LOVELY * JOBA

ten.

December 14 / A Walk

"Jobaaaaa!" shouts Matt for the drivers seat. "What are you up to?". Tavia, who is in the front passenger's seat holds her ear in pain, then turns to Matt and shoves his shoulder, "Matt! My ear". I stand before Joba and she looks at me shocked to see that I'm there. "Billie, hey".

Matt stretches his neck out to get a better view of me, "What are you doing here Billie? You're supposed to be at home. And why are you hanging out with Joba?".

"We were just taking a walk. It's fine." I say, embarrassed that Matt is treating me like a ten year old. Seriously I'm only one year younger than he is.

"Joba we need to talk later.", says Matt. Please I hope he doesn't embarrass me or say something about how he shouldn't be talking to me. Matt can be very protective of me. He's my brother, I can't blame him, but he's just annoying.

The back windows roll down and there's two dark-skinned boys sitting in the back. One of them sticks his head out, "Joba! When did you get back man? Who's this?", he asks raising his eyebrow, looking at me.

A grin takes over Joba's face and he approaches the boy giving hime a fist bump, "Kevin, hey! How are you dude?".

"Just a couple days ago. This is Billie". Says Joba putting his hand out in the air towards me.

"My sister.", says Matt, looking back at them, butting into their conversation.

"Hi.", I say shyly.

The other boy in the car, looks out the window and says, "We've missed you! We're glad you decided to come back dude. We really needed you".

"And I'm glad to be back Dom." Says Joba.

"We'll see you around, Jobaaaa" Says Kevin, rolling the window back up.

"Oh and Billie, go home." Says Matt with wide eyes one last time before driving away. Tavia waves bye as rolls her window back up.

Who are these boys and why have I never met them before if their Matt's friends. And how does Joba know them? And why does Matt want to talk to Joba? All these questions make me wonder, who is Joba. Did Matt know him before he moved away?

I look at Joba, puzzled after this little party scene. I ask him, "You know those guys?".

"Yea, we met in the ninth grade, when I used to live here", says Joba as we continue our walk, now back home.

"They seem nice. But I never knew Matt had friends. Or I've never met any of them. He's always out doing god knows what", I say.

"Yea. I couldn't say." Says Joba with a nervous laugh.

"I just think it's weird. Anyways this was fun, I really enjoyed today. Thank you for this". I say hugging him as we reach the front door of my house. He wraps his arms around me and holds me for a second then pulls away.

"Text me okay. I had fun too because you're fun and not a bore.", he says laughing. His laugh is adorable.

"Bye". I go inside and hear some rattling in the kitchen. Matts still out so it must be my parents. I go in the kitchen and my mom is making dinner.

She sees me and greets me, "Hey hon, your dad and I just got back in town about an hour ago. Did you go over to Harrison's today?"

"Matt said you guys were coming back at night. And no, just hung out with a friend", I say that attempting to act casual and hold back my smile.

"Oh really. Who was that at the door hugging you just now?", asks my mom giving me the look that says 'you better not be doing anything with that boy'.

"Like I said, he's just a friend. I'm gonna go to my room now. Byeee", I say escaping this conversation. I don't want to get into this conversation with her. Before I go, i poke my head out from the wall and tell her, "by the way, Matt won't be back till midnight".

"What!??" She yells sounding not happy about that.

I decide to take a nap. But wait. I forgot to give Joba his jacket back. I text him: Thanks for the jacket. I'm sorry I forgot to give it back.

I quickly get a message back saying: It's no problem, Ill swing by for a while later. Matt wanted to talk to me anyways.

Oh right. I forgot about that. I Wonder about what?

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Since I update like three chapters, I'll post on Thursday!! 🤭 Thank you for the reads <333