"where is she?" josh asks. his voice booming off of the walls in the foyer.
upstairs in josh and jadens room, mads shares an exaggerated look with jaden who sits across the room on josh's bed. his phone in his hands.
"guess josh is back" he sighs through his nose, making an attempt to stand up.
nessa follows closely behind him, mads next to her as they leave the bedroom, making their way downstairs.
the boys crowd around josh. he's much calmer now but looks pretty beat up. when she makes it down the stairs, nessa wastes no time in rushing over to him.
josh turns his head just in time to see her making her way over to him. he can't help but smile as he opens his arms as an invitation for her to hug him. she accepts quickly and for the first time, they hug. nessa always pictured the first time she'd meet josh differently but apparently this was the way it's supposed to be.
"we're going to play smash bros, get cleaned up and then we'll talk" griffin announces, the boys already scattering into a different room.
"oh! nice to meet you nessa" bryce grins, waving a little. she breaks away from her hug with josh to smile at the tall boy.
nessa's eyes look up at josh's bloody face. the cuts and bruises making her wince. she needs to get him fixed up.
"uh mads, do the boys have a first aid box?" she asks, her hands still placed softly on either side of josh's beat up face. she holds it delicately as if he were a fragile object that she's fearful of breaking.
mads stops in her tracks, thinking momentarily, her hand still intertwined with jadens. "second bathroom on your left" she points down the hallway.
nessa nods in appreciation before taking josh's hand in her own, not thinking too much about it. josh however can't help but stare at their entangled hands as he is dragged down the hallway. nessa may be small but she's freakishly strong. she opens up the bathroom door, her free hand finding the light switch and turning it on.
"sit" she says, patting the counter.
josh effortlessly lifts himself up onto it, his hands resting on either side of him. nessa kneels down on the floor, opening the cabinet under the sink and reaching in to retrieve the green box with a large white cross on it.
she takes out an alcohol wipe, holding it up to josh's face, her eyes overflowing with a pool of worry. josh notices her hesitation. she doesn't want to hurt him.
"this uh, might sting a little" she whispers loud enough, moving the wipe gingerly across his cheek.
"oww" josh winces, instantly laughing when nessa jumps back from him, startled.
"joshua! do not do that. you had me worried" she sighs, slapping his arm.
josh licks his lips, an uncontrollable smile on them.
after she finishes wiping away the blood and putting a bandaid on the cut across his left cheek, she puts the first aid box away.
there's a silence between them as everything that happened tonight goes un spoke about.
"he was being a dick to this random girl and turned on me when i told him to leave her alone. he swung first so he wasn't a liberty. it was self defence okay? i don't usually go around hitting people and i don't do it unless i have to" josh explains himself, his eyes looking at the floor, afraid that if he looks her in the eyes he'll crumble.
nessa joins him on the counter, her legs dangling due to her small height. she leans her head on his shoulder, letting out a sigh.
"i didn't want you to worry. i thought you'd blame yourself for the hate page so distancing myself and ghosting you was the only way i knew how to keep you from getting hurt or hating yourself" she confesses, her heart racing.
josh shakes his head, slipping off of the counter. he stands in front of nessa, a bewildered look on his face.
"why couldn't you have just told me that? i would have understood. i didn't like being ignored for a whole ass two weeks. i thought we were friends. i missed not talking to you or facetiming you and making stupid jokes that nobody except us finds funny".
nessa chuckles.
"i'm sorry. forgive me?" she questions.
josh pretends to think about it momentarily. he nods after a few seconds. putting her mind at ease.
"so friends?" he asks.
"best friends" she responds, pulling him in for another hug. josh wraps his arms around her waist pulling her off of the counter and spinning them both around. she shreiks as she's being spun around, both of them laughing.
tonight may have started out rocky but she's glad that it's ended on a high.
__________________
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
tiktokroom ooop #nessabarrett tweets this out🤭 looks like her and josh are friends again and she's staying at sway house? what are y'all thoughts🤔 liked by samhurley, mishkasilva, and others cynthiaparkerrrr i ship madslewis i agree w @/ cynthiaparkerrrr user293 nessa reall is y/n huh? user3894 check dms pls!!! user983 i love this friendship ngl [liked by joshrichards] user4727 lily chee punching the air rn joshrichards i do wear a face mask better than u don't i? ↳ nessabarrett 🙄
