"Josh!!" I screamed, tears already streaming down my face as I pulled him into a hug like I'd never given before.
"What? Who? How? Wait. Rose? You? Here?" Joshua exclaimed, still obviously confused.
"I'm so glad we finally found you," I managed through sniffles and tears.
"We? Miriam's here?"
"Oh, no. See... I kind of ran off to find you, Travis here, helped."
"That doesn't sound like the Rose I know at all!" he exclaimed, finally releasing me from the tight hold.
He was right. It wasn't the Rose he knew. She'd long been gone, ever since this invisible thing I was certainly going out of my way for people; surprisingly my sister, even. I was stunned in this moment at how self- centered I used to be.
"Why're you here?" he said, bringing me back to reality and the issue in our midst.
"Oh. Yeah!" I said enthusiastically, hesitating briefly before I let out a long stream of tangled words," So Miriam's been really depressed and I was worried and she wouldn't eat and I got worried and well I had to find you. She's been writing sad songs and listening to country. And- And... She missed Olivia too!" I blurted out, not expecting this to come from my mouth since I wasn't even sure I believed it. What if he wanted to bring back Olivia with him to see Miriam and she didn't want to see Olivia?
"Okay, calm down. You're getting yourself worked up again," he said in the slow, sooting voice I knew him to have years ago. "After this class I've got one more. But then we can go eat lunch, catch up a little. Then, I can take you over to my place and you can see Olivia," these last words hit me hard and took the wind out of me. He was living with her? Maybe this mission was a fail.
Travis was still standing off to the side, awkwardly during this whole little reunion. He now stood closely by my side, one of his strong hands in the small of my back. It wasn't an aggressive touch or anything weird, it was more reassuring.
We all agreed to meet at the pancake house right outside the university at 1:00 to have lunch. With Travis's arm now around my waist, we walked outside the building and into the fresh air while a light breeze brushed against our faces.
"I'd say that went well," he said, looking down upon my face since he was quite taller than me.
"No, not at all," I threw back at him, full on sarcasm in my voice. I wouldn't let him know that I was worried about meeting Olivia, he'd tell me not to freak out.
For the remaining two hours until we were to meet up at the pancake house with Josh, Travis and I walked around the campus, talking about nothing but everything at the same time and coming up with various inside jokes, so many that we lost count after five. We also drove around the town a bit. I figured we might want to get to know the area in case they wouldn't come back to California and I had to take Miriam here sometime.
"Table for two?" questioned the middle- aged waiter almost as soon as Travis put his foot through the door.
"No, three please," answered Travis. The waiter grabbed another menu and hastily led us to a booth by the far wall.
"Someone else will be your server," and then the man walked off, almost angrily.
"What's his problem?," I said in a low whisper across the table to Travis as I saw Josh walk through the front door and be escorted to a table by the same angry waiter.
Josh echoed the same thing I'd said only moments earlier and all three of us cracked up as Joshua grabbed his seat next to Travis. I was on one side by myself.
YOU ARE READING
Being Invisible
Teen FictionEveryone's had at least one moment where they've wanted to disappear. One moment in time where they couldn't stand the place they were, the people they were with, or the circumstances they were in. What if you could actually be invisible? My name's...
