My Blood: joshler

Chapter Twenty-One: Josh // we won't abandon you

Chapter Twenty-One: Third Person POV

Josh:

"Guys, we have to celebrate! The Millers would come and the Blue's too and we'll have a nice dinner down by that restaurant by the beach in the evening and we can talk and sing serenades and stuff" Laura was already getting excited it seemed and at this point, Josh could do nothing to stop her.

"Mom, calm down. It's not a baby shower" he told her, barely paying attention to her ranting as he was busy texting Tyler. The boy was out with Violet doing some paint shopping.

"I think your mother's right, Josh. You just finished an entire year for God sakes. You've got three years and you'll be on your own working" Chris chipped in which resulted in Josh dropping his phone to look at his step dad.

"I'm already working" he said.

"That's not a professional job, kid. You're going to be working in a hospital, curing people and stuff. It's going to be different because a lot of lives would be in your hands then" Chris smiled.

"A lot of lives are in my hands now. One single loose screw in a tire could result in many accidents, Chris. You can't glorify a job over the other. A doctor needs to save lives but that doesn't mean a mechanical job is less important. Heck, even people working at Starbucks have lives in their hands. Food poisoning, let me remind you. And strippers as well. If they aren't clean, they could transmit some disease to their client and boom, death. So every job is important. You can't tell me mine is more professional just because I studied for it" Josh shrugged and as if he hadn't said anything, went back to texting Tyler.

Chris looked at Laura with a guilty expression but she only shrugged him off, telling him telepathically that it was okay and Josh was defensive like that sometimes even when the opposite party meant no harm.

Chris nodded but didn't say another word. He felt like he wasn't doing the whole father figure thing right and sometimes, he felt like Josh hated him.

"So dinner or not?" Laura asked.

Josh looked at his mother and he knew she wasn't going to drop it so he sighed.

"Dinner" he said.

It was at six in the evening when everybody arrived at the reserved spot in the restaurant, outside near the rocks which kind of kept them hidden.

The Blue's and The Millers - including Kenny and Cris, had already arrived. There was slow music playing in the background from Tyler's speakers.

They wore casuals but Tyler looked stunning his light blue skinny jeans, multi coloured sweater and a black Nike. While Violet was dressed in a beautiful turquoise fluffy dress with black lace sandals and a jean jacket and Liam was dressed in black jeans and a white button up with a coat.

Josh himself was simply dressed in Blue Jeans and a grey tee with a coat over it. Basically, no one wanted to die from hypothermia.

"Whoop, celebration dinner is the best. My parents and used to do it whenever I-" Liam stopped himself from talking and he looked down with a sad smile, "Never mind" he laughed it off.

Josh pat his back before looking through his menu. When everyone had placed their orders, they began talking.

The Christmas spirit was hanging in the air and everyone was just exceptionally happy, well other than Liam who hadn't touched and peck of his food. Josh's brows were furrowed when he noticed and he shoved Liam a bit and then nodded his head towards Liam's untouched plate but Liam just shrugged, not even looking like he was enjoying the dinner.

"Hey, can Liam and I be excused?" Josh asked, wiping the side of his mouth with a napkin and dropping it on the table.

"Sure, honey. Just be back in time for desert. Lily is also going to teach us one of her favourite game, spoons" Laura excused him.

"Sure" Josh said and dragged Liam from beside him, ignoring Tyler's worried look as they went into the restaurant and into the male restroom.

"Spill" he said.

"Well" Liam shrugged, "It's just that everyone's parents are here, you know. Trevor, Amelia, Lily, Cash, your mom and Chris and I just kinda miss my parents, that's all. We used to have celebratory dinner for the slightest things - like if I learn a new skill or something. I just never expected they'd turn out to be the homophobic people they were. I mean, I had such high hopes and trust in them that they wouldn't judge me but that's what they ended up doing"

Liam wasn't crying, in fact, he didn't think he could cry any more because of how much he'd been doing it lately but he felt truly sad and tired and just unhappy, like he couldn't bother with anything anymore.

Liam was depressed.

Josh opened his arms and brought his friend into a hug.

"It's okay, Li. I can't say I understand what you're going through because we've all got our different levels of pain, that doesn't make yours less painful though. It's okay because I'm here - we all are. You've got a new family now, Li. And I know you've been struggling with fitting in and you don't feel the most comfortable but that's okay. You don't need to trust us now because I know you're not ready for that but I just want you to know that we won't abandon you, Li. We love you. You're loved" Josh whispered, rocking Liam slowly.

And of course Liam wasn't okay right away but now, he knew he'd be. Because he had a new family.

And so went the night with laughs and food and games and tears - mostly from Kenny and Cris, and congrats to Josh from everyone around the table and it was truly a night to remember.

They'd found love in their small circle of friends.

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Shitty. Sorry for not updating and sorry for the mistakes.