This Ain't a Fairytale

“Babe, your phone’s ringing,” I quickly slipped into my sweatpants and pulled the hoodie over my head as I ran out to the living room. Joshua was home from work, resting on the couch with the TV on. My cell was on the coffee table, lighting up and vibrating loudly, edging nearer and nearer to the edge of the table.

“Hello?” I answered, and heard the familiar high pitched giggle on the other end.

“Hey Leigh – I miss you,” he sing-songed, making me laugh as I went to the kitchen and sat down at the table, opening a granola bar and munching on it.

“Missed you too – how are you? I watched the last game,” I told him, and he sighed.

“I’m okay. But I’d be better if my best friend would come over for a movie night. I know you’re busy and all, but tomorrow’s Friday, so there’s no school the day after, so can you please come over? Even for just one movie?” he all but begged. I sighed, sending Josh a sideways glance. He’d gotten almost upset the last time I’d asked about going to spend time with Sidney. He claimed it was because I passed him up for Sidney time and time again, but I knew that wasn’t the root of the matter. It seemed whenever I wanted to spend time with a guy that wasn’t him he got upset, and even angry sometimes.

“I’ll see, okay?” I allowed, and heard him let out a whoop.

“You’re the best Leigh,” I could hear the grin on his face, and hoped I didn’t have to let him down. Sidney got excited like a little kid at Christmas, and telling him no afterward was painful. We talked for a few more minutes about mindless things – how he was looking forward to the next game, how practice went, etceteras. I had to tease him about the new Gatorade commercial that was on TV about him too, something that always made him stutter and lose his ability to speak because he was so embarrassed.

“GOD LEIGH JUST STOP IT ALREADY!” he whined, and I had to laugh at him. He hadn’t changed a bit since we were five.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” I giggled, and looked up to see Joshua looking less than impressed as he grabbed a beer from the fridge. I raised an eyebrow, and he mocked the gesture as he popped the top off and took a swig.

“Still talking to Sidney?” he asked, and when I nodded his brow furrowed and he left to go to the living room. I was caught off guard, not knowing what to do with this reaction.

“Uh, Leigh? Everything okay?” Sidney asked, and after a few stutters I managed to find my voice.

“Uh, I think so. Look, Sid, I’ll call you tomorrow when I know what’s up, okay?” I told him, and when he replied yes we quickly said goodbye before hanging up. I took a deep breath before going after Joshua, wondering why in the past few months of us living together he began acting like this. It seemed like whenever Sidney called or wanted to make plans he was in a bad mood, but maybe Sidney just had the bad luck of calling when he was in a bad mood, I wasn’t sure.

“Josh, honey what’s wrong?” I asked, sitting down beside him. He just stared at the television, ignoring me as he continued to drink his beer.

“Josh?”

“I just don’t get it,” he burst, still refusing to look at me.

“Don’t get what?”

“If Sidney means the whole damn world to you just go fucking date him, don’t leave me hanging for when he’s not home,” he growled, and I leaned back against the arm of the couch, flabbergasted at his outburst. How could he think that? He’d never seemed to have a problem with our friendship before.

“What are you talking about Josh? You know that’s not true,” I insisted, but he let out a snort.

“Sure. You two are way too close for just friends, and you know it Leigh. If he’s the one just tell me and get it over with.”

“He’s not! If we loved each other that way we would’ve got together a long time ago Josh! There’s nothing more going on; we’re just friends!” I repeated, and instead of replying he got up and left the room, heading down the hall to the bedroom. I bit back a sob, unsure of what to do. I loved Josh, and maybe Sidney and I were spending too much time together, maybe I just wasn’t seeing it and was upsetting Josh.

‘Sorry Sid – I can’t do movie night tomorrow night.’ I texted him, knowing he would be upset but I knew I had to do it.

‘Oh, that sucks… you sure?’ he replied, and I bit my lip, wishing like hell I didn’t have to turn down my best friend since childhood.

‘Yeah. I’m really sorry… some other time?’ I asked, getting a positive response from him. I set my phone down then, not responding to his text and wondering what to do about Josh. Maybe I’d be upset if he had a female friend he seemed to spend so much time with, but I wasn’t really sure about it. I mean, he had female friends, and I didn’t have a problem with him hanging out with them, but it seemed like whenever I wanted to spend time with Sidney it was a huge problem.

“Josh?” I called softly as I entered the bedroom, and when I didn’t get a response knew it wasn’t going to be fun.