The Crew: A New Beginning

Chapter 5

Josh returned home that night from his night out, realising that it was close to midnight. When he had parked his car in the underground parking of the apartment, he noticed his dad's car still wasn't home. Still on a buzz from the car meet and party, he shrugged it off and entered into his unit. His dad always left it clean before heading to work in the mornings so it was a bit of a surprise to see things out of place when Josh opened the door. Unusually, there were jackets and coats and a few pairs of pants lying on the black leather sofa in the lounge room. Containers of food were stacked up high on the marble breakfast counter in the kitchen and the door to his dad's room was wide open. Now Josh's senses was wide awake. It smelt like a woman had been in here. During which, he was at work. Josh frowned and slowly went into his dad's room, normally tidy, was now a mess. The bed wasn't made up, blinds were half opened and clothes lying everywhere, including a women's silk red dress. Josh's hands bundled into fists. Obviously his dad was seeing another woman. 2 years! It had been 2 years! Josh felt anger seep through his veins. He had enough of this. If his dad was sneaking around with someone behind his back, he was going to do the same. He was just about to head out of his father's room when he thought of something. He turned around and headed into his father's walking closet. Looking, until he found up on a high shelf, a familiar duffle bag. He carefully pulled it down and opened it to check if the contents inside was still there. He sighed a sigh of relief when he saw his old Nikon camera with the lens cap still on amongst a few other things. He was glad his father didn't have the courage to throw this away. Obviously because he was the one who gave it to Josh for his 18th birthday. Thinking of his father again made Josh shiver in bursts of anger and he quickly shut the door of his father's room and went into his. He closed the door and emptied out the other contents of the bag onto his bed. There was still some developed photos in there from the studio. Curiously he flicked through them til he stopped at one. It was the day he and Ella had won the case against Billy Bennett. The photo had been taken by Cass, of him and Ella hugging and kissing in front of the steps of the courthouse. His hands shook. He wanted to erase that memory, he didn't want to think about it at all. He ripped it up and threw it in the bin and grabbed his phone. Flipping through it, he looked at the new photos he had taken that night and smiled. "New beginnings," he whispered into the air, as he gazed at the photo he took of his new friend CeeCee. She seemed different from Ella, more relaxed, chill, vibrant. He lied back down his bed with his phone resting beside him and smiled as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The next morning Josh woke to his phone buzzing. He groaned and stretched, realising he hadn't changed out his clothes the night before. He swore as he hit his toe on something hard and realised it was his camera bag. Getting up and stretching, he checked his watched to see that it was 9am. Oh crap. He was real late for work. Not that he cared anymore. He walked out into the living room and it was just like he had left it last night. His dad didn't even come home last night. This set him off. That's it! He was definitely not going to show up now. He went and showered and got dressed, took his car keys, wallet and phone and decided that he was going to look for a new place of his own. As well as a new job. Looking at his father's apartment once more, he slammed the door shut and stomped off towards the elevator. As he headed down towards his designated parking spot he looked at his phone, tempted. After the party and meet last night, CeeCee had given him her number. He wanted to call or text but he didn't know whether it was the right thing to do. Frustrated he got out of the lift and walked towards his car.

Later that morning Josh had just about driven around the whole city wasting time looking for parking where some apartments were located. He hated this, he hated everything. All he wanted to do was get back down the Gold Coast. He was about to give up when he turned down a street close to where he had been the night before. A decent sized apartment block stood overlooking the park and he decided he would check this one more place out. He got out and walked into the lobby towards the reception desk, hoping there'd be a unit that was at least for rent. He knew he could afford it now, due to working at his dad's law firm and the money his parents had given him when they split. He was just about to ask the lady at the front counter when he heard his name being called. "Josh? What are you doing here?" He turned around to see a surprised and curious looking CeeCee staring at him. This time she wore denim overalls with her hair pulled up into messy buns atop of her head. She wore converse high tops and a red ribbed tee. "Hey! I Uhh, looking to see if there's any place for rent," he replied sheepishly, with a shrug. The way this girl dressed, you could definitely tell she was in the art scene, as Josh gave another once over look. CeeCee smiled, folding her arms and nodding towards the elevators. "Well, I could show you around, I live up in the penthouse on the top floor of this block. It's just me at the moment as my friend Maddie moved out a couple of weeks ago, but I am in the means of looking for a flatmate, that is, if you know anybody who's interested ?" She gave a flirtatious grin and winked which made Josh even more curious to know more about her. Josh tilted his head to the side and pretended to think. "Hmmm, I think I may know someone who's desperate to get away from his father, that would be interested," he said grinning back at her. CeeCee grinned and took his hand before leading him to her penthouse.