The Kind of Hoax That Leaves a Lump in Your Throat

The drink caught up with me when we arrived home. I pretty much collapsed halfway up the stairs laughing at something neither josh nor I knew about. This in turn made josh laugh and we tried to silence each other by holding a finger to each others lips.

I couldn’t for the life of me get up so in the end josh lifted me up and placed me over his shoulder. I let out a loud squeak and he shook me lightly.

“Oi, be quiet, the others are sleeping” he whispered as he carried me up.

I looked down and my eyes fell upon josh’s boxers that were just peeking out from the top of his jeans, and they were visible since his arms were up trying to steady me. I blame it on the drink but I reached down and pulled them up giving him a wedgie and he let out a louder squeak than I did, before setting me to the floor because we were now outside my room.

“What was that for?”

“Be quiet, the others are sleeping” I mocked and he didn’t respond and pushed the door open to my room, pulling me with him.

I don’t know if it was the drink or the fact we both knew what was happening next, but our lips crashed together before the door had even properly shut.

Once the initial urgency had faded slightly, josh pulled back and brushed some hair out of my face before taking my hand and slowly walking over to my bed.

He sat down on the end and pulled me onto him so I was straddling him, before we connected our lips again, this time more carefully. Since this was our first time in forever I could sense josh wanted to take things slowly, so I complied no matter how much torture it was. After a few intense moments he laid down so I was resting on top of him, our lips never disconnecting until a few minutes later when josh just stopped again and looked at me.

He was staring at me to the point where it was almost becoming uncomfortable. I was about to ask him to stop when he spoke.

“I love you, you know that right?”

Sure I hadn’t heard him actually say it to me in months but I never doubted it.

“Of course I do. And I love you too” I replied. He just smiled one of the biggest smiles I’d seen in a while and rolled over so I was now on my back and he was sort of half over me, propping himself up on his arm.

“I promise you that nothing is ever going to tear us apart again ok, I won’t let it, we’re so much stronger than that now”

“Josh why are yo-“

“I just wanted you to know” he said quickly before kissing me again. Soon enough our clothes littered the floor and we were tangled beneath the sheets.

I tried to keep quiet, I honestly did, but my god josh was making it difficult for me. In the end I just gave up, remembering all the sleepless nights Oakley and Zahra have given me and figured it was payback time.

In the words of Madonna, josh made me feel like a virgin being touched for the very first time. It was weird, like he’d been practicing because this was so much different from the last times and I could see the triumph in his eyes every time I made a sound.

It turned out to be the most unforgettable nights of my life.



When I woke up the next day, the sun was shinning through the curtains and when I sat up slightly to check the time I saw it was half one in the afternoon. I bolted up right, and started shaking josh yelling at him to wake up. After a few seconds of sleeping and not realising what’s going on, he caught onto the urgency in my voice at shot up too.

“What? Where’s the fire?”

“There’s no fire, it’s half one in the afternoon”

“What does that matter; there can be fires at anytime”

“I know that josh” I said. I really did question what went on in his mind sometimes and by the look he was giving me, he felt the same about me. He was staring at me like I’d taken something and was currently out of my box. “I mean, its half one, why didn’t you wake me?”

“Oh so now it’s my job to wake you up?” he said with a sly smirk and I didn’t know how to reply and I sat looking at him with my eyebrows slightly furrowed. “What does it even matter anyway? It’s not like we need to be anywhere, we could sleep all day if we wanted”

And then it struck me; it was Sunday.

I groaned and laid back down, my hand covering my face and josh laid next to me.

“You alright, love?”

“Yeah” I huffed and took my hand away, looking at him. “I thought I was late for work”

“Ahh” he said, and wrapped me up in his arms. “I see, well your safe”

We laid in silence for a few moments and then josh propped himself up on his arm and looked down at me.

“Does it get boring, you know getting up at the same time everyday, working at the same place, see the same people?”

I’d never really thought about it before, but now that I was I realised actually how boring my life was and stuck I felt.

“I suppose but I’ve never really though about my life like that. I mean compared to you my life is incredibly boring, and I’d love to change it, but I just don’t know how”

“If you don’t like it than you can change whatever you vi, nothing set in stone”

“But it feels like it” I said and sat up on my elbows slightly. “The problem is there is nothing I’m really interested in or am any good at”

“There has to be something”

“Well if there is, I haven’t found out what it is yet. I guess when I pretty much failed all my exams I felt like Ella-May gave me my one and only shot of making any real money, but I guess I feel a little stuck after a few years”

Josh just looked at me sympathetically and brushed some hair from my eyes before kissing my forehead. “Well I think you’re pretty great” he whispered.

“You would” I replied and lay back down again. “You have no idea how jealous of you I am. You don’t even work cause you live you’re dream, liana does what she loves, as does Charlie, and to be honest I don’t think Zahra really cares what she does. I just feel so trapped.”

“Vi, a few grades on a bit of paper don’t define you, you can do anything as long as you set your mind to it. Why don’t you quit the studio and in the words of François Rabelais, go and seek a great perhaps.

“Have you been reading my copy of looking for Alaska?”

“Well you shouldn’t leave it in the bathroom”

I just shook my head with a smile and josh got up.

“I’ll make us some breakfast, you get dressed and come down in a few”

I just nodded and he kissed my forehead before throwing on his top from the day before and some boxers and going downstairs. I got up myself after a few minutes and dressed in a top and some underwear, playing over josh’s words in my head.

I knew what he was saying was true but could I really do it? Working for Ella-May was like a safety blanket and I wasn’t so sure if I was ready to let go yet, not matter how bad I felt.

I went down after about 10 minutes and I walked into the kitchen to find josh on the phone with an angry look on his face. When I came in he looked up gave me a slight smile before sighing loudly and rubbing his face.

I went over to him and placed my arms around him and he placed his free arm around me and rested his head on mine. I could tell Barns was on the other end but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Josh’s head suddenly snapped up and he cut him off mid sentence.

“Mate I’ve had an idea, I’ll call you back in a sec” he said quickly and ended the call. He then put his other arm around me and looked at me with those eyes that meant he wanted something.

“What do you want franceschi?”

“Remember when you said you loved me?”

“Out with it”

“Ok look, the model we had for the shoot on Tuesday just cancelled and it’s too late for us to get another one. So I was thinking maybe you woul-“

“No way” I said removing myself from his arm, but he just grabbed my wrist and held me in place. “No josh, I cant”

“Why not?”

“I just cant, ask coral to do it”

“She’s almost 5 moths pregnant. Plus do you remember what I told you when I first found out coral was a model?”

“No”

“Well I told you I thought you were the prettier one”

“That’s all well and good josh but-“

“So you’ll do it then?”

“I never said that”

“Please” he begged and pouted. “I’ll pay you”

“Im not you’re whore” I told him, pointing my finger at him.

“Trust you to bring misfits into this”

“What can I say, Robert Sheehan is a sexy guy”

He nodded like he agreed with me and then smiled, like another idea had stuck him. “You do this for me, and I’ll make you the happiest person in the world”

“And how would you do that?”

“I’ll take you away for a weekend, wherever you wanna go, just the two of us. No parents this time” he whispered the last part in my ear and kissed my temple.

“And why do you think taking me away will make me happy?”

“Cause I know you and I know how much you like going to new places. So it’s settled then yeah?”

“Look I don’t even know if I can get the time off”

“I’ll have a word with Ella-May tomorrow. Me and her are like this-“ he said holding up his hand and crossing two of his fingers. “-so it’s pretty much a done deal. So I can take it as a yes?”

“Fine, but I’m not happy about it”

“You are the best girlfriend in the history of girlfriends” he said before picking me up and spinning me round. It was only when I was thinking about it later on that day I realised what I was getting myself into.