Voyeur (Josh Balz Story)

Chapter 5

We drove for a good fifteen minutes before pulling up to a little white house and three guys all dressed in black were sitting out on the porch. When the other three guys and I stepped out of the car the boys sitting looked surprised to see me.

"Guys, this is my friend Carina." Josh announces and turns to me to point each of them out by name. "That's Frank, Ryan, and Chris."

I gave them a small wave, "Nice to meet you all."

They smiled, basically saying the same thing back to me.

"So is she here to watch us practice?" Ryan asked as he got to his feet.

Josh nodded and gestured for me to follow them into the house.

"So Chris, Carina agrees with us. Motionless in White is the better name." TJ tells the much taller boy next to him.

Chris grinned at that saying to me, "Maybe you can convince Frank of that too."

"Why doesn't he like it?" I questioned just to make conversation as we headed down stairs.

"He said it 'doesn't make sense'. Since when does that matter?" Chris asked with a shake of his head.

I shrugged my shoulders replying, "Hopefully he'll come around since the rest of you seem to prefer it to the other one."

He nodded, "I really hope you're right because it's getting old."

We stepped into the basement and I was surprised by all the music equipment they had, so they were actually pretty serious about this band thing. I watched silently as they all got into place and began adjusting their instruments, making sure that everything was in tune.

"You can take a seat on that couch if you want." Ryan points out as he fiddled with his guitar strap.

I do as he suggested and sit down on the dark blue couch in the corner of the room in front of them. I focused on Josh messing around with his keyboard and I was honestly surprised by the sight, I never would have figured that he would enjoy playing the piano. His level of concentration was truly adorable and I knew that some part of me should feel bad for thinking that about Josh considering that I was dating Craig, but I just didn't. Besides it doesn't matter in the end, Josh and I could never happen for more than a few reasons thanks to my reputation. I don't want to ruin his as well.

I watched Josh glance up at me and then smile slightly before sticking his tongue at me, making me with roll my eyes at him with a grin of my own. I also caught Angelo and Frank exchanging smirking looks at each other after that. All I could do was silently hope that I am not that painfully obvious that I have a crush on their friend or worse, that they might end up mentioning it to him. Finally, they had everything together and Chris stepped over to the microphone, sending the rest of the band nods to start.

"Okay, so Carina I've heard that you like Eighteen Visions, meaning you're going to love this." Chris informs me. "This song is called The Seventh Circle."

After that they launched into the song and I was surprised by how good they all were, but then I considered that maybe I shouldn't even be surprised they had all clearly put so much time into their craft that their skill seemed almost a given. When they finished the song they put their attention on me.

"So what did you think?" TJ asks with a sure smile.

"You guys are fucking fantastic!" I cheered with total honesty and an excited smile tugging my mouth upwards tightly.

Once they were done thanking me they went on playing another song called Destroying Everything, which was even better than the other one. They continued practicing for a good hour and a half, while I sat there throughly enjoying this sort of private show I was getting. I quickly gathered that these boys were all great friends and that appeared to be what made them mesh so well while playing.

"So Carina, you're from Josh and TJ's school aren't you?" Frank asked while taking a seat at the other end of the couch when they had finished for the day.

I nodded, "Yep, I've only really known TJ until today though."

"So have you heard about the things going on in your part of town?"

I rose a eyebrow asking, "What do you mean?"

"There might be a voyeur at your school." He said with a smirk.

I honestly began to wonder if he was messing with me, but before I could say anything Josh spoke up, "Hey let's not talk about that right now."

"How come?"

He gave Frank a pointed look saying, "Because that's just not something to bring up."

"Why because it happened to you and you're afraid it's going to occur again?" Frank questioned, seeming to have fun with this now.

As I watched Josh's fists bunch up I decided to cut in, "No, it's because he knows that everyone thinks it was me."

Frank laughed loudly at that, "Is it true? Are you two getting some sick kick out of being around each other knowing that?"

I gave him a disgusted look growling, "No, and I never watched him anyway. It's a stupid rumor."

He turned his attention to Josh asking, "Are you sure you believe her?"

"Alright man, cut it out. It's not funny." Angelo adds in looking irritated with his friend.

"No it's fine, I was just leaving anyways." I state, hurrying to my feet and out of the house calling behind me, "It was nice to meet the rest of you."

I heard Josh's voice faintly in the background saying in a sarcastic tone, "Thanks a lot."

"I was just trying to make a joke!"

Not even a second later Josh was rushing out the door as I was preparing to call Craig to come get me. He ran over to my side, appearing to be a mixture of embarrassed and worried.

"You alright?"

I shrugged beginning to walk down the sidewalk, "I'll live."

Josh didn't hesitate to tag along with me, "I'm really sorry about all of that. Frank has a fucked up sense of humor."

"I guess a lot of people do then." I murmur referring to the rest of our classmates.

He waved it off, "Fuck them, you know what's true about you and what's not. In the end isn't that all that should matter?"

I nodded silently in agreement.

"Hey do you need to go home right now?" He asks suddenly.

I shook my head, "Not really, but I should go home before ten."

"Are you totally against hanging out with TJ, Ang, and Chris now?"

"No..."

"Alright, wait here."

"What are we going to do?" I asked as he headed back to the house.

"We're going skate boarding!"