Don't Give Up on Us

I’m pretty sure that when you wake up you’re meant to be able to open your eyes. This was not the case when my mind switched on the morning after the bar. At first I thought my hangover was just that bad but I soon realised it was because there was a physical weight pushing down on my face. In a dazed hurry, I drew my hands up to my face. An arm. An arm. Alex’s arm? No, not hairy enough. Damn. I slowly peeled the arm off my face and propped myself up on my elbows.

The next question that entered my mind was something I hadn’t thought in a while. Why the fuck was Josh Franceschi in my bed?

Then I realised we weren’t in my bed. Nor were we in the bed of the hotel room I was in while in New York. I didn’t even know where we were. I shifted my weight skilfully from the mattress and looked out the window. The middle of NYC. A hotel room.

NYC. A hotel room. Me. Josh. What even happened the night before?

Then I remembered. I remembered the bar and Savannah and then I remembered something about dancing with someone. Surely I hadn’t…?

Before I could think further I heard a slight groan from the boy in question.

“Max, close the fucking curtains. I’ve got a massive headache.”

I watched as he swung his legs over the bed and shook out his hair with another groan. He opened his eyes and they grew wide as he took me in, his head surely asking the same questions mine was.

“I don’t know,” I said before he could speak.

“Where’s Alex?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I responded annoyingly.

“Do you know where Max is?”

“I don’t know.”

“What the hell happened last night?”

“I don’t know.”

“For God’s sake, do you know anything?!” he spouted angrily. I jumped a little at his more than audible tone.

“Well it’s not like you know either!” I shouted back.

“Look, just calm down,” he said incredulously.

“Excuse you! You’re the one who blew up at me for no good reason!” I waved my arms to strengthen my point before flopping down on the bed in defeat.

“Min,” he sighed softly.

“Don’t,” I cut in sharply.

“Don’t what?”

“Play that cutesy ‘Min’ card on me.”

“Pretentious bitch.”

I scoffed at his words. I wasn’t being a pretentious bitch and he knew exactly what he was doing.

“I’m just going to call my boyfriend okay? You call yours,” I glared at him.

Minutes later we were both on the phone to Alex and Max. Turns out Alex had made it back in one piece and relatively sane to our hotel while Max was passed out in a chair in the lobby. I hung up the phone and gathered myself.

“You’re leaving?” Josh said as I made my way to the door.

“Duh,” I kept going.

“That is all you’re good for, I suppose.”

I froze in motion. “Shut up, Josh.”

“Why? So you can run from me again? So you can pretend like I don’t exist? You can’t just erase those years, no matter how much you want to.”

“Where is this coming from?” I spoke quietly towards him.

“It’s coming from the last year I’ve spent bloody trying to forget you and failing miserably at doing so!”

“Please stop,” I was shaking now. Maybe it was the draft coming in from the slightly ajar door or maybe it was something else entirely.

“No,” he walked over towards me and took both of my hands and pulled them between us. “You need to hear this.”

I didn’t need to hear this. I didn’t need to hear anything from anyone who wasn’t my boyfriend right now. I especially didn’t need to hear anything from anyone who might try to sway my opinions of said boyfriend.

“This feels repetitive,” Josh half-smirked. “But I love you, point blank.”

He looked at me expectantly with his breathtaking eyes. I knew what he thought. He thought it’d be exactly like the last time we’d been like this. That all he had to do was say he loved me and I’m fall into his arms again. I silently untangled my fingers from his and walked into the hallway, closing the door behind me.