Love Me, Hate Me, Either Way, You're Thinking Of Me... {Completed}

Too Close

Sapphire’s P.O.V 

“Oh! Josh! You brought her back!” Olivia, Joshua’s mom, happily stated as she placed Noah in his playpen and came running over to me. Her arms wrapped around me as she gave me a bone crushing hug. “I am so happy you’re here! I keep telling Joshua to bring you back! Oh, I hope my boy is being nice to you. I know he is a lot to handle but-”

“Ma, I believe it’s time for you to go home.”

Frowning, Olivia looked at me. “We need to set a date to go shopping together!”

I gave her a small grin, “of course!”

Patting me on the head, she blew a kiss at Joshua and Noah before racing out of the house.

My eyes flickered over to Joshua who was reaching down in the playpen and pulling out Noah. Joshua smiled wildly as he rocked back and forth with the small child in his arms. I heard Joshua start to hum a lullaby that I used to hear my mom sing to me. My mind tried to replay the lyrics, but I was going mentally blank. I had no idea what the lyrics were ... And it irked me.

Carrying myself over to the couch, I sat down and listened to the perfectly tuned hum of Joshua. It wasn’t before long that I was curled up to the leather couch, and slowly falling asleep.

***

“Shhh, Noah, we don’t want to wake Sapphire up, now do we?” A voice said through the soft cries of a baby.

My eyes cracked open to find Joshua fleeing the room with Noah in his arms.

I laid on the couch for a few more minutes as I realized that I fell asleep to a lullaby that wasn’t even meant for me. Smiling, I realized I was such a baby.

Slowly sitting up, I could hear Joshua trying to quiet Noah from a room over.

I rubbed the back of my head, glad to feel that it wasn’t a rat’s nest. My eyes flickered over the room and I saw that the news was on the flat screen television. It was muted, but I could see in the corner of the screen that it was six o’clock in the evening.

Grunting a little, I stood up and stretched and grinned at how peaceful I slept.

As I stood there, I contemplated on if I should wait until Joshua came back into the living room, or follow the sound of Noah’s cries to see if I could help. After a second, I decided on the latter and with light footsteps I followed the sound of Noah.

It led me to a hall right off of the living room. The hallway was very lengthy and had a hardwood floor, but there was a long, thin rug that covered, most of the hall’s floor. It was a red trimmed rug, with a dark brown color in the middle. I admired it for a second, before finding myself in front of a white door that was cracked open.

Cries were no longer heard; instead the only sound that came from the room was from Joshua. It seemed as if he was muttering things to the small child. Deciding to open the door some more, I found Joshua in a white wicker rocking chair. He was holding Noah and talking in a low voice, so low that I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

I was about to walk further in, when Joshua’s brown eyes locked with mine and he gave off a small smile. “Did we wake you?”

I shook my head, “don’t worry about it. I actually feel bad that I crashed on your couch.”

“Sapphire, you are welcome to crash here any time. That is if Noah will allow you to sleep,” he joked.

I looked down at the baby in his arms, to see that Noah’s blue eyes were staring at me. “Can I hold him again?” I asked as I walked more into the light green room.

Joshua stood up from the rocking chair, “yeah ... here.”

Placing the soft, chubby little child in my arms, I smirked as Noah curled up in my arms.

“Umm, I was thinking about ordering some dinner. You in?”

“Sure. What are you thinking about ordering?” I asked as I followed Joshua out of the room.

I was careful to watch my steps, for I had Noah tightly in my grasp as we walked into the kitchen.

“I dunno. I would cook, but the only thing I seem to be able to fix is baby formula. Tried making ramen noodles and ended up almost catching the house on fire.”

I chuckled at his comment. “Well, then, I will have to teach you to cook.”

“You can cook?” Joshua asked.

“Cereal, yes. I am a master at cooking cereal.”

Joshua laughed as he pulled out a phone book and started to flip through it. “Well, what sounds good? Pizza, Italian, Chinese...?”

“I guess Italian,” I stated as I looked down at Noah.

His dark blue eyes were looking up at me. Right when I went to smile at him, his eyelids started to look heavy. He kept closing them, but would open them back up instantly as if to stay awake. Soon they closed and he cuddled up more in my arms. I started to smirk widely as I realized I was a sucker for Joshua’s son ... he was just too cute for his own good.

My heart melted at the mere idea of what he would be like when he grows up. Even if he was an infant right now, I knew that he was going to have all the girls chasing him...

Suddenly my heart gave a little flutter in sadness as I wondered if I would be friends with Joshua long enough to see Noah grow up.

Every fiber of my being was telling me that this friendship with Joshua wasn’t going to last ... Especially when Blake and I make up...

See that was the thing, I knew for a fact Blake and I would make up, we always do. And when that happened, Blake would forbid all things about Joshua ... which meant no Noah...

“I hope you don’t mind if I ordered for you. After all, you seemed to have fallen under Noah’s spell,” Joshua teased.

“Huh?”

“Every girl that he allows to hold him, which is not many, instantly coo over him ... Anyways, hand him over. I’ll go set him in his crib.” Joshua said as he reached out for his sleeping child.

I twisted around, so he couldn’t get Noah, “I’ll do it.”

Joshua chuckled at me as I walked into the living room and towards Noah’s room.

As I entered the room, I noticed that it faintly smelled of baby powder. My eyes danced around the room to find that all the furniture was made of white wicker ... even the crib.

Grinning, I strolled right up to the crib and placed Noah, very carefully, down on the green frog covered mattress.

Once he was laid down, Noah cracked open his eyes and I gave a slight gasp, wondering if I woke him. But, as quickly as he slightly opened his eyes, he shut him.

I gave a sigh in relief and stood by his bedside, wondering what I should do next. I felt as if I should start humming a lullaby or do something! But, the more I stared at Noah, the more I realized there was nothing more to do than to leave the room.

Leaning down in the crib, I placed a small kiss on his cheek and then skipped out of the room.

By the time I exited Noah’s bedroom, and walked in the living room, Joshua was already sitting on the leather sofa and flipping through the television channels. His eyes caught mine the second I walked into the room.

“What you watchin’?” I asked as I sat down next to him. Only to realize that I sat way too close to him. I began to wonder if I should move over, but then, if I did, would he think I didn’t want to be around him? I would hate for Joshua to think that when our time is limited together.

“Oh, nothin’ just T.V surfing,” he stated as I began to feel his body heat radiating off of him and on to me.

Nodding, I dared myself not to say a word ... and more importantly, not to look at him!

My eyes obeyed my mind, but they suddenly fluttered down to see how close Joshua’s leg was to mine. They were so close that they were touching. In my peripheral vision I noticed all the couch space on my left.

I then began to think...

What if Joshua thinks I am hitting on him, by trying to be all close to him on the couch?

Mentally, I face palmed myself. There were only two options.

Move, and let him think I was too chicken to sit next to him, as if he would give me cooties.

Or, stay right where I am and give him the idea that I ‘want’ him, if you catch my drift.

“Do you want to watch a movie, some reality show, the news, sports...?”

“Is there any NASCAR on?” I asked without looking at him.

“Ummm, let me see,” Joshua exclaimed as he turned on the sports channel. Sure enough there was some NASCAR on. With a wide smile I watched the cars speed around the race tracks. I stayed solely focused on the screen ... ignoring the obvious fact that I was mere centimeters from Joshua. “You like watching race car driving?”

“Yeah, I love it! My brother, Linx, watches it a lot. Growing up when my friends were busy and he was the only one around, I would hang out in his room and watch it with him. It beat being bored and alone some days and nights.” I replied as I finally looked up at him.

His tongue played with the low lip ring for a second before he looked down at me with his chocolate brown eyes. I saw curiosity swirling in the dark orbs of his eyes.  “Where were your parents?”

“Oh, hum, all my life my mom had worked a lot. She has two or three jobs now ... In all honesty, I stopped keeping track.”

“Where does she work?” He questioned.

“Uhhh, wherever she can find work. Her main job is a nurse at Baptist East Hospital downtown.”

“What about your dad? What does he do?” Joshua asked me.

My eyes instantly found the floor.

The room started to feel as if it was moving and everything was caving in. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

A warm, comforting arm wrapped around my neck, and pulled me over to my right. Seconds later I was side hugging Joshua on the couch as tears streamed down my face.

Slowly, Joshua rubbed circles on my back, in a soothing manner. “I’m sorry I mentioned it. Whatever happened, I’m sorry,” he whispered in my ear.   

I sniffed a little and looked up at him. “It-It wasn’t your fault,” I murmured in a very low voice.

Moving one of his hands from my back, Joshua wiped the tears off my cheek, with his thumb. “Still ... I am sorry...”

It was then that the space between us got less and less.