just thinking about it made my stomach knot nervously. I didn’t want to think of leaving anyone behind in England, but I knew sooner or later it was going to happen. I just didn’t want to think about it.

My dad smiled and nodded. “Of course, love. This weekend? Hanna’s just finishing up a major project so she’s been a little busy, but it’s almost done and I’m sure she wants you over just as bad.”

Once we made some informal arrangements, I said goodbye to my dad again and turned to leave. Just as I was walking out of his office, I spotted Josh stepping through the elevator. I smiled as I watched him scan the office looking for me, and when he finally spotted me, he grinned too. He made his way over to me and said his hello. “Ready to go?” he asked me, scanning the area for Beth.

I nodded. “I don’t know where she is,” I told him truthfully. “She’s been kind of sparse all day, actually.”

Josh frowned, but shrugged, obviously not wanting to act like he wanted to see her too bad. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his arm. “Let’s go,” I laughed, dragging him down the hallway so we could leave.

Of course, just as we stepped into the elevator, Beth got in behind us. She smirked at the two of us as she hit the button for the tenth floor, which would bring her up before it brought us down, and she just laughed.

“Mind telling us what's so funny, bitch? I mean Beth,” I grinned sweetly. From my side, Josh just chuckled.

“Nothing, except for the fact that you two are so helplessly pathetic that it almost physically hurts me to watch.” Her smirk grew as she looked at the two of us with distaste in her eyes. She laughed again. “It’s so sad.

I just rolled my eyes. Her comments really didn’t affect me. I couldn’t have cared less what she said, because she was so pathetic herself that it just didn’t matter to me. Josh, on the other hand, was a completely different story.

I could feel him tense up beside me. “Chill,” I muttered, trying to calm him down. I failed though, just as I knew I would.

“You slag,” he growled at her. “How exactly are we pathetic? You’re the one opening your legs wide for any guy to step up to, so please tell me how we are the pathetic ones.”

She continued to smirk. “You’re pathetic because you keep sticking around, thinking I’m going to come crawling back to you Josh. Newsflash, I’m not love, so you should move on. And you Peyton,” she turned, pointing her finger at me. “Jake doesn’t want you, so this puppy dog act you’re pulling isn’t going to do anything.”

Just then, the door slid open and Beth wiggled her fingers at us. “G’bye, loves!” she smiled, stepping out.

When the door shut, I let go of Josh and held onto the close door button so no one could get on with us. I knew Josh was going to need a few minutes to rage after that display. “That bitch!” he exclaimed. “Does she seriously think I want her back? Is she that mental?”

I shrugged as I looked up at the numbers changing color until they got to the one. The door slid open again and we got out. We walked in silence for a little while, but it didn’t last. “Why aren’t you fuming mad?” Josh asked me. Actually, he yelled it. And then I was mad.

“She doesn’t faze me Josh. She didn’t break my heart. I’ve dealt with jealous girls before, so it really doesn’t bother me. But the way you are acting shows that it does bother you, which I don’t get. You’re over her aren’t you?”

Josh was silent for awhile, and I couldn’t tell if it was because he was pissed at me or just thinking. After a good five minutes, I realized I wasn’t going to get an answer either way. “You’re incredible,” I muttered, picking up my pace to move faster down the sidewalk.

“Don’t do that, Peyton!” he exclaimed, hurrying to catch up with me. “I was thinkin’ alright? Jesus,” he muttered with a shake of his head.

“Well you shouldn’t need five minutes to answer something so simple, Josh,” I retaliated. He was getting on my nerves.

“It’s not simple,” he responded quietly, and I felt kind of bad for jumping on him. So I sighed and said my apologies.

“I’m sorry Josh. Didn’t mean to jump on you like that. But you can’t let the bitch get the best of you, because that’s exactly what she wants.”

“She’s not the one gettin’ the best of me,” he said quietly, or at least I thought that’s what he said. I tried to ignore it though, because if it wasn’t Beth, it was me, and that meant Josh really didn’t want to be friends. That meant, all of this was a waste of time, and I really didn’t feel like thinking about that just yet.

So I ignored him as we walked down the sidewalk to get home.

When we got back to our building, we both stopped outside of our flats. I’m not sure if we were waiting for something or someone to say something or what, but we both stopped. And we stood there, looking at each other. After several minutes of this, I was fed up though, so I sighed and mumbled my goodbye to Josh before turning back around to head into my flat.

“Go to dinner with me!” he blurted out suddenly, just as I was stepping foot inside.

Confused, I turned back around to face him. “What?”

“Go out to dinner with me tomorrow. I don’t have to do vocals until Friday, because we’re working on figuring out some guitar parts.” He laughed nervously as he reached up and scratched the back of his neck. “Not that you care, but I’m free tomorrow and I want to go to dinner with you.”

I continued to stare at him for a few minutes without saying anything while I weighed my options.

One, I could say no. I didn’t have to go to dinner with Josh. He was probably just trying to prove a point anyways, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a part of that at all. It was fine if he wanted to show me he was over Beth, but for one I didn’t care that much, and for two he wasn’t going to use me to do so.

On the otherhand, I could say yes. I could go out to eat with Josh and have a nice time with (hopefully) little arguing. We could get to know one another a little better. And for all I knew, it wasn’t a plan to try and show me he was over Beth. Maybe he just wanted to hang out with me, maybe he was just trying to be friendly.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was nodding my head and saying, “Okay.” Maybe this was a mistake, but I figured I wouldn’t know if I didn’t do it.

“Yeah?” he smiled, and I just nodded again.

“I’ll come over around eight, if that’s alright?”

I smiled this time when I nodded. “Sounds good. Just, please, no sushi.”

He looked at me funny, but he agreed. “Fine with me. I’ll see you tomorrow, Peyt.”

I said goodbye and ventured into my flat.

There was a good chance that agreeing to go to dinner with Josh was a bad idea, but there was no way of knowing unless I just did it. Maybe I just had a thing for making bad choices. Or maybe it wouldn’t be a mistake at all, but instead we’d both have a really good time.

I sighed as I decided to go take a shower. I needed to clear my head again and stop thinking about what tomorrow would bring; good or bad, it was going to happen.