The Kind of Hoax That Leaves a Lump in Your Throat

“Sorry, what did you just say?”

“I said coral’s pregnant”

“Wait, one more time”

“Josh!” I exclaimed and he just smiled that cheeky grin that I’d missed so much.

“Sorry, it’s just a little strange”

“You’re telling me” I whispered and took a sip from the piping hot coffee in front of me.

It was Sunday and josh had asked me to meet him at the starbucks nearest my house. He greeted me with a hug and a kiss on the forehead, making my insides turn to mush. I’d broken the news to him about coral, leaving the part about Sonnie out, and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“So like, you’re telling me you’re gonna be auntie violet?”

“Yep, I’ll be like the cool one who lets the kid get away with everything” I said with a wink and he just smiled.

“How did Sonnie take it?” he asked and I had to think of a way to word it without me looking guilty.

“He’s scared and confused. I mean coral had a shoot that day so she had to jet off without really explaining anything to him. I just hope when she gets back they can sort it out.”

“It must be hard for him. I mean he’s what? 21? And now he’s having a kid with his girlfriend of like 2 months? Plus she’s like 4 years older than him right? Must be weird”

“I mean, she was talking of getting rid of it, but I don’t think she will” I said and took another sip of my coffee but I almost spat it out again when he spoke next.

“What would you do if we had a kid? Like would you keep it?”

I didn’t even have to think of a response.

“Yeah I’d keep it” I replied, and he smiled almost shyly.

“Well I wasn’t giving you any ideas or anything. Well not just yet anyway” he winked and I felt my face flush. All this talk of kids with josh was making my head spin; I needed to talk about something different.

“So how’s life in flint town treating you?” I said and he laughed lightly, looking down.

“It’s different. There’s more football on the TV and the whole house doesn’t smell like flowers”

“Really? That’s surprising; dan always struck me as the type of guy whose house smelt like a florist”

“Nahhh Dans a dirty bastard. In more ways than one” he said with a wink and I couldn’t help but laugh.

This was nice. It felt normal to be sat here and just talk with him. It was like everything had been forgotten and it was just me and him. Josh and violet.

“Let’s play a game” he said and I looked at him with questioning eyes. “How about 20 questions?”

“Why do you wanna play 20 questions?”

“Because there’s so much I still need to learn about you, plus on all the shity rom coms they play it”

“What I would give to be you for a day” I said dryly and he smiled.

“I’ll start um… favourite film?”

“Up or maybe toy story 3 it’s a tough call”

“Aren’t they aimed at 10 year olds?”

“Don’t diss Disney man” I said and placed my hand over my heart. “Okay my turn”

And that’s how we spent the next 3 hours. I swear I learnt more about josh in that short space of time than I had the whole time ive know him. I guess he was right and we did rush into things.

He walked me home afterwards and left a small kiss on my cheek before going back to Dans. I walked inside in a dream like state and found Oakley and Zahra on the sofa watching the TV. I fell into the arm chair, the smile never leaving my face, and they just laughed at me.

“I take it by the fact your face looks like it’s about to split in half you had a good time” she said and I just nodded.

“Aw she’s so cute” Oakley teased.

“Bleh, piss off” I replied and stood up, walking into the kitchen. I was halfway through making myself a cup of tea when my phone began to ring, when I looked at the screen it was coral.

“Hello?”

“Hey I was just wondering if you could meet me at the station. I’ll be there in the 10 minutes”

“What? I thought you were in Paris until Friday, you’ve only been there 3 days”

“I’ll explain when I see you”

“Okay I’ll see you in a bit then”

As soon as I ended the call I called someone else. I didn’t know hoe she would react to him being there but things needed to be sorted.

“Hey Sonnie, you busy?”

“Not really, why?”

“I need you to come with me somewhere”



We arrived at the station with a few minutes to spare and sonny was pacing around like a mad man. I made him sit down and when her train finally pulled in, she was the last one off it.

I told him to stay where he was and I quickly took some of her bags, walking her back to where Sonnie was. She saw him and turned to me. I thought she’d be angry with me but she just looked scared.

“What’s he doing here?” she asked panicked but I rubbed her arm trying to calm her down.

“Just go speak to him yeah?” I said, taking her other bag. She stood there so I gave her a little push and she walked over to him. He met her half way and for a few seconds it looked like they were just standing there, but then in the blink of an eye they were holding onto each other as if their lives depended on it.

I walked past them, going to sit on a bench to give them some time, and I could just hear her whispering “im sorry” over and over and Sonnie rubbed her back. He kept whispering that everything would be ok, and it was only when coral moved back I saw she was crying. He wiped the tears away and kissed her forehead before they came back over to me.

Sonnie insisted on taking all of her bags, and in the cab on the way back they sat next to each other, hand in hand whilst I chatted with the driver about rising bus fares. “£2.35 each way now, ridiculous” he exclaimed and I just nodded before he lectured me about oyster cards. “Long live the days when it used to cost 70p”

Once we were home, coral went upstairs with Sonnie and I let them have their space whilst Zahra and I sat watching QI reruns. When we were about 20 minutes into one episode the doorbell went and I jumped up to get it.

On the other side was a guy holding a clipboard and a pen. “Violet?”

“That’s me” I answered and he thrust the clipboard into my hand before walking back off to his van. I signed it, and I when I looked back up he was coming towards me with a giant bouquet of orange carnations. He took the board and handed be the flowers before leaving. “Thank you” I called out to him and he just waved before driving off.

I took them inside and into Zahra and her eyes lit up. She actually squeaked and clapped her hands together before repeatedly saying “who are they from?” I shrugged but inside I knew.

I opened the little card that came with them and read it in my head before Zahra ripped it from me and read it aloud.

“Looks like I learnt at least one thing today
See I remembered these were your favourite.
Lot’s of love, josh x”

She closed her eyes and held it to her chest smiling.

“Zee calm down, I think you’re more excited than I am”

“He’s just too cute, wanna boyfriend swap?”

“Nahhh im good” I smiled before reading the rest of the card.

p.s. matt’s having a party next Friday
Make sure you’re there
Bring whoever

Zahra was right, he really was the cutest thing ever, and this whole “being apart” thing was good for us. I could feel it. Things were different now. He wasn’t just my boyfriend josh anymore; he was the boy I was counting down the seconds to see again. The one who made my heart beat too fast and feel nervous just at the sight of him. I felt how I used too.

I guess josh really did know what he was doing.