No One Does It Better

Josh's P.O.V

I awoke to an insistent ringing in my ear, sleep heavily clogged my senses but nonetheless I pried my eyes open and soon realized it was my phone alerting me to a new message. A guttural groan escaped past my tired lips as I blinked away the last bits of sleep and stared down at the bright screen; I frowned instantaneously as the senders number popped up. It was foreign to me, but deep down...I knew it was from Oli, and even though I knew I shouldn’t look at it, I caved in to temptation and clicked read.

‘Hey Joshy, I have a surprise for you, I know you said you didn’t want to see me but I'm hoping you’re a rebel who likes to break the rules…even though their your own! Any ways, pretty please meet me at Sally’s diner, yes, I'm in Sheffield and I know you are too…so no excuses, please. I promise you it will be worth it :) –Olober’

I couldn’t help but smile at the thought that he had gone out of his way to do something for me, even though I had been such an arse to him over the last few weeks. Maybe we could still be friends, if we went about things carefully; if not I would have to break ties from him again. Tyler and I had a long conversation yesterday about the situation, and he had advised that I at least be civil with him; I agreed. Granted, I had no intentions on getting back together with him, no, that would be a bad decision on my part and a death sentence on his. There would be no point in letting him get close to me again, I was on a one way path to self destruction and I didn’t want him close enough to see it.

I propelled myself off of my mattress, or more like the one that resided in the spare bedroom at Max’s , and quickly typed out a reply to him.

‘I’ll be there soon, give me twenty?’

I trudged around the room and made quick work of throwing together an outfit, I checked my hair in the mirror and was surprised to see that it was already exactly how I wanted it. Deciding that luck was on my side for the day, I all but pranced out of the room, suddenly feeling a bit better about finally going to have a sit down conversation with my…ex. I’ll admit, not even the cold bite of the winter air could compare to the icy feeling that pricked at my skin whenever I thought of that word; maybe hanging out with him would be harder than I originally thought.

“Morning Josh!” Tyler called as I entered the living room; the guys were all huddled on the sofas with pancakes and cups of milk in their hands, I could hear The Nightmare Before Christmas playing on the television.

“Morning all, I'm going out for a bit; Tyler, will you be alright here?” I questioned as I absentmindedly pulled my sleeves down over my hands, a caution I took whenever I was around my friends.

“Absolutely, why didn’t I know your mates sooner? Their hilarious,” he commented as he took a big swig out of his glass, I shrugged.

“Timing, obviously,” I retorted as I slipped my leather jacket on and made a grab for my phone,

“Max?” I called back into the room, earning the attention of the mousy man.

“Yes honey?” he called back mockingly, I chuckled under my breathe and held up his car keys.

“May I take your car? Promise I won’t crash!” I shot him a pleading look while he pondered my request, after a few seconds he nodded.

“Yeah, but if you brake it you better buy me a diamond ring! My love isn’t cheap!” he fawned as everyone else shooed me out the door. As I crossed over the threshold to the outside, I smiled at nothing in particular, or maybe it was the thought that I was getting ready to go see Oli. No matter what I did I couldn’t erase the feelings I had for him, I loved him. Coming from me that was saying a lot, I had never even been remotely interested in anyone but...he was something out of a story book. Which led me to a conclusion, as I drove down the road and towards town I decided that I would enter Sally’s diner with an open mind, and at least let him plead a case to me. Not that he needed too but I was so stuck up on the fact that he was still pursuing me. Couldn’t he see that I was no good for him? I wasn’t good enough for anyone and someone in my state being with someone of his caliber was just mind boggling. I never meant to hurt him, but I had more times than I could count, couldn’t he see that when I left it wasn’t because of what Jona said? It was because I knew I wasn’t good enough for him. My phone went off several times and I groaned as I lifted the device to my ear,

“Hello?” I answered curiously, I wasn’t quite sure if this was Oli or someone else.

“Hey Josh…its Jona…please don’t hang up!” I tensed as I pulled off of the small road and onto an exit, I could hear him sigh on the other line. Speaking of the devil.

“I just wanted to tell you…I lied about Oli and his parents okay? I'm sure you figured that out by now but I just wanted to apologize. When I came over there I was high on coke and not thinking rationally, but I'm clean now and I wanted to give you my sincerest apology. Could you ever forgive me?” I obviously knew Jona was lying about Oli's parents, but why on earth was my forgiveness so important to him? Oh yeah, he may or may not be obsessed with me…yeah, that was it.

“Uh sure, no worries, Jona. I'm busy right now though, can I call you later and we can talk this out?” I shut the car off as I arrived at the small dining hall before pocketing the keys and hopping out into warming weather of Sheffield.

“Sure thing, have a good one, dear.” I could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke, it was a bit unnerving.

“Right, you too.” I said quickly before hanging up and putting my phone in my jacket pocket, I inhaled deeply before strolling inside the door to the diner. I spotted Oli instantly; it was hard not to spot him as he stood out so vastly in comparison to everyone else. He was chatting with a dark haired woman who I couldn’t catch a good view of, by the looks of it they were pretty familiar with each other. I felt jealousy pit in my stomach as I approached the duo, but I pushed it aside and lightly tapped on his shoulder.

“Hey Josh, thank you for coming. I have someone I’d like you to meet!” he cheered with his brightest smile, the one that always made my knees go weak. I collected myself and nodded my head feebly, part of me wishing that this woman wasn’t his new found love interest. God, I can be selfish.

“Josh…” the woman called out as she spun on her heel, the moment my eyes met hers I could feel some sort of connection that I couldn’t even begin to describe. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked me over a few times, the next thing I knew she was grabbing hold of my hand.

“Joshy, it’s me…Elissa, your sister...” I gasped as the words passed her lips, but it was too obvious not to be true. We looked too much alike, and she was the exact same woman I had seen in old pictures and home movies, just more grown up.

“Elissa!” I choked out as I flung myself into her arms, she grabbed onto me tightly as I shot Oli the most confused and gracious look I could muster.

“I’ve missed you so much Josh,” Elissa commented as she released me, but she kept a tight grip on my arms.

“I’ve missed you too, where have you been all of this time?” I commented as I wiped a tear from my eye, I heard Oli giggle.

“Maybe we should get a table first?” he inquired as he shot me a smug grin, I nodded my head.

“Definitely, but first,” I slipped out of my sisters grasp and closed the small distance between Oli and I, without thinking I brought him into my arms. He seemed astonished for a minute but eventually hugged me back, it was then that I came to yet another realization. Why was I so adamant about staying away from someone who surely, loved me too? I quickly kissed the top of his head and stepped back, taking his arm in mine, and my sisters in the other, together we approached the hostess’s station.

“Three, for my usual spot please.” Oli requested as the hostess grabbed three menus before leading us to the back table by the display case.

“Josh, words can't describe how surreal this,” Elissa stated after we placed our drink orders, she reached across the table and grabbed my hand in hers. “I had been trying to contact you for years, after all, it was shocking to see my baby brothers face on magazines and tabloids everywhere! But every time I tried, your manager refused and deemed me an inconvenience.” I grunted at that, George always was a factious bastard; and him denying my sister access to me was something he would definitely do. “Then, just last night actually, I was singing in a restaurant, and after wards Oli approached me and explained that he was close to you and wanted me to come meet you, how could I say no to that? You really need to thank him though, he went to some extraordinary lengths to get me here today. Even paid my way here and allowed me to sleep in his flat with him and that lovely Hannah girl,” my stomach churned as soon as the words were out of her lips. So Hannah had been staying with Oli? I turned and looked him over, his eyes were cast downwards and his hands were anxiously wadding his napkin into a ball; guess he really had moved on.

“Yeah, thank you Oli.” I murmured before giving my attention back to Elissa; we spoke for well over an hour and shared parts of the finer things in our lives, sadly, I learned that my mum had passed some years ago. Not like it was shocking though, after all, she had so many issues of her own. Our waitress came back and brought the check, which Oli paid for against my will, and Elissa's. After our plates were cleared away we exited the diner,

“Well Josh, I hate to go but I have a show in Manchester tonight…please call me though! We will have to hangout this week, that is if my baby brother has time for that!” she smiled as she gave me a quick squeeze,

“Of course I have time for you,” I replied as I released her from my grasp, she nodded her head.

“Well bye for now, love you little bro!” she commented before telling Oli a quick goodbye, and thanking him a million times over.

“Love you too sis, I'm happy to have you back!” I called after her; she waved once before disappearing into the small crowd that was entering the train station down the street. I sighed hesitantly before looking at Oli once again,

“So you and Hannah…” I began but he grunted in order to cut me off,

“We aren’t doing anything Josh, she was just staying the night so Elissa wouldn’t feel uncomfortable being there with me. Even if I was with Hannah, what would it matter? I'm your ex, remember? You said it yourself…” I could hear the hurt in his voice and it stirred something inside of me, something that I was desperately trying to push away.

“Oli I wan-“

“Don’t, just don’t, okay? I don’t know what I was thinking…I...I just wanted to see you smile again.” He rubbed his arm as he bore holes into the cracking cobblestone beneath his feet, I bit my lip out of habit.

“I love you, you know that? But I also hate you…you’ve hurt me so much Josh, and I don’t know what you’re thinking! You think staying away from me is for the best? It isn’t! In fact it physically hurts me to know that when I wake up in the mornings that you won’t be there. Can't you just accept the fact that I love you enough to endure some pain? That’s what love is about, it isn’t glamorous like the movies make it, and it isn’t as complicated as the books make it sound. I think everyone out there has one person that their meant to be with and Josh…that’s you. Your the only person I want to be with, and you always will be.” He took a step forward whilst our eyes made contact once again, I knew I was blinking away tears, knew I was on the verge of breakdown; and I knew If I stayed there that I would apologize and beg for forgiveness. I knew I would bring him into my arms and refuse to let him go again, I knew if I stayed a moment longer that I would cave in and capture his lips with mine.

So I did what my heart and mind were telling me too, I stayed exactly where I was; and didn’t mull it over as I quickly scooped him into my arms, and kissed the lips that were meant to be mine.