Nothing to Lose

“How are you feeling?” Eloise asked as she handed Josh a new ice pack. The last one had completely melted, so she had gotten up to fetch him a new one. After Landon had knocked Josh out, the nurses took him away to make sure he hadn’t injured anything too seriously and kicked Landon out of the hospital. Eloise sat there quietly in the hallway shaking as she waited for news about Josh. an hour and a half of waiting later, he came walking out with an icepack for his eye and a few stitches on the side of his mouth where his lip had been busted open.

“I'm feeling alright, I suppose.” Josh mumbled as he leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder just as he had been doing before she got up, “As good as someone who just got a black eye and stitches in the mouth can be.” He joked. Eloise had driven him straight to his flat and they’d been on the couch ever since, with the exception of the few times that Eloise got up to get Josh more ice or a glass of water. None of the other lads had arrived home yet, so El decided to stay since she didn’t want to leave Josh alone, “Thanks for staying with me, Lou.”

“You’re very welcome.” She smiled warmly as he looked up at her. At the sight of his terribly bruised face her smile faltered. She couldn’t help but to feel guilty for what happened. After all, it was her brother that attacked him. She had absolutely no idea what the reason was though. Josh had never done anything to Landon as far as she knew, “Josh, can I ask you something?” Josh only hummed in response encouraging her to continue talking, “Why… why did Landon want to hurt you?”

Josh sat up a little bit and winced in pain as he turned to face Eloise straight on, “He ordered me to stay away from you, and I told him he was mental.”

“Why did you say that?” Eloise whispered as she stared at him.

“I wasn’t about to let him boss me around like he does to you.” Josh made a face.

“Oh.” El whispered as she looked down at her hands. She felt Josh’s arms wrap around her as he pulled her into him. She looked up to see him frowning at her slightly.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Lou.” Josh muttered into her hair as she leaned into his chest, “I just… he’s a jerk for telling you all that stuff about love. It was all total bullshit.” He looked down at El when she didn’t reply and saw that her eyes were closed and her breathing had evened out. She was asleep. Josh began to feel his own eyelids get heavy as his arm fell in place around her waist as he began to fall asleep too.



“Josh!” Matt screamed into Josh’s ear waking him up instantaneously, “Josh you proper prat! Wake the fuck up!”

“What?” Josh mumbled as he rubbed his chin and opened his eyes to look around. He didn’t spot Eloise anywhere and all he saw were his four mates staring at him intently.

“El is just in the toilet, quit your worrying.” Dan rolled his eyes and grinned, “What happened to you?”

“Eloise’s dickhead brother pummeled me.” Josh grumbled miserably as he sat up and crossed his arms over his chest, “Ruined a perfectly good day is what he did.”

“Ruined your face as well, mate.” Chris interjected gaining a sour look from all of the guys, “Just an observation is all, damn.”

“Why’d he go and do a thing like that, Josh?” Max asked as he sat down on the coffee table so he was directly across from Josh, “Did you say something to him?”

“The bloke is bloody insane,” Josh spat, “He ordered me to stop hanging around El.”

“Maybe he knows you like her.” Matt suggested, “He doesn’t want anything to get in the way of Eloise and Caleb’s marriage.”

“Of course I like her, who doesn’t?” Josh rolled his eyes and winced because it hurt his bruised one.

“Oi! We all know you like her more than just a friend, Josh. Don’t try to deny it.” Dan objected.

“So what’s the vibe, lads?” Eloise said as she walked back into the room. Josh couldn’t deny he was disappointed when she decided to sit in a chair over by where Matt was now sitting, but he perked up immediately when she smiled at him.

“Want to go out to eat?” Chris suggested, “I’m starved.”

“You boys and your bottomless stomachs are going to make me fat.” Eloise rolled her eyes playfully as she stood up again, “Josh, would you be up for that, or would you like me to stay here with you?”

“I’ll go.” Josh said as he stood up and stretched. His whole body ached from sitting in that uncomfortable position for so long while he slept.

“Chinese?” Eloise suggested as she shrugged at the group.

“Mother of God, I love this woman.” Dan said as he wrapped his arms around her, “You read my mind.”

“I wanted KFC.” Matt pouted as he pulled on his coat he had been holding.

“You always want KFC.” Chris rolled his eyes, “I’m with Eloise and Dan. Chinese food sounds delicious.”

“You should be up for Chinese food, Matthew.” Eloise giggled, “You already look the part.”

“I’m not Asian!” Matt shouted. They had already left the flat, so a few people were staring because of his outburst as they walked down the streets causing the group to erupt with laughter.

“You totally are, Mate. Just look at those eyes!” Josh agreed as he reached out for Eloise’s hand which he quickly caught a hold of as he pulled her closer, “And how much curry you can throw back in one sitting, only people from Asia can do that sort of shit.”

“First of all, Josh,” Matt paused for some sort of dramatic effect that came off slightly more comedic than he had originally intended, “Curry is Indian food, not Asian. And secondly Josh, you’re only agreeing to me looking Asian because Eloise said it first.”

“India is in Asia, love.” Eloise said as she let go of Josh’s hand and pulled Matt in for a hug as they walked into the restaurant, “Poor Matthew doesn’t even know the geography of his home country!”

“My home country is England, and I do so know the geography!” Matt frowned as he sat down. Eloise followed suit and took the seat next to him while Josh took claimed the seat across the table from her with a sour look on his face while Dan smugly sat down next to her.

“Ohmygosh!” A girly squeal came from a nearby table causing the conversations at the table to come to a halt. Everyone’s attention was drawn to the two girls rushing over to the table straight to Josh.

“Josh! What happened?” One of them asked as she stood next to him and examined his face, “Oh, hi. I’m Poppy by the way. I’m a HUGE fan.”

“And I’m Shay, also a huge fan.” The other girl giggled as she batted her eyelashes at Dan before she glared at El, “Oh, I recognize you from Tumblr! You’re Eloise, right?”

“Pardon, you recognize me from what?” Eloise asked as she shook her head in confusion, looking around at the boys as the two girls shoved pieces of paper in the boys faces to sign.

“Tumblr,” Matt muttered as he took the sharpie from Chris and scribbled his name on the scrap of paper, “It’s a popular website with the kids these days.”

“But why am I on it?” Eloise asked as she turned to the girls, “I’ve never used that website before.”

“Oh, we know.” Shay nodded her head as she pulled out a camera from her bag, “It’s just when you’re hanging out with the lads, especially Josh or Max, people take pictures and post them online. I think someone also found your Facebook as well because lots of new photos are surfacing.”

“You even have a couple of blogs dedicated just to you with your pictures and things.” Poppy added, “It’s gotten quite popular actually.” She turned her attention back to Max and smiled, “May we get a picture, please?”

“Not tonight, ladies. I’m very sorry.” Josh said as he stood up, “We really must get going. It was lovely meeting you both though, thank you for listening to our music.” He hugged both of the girls before he walked over to Eloise and grabbed her hand as he pulled her from the restaurant. Eloise couldn’t help but to overhear their chatter as she walked out, one of the girls mentioning Hanna, and the other calling her a proper bitch. She didn’t know what she found more offensive, two young girls calling her a bitch, or her personal life being posted all over the internet for the world to see.