Reckless

Impudent.

If there was one word to describe Josh James Alphonse Franceschi, that would be it. He was just downright incorrigible that I'd rather have my limbs pulled out than sending more than five seconds with him but my life has a track of its own.

Anna, her mum, had always been my second mother or some sort and I was, according to her, the other daughter she never had. But I knew that she was talking bollocks. See, she had always been under the impression that her son and I would be a great couple, probably greater than the royalties, so she did everything to keep the both of us near each other as much as possible. It was ridiculous, really.

Today while I was getting out of my flat, I received the most unexpected phone call of my life. Okay, maybe not the most unexpected, but you get my point. It had been months since we last talked so when Ann rang me earlier, I knew right then that something was definitely up.

Five minutes before that phone call, I had the whole day planned ahead of me. Grab a coffee at seven, be at the office by eight, finish my pending article by noon... I forgot the rest but I was certain that I had it written in my planner. However, I had no idea that that single phone call would change the course of my whole day.

I had always loathed Ann's ability to talk me into almost everything and today was no different, only that my hatred for it just went up a notch because she had succeeded in making me succumb to her charm and making me say yes to probably the most gormless thing I would ever do, which mainly involved fetching the devil incarnate himself from the airport.

He made it big, he and his band. They have been on tabloids and have produced some albums but even those couldn't alter the way I looked at him. But to say that I was not at least thrilled to see him would be a lie. After all, he was the first guy I've ever snogged.

For the first time in my life, I was thankful that his face appeared in magazines every once in a while because his fame made it fairly easy to me to spot him in a sea of unfamiliar faces. Ten sighs and twelve grunts later, I have finally managed to gather up my guts to walk up to him.

He had both of his hands stuffed inside his pockets and was apparently waiting for someone and unfortunately for the both of us, that someone was me. His bags were strewn around him and the fact that he was still the same unruly guy I knew back then brought a smile to my lips, whether I liked it or not.

“Josh.”

He was rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, completely oblivious to my attempts of getting his attention.

“Goddammit, Josh!”

Slowly, he turned to me with a puzzled expression with his eyebrows knitted together and that was the first time I've noticed how much he had grown since I last saw him during our high school graduation. He had traces of beard along his jaw and his hair was badly messed up but he looked fetching, nonetheless.

As soon as his steel blue eyes landed on mine, he didn't even bother to hide his distaste on seeing me here, a behaviour I was already used to.

“Bloody hell.” He scoffed, ruffling his hair while looking at me scornfully.

I rolled my eyes. Apparently, he was still the same douchebag I've parted ways with. “My car's over there. Chivvy along or I'll leave your sorry arse here.” I started walking away from him, adjusting the sling of my bag over my shoulder. Clearly, I was frantically trying to get this over with as soon as possible because I had better things to do than putting up with his crap.

“I can't believe this.”

The car ride back to their house was fairly normal and fairly normal for us actually meant non-stop bickering and bantering, endless throwing of insults and calling each other all the names we could come up with. He was sulking in the passenger seat after I didn't reply when he called me an insufferable bitch and I fought back a smile because I honestly kind of missed our inveterate fights.

We were still ten minutes away from our destination when I decided to pull over in front of a coffee shop. After all, he was the reason I was behind my schedule so he better deal with it.

“What are you doing?” He snapped when I started unbuckling my seatbelt.

“Getting my daily dose of caffeine.”

Contrary to what I had expected, he trailed behind me and blatantly moped all the way through the counter and back to the car. I drove faster this time, knowing that it was almost ten and my boss was already probably seething in anger and disappointment.

The car came to an abrupt stop in front of the Franceschi residence and Josh did not waste a single second to get out of the car. At the same time, my phone started ringing and I had to rummage through the cluttered things in my bag before I finally found it inside the secret pocket.

“Speak.”

“Fun story time, Naomi. Mr. Griffin is having a major bitch fit right now and he--”

My attention was forcibly diverted to Josh, who was having his own bitch fit in their front porch. I rolled down the window and stuck my head out. “Would you please fucking mind!”

“Where's mum?” He marched angrily towards me.

“Do I look like her fucking keeper?”

“Aren't you just a ray of sunshine.” He retorted in obtrusive derision. “I don't have the house key and she is--”

I internally groaned. “Try checking under the doormat, Josh.”

I sandwiched my phone between my ear and shoulder. “...momentarily fired.”

“Hold your knickers, Amanda. Who's momentarily fired?” I gritted my teeth and turned off the ignition. Everything was making my head throb and the bastard who was yelling profanities outside my car wasn't helping. Still, I tried to concentrate on this puzzling conversation.

“You, Naomi. But don't worry. I'll kick his sagging arse for you. I gotta go, babe. See you when I see you.”

“Right. Tears. Fucking epic, Naomi. That really helps.”

I wouldn't even have known that I was already crying if he didn't point it out. “Just fuck off, Josh. I have my own problems to solve.” I revved the engine and as I was about to drive away, he slid back inside the car.

I was gaping at him and his audacity to come back in but then my phone started ringing again. I swear I've never felt this strong urge to hurl it outside before. But I heaved a sigh and just tried to calm myself.

“Speak.”

“Oh dear.”

Fucking brilliant.

“Hey, Ann.”

Josh practically leaped across the division between us and snatched the phone away.

“Mum!”

Seriously, he sounded like a five-year old who finally found her mum after getting lost in a mall but I kept my mouth shut.

“No way, mum. No.” He was shaking his head vigorously and I would have found it funny only if I haven't been momentarily fired. “I'm not being insolent! She's just... I just can't deal with her, alright?”

I blocked him out after that. If he couldn't deal with me, then neither could I. After about ten minutes of enduring his groans and grunts, he quietly asked me to go back to the airport. Seeing that I had no choice but to obey, albeit grudgingly, I started the car and drove in an undisturbed silence.

&&

I couldn't believe it. Just when I thought that my life couldn’t get any worse, Ann just asked me to let Josh stay in my flat until she comes back from her impromptu trip to Alaska. She loved his son so much, she said, but her mum had fallen ill and badly needed her as soon as possible.

“I won't stay there too--”

“Mum, I'd rather have chlamydia than stay with her.” Josh was pacing back and forth and I just stood there, stunned at his bluntness. Ann slapped the back of his head and whispered some words that made him roll his eyes.

“You'd take care of him for me, right, Naomi?”

Josh murmured something along the lines of "I'm not a baby."

Anne looked at me hopefully and my mind reeled back to the time when she showed up for my awarding ceremony when my own mum chose to gamble and get wasted at the local pub. They used to be best friends back then-- when mum was still thinking straight.

“Naomi?”

“Yeah?” I dumbly asked as I stepped out of my haze.

She clasped her hand together and yelped in joy. Josh, however, had never looked so abhorrent. Then I realized what I had just done.

“Oh, no, no, no. That's not what I meant!”

A screechy, female voice interrupted my hysteria and announced the departure of Ann's flight. She hurriedly hugged Josh and kissed him on both cheeks, then me. I felt my face going pale in shock.

“Please be patient with him, darling.” She whispered in my ear, her voice starting to crack.

“Can't you... can't you bring him? I mean, I'm sure he'd love to meet--”

“Take care, both of you, okay? I'll miss you, son. You too, Naomi!”

Then just like that, I lost her in the crowd of bustling people.

I wanted to scream and cry and curse myself all at the same time but I couldn't. Not when Josh Franceschi was looking at me murderously.

Then it dawned on me: I was on the fast track to hell with the spawn of satan himself.