Josh's POV
When I wake up Lauren is already gone. She went on a shopping thing with Jen. I just wander around the house not really doing anything for about an hour. I decide to go visit Liam.
When I get there I forget to knock and I just walk in. He's in the living room looking over his script for Mockingjay.
He looks up and lays his script down. I set in the chair across from the couch.
"What's up?" I ask
"Just going over this script. It's boring with out you there." He says with a laugh. I laugh too.
"Yeah I'll be back in a few weeks." I assure him.
"So how are things with you and Lauren?" He asks
"Pretty good. We made up last night."
He makes a weird face. Like he's upset, mad, and disgusted. Then I realize what I said could come off wrong.
"Not in the way you're probably thinking. We just talked." I say
His face relaxes and he nods. "Not really any of my business anyway."
"Not really. But I mean your are our friends and I see how hard it is for you, and Lauren." I admit.
"You do?"
"Yeah. I still have feelings for Vanessa and that's what got us into this mess."
"Did Lauren tell you what happened?" He asks he looks down at the floor.
"About the kiss between you guys?" I ask, he nods slightly.
"Yeah we talked about it." I say
"Do you hate me?"
"If I did I wouldn't be here. I couldn't get mad about it anyway. I did the same thing and I know how hard it is for her."
"Why do you think she has feelings for me?" He asks
"I don't know she just does. Like Vanessa does with me." When I say Vanessa Liam starts laughing. "what's funny?" I ask.
"Well, Lauren had a 'talk' with Vanessa yesterday."
"What do you mean?"
"She left here and went over to the set and started yelling at Vanessa and Vanessa was yelling back so Lauren dumped coffee all over her."
"Oh shit."
"Yeah"
"So Lauren stayed with you while I was gone?" I ask
Liam looks uncomfortable. He nods and says "Yeah but that's not when anything happened. She just came over and was upset and I told her she could stay and I slept on the floor."
"Thank you."
"Yeah"
"What's it like for you? To like her but not being able to be with her?"
"Uhm..well I mean when we're alone I really want to be with her and to be able to make her happy but I didn't really do that the first time, I mean I know she was upset about not being with you, but still. But when I see you and her together I'm not jealous or anything. I'm genuinely happy for both of you." He says
"Thanks Liam."
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I left a couple hours later after playing some video games and hanging out. I was going to go back to the house and wait for Lauren but there's someone else I need to talk to. Vanessa.
I make my way to her house but I see her setting outside an Internet café. I park across the street and walk over to her and sit down.
"What's up?" I ask
She looks up from her phone at me.
"Nothing. You're not here to throw coffee on me too are you? Are you going to blame for you kissing me too?" She asks and rolls her eyes.
"Neither."
"Then why are you here. To kiss me again?" She says with a wink. Why does she have to be so cute and so damn irritating?
"No. That was a mistake." I say
"Oh please. Are you going to give me the 'it's not you its me speech'? I might throw up."
"No. Because it's neither of us. It's her. She is mine. I don't want any one else. I want me and you to be friends. Nothing more. That's why we broke up and that's why we should stay that way. We're better friends. Whatever feelings we still have for each other need to get out of the way. I need to focus on my relationship and if our feelings for each other are going to get in the way then I don't want to see you anymore then I have to. I'm choosing her. I choose her over everyone and I'm never going to hurt her again. Now you can either support me on this or we can not be friends." I tell her.
We set in silence for a few minutes. She's actually glaring at me. I'm about to say forget it and just leave but then she stops glaring and starts nodding her head.
"Okay. I'm sorry. About everything. I'd like to be friends." She says.
"Thanks so much Vanessa." I say. I stand up and we hug before I say goodbye.
When I get back to my car I have a text from Lauren that says she's home. I pick up some Chinese food and a pizza and a couple movies for us to watch. I know how much she loves Disney movies so I get her favorites, Mulan and Lilo and Stitch.
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When I get back to the house I carry all the stuff in and set it on the coffee table. Lauren is upstairs sitting on my bed. She's looking at a magazine.
"Hey baby." I say walking to my closet. She waves and goes about reading. I take a quick shower and change into basketball shorts and a t-shirt.
When I walk back into my room Lauren is laying on her back, her hands covering her face. I sit beside her and run my fingers through her hair. She rolls over out of my reach.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
She stretches her arm out and grabs the magazine she was reading off the nightstand and throws it at me, then covers her face again. On the front cover is a picture of me hugging Vanessa. I flip to the page that the story is on. There's another picture of me talking to Vanessa and a picture of Lauren kissing Liam.
"Lauren." I say but she doesn't move.
I read what the magazine says. It talks about how we broke up before and she got with Liam and I got back together with Vanessa and that everyone is wondering if that happened again. With the pictures in the magazine it's a very big possibility.
"Lauren look at me." She finally moves her hand and sits up. She looks at me. "is this when you kissed Liam a few days ago?" I ask. She nods. "Okay. Well today I went and talked to Vanessa. She said she was sorry and that she wants to be friends. That was just a friendly hug. Magazines do this all the time. When I go to my interview tomorrow they'll ask me about this and I'll clear it all up. Alright?"
"Okay." She says.
"Now, I have some Chinese and pizza and some Disney movies for us to watch." I say
"You're the best boyfriend ever." She says.
I pick her up bridal style and carry her down stairs and set her on the couch. We watch Mulan first. She quotes most of it.
"Dishonor to your whole family, dishonor to your cow, dishonor to you" she quotes Mushu from Mulan. I laugh. "It's not even a cow!" She says laughing.
I watch her most of the time. She laughs and quotes the movies and cries during the sad parts and laughs at the funny parts. She's like a kid watching these movies. It's adorable. And she's all mine.
