Just for a Moment

41 | Bittersweet Ending

⬆I feel like this is Joshua Bassett in a nutshell.

🍪🍪🍪

Julia had pulled the cake out, and Larry lit the candle. The gang sang happy birthday to Olivia, and she had a bright smile on her face. As she closes her eyes to blow out the candles, she feels the presence of two people behind her. "What in the- oh my god!!" She bangs her knee on the table from jumping up but doesn't focus on that.

Her parents were hovering over her. "Happy birthday!" they exclaim at the same time.

"I feel like I might faint," she says happily, hugging them. "Wait, I thought the paper said-" Olivia looks back at the paper telling her their flights a little closer and notices there was a mark over the date. It said February 20th, not 28th.

"I might've taken a pen and made it look like an eight, so you wouldn't think otherwise," Joshua says, rocking back and forth on his feet.

Before Olivia can say anything, Frankie shouts, "Let's eat cake now!" They all laugh and start cutting up slices.

"And the birthday girl gets to have the first taste of the cake," Joshua says, holding a plate.

"Thank-" Her appreciation is cut short when he decides to put some frosting on her face. The cast all start chuckling under their breaths while Olivia's jaw is dropped a little.

"What were you saying?" Joshua asks innocently, still holding the cake out for her.

"You're gonna pay for that," she says, wiping the bit of frosting off her nose.

"How so?"

"Poor guy," Madison mutters.

"You said this was for me?" she asks, taking the plate from his hands.

"Yeah, wh-?" Before he can make another sound, Olivia smashes the entire plate on his face. The others were laughing much harder now at their antics. She lets the plate fall to the ground, and some crumbs land on his sweatshirt.

"Why was no one recording that?" Matt laughs.

"Trust me, I got part of it," Julia says, showing him her phone.

"What were you saying?" Olivia asks, mimicking Joshua from before.

Madison comes over to join them, throws her arm over her friend's shoulders, and adds, "What a beautiful piece of abstract art. Don't forget to sign it."

"Ooh, good idea." She takes some frosting and puts an O and R across his forehead. "There. Now it's perfect."

"Smile, Josh," the cast all say, pointing their cameras at him.

Joshua starts wiping the cake from his eyes first. "Two things: one, whoever chose the cake flavor did a great job; two, you're gonna pay for that."

"Am I? How so?"

Joshua puts his arms out for a hug and starts walking towards her, and she starts backing away from him. "What are you doing?"

"Wanting to hug my best friend on her birthday, duh," he says as if he isn't completely covered in cake.

"Not happening unless you take a shower first." She puts one of her hands out in front of her to keep him at a distance.

"C'mon, pweeease?" he pouts.

"No."

They continue like this back and forth while the rest of the cast just watch them. "Are they always like this?" Madison whispers.