Family

More Than I Wanted

TW for minor sexual assault / attempted sexual coercion

"Emily!"

I look in the direction of the familiar voice and I see Josh, the creepy ish guy I met earlier today. He walks over towards me.

"Hey!" He gives me another hug that once again felt off, does this guy have a personal bubble?

"Hey!" I try to match the happy energy of seeing him, "What are you doing here?" I ask trying not to sound rude.

"I actually live quite close to here so some days I like to just come down to the pier and go on some of the rides, I'm a bit of a thrill seeker that way." He laughed trying to talk himself up.

"Oh, that's fun!" I responded trying to seem like I didn't want immediately for Anthony or Ian to come back.

His excited expression then turned to a more curious look.

"I'm assuming you came here with Ian, right? Since you two are like, a thing?"

I immediately felt awkward and didn't know if I should play into it or not.

"Oh, no. I think him and Anthony can just be a little bit protective over me, we're all just friends from highschool. And I'm here with both of them."

Josh's face changed and he immediately prodded for more information.

"So you're single then?" He questioned with a smirk clearly plastered on his face.

"Oh, uhhh." I tried to find words to say. I definitely should've leaned into Ian and I being something to get him off of my back. It may have been awkward but this is actually way worse.

"A complicated situation? I can definitely work with that." He said in a low, failed attempt to be seductive.

"What?" I said more out of discomfort than mishearing.

He quickly shifted his facial expression to more friendly, "I said I can definitely relate to that. Hey, I noticed you're about to ride the ferris wheel alone, mind if I join? It's my absolute favorite ride here."

I felt cornered.

"Sure! Ian and Anthony are still in the bathroom so they'll be meeting us at the exit." I threw in to remind him that I wasn't in fact, alone.

He laughed, "Wonderful, then we can all hang out afterwards!" He had a massive smile, while I felt my stomach drop.

He seems nice enough, maybe I'm just reading into things?

We got on our seats and the ride began twirling us around. I will admit, the view made me feel almost completely at ease.

"Hey, I wanna make sure that we don't get off on the wrong foot. I'm sorry if I came off creepy at all today, I can just be a little awkward, and most people don't really get me or my sense of humor. That's what really happens instead of the guys saying that I just 'scare' girls away." He explained with an almost sad demeanor.

I looked over at him and contemplated what he said, I felt bad for him.

"I'm sorry about that, I will admit I was a little shook up at first, but you seem to get along with Ian and Anthony and the rest of your friends so well, I'm sure you're a perfectly nice guy."

He looked back at me and smiled, he moved his hand and placed it on top of mine, as a thank you. 

But he didn't move it back.

Eventually, we lulled to a stop at the very top of the ferris wheel.

I was so shocked by the beautiful sunset and how long it's been since I've seen a proper one that I barely even noticed Josh scooting closer to me.