After the Rain- Josh Kiszka

Chapter 8- Facing Fears

The overhead lights flicked on and Teagan grabbed for my arm, pulling me away from the table and off to the side to allow us a sliver of privacy.

"Celine, you can't be serious." she whisper shouted into my ear.

"Teags, I wish it was a fucking joke." I huffed, shaking my head.

"This is Josh? The Josh? You're certain?" she asked looking me dead in the eye. It was a rather unbelievable circumstance and she was desperate for answers.

"Yes, I'm positive. You wouldn't forget a face like that." I said decisively, sparking the flicker of a memory. I opened my phone and scrolled through my camera roll, landing on the one that had popped into my mind— a picture of Josh I had taken the morning after.

She stared at me wide eyed before uttering, "Wow, fuck," shaking her head in disbelief at the evidence I had just presented her with. "So, are you going to try and talk to him?"

"God Teagan," I exhaled, exhausted by the possibility. Quite frankly, I just wanted to go home at this point. "We don't even know one another, plus there's probably like seven waves of security that I'd have to go through to even get close to him. So to answer your question: no, it doesn't seem plausible, nor does it pique my interest." I said, deadpan.

Speaking to Josh seemed pointless and equally as frightening. And, right about now all I wanted to do was put as much distance as I could between Josh and I to prevent myself from having a panic attack.

Our brief, hushed conversation was interrupted by a visibly oblivious Chris and Mikey who approached as they shared their appreciation for the show.

"That was electric," Chris remarked as he came over to us, squeezing Teagan's shoulders. She shot him a look and he immediately removed them.

"Greta Van Fleet always delivers." Mikey said with a smile, playfully bumping me with his elbow. I cringed internally. Suddenly, a night with him that had once been enjoyable, soured as I began to feel uneasy in regards to his advances. He sure was being awfully flirty for a night that was supposed to be 'not a date'.

I did not have the mental or emotional endurance to keep up the charade and pretend that I was into him after what had just occurred with Josh, so I smiled politely and added, "Yeah, they were awesome, I had a great time."

"I'm sure you did!" Chris exclaimed, his level of intoxication peeking out ever so slightly due to his enthusiasm. "Josh must loveeee you." he drawled. "You were the only girl that he handed a rose to, like it was intended especially for you."

Mikey scoffed.

What the hell was that for?

Teagan shot Chris a look that would terrify just about anyone, and he caught on immediately that he had messed up, even if he wasn't completely aware of the reasoning at the time.

My cheeks burned at the comment and Mikey's reaction, to which I scrambled to play off Josh's gesture. "Oh, you know, I'm sure Danny had mentioned that Mikey and his friends were coming to the show... he was probably just acknowledging that we were here, y'know?" I laughed out of nervousness.

"Yeah, he was definitely being polite." Mikey said dismissively. "Speaking of, Danny invited us to their dressing room to hang out with them. I think we should at least stop by to thank him for inviting us, but we shouldn't stay long. They've probably got a long trip ahead of them, with tour and all, and Celine has to get home to relieve Millie of her babysitting duties anyway." He remarked coldly, turning away from us and heading toward the hallway that led backstage.

I tried to shake off the dig that Mikey had thrown at me as Teagan rushed to his side. Chris and I trailed behind them as we all made our way to the dressing room.