Lullaby

"I'm done! I'm done! I'm done!" Scarlett sang as she danced around her apartment in honor of finishing her last exam of the semester that morning. She tossed her bags to the side, resulting in a loud thud as they hit the ground, and continued twirling around the room. The summer was finally hers to roam free and do whatever she pleased, with the exception of having to work every now and then. A permanent grin was glimmering on her petite face.

"You certainly know how to make an entrance," a familiar voice spoke. Scarlett stopped herself mid-spin, almost tripping over her feet, and turned around. Josh, standing in only a pair of jeans, was leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom with his arms crossed over his bare chest. A towel hung around his shoulders and his hair was damp.

A happy sigh escaped from her. "I didn't think you would be here," she told him as she walked into the kitchen to raid the refrigerator in search of food. Given their more recent history, it was a surprise to see Josh that morning, not that she was disappointed. She was sure that he would have been gone as soon as possible. Their friendship was barely existent in the past month, thanks to her.

"I wanted to see how you did on your exam," Josh shouted from her bedroom. He then appeared from the room with a Brand New shirt on and a pair of flip flops.

Scarlett pouted and shut the refrigerator door. Her food search had been unsuccessful. With her nose buried in school books and class notes for two weeks, grocery shopping wasn't high on her priority list. She turned to see Josh staring at her from his seat at the counter. "What?"

"Well?" He asked raising his eyebrows. "How did you do?" Scarlett gave him a questioning look, not having the slightest idea what he was talking about. "Your exams, you arse! How did you do on your exams?"

A lightbulb clicked on inside of her brain. "Oooohh!" Scarlett sang and nodded her head. She walked over to Josh's side of the counter and perched herself on top of the surface. "If I cared, I would say I think I did well. But I don't. Not right now at least. Because I'm on break." She flashed him a toothy grin and he chuckled.

Silence filled the room. Neither of them were quite certain on what to say, even though there were a handful of topics they should be talking about. Once in a while a smile was exchanged between the two, yet no words. Scarlett toyed with the idea of bringing up that night or asking Josh why he was still sitting at her kitchen counter. Our of fear of ruining the moment and causing him to leave, she decided to stay quiet. She was enjoying simply having him at her place again.

After several minutes, Josh put an end to the silence. "Scar," he spoke quietly. Scarlett turned her attention towards him; he was staring down at the counter watching his finger trace the swirly design on it's surface. A part of her was relieved that he finally said something. The other part of her was anxious about the upcoming conversation. "I don't want us to continue on like this." Josh looked up at her, his expression gloomy.

Misinterpreting his words, Scarlett turned away. She didn't like the way this conversation was heading. "Then why did you come over last night?" If he no longer wanted them to be friends, he shouldn't have called her.

"Because I missed you." Josh rose from his seat and stood in front of her. His fingertip touched her chin, lifting her head so her eyes met with his. "You have no idea how much I missed you."

Scarlett wasn't too keen on the new direction their talk was going now either. In fact, she didn't like this talk at all. Feelings she wanted nothing to do with were being pulled into their friendship. For the past month, she had blocked every single feeling and romantic thought she had for Josh. Relationships were messy and caused a lot of hurt for people. She didn't want that, especially not with her best friend. The amount of damage she was convinced it would caused scared her. Of course she wanted to stay as far away from it as she could. She was perfectly fine with sitting with Josh in silence, enjoying each other's company. Why couldn't he have pretended like nothing had happened between them? "I've…um…got to shower," she replied, avoiding the topic at hand and hopping down from the counter.

Before she could walk away from him, Josh grabbed her hand. "Don't do this. Don't walk away. I've watched you close yourself off from other lads. I'm not them. Don't treat me like I am."

Scarlett faced him and yanked her hand from his grasp. "You're right." Already, a lump was growing inside her throat. "You're completely right. You're not just some random guy. You're the guy I call when I want to play video games at two in the morning, the guy who I scream at when I'm frustrated with life and know that you won't get pissed, the guy who acts like an idiot with me until we're crying and laughing at the same time, the guy who puts me in my place when I go insane, the guy who's my best friend. And I'll be damned if I let a fatuous drunken night ruin that for me."

Josh's expression quickly changed from sad to angry. "Fatuous?! Is that what you really think of it as?"

"We were drunk, Josh!" Scarlett threw her arms up in the air and walked away from him. The lump in her throat wasn't going away and her eyes were stinging with tears. She began to tidy up her apartment, keeping herself from breaking down. "What else would it be?"

"I wasn't that drunk, Scar," Josh retorted. His words caused her to stop in her tracks. He couldn't have been saying that night had meant something to him. Scarlett couldn't fathom how that could be a possibility. Come to think of it, she wasn't too intoxicated that night either. She could recall every detail, from the look in Josh's blue eyes when was hovering over her to the butterflies swarming in her stomach each time his lips touched her skin. Those familiar feelings were coming back to her once again. Scarlett continued to scramble around, finding any clutter she could pick up in an attempt to distract herself.

"And I think we both know you weren't either or else you wouldn't be hopping away from me like a tiny rabbit," he continued. His ability to change from angry to humorous and make a witty comment during a fight astounded her. Scarlett rolled her eyes, organizing a pile of books that were scattered along the coffee table. "I'm too lazy to follow you around, so can you stop?"

Listening to his request, Scarlett finished rearranging the books. She ran her fingers through her long hair and sighed deeply, making sure not to make eye contact with him. She was afraid of what she would do if she looked at him right now. Tell him everything that was on her mind, including her feelings for him? Or even better, break down in front of him? Josh strode towards her, causing her to look in the opposite direction.

"You're looking in the wrong direction. I'm over here," Josh joked, standing beside Scarlett. She finally turned her attention towards him, looking up and raising her eyebrows. "You found me!" The corners of Josh's mouth curved up slightly. He didn't appear to be angry or sad anymore. His expression looked hopeful. Scarlett shook her head and bit down on her bottom lip to keep herself from blurting out any words that she might regret. "But I'm almost positive you did, Scar."

Josh was the only person who could cause Scarlett to laugh when she felt the worst, such as moments like these. Standing in front of her was a guy who made her laugh every day and enjoy her life, yet she was pulling away as hard as she could because she hated herself to the point of believing no one could possibly love her, she loathed relationships, and didn't want to lose her best friend. It was quite selfish on her behalf. How could someone fix a person who had been broken so long ago?

"Do you really believe I would be making a complete dick out of myself right now if I didn't think it was worth it?" Josh asked. "Correction; if I didn't think you were worth it." Scarlett gazed down at the ground once again. "I know your feelings on relationships, they're the same as mine. Or did you bump your head and forget the number of times we would dick around about how gross couples can be?" He leaned down and lightly pushed her chin up with his pointer finger, forcing them to make eye contact. "I fancy you. I really fucking fancy you. It's made me mental. One of the things we have in common is our hatred for relationships, but here I am, wanting to be with y-…"

"You don't want to be with me," Scarlett spoke, interrupting Josh. With each word that came from him, her heart beat faster and her stomach tumbled every which way. It scared the hell out of her. She picked up a few books from the table and walked towards her bedroom, simply to have somewhere to go away from Josh.

"Oh really?" Josh responded, his voice raised. "Because you're being a real pain in my arse right now, but for some reason, I still really want you." She threw the books onto her bed, then stood in her bedroom, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her thoughts and her feelings were the same as his. Why was he being so persistent while all she could do was run away?

Scarlett forced herself to walk to the doorway of her bedroom and face him. She noticed the tension in Josh's shoulders ease and a smirk appear on his scruffy face when he spotted her from across the room. "What about us?" She squeaked, that lump making an appearance in her throat once again. Josh made his way towards her. "Things could get complicated and ruined and one of us could get hurt, then we wo-"

Josh placed his finger on her lips, cutting her rant short. "We have been mates for so long. Really good mates," he whispered to her. Both of his hands interlocked with her own. "We don't have to change. The list of things you mentioned can stay the same," he gave her a wink and a smile. "Yeah, we'll piss each other off from time to time, but that won't be anything new or exciting. You can tell me when I'm being a twat and I'll let you know when you're being mental, then we'll move on."

Scarlett's eyebrows furrowed. "Dude, you really need to cut down on The Notebook." A wily smirk slowly appeared on her lips.

Josh gasped jokingly. "Shut it! Don't rain on my attempt at a cheesy speech. This one of the only ones you're going to get. The second one will be when I build you a lovely house from scratch and tell you I texted you 365 times in a year." Scarlett bursting out into laughter, causing Josh to join her. Although he tried his best to act like he hated anything corny and romantic, Josh had a sweet spot that wasn't hidden very well. Scarlett had caught him watching The Notebook and A Walk To Remember several times. His ex-girlfriend use to boast about all of the cute things he would do for her (until she decided to cheat on him and Scarlett decided she wanted to murder her), which he would shake off like it wasn't a big deal. He would even leave Scarlett post-it notes that would make her smile on the fridge when he knew she was having a bad day.

"As I was saying before you rudely interrupted me," he continued when their laughter finally ceased. "Nothing has to change, love. Except there might be a little more of this," he leaned in closer to her until his lips were attached to hers. She didn't move away this time. Instead, she allowed her lips to dance with his as his arms wrapped around her middle. Any doubts or fears melted away with his touch. Her hands moved to his sides as his lips pulled away from hers and moved down to her neck, his hot breath tickling her skin. "And some of this," his lips connected with her neck, sucking on her skin with each kiss. Scarlett closed her eyes and bit her lip. Her fingers played with the hem of his shirt. She had no idea how the hell she could have been running from this just moments ago. Once again, Josh pulled away from her, causing a small whimper to escape from her. "Do I have to give you a little more persuasion or…?" he pressed his forehead against hers and smiled.