Love Like This

I woke up in a moving car totally confused. I hadn’t remembered falling asleep at the quarry, but I also didn’t remember getting into any car. I looked to my left to see John sprawled out next to me taking up almost the entire seat. In the front seat Stephen and Jess were having what seemed to be a pleasant discussion. I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep as Jess turned to look back at us and heard her sigh.

“I wish they would just get along.”

“You know how John is.” Stephen commented.

Jess hummed in agreement and then added, “And you know how Sierra can be too.”

“Definitely.” Stephen laughed. I wasn’t quite sure what they meant by that, but I really wanted to know.

“And then there is Josh.” Jess added which instantly sparked my interest, “He seems to like Sierra a lot.”

“He seems to.” Stephen noted, “But he also has been pretty bored lately.”

“True.” Jess sighed again.

There was a long pause as we all sat deep in thought before John let out a loud yawn and stretched. He hit my face in the process and I wanted to hit him back but I was still pretending to be asleep so I couldn’t.

“What are you two talking about?” John asked as he tried to shake the sleepiness from his voice, “And what is Sierra still doing here?”

“Sports.” Jess and Stephen both said at the same time, “And she’s spending the night at our house… we all are.”

“Oh.” John muttered. I felt a warm hand brush some hair out of my face before he began muttering to himself again, “She’d be a lot prettier if she wasn’t a total bitch.”

“What’d you say?” Stephen asked. I felt confused as to how I felt about his words because I couldn’t tell if that was a compliment or an insult.

“I said I need coffee because waking up is a bitch.” John lied smoothly. Jess nodded her head in agreement and Stephen grunted something I couldn’t quite catch.

Finally we reached the Gomez’s house and I felt two arms wrap around me to pick me up and my eyes shot open, “What are you doing?” I asked the younger Gomez brother who was holding me.

“You were asleep so I was carrying you inside.” He shrugged, not putting me down.

“Well you could have just woke me up, I can walk you know.” I scowled.

“Fine.” John said as he dropped me on his front stoop, “So much for being nice.”

“Fuck you John.” I muttered more to myself than anything else as I rubbed my sore tailbone.

“Need help?” Josh smirked as he appeared above me. He held out his hand which I graciously accepted. What I didn’t expect was for him to pick me up in the same way John had been carrying me as he led me into the house.

“Oh, I get it.” John muttered before he sulked off down the hallway to his bedroom. We all cringed as we heard the door slam shaking all the pictures hanging on the walls.

“What’s his deal?” Brian said as he looked up from his acoustic guitar and notebook. He must have been working on some new material in the car on the way over because he looked really focused.

“Don’t worry about him.” Stephen waved it off as Josh set me down on the ground.

“Well I kind of need to worry about it because I need him to help me with this song.” Brian glared at Stephen, “Sierra, go get him please.”

“Why do I have to do it?” I whined in protest.

“Because whatever his problem is, it’s probably your fault.” Brian said with a hint of aggravation in his voice.

I certainly couldn’t argue with that, so without another word I went down the hallway and knocked on his door. When he didn’t answer I walked in anyway to see him sitting on his bed staring at the floor.

“What do you want?” John asked without looking up.

“Brian wants you to help him with the new song he’s working on.” I said quietly as I took another step inside the room.

“Fuck what Brian wants.” John growled, “You Dales siblings don’t know how to leave people alone.”

“True.” I chuckled quietly as I took another step into the bedroom and sat down on the edge of his bed. He flinched slightly and looked up at me quickly before he looked back down at the floor.

“What are you even still doing in here?” He asked meeting my eyes again. He was beginning to regain his confidence again I could tell. His moment of vulnerability was fleeting quickly.

“I feel like if I am going to be around a lot this summer, we are going to have to talk some things out.”

“Like what?” John laughed haughtily. I could tell he thought of everything that I was saying as a big joke, and I didn't really blame him for that.

“Like the fact that we actually need to get along for everyone else’s sake!” I nearly shouted, “We don’t have to like each other, but we do need to try and get along.”

John closed his eyes and swallowed hard before he met my gaze again, “Fine. Are we done here?”

“I guess we are.” I muttered as I stood up again. I frowned and left the room without another word, rejoining everyone else in the living room. They all stared at me waiting for an explanation and I just shook my head no.

“What’s this song you want to work on?” John asked as he sat down next to Brian. John looked over at me and gave me a half smile as Brian began to tell him all about the chorus he had come up with in the car.



“Sierra!” I heard someone call out behind me as I went down the aisles of the grocery store, “SI!” I turned around and saw Josh Montgomery walking over to me with a huge smile on his face, “Hey babe.”

“Hey Josh.” I grinned as he hugged me so tight that he was able to lift me off the ground a few inches, “How’s it going?”

“Not too bad.” Josh sighed, “Just shopping for groceries like you are.”

“I can see that.” I said as I looked down and saw the contents of his cart. He had three packages of cheese its, protein shake mix and a few apples, “You’ve got quite a variety of items there.”

Josh let out a laugh and nodded, “I pretty much only eat with the band or out with my family, so I never really need to keep that much food around. I usually just buy snacks.”

“And protein shakes.” I noted with a smirk.

“Yeah, that too.” Josh blushed, “So listen, I was wondering… would you like to go on a date tonight?”

“A date? With you?” I asked in shock, “Uh, yeah sure!” I laughed, “That sounds nice.”

“Oh, okay, great.” Josh breathed out a sigh of relief, “I’ll pick you up at seven? Wear a dress or something like that.”

“Okay, I guess I will see you then.” I smiled as he walked off. When he was out of sight I pulled out my phone and immediately called Jess.

“Hey Jess?” I asked as soon as she picked up the phone, “I need your help NOW.”