Mute

16- Pizza and Honesty

As the time gets closer to closing, my hopes in Josh messaging dwindles. This shouldn't upset me. He's a rock star, he's touring with his best friend, he has a life and a million other girls swooning over him. But for some reason it does.

"Penny!" Clara yells from behind the counter. I snap out of my thoughts and look over to her in confusion. "Leave the rest of those albums to tomorrow, let's go get some pizza" Clara orders me. I guess that's one of the benefits of being best friends with your boss. "I think we need to talk" She adds making me wonder what she's meaning. That one sentence never means anything good.

I quickly tidy away what I was doing and follow Clara out of the store. "We're done for the day!" She announces before locking the shop. She's been doing that a lot. I guess she can, but it didn't seem like anyone else was going to come today. Usually, it calms down around 4 o'clock. There's usually not much to do after then.

We reach our favourite pizza restaurant and go find an available seat. "So what's up with you?" She asks instantly snapping out of her work personality into my best friend. I take out my phone and bring up notes. I have a feeling we'll be here for a while.

The waiter quietly walks over to take our order, thankfully changing the subject. Once Clara ordered us a large pizza, she walks off and returns minutes later with glasses of water.

"Well?" Clara says once she's gone. I look at her confused, hoping that she'd drop the topic. "What's on your mind, you were daydreaming basically all day and always checking your phone. 'Just Josh' I simply type and she looks at me wide eyed. "Do you like him!?" She squeaks drawing a few glances of disapproval our way. I shake my head and look away, trying to stop myself from blushing or smiling.

"You do?" She asks again. 'I think so' I type and slide my phone over. "You think so?" Clara looks confused. 'Well it's only been a few days and it could just be overthinking everything because he's famous and attractive' I type honestly. Clara always knows what to do in these situations. She's tried setting me up with many guys before. They usually start out fine but once it starts to get serious they seem to get annoyed with my silence.

"Well, what do you like about him or think you like?" Clara asks being serious but still smiling. 'Well... He's sweet and so kind to basically everyone he meets. He's so polite and doesn't pressure me into trying to speak. Nothing is ever awkward with him, even in conversations, he always makes sure I'm involved so I don't feel left out or uncomfortable. And just the slight compliments or things he says to embarrass himself, he's just straight up adorable' I type quickly, smiling slightly at the thought of Josh.

Clara skim reads the message and looks back over to me. "I don't think this is just a fangirl crush Pen, you wouldn't know all of that if it was" She sighs. 'What do I do?' I type back, she must have something in mind. "Talk to him about it" She suggests and I shake my head, I don't know how I would even start a conversation like that.

"I'll sort it out" She smiles as she sees the pizza on its way. She always finds a way to fix things.

I never even realised I felt that strongly towards Josh, but now that I've told Clara there's no denying it.