The Crew: A New Beginning

Chapter 11

Josh pulled up into a familiar driveway and looked up at the house he had lived with his parents up until a few years ago. He sighed, it was good to be back home. His real home. He got out of his car and made his way to the front door, hesitating first before knocking. It felt weird to knock at his own front door and when he thought no one was going to answer he turned away. "Josh?" He he heard his mum's voice before he saw her. He turned back around and hugged his mum. She was surprised but happy to see her son. "Your dad mentioned you might be here. He's been looking for you all week, trying to get a hold of you! Why don't you answer your phone?" His mum gently scolded him as they made their way into the house. Josh shook his head. "Can't go back there. He ruined everything and now I.......I ruined everything." He thought about Ella and wanted to cry. His mum saw his face and motioned to the kitchen. "Come, let me fix some lunch for you and you can explain everything, starting with that pretty brunette from a few years ago."

Awhile later after Josh had lunch and told his mum everything, he went up to his old room and found that his mother, nor sister, had not touched anything in it. He sat down on his bed and picked up an old camera that he had forgotten to take with him. He switched it on and scrolled through the file, realising that these were the shots he and Ella took at their last meet together. He stopped at one and stared at it for a long time, feeling his heart break. He missed her, really missed her. He realised then that he had to do something. He had to get the old Ella back. He got up suddenly, an urge to see her, but alone, to explain everything.
Josh pulled out his phone and dialled Tom's number. Hopefully Tom was still at the track and could help him come up with something. He nervously held his breath as the dial tone rang and rang til he heard the click of someone picking up. "Hey bruh, what's happening? Thought you'd be here by now," Tom's voice cut through the background noise of the track. Josh sighed with relief. "Look, I need you to do something for me," Josh stated. And then explained everything that had happened in the last couple of hours. Tom listened then replied with, "Meet at the old bus stop. Give me at least 30 minutes." And then he hung up.

30 minutes later Josh was at the bus stop, waiting. He'd climb up to the roof and was fiddling with his phone til he saw a car in the distance. He watched as the car slowed down to a stop and Tom got out of the driver's seat. Going around to the passenger side he got a blindfolded Ella out of the car. "Seriously Tom, this is NOT funny," she was saying in a harsh voice. Tom smirked at Josh as he lead her to the bus stop and took off the blindfold.

I blinked as I realised where Tom had kidnapped and taken me. Josh got down from the roof of the old bus stop and stopped in front of me. "I needed to talk to you alone," he said softly, looking down at me. All the anger I was feeling suddenly melted away, leaving a puddle of sadness behind. I started to say something but he held up a hand for me to wait. In that short period of time, Tom had left, leaving us all alone at the deserted bus stop. Josh took my hand gently and lead me to the shelter. We sat down facing each other and at first he avoided eye contact. "There's a lot of things we need to talk about," he said quietly, looking down at his hands. "But I just want to say first that I'm sorry for leaving, without a goodbye. I thought I could forget, start a fresh, but, seeing you today, it's like, I cant......." Josh trailed off, not knowing what else to say or how to say it. I looked down at my hands in my lap. I was supposed to be mad, frustrated, even upset, but all I felt like doing was hugging and kissing him. I looked to see him studying me, the way he always did at the studio. It was then that he bent down and kissed me, and I kissed him back. After a while, we decided to head back to his car, but not back to the track. Josh's mum wasn't home when we got to his place, but we went up to his room and started gathering up his stuff. Clothes, shoes and camera gear was shoved into a suitcase he had taken from a closet in his mum's room. We headed back out and drove back to where my car was parked at the track. Being careful not to be seen by any of our so called friends, I got back into my car and followed him out of the car park, before showing him the way to my apartment.

When we finally got to my new home Josh was amazed at the fact that Ella's parents finally allowed her to stay alone. "We can't stay here for long," I say as I opened the door.
"Why not?" Josh asked as we entered in. I put my keys down on the bench top and went into the kitchen to pour us glasses of water. "Because Jake lives next door. If he sees you moved in here, he might say something," I replied, worry in my eyes. Josh took the glass from me and put it down on the bench, grabbed my hands and pulled me to him. "We are going to be ok, right? We found our way back to each other, so, there are ways of keeping Jake quiet bout us," Josh said. I looked up at him and I could almost see him thinking.