The Kind of Hoax That Leaves a Lump in Your Throat

I crawled out of bed a few hours later and got dressed to go to work. My eyes were still red and puffy, but I’d just blame it on lack of sleep like I always do. It was a good cover up.

Zahra and I made it in good time and by the looks of the book there wasn’t that much going on today. Ella-May was tucked inside her little office like always, but about halfway through the afternoon she came out into the reception and rested her arms on the desk.

“When was the last time you girls had a holiday?”

“Like forever-ago” Zahra replied and Ella-May smiled lightly.

“Well things are gonna be pretty slow round here for the next few weeks by the looks of things, so I was wondering if you wanted to take some time off. How does three weeks sound? Paid of course”

Zahra just sat there with her mouth open so I decided to speak and make things a little less awkward.

“That sounds great, thank you”

“No problem. You girls definitely deserve it. So next week and then the two weeks after that. I'm probably gonna close up and get away myself to be honest. I think we’ve been working too hard”

She smiled and then began walking away. We both called thank you as she walked away and she turned back around.

“Oh don’t mention it. In fact why don’t you take the rest of today off, there’s nothing else to be done. I’ll see you two tomorrow” and with that she went back inside her office.

“Sweet, I'm gonna go see if Oakley wants to go do something, see you tonight?”

“Yeah sure I’ll see you later.” I smiled and then trudged all the way home.

When I got in, josh was no where to be seen. I made myself a quick cup of tea and plonked myself onto the sofa. There was nothing on TV really and I ended up watching some weird documentary about whales.

Day time TV is so bloody fascinating.

I was just getting into it when the front door opened and closed signaling that someone was home. Josh suddenly appeared in the doorway and his eyes grew wide.

“What are you doing home now?” he asked as he sat next to me and pulled me into him.

“Ella-May said we could go early there wasn’t anything to do. Where have you been? I thought you did’t have anything to do today?”

“Mum rung this morning said she wanted to see me” he said with a roll of his eyes. “She’s so bloody demanding”

“Don’t be mean, I think it’s sweet. Plus just think how lucky you are having your parents live so close. Imagine how I feel having mine halfway across the world”

“I know I'm sorry” he said and kissed my cheek. “You miss them huh?”

Truth be told I did miss them. They weren’t bad people, not at all, they just did’t think sometimes. I used to be really close to my mum. She was like my best friend, so being away from her hurts a lot. I mean I was 18 when they left, and I know you’re supposed to be all grown up by then, but that did’t mean I did’t need my parents anymore. I wanted to go and see them, but every time I saved up the money it needed to be spent fixing something or I had to use it for emergences.

I knew my voice would break if I answered so I just nodded and tried to change the subject.

“Oh by the way, Ella-Mays given me the next three weeks off. I know you’ll be in Paris for the last week doing those gigs but we can still spend those two weeks together right?”

“That sounds perfect” he smiled and held me tighter to him. “I'm still really sorry you know”

“Josh, we’ve talked about this. You don’t need to be sorry, everything fixed now”

“I still feel bad though. I'm gonna make it up to you I promise” and then after about two seconds he sat up. “In fact I know just what to do” he smiled triumphantly.

“josh-“

“Nuh-uh, I'm doing it, and don’t even ask what it is cause I'm not gonna tell you”

I sighed and turned my head away, back to the TV, and josh took that as an invitation to leave a trial of kisses up my neck. I could feel my breathing getting shallower and slightly louder, and I had to bite down on my lip to stop any more sound coming out. I could feel myself slowly relaxing into him so he held me even tighter. He rubbed circles in my side with his thumbs and when his lips reached my ear he whispered in it really quietly.

“I think we should take advantage of being home alone so I can show you how sorry I am. Properly.”

His voice was thick and heavy and my insides started melting at the sound of it. I hated how he had this control over me, how he could just whisper a few words in my ear and I’d surrender to whatever he was saying.

I wasn’t complaining though.

Josh did’t wait for a reply, he just flipped us so that I was under him and he attached his lips to mine. After a few glorious moments I pushed his off and he looked at me with those huge puppy dog eyes that I couldn’t resist.

“Sorry, I just did’t really wanna christen the sofa” I smiled weakly and he picked me up and carried me to our room.

I woke up later to an empty bed, and after quickly changing into some shorts and a vest I went in search of anyone who might be in.

I could hear muffled voices coming from the kitchen, but the door was shut so I couldn’t make out who they were. In the end I just decided to go inside, and I found josh and coral sitting at the table. They both smiled and their conversation ceased as soon as I walked in.

“What are you two doing?”

“Nothing” josh replied quickly, looking a suspicious as ever.

Coal suddenly excused herself, saying that Sonnie was just outside and she needed to get going and josh tapped the seat next to him. I sat down and he took my hand.

“Sorry you had to wake up by yourself, my um, phone went off” he said, and kissed the back of my hand.

“Josh, what’s going on?”

“Nothing”

“I know when something going on, just tell me”

“It will all become clear soon. Be patient, beautiful.”

And that’s pretty much how the rest of the week went. Josh was being uber secretive and I couldn’t get anything out of him. I tried ignoring him, or being super clingy and asking loads of questions, but no. He wouldn’t budge.

It was Friday when he eventually told me what was going on.

I’d just got home from work, and I was in the best mood ever since I now had three marvelous weeks with no work. Everyone was out. Coral was stay with Sonnie and Zahra was staying with Oakley so it was just josh and I tonight.

He’s cooked me dinner and then we watched a film. I could tell he was setting me up for something but he still wasn’t telling me what. He kept using the defense of why can’t I just do something nice for my girlfriend? But I knew there was something more to it.

Once the film was finished we went upstairs and I changed into my p.j`s before laying down next to josh. He suddenly pulled a white envelope from behind him and handed it over to me.

He looked really nervous. Like he was about to throw up nervous.

“What’s this?” I asked and he just smiled.

“Open it and find out”

I sat up and he followed suit, never taking his eyes off my face. I tore into the envelope and pulled out the contents but I had no idea what I was looking at.

“What’s this?”

“Boarding pass’s”

And then it hit me like a slap in the face. Josh had booked flights to Australia. But no just anywhere in Australia, to Perth where my parents lived. I could feel the tears filling my eyes and I looked up to him.

“Josh I don’t know what to say” I managed to choke out before the tears fell.

“Don’t cry, I thought you’d want to go and see them.” He said panicked and he put his arms around me.

“I do”

“Then why are you crying?”

“Cause I'm happy” I mumbled and I felt his chest shake as he laughed.

“I promised to make it up to you Vi, and you said the other day you missed your parents and then Ella-May gave you that time off. It just seemed like perfect timing”

“Josh, thank you so much” I said as sincerely before kissing him with as much force as I could muster. “wait how much did this cost?”

“no need to worry about it, my treat”

“josh-“

“don’t even try and argue love, cause we all know whose going to win. He smiled smugly “Plus I’m only paying for the flight. We’re staying with you parents”.

“really, how did you manage to sort that?”

“I called them the other day, coral gave me their number. Everything’s sorted babe, you just need to turn up”

I put the passes back in the envelope and set it on the bedside table before turning back to josh.

“I love you” I sighed and he wrapped his arms around me again.

“I love you, too”