My Best Friends Brother

Chapter 107

JOSH'S P.O.V

Aleah, shit.

She just keeps looking up at us with total disbelief, I can't fucking blame her but there's not even the hint of humour that Brie had in her eyes last week, this girl just looks like she genuinely can't understand what she just saw.

"Lee?" Miles crouches down and tries to draw her attention but her eyes are just bearing through me and burrowing into my soul. Please don't look at me like that Al... It's still me..."Lee, I know you're in shock right now that I kind of need you to start breathing again."

Miles reaches out to touch her shoulder but the moment his skin makes contact with hers she instantly recoils. Shit, she's really not fucking okay with this... She just needs to give us the chance to explain.

"How..." She's desperate to ask us something but the words just don't seem to want to form in her mouth. Miles stands, the hurt at the way she just reacted to him clear in his eyes as he takes another step away from her.

No... It wasn't supposed to be like this...

She lets her eyes full from me and move to face him. She just stares at him like she seeing him for the first time, the confusion still abundantly clear as she tries to process how the little boy in her head is now the man before her. Trust me, I get the struggle... I wasn't expecting her to take this as well as Brie and Steve did, Miles is essentially her baby brother so I knew this wouldn't be easy for her but I at least thought she'd want to hear what we have to say.

As I look down at her again I realise the bang we heard was one of Liam's suitcases from the bottom of the wardrobe falling down against her. I lean behind her frozen body to stand it back up but she immediately throws her arms up over her eyes.

"Josh, for fucks sake, go put some fucking clothes on. I think I've seen enough of that for one fucking day!" A part of me wants to laugh, but considering all that stands between her and my dick that still has Miles' tongue imprinted on it is a thin towel, I guess this isn't the best time for laughter.

I take a pair of shorts from the side and pull them on quickly, Miles doesn't move even when he can see Al struggling to get herself back onto her feet. He looks almost as shell shocked by her reaction as she is to what she just saw. I think deep down he always just assumed she'd be supportive, just like he was with her and Jayce.

When she finally steps out, we all just stand there kind of looking at each other, the scream mask still shaking in her hand. What the fuck am I supposed to say here? I haven't got a clue what she's thinking and quite frankly this isn't how I thought this conversation would go down.

"So, are you two going to explain what the fuck I just saw or are we all just going to stand here until we wither and die of fucking embarrassment?" I look to Miles and he does the same to me, neither of us really know where to start here.

Guess I'll give it a go then...

"Al, obviously you weren't meant to see that. It's not... I mean we aren't just... We were doing..." I really need to get my words together, she's looking at me like she has no idea who I am anymore and it's throwing me off.

"It's pretty fucking obvious what you were doing Josh, that's not the part I need explaining." Al steps between me and Miles, turning to him and keeping her back to me. She can't even fucking look at me now... "Milo, is this because of Jayce? Because of what he said last night?"

Miles looks really confused, staring up over her shoulder at me and looking for answers that I can't give him.

"What do you mean because of last night?" Damn... His voice right now... I've never heard him scared before, he loves her so much and I know he doesn't want to hurt her.

Al takes hold of his hands and leads him to sit at the edge of the bed, giving it a look like it's fucking contaminated before perching herself alongside him. This side of her; the soft voice, calming tone, gentle touch - it's the side of her I see at work when she's with her clients. Why is she letting her inner therapist out right now?

"Jayce told me this morning about everything, about what you two talked through last night and everything that will be happening with him at the end of the season. I understand that hearing his dreams are coming to an end so suddenly could make you start worrying about your own future. It's normal too react to that type of thing with some strong emotions, but you shouldn't latch those emotions onto the nearest person. There's nothing wrong with experimenting with who you are but you should really be doing that type of thing with somebody more appropriate."

Oh Jesus fucking Christ.

She really doesn't understand what's going on here does she.

Miles is trying really hard not to laugh at her clearly overly sweet counsellor voice, or the fact she thinks he basically pinned me down like my cock had the magical ability to cure emotional trauma, but I just can't keep in the chuckle as I watch his lip quivering trying to stop it all spilling out.

"Al, you've really misunderstood the situation." She drops his hands, letting go of the fake sweet and innocent voice and throwing her arms up in total exasperation as she looks between me and Miles, who has now given up on trying to rein in his giggles.

"Well then what the fuck is going on Josh?! When I saw him all happy playing basketball earlier I thought it was because he genuinely felt fucking pleasure that he was cool with his brother again, not because he's been getting fucking handsy with his weekend roommate! And what the fuck were you thinking?! Jesus, have you two been at it since we fucking got here? Oh God, you cannot tell Jayce about this! Whatever fun you both have been up to in here stops fucking now before things get out of control. We'll just pretend it never happened and I never saw anything, we good?"

She's really not getting this.

There's barely a bang on the door before Brie just strolls straight into the room, freezing immediately and making May walk headfirst into her back as she senses the atmosphere in here.

She flicks her eyes from Miles to me and then to her best friend, letting them fall to the scream mask in her hand before she starts to roll her eyes.

"For fucks sake Al, we told you not to do it in the room! May was supposed to record it! Did it go wrong? Wait... why do you all look like I just swallowed your goldfish?"

Al starts to panic, trying to come up with one of her crazy unreal excuses but Miles just immediately cuts her off.

"She just found out about us, and she's not taking it well." Al stops her ramblings about killer squirrels breaking into the room to hunt for their lost nut-princess immediately upon hearing those words.

"Us?" She flips her entire body around to face me, finally making the eye contact she's been avoiding since she came out of the closet... Haha, she came out of the closet.. God, so not the fucking time Josh.

I've always been able to read her really well, it's one of our gifts, but right now I can't make out what she's feeling at all. "What the fuck does he mean 'us' Josh?"

Miles goes to say something but I shake my head at him, she needs to hear this from me.

"He means that this isn't us just fucking around Al. You remember me telling you about the guy that I met two months ago? The guy that I can't stop thinking about, the guy that you told me at lunch to make sure I got no matter what because he was making me smile so much?" She lets her eyes fall from mine, twisting slightly to look behind her at Miles still sitting at the edge of the bed. "It's him Aleah, it's always been him."

Miles, stop waving at her, she knows who you are.

My words seem to hit her like a truck, her whole body growing so heavy that she collapses back onto the edge of the bed. Everyone just gives her a minute, letting her process what I'm sure was the last fucking thing she thought she'd be hearing today.

"So this is... It's a thing then? You two aren't just fucking?" Al rests her chin on her hands and just stares out into the space of the room. I didn't expect her to do cartwheels or throw a parade or anything when she found out about us, but I didn't think it would hit her this hard.

Miles edges his way off the bed just as Brie walks further into the room, clicking her fingers at him and extending her hand.

"Mini Thompson. Phone. Now." She keeps her hand in front of his face until he reaches into his back pocket and places his phone in her palm. I have no idea what she's doing, grabbing Miles' hand and pressing his thumb against the lock to open the home screen before kneeling down in front of Al and putting the phone into her lap. "Look babe, this is real."

I don't understand what she means, walking forward until I can see what she's making Al look at. My heart hits my ribs so hard at the sight that I know it will leave a bruise with his name on it for eternity. Staring back up from the glare of the LED is his phones background, it's one of the photos he took that time me, him and Liam went to the gaming cafe. Liam has the sweetest smile but me and him are just looking at each other. We just look so... happy.

How long has he had that as his background? Did Brie see it was on there or did she just know that he would do something this fucking cute?

Al continues to stare at the image, and for a single moment I swear a smile tries to make its way onto her lips, before suddenly another emotion hits her.