Chapter 14
Waking up in someone else’s arms
My alarm goes off but my arms feel too heavy to reach over and turn it off. Suddenly my alarm clock switches off and silence invades once again, beautiful silence. Just as I am drifting back to sleep I feel something wrap around my waist and something wet touches my neck, I try to open my eyes but I'm still too drowsy. That's when I hear Josh's voice in my ear. "Wake up baby; we have to get ready for school. Come on Kaila rise and shine!"
I roll over and look up into his flashing grey eyes with a huge smile on my face. "Well good morning to you too. Just five more minutes Josh?"
Josh smiles at me wryly, "Five minutes will never be enough for you Kaila, come on get out of bed otherwise I will have to pull off the blankets and you won't like that!"
I grin up into his radiant face, "You wouldn't do that because you don’t want to get out of bed either!"
To prove me wrong he pulls the blankets off the bed and climbs out from next to me. I spring out of bed and make a grab for the blankets but Josh is too fast and grabs me around the waist instead, pulling me up against his body he kisses my neck and rubs his hands over my arms. "Now you can get ready."
Begrudgingly I walk into my wardrobe and grab my school uniform, glaring at Josh I walk out of the room and into the bathroom. I quickly get dressed in the bathroom and apply my make-up. Then I walk out of the bathroom to face him. Somehow Josh is already wearing his school uniform and beaming at my shocked expression.
"Did you know you were going to stay the night?" I ask incredulously.
Josh smiles sweetly, "Of course not. Your dad told me to grab my school gear from my place so that I could stay the night and surprise you! He is a genius!"
I groan inwardly, "Don't let him hear you say that. You did do a good job of surprising me!"
I saunter over to my school bag and start putting my books into it. Josh comes up behind me, nuzzling my neck he whispers in my ear, "You don't need to hurry. I'm driving us to school so we have plenty of time."
I turn around grinning at him, "I knew there was a reason why I'm with you!"
Grinning at me Josh says, "I hope that's not the only reason why you like me?"
I smile wickedly at him, "That's for me to know and you to find out."
I walk down the hallway to the kitchen and I spot my dad sitting at the kitchen table, I walk up to him and say "So I'm confused, did you actually approve of Josh sleeping in my bed with me?"
My dad smiles wryly at me over his bowl of cereal, "What kind of father would I be if I suggested anything like that? But if a young man that has been waiting all night for you to arrive home, wants to spend the night then I have no problem with that."
I grin at my dad mischievously, "Well thanks dad, it was very gracious of you to let Josh stay over last night."
Josh walks into the kitchen and says, "Thanks Mr Jenson." Josh winks at me before saying, "Kaila, we've got to get a move on, otherwise we are going to be late for homeroom."
I look at him horrified, "Can't have that. Ms Thomson will literally skin us alive if we are late for homeroom again, especially after she caught me laughing in class." I run out of the kitchen to grab my school bag.
Josh yells out to me from the front door, "Hurry up Kaila, you're taking forever."
I run out the door yelling to my dad "See you later dad."
I climb into Josh's blue Subaru WRX; he starts up the engine and drives us to school.
As soon as Josh parks the car we climb out and make our way to where the group is hanging out. As soon as Ash sees me coming toward her she races over to greet me with a hug. She smiles worriedly at me, "I heard about what happened last night at the cadet thing with Sam last night and when you weren't on the bus this morning I thought that you wouldn't be coming to school today," she pauses looking at Josh speculatively. "But it appears that your knight in shining armour arrived to take you to school or he was already there to take you to school?"
I laugh at her suspicions, of course they are true but she doesn't need to know that. "What are you insinuating Ash? Josh sleeping over at my place, you cannot be serious."
Nathan openly laughs at her. "Yeah we can all see how their parents would react over that one!"
Josh looks at me his eyes laughing at me. "Kaila's dad would never allow me to stay at her place let alone in her bed, seriously Ash you're ridiculous!" As Josh stands there teasing Ash and the others the bell goes for homeroom, we all quickly scatter towards our homerooms.
Nathan, Josh and I walk to our classroom where Ms Thomson is waiting for us. I don't know how she does it every day but she always manages to be the first one in the room even when there is a staff meeting, it's amazing but at the same time it’s frustrating because she expects us to be in the room before she turns up and every day she is 'disappointed' with us.
We take our seats up the back as usual while Ms Thomson glares at us throughout homeroom, she acts as if -because we have more fun in class than she does- we are devil spawn. It's entertaining to watch though because every time one of us starts laughing she looks at us suspiciously, I swear she expects to turn around and see us with horns protruding from our heads.
When the bell goes we get out of our seats and walk towards the door, as we are going through the door Josh wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me towards him. He's so warm and I know before he even wraps his arms around me that he has a toned body.
We walk along and every now and then he whispers in my ear, and I have to laugh because he says the most stupid things like "You see that guy over there. I think he has the hots for you!"
I laugh derisively at him, "What makes you say that?"
"He's giving you the look up and down" and sure enough when I look at him, he's staring at my boobs. I look up at Josh and smile at him, he responds by pulling me closer to him and he gives the guy the finger. He's acting like an overprotective boyfriend and surprisingly I like it that way.
We make it to the lockers without Josh having to punch someone for looking at me, although he threatened to do so.
I think he's enjoying being my boyfriend a little too much, although he makes me feel really safe and protected; holding me so close in his arms and staring lovingly at me.
When we finally make it to our music class without having any other incidents in the corridors, we find Ash sitting by herself just mucking around with a keyboard. Once she sees us walking into the room hand in hand she smiles at us and calls us over to her corner of the room. We sit down at the table closest to her.
Ash turns from the keyboard and starts organising this weekend's sleepover. "Now here's how it's going to work, you come over to my house around six on Friday after school of course, then we will go out clubbing, my dad just opened a new club and he says we can go to it. Saturday we will do a movie marathon during the day but we have been invited to Will Sanders' eighteenth birthday party, you know he's one of the year twelves in your PE class?" We nod silently while Ash details her…I mean our plans for this weekend.
Josh smiles down at me, and rests his hand on my thigh. Josh's hand is quite heavy and rough. It feels warm against my bare leg and I wrap my hand over the top of it. I slowly look up into his eyes he's grinning down at me, I grin back, I forget that I'm in a class room with other students, all I see is Josh. He slowly leans down; I can feel his breath on my cheek, my heart pounds in my chest. It's beating so loud that I think everyone can hear it. I think he's going to kiss me and that would make today almost perfect, but instead he whispers in my ear. “Don't look so stressed, Kaila, I'm sure Will's party will be fun, even if he keeps beating us in badminton.”
Suddenly Ash elbows me in the ribs. "Earth to Kaila, have you heard a single word I said?" she looks really annoyed at me for not listening to her.
"Sorry Ash, Josh has been distracting me." I look pointedly at where his hand rests on my leg. She glances down and then back up at Josh.
"Well lover boy can you stop distract
ing her, I'm trying to talk to her about Will's party." I want to laugh at their faces, he looks like he's in a dream and she looks really annoyed.
"Ok I'm all ears, Ash, if he does anything distracting I'll whack him!" she looks at me quietly amused.
"Will's party starts at seven on Saturday so we should have plenty of time to get all dressed up. I'm really nervous about this, Will has been asking me out for a while now but I have been interested in Nathan. But I've decided to give Will a chance." I would never have guessed that she was giving up on Nathan.
I look up at Josh and raise an eyebrow at him, he looks like he wants to ask a question but doesn't know how to. He nods and then looks down at me.
Josh pulls his hand away and sits back properly in his chair. I look at Ash confusedly "What just happened there?" I whisper.
"There's a hands off policy, most teachers don't enforce it but one of the teachers that does, is coming into the classroom, we just saw him through the window."
Sure enough not two minutes later, a bald middle aged man walks into the room, wearing a stiff suit, he makes us stand up and say "Good morning, Mr Dempsey." He looks really uptight, while he's in the room nobody talks at all, it's really awkward not hearing any sounds at all. Everyone is quietly relieved when the bell goes for recess. We walk out of the room together. Josh keeps the hands off policy because Mr Dempsey is walking behind us discussing teaching methods with Mr Jacobs. I really want to laugh at Josh's face, he looks so serious it's hard to believe he ever smiled or laughed.
I turn back to Ash while we are walking toward our lockers, "So why are you giving up on Nathan? I thought you really liked him?"
Ash looks at me sadly, "He's still in love with Lucy even though she doesn't want to talk to him. Even if they break up I don't think Nathan will get over her for a very long time. I do like him but I can't just wait around for him especially when I have no idea if he likes me back, Will is available and he does like me."
I smile at her, "That really sucks Ash but it's good that you are trying to move on and you're not forcing him to break up with her."
Josh laughs at us both, "You sound like someone died, it's great that you have found someone that cares about you, but are you sure you want to give up on Nathan?"
Ash pulls a funny face at Josh, "I'm not giving up on him because he has never made it clear that he has feelings for me." Ash pulls me into a hug then walks off to her locker.
Josh and I continue walking to our lockers, Nathan is already there waiting for us. As soon as he sees Josh he says, "I came as fast as possible, what do you want to talk about?"
Josh sighs at him, "Do you like Ash?"
Nathan smiles, "Is that all? Everyone likes Ash, she's a great friend."
"I meant do you have feelings for Ash?" Josh shakes his head at Nathan.
"Why? Ash and I are just friends."
Josh smiles, "Well then it should be ok to tell you that Ash is going out with Will Sanders."
Nathan grins back at Josh, "You're so funny Josh; no seriously what did you want to talk to me about?"
Josh frowns at Nathan, "Nathan I'm being serious. Ash has decided to go out with Sanders. So if you have feelings for Ash, now is the time to admit it."
"You're being serious?" Josh nods his head at Nathan, "I don't know how I feel about her; sometimes I feel like just friends and sometimes I catch myself checking her out and wondering what it would be like to be her boyfriend. After all this stuff going on with Lucy, I have no idea how I feel about anything!"
"Well you better start thinking about it Nathan because Ash has finally given up on you and she has decided to move on with Sanders and once she's with him you have no chance of winning her back again. Just think about it?" Josh smiles sympathetically at Nathan.
I grin at him, "Boys are so oblivious! She's been into you for ages and you're only just figuring that out now when you're about to lose her to another guy?"
Nathan smiles sheepishly at me, "Yeah I know I've been stupid for not noticing Ash and now I'm too late to tell her how I feel about her."
I shake my head at him, "You're not too late Nathan, step up and be a man and go get the girl!"
Josh smiles down at me, "Kaila's right man. The worst Ash could say is that you're too late, and the only way you can find that out is by asking her! So go tell her how you feel about her!"
Nathan grins speculatively at us, "You two have become serious match makers since you decided that you were together. I've got to go find her, thanks guys. See you later!"
We watch Nathan run out of the locker room in his search to find Ash. I smile at Josh as he grins down at me, "That went well; hopefully Ash won't say that he's too late."
"I think he should be fine as long as he gets to Ash before she meets up with Sanders." Josh grins at me.
Smiling at him I walk towards my locker to put my things into it, when I close my locker Josh is standing in front of me, caging me against my locker. He brings his mouth down slowly to kiss my upturned lips, he pulls back and I watch as slowly a smile stretches across his beautifully masculine face. "You're gorgeous Josh, absolutely gorgeous!"
Josh grins at me, "No way you're the gorgeous one, you are absolutely beautiful to me Kaila!"
I giggle at him and try to climb out of his arms but he won't budge at all, "Aren't you going to let me go eat?"
Josh stares down at me seriously, "Nope, I don't want to share you with anyone else!"
I laugh at him, "You are being ridiculous Joshua!"
"No way, I'm cherishing the time I have with you." Josh smiles serenely at me, "I just want to make sure that you know how I feel about you, so that you don't go off with someone else because I never told you how special you are to me."
I smile sadly at him, "Are you comparing us to Ash and Nathan? Josh we're nothing like them, Ash has been waiting for Nathan for a long time and Nathan was too blind to realise that Ash liked him."
Josh sighs sadly his breath mingles in my hair. "I don't want to be like Nathan, missing the chance to be with the girl of my dreams."
"But can't you see Josh? You aren't missing the chance, because we both realised in time how we felt about each other." He smiles sweetly down at me.
"You're right Kaila. I'm not missing the chance at having my dream girl because she's standing here in my arms right now."
"That was so corny Josh, sweet but corny!" I grin up at him, "But you're definitely right, we're standing here together making sure that we don't miss our chance."
Josh leans down and grabs my hand. Like a real gentleman from Jane Austin time he brings my hand to his mouth and places a kiss on the back of my hand. "Well let's take that chance and go get something to eat, I'm starving!"
I laugh wholeheartedly with him, "Yeah I'm hungry let’s go grab something from the cafeteria."
Josh grips my hand as we make our way down to the cafeteria, I notice that the group is already sitting at our table and judging by the fact that Will Sanders is sitting at our table as well I guess that Nathan didn't tell her how he really felt about her. Josh shakes his head at Nathan. Nathan just shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head as well. Josh mutters something under his breath and releases my hand to go over to his best friend. I walk over to sit next to Flick; she smiles at me as I sit down.
"Isn't it sad that Ash loves Nathan and what do you know? Nathan loves Ash. I think the worst part is that neither of them has actually told the other one so they both think it's entirely one sided." Flick muses aloud, "Difference is that I know that Mike has no feelings for me, it's been tried and tested but I have been assured that nothing will happen on that front, if I wasn't so involved it would actually be very funny."
I look at her shocked about her suddenly commenting on Ash and Nathan's invisible relationship. "So…how long have you known, about their mutual feelings? I'm not involved and I don't find it funny because obviously you're upset about the way it worked out for you."
Flick smiles knowingly at me, "The on
ly people who didn't know about their mutual feelings are Ash and Nathan, they seem quite oblivious to one another when it comes to showing how they feel about each other, it seems really strange but then again most guys can't tell when a girl is crushing on them so it seems like a major shock when they find out. Ah see you're different you wouldn't find my situation funny because you yourself have been in this situation before you are also in a new relationship and you're in the honeymoon period which makes you think that everyone should join 'coupledom' and when they can't you feel sad because you want to share your joy at having a partner."
"Well listen to the wise woman talk, I had no idea you were so old and worldly?" I joke. "But you're right I do want everyone to be as happy as I am right now but the real reason why I feel for you is because I can see that you're really into this great guy and he can't see how great you are! Do you think that Nathan and Ash will get together or do you think they're both going to move on now?"
Flick sighs, "I don't know, I know that the only reason why Ash is with Will is because she wants to move on and she wants to feel cared for but at the same time she wants Nathan. Here's the problem Nathan is going to think she's serious about Will and so he will completely back off and start focusing on his relationship with Lucy, which is a bad thing because Lucy doesn't love him and truth be told he doesn't love her either."
I laugh, "That's all pretty messed up. Well, all I can say is this will be interesting."
Just then Josh walks up behind me and asks me, "Aren't you going to eat anything Kaila?"
I turn towards him, now he looks really concerned, this I do laugh at "Josh, I just sat down, I'm going to go and buy something in a second."
"Oh ok, I just thought maybe you weren't hungry."
"That's sweet, but really I do eat!"
"Good to hear, I like girls who eat food, not men!"
"So you're a man now are you?" I can't help toying with him, and he seems to know it.
"Yes, smart arse I am!"
"Lol, you got me there!"
"You want to go get some lunch now?"
"Sure thing Mr Man."
"Oh! That's very original." Josh says sarcastically.
"Well I do aim to please you know."
It feels like we are standing in the queue for ages. The whole time I'm in the queue, I can't help but think about the proximity of our bodies. I feel Josh leaning his chin on the top of my head and his arms are wrapped protectively around my waist. I can feel our bodies pressed against each other and it feels so natural like our bodies fit into each other perfectly.
When I finally get to the cash register to pay, I've almost totally lost my appetite. It's almost like butterflies have infested my stomach and I think I might throw up if I do eat anything. It's almost as if Josh feels the same way because as soon as we get back to the table and sit down, he asks everyone if they want his food. I feel like doing the same thing but I decide it is probably a better idea to save it for later when I am feeling hungry.
Josh grins at me, "Looks like I'm not starving anymore, what about you Kaila?"
"Seems like you stole my appetite from me Josh, you thief." I laughingly say to him.
"Don't tempt me Kaila. I'm very good at stealing things from you." He grins wryly at me. I think he's trying to insinuate that he's stolen kisses.
"You're very cheeky today Joshua." I remark, everyone stops to stare at us then they burst out laughing as Josh sputters over being called 'Joshua'.
"Man, you just got owned. Hey isn't your mum the only person who calls you your full name?" Nathan laughs at him.
"Yeah she is. Kaila's just proven that she is very evil, I will never underestimate you again Kaila." Josh smiles at me.
"That's what I thought." I say knowingly. The bell rings for the end of lunch and we all trudge to our locker rooms and then we go off to our next classes.
I don't really pay attention through my classes, thoughts of Josh are racing through my head, like how he waited up for me to get home last night and how he had flowers with him, he's so sweet and caring, all because he wanted to apologise for going mental at me for wanting to go to cadets with Sam. When the final bell rings I practically run to my locker to catch Josh before he goes home.
Josh sees me coming and gives me his biggest smile, it simply lights up the whole room, "Hey Kaila, just the girl I wanted to see. Do you want me to drive you home? You know then we can just chat, I'll understand if you want to take the bus with the others instead."
I grin at him, "You're so generous Josh. Of course I'd want to spend more time with you! Let's go home together."
His smile broadens and his eyes shine with happiness. "Really, that's perfect!"
After getting my things out of my locker, I reach out and hold Josh's hand. It feels perfect holding onto his hand and walking down the corridor with him. "Yes it's perfect Josh." I snuggle up against his arm and sigh contentedly.
"You sound happy Kaila, I love seeing your smile. It just takes my breath away, correction you take my breath away. You are amazing!" Josh says blissfully, he smiles serenely at me and I can't help but smile right back at him.
"Quit being ridiculous Josh. I'm not amazing; just human." I look at him daring him to disagree with me.
Josh grins conspiratorially, "I disagree with you Kayley. You are a goddess because you are so pretty and funny." When I try to argue with him, Josh just smiles and says. "Face the facts Kaila, to me, you are an angel; my angel."
I swear I can feel my heart melting and all I can think is how sweet Josh is. "Aw that is really sweet of you to say Josh, totally wrong but sweet."
Josh stops me and gently strokes my cheeks with the pads of his fingers, caressing my face with small movements of his hands. "Kaila, you are my angel. You are the only girl I have eyes for and to me you are pure perfection. I wouldn't want you any other way."
His sheer acceptance of me makes me want to cry, Josh seems to know exactly what I need to hear. His grey eyes look down at me happily, "Josh, I wouldn't want you any other way either."
His smile beams at me. "Kaila, you're the girl of my dreams. It feels completely natural being with you even though we have only known each other a short while, but then again I have been hearing about my little sister's best friend since you two became friends, so it shouldn't really surprise me that I feel so comfortable and natural when I am with you."
I laugh at his thoughtfulness. "I agree. I feel so comfortable and natural around you too. It just feels perfect to be with you. And I suppose there is an element of newness but I do suspect that I understand you so well because of the amount of times Nat discussed you with me."
“No fair you two actually discussed me?” Josh says happily, “I don’t know whether I should be annoyed that my sister gossips about me or whether I should be happy that you liked what you heard from my sister.”
I smile cheekily at him, “Maybe you should be both? After all you were a common source of entertainment for us but in the end it resulted in me being attracted to you. So I think all is fair in this situation.”
“I’m hurt you’re only attracted to me? Here I am completely head over heels in love with you and you tell me that you’re only attracted to me.” Josh says cheekily laughing at me, “Way to hurt a man’s ego Kaila.”
“Well if it’s just your ego that is hurt then all is well, wouldn’t want you to get a big head or something, or an inflated ego.” I say cheerily.
“Now that is really harsh Kaila, don’t you care about my over inflated ego?” Josh says mock seriously before grinning at me.
“Of course I care about you Josh I just don’t like the size of your ego when it comes to females. You just seem too…”
“Confident?” He smiles knowingly at me.
I grin wryly at him, “Actually I was going to say cocky but let’s go with confident. Sometimes it can be a little uncomfortable that you’re so confident especially when you’re seducing me into kissing you!”
Josh looks at
me innocently, “Do I do that Kaila? Do I seduce you? Do I make you want to kiss me?”
“I don’t like how innocently you’re asking that, you know very well exactly what you do to me, yes you do make me want to kiss you but aren’t girlfriends supposed to want to do that?” I ask softly.
“Yes and that is why boyfriends seduce their girlfriends into kissing them.” Josh says matter-of-factly.