My Brother's Best Friend: a Josh Richards FanFiction -complete-

Part 10: The Letter

"I hope that we can still be friends, Bailey. Josh and Bryce have both told me so many amazing things about you. Can you promise me one thing?" she asked, standing up from the table. "Promise me that you'll take good care of him?"
I nodded, and she headed towards the bathroom. I rested my head in my hands. This is the exact opposite of how I expected this to go. I expected a little yelling, maybe a 'stay away from my boyfriend,' at least one threat, but instead, I got her permission to break the two of them up. People in LA were weird.

We finished our meal and drove back to Sway in complete silence. As Nessa pulled into the driveway, she turned to look at me. "I'll see you around, Bailey. Reach out if you need anything."
I nodded, getting out of the car and watching as she drove away. When I went inside, Bryce was waiting at the kitchen table. "She didn't want to come in and see Josh? That's weird."
I sat across from him. "Bubba, she told me that I could have him."
Bryce spit out the water that he had just taken a sip of. "What the hell are you talking about?"
I gave a quick recap of the events of our lunch. Bryce looked at me in complete disbelief. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do, Bryce."
Bryce shrugged. "You could start with giving him that letter."

I sighed and walked slowly up the stairs, dreading everything that was about to happen. I knocked softly on the door, and Josh swung it open quickly. "Hey, Bails. What's up?"
"I just had lunch with Nessa," I began, gathering a strange look on his face. "She asked me to give this to you." I handed it to him and turned to walk away.
He reached his hand out to stop me. "No, please stay."
I stood awkwardly in the doorway as he scanned the letter. He read it once, and his hands trembled as he read it again. When he read it for a third time, he picked out key phrases. "'If you love someone,eat them go?' 'Your heart hasn't been in our relationship for a long time?' Did she explain this to you?"
I couldn't lie to him. "Kind of."
"What the hell does it mean?" he asked, as he started to pace his bedroom floor.
I shrugged. "I'm just as confused as you are, Josh. She said that she needed to let you have what she knew you wanted."
"You. She wants me to have you," he whispered, the realization hitting him like a ton of bricks.
"I'm gonna go," I said, beginning to pull the door shut behind me. Josh didn't stop me.

When I got back downstairs, Jaden and Blake had joined Bryce at the table. "What's the tea, sis?" Blake asked, laughing.
"Bryce already filled you in, don't even play that shit with me," I said, grabbing a water from the fridge before sitting back down.
"What did Josh say?" Jaden asked.
I shrugged. "He was confused. When he finally understood it, I left the room."
The boys all looked at each other. "What does this mean?" Blake finally asked.
"Don't you think that if I knew, I wouldn't be sitting down here with the three of you, wishing that this was vodka instead of water?"
Bryce laughed. "Now who's the alcoholic?"
I glared at him. "Don't start with me. I don't drink for fun. I drink to numb the pain."

We sat in silence for a little while before Jaden spoke up. "Why don't we go to dinner? All of our girlfriends are hanging out together, and no one else is home except Josh. My treat."
Blake jumped up. "Free dinner? Say less."
Bryce looked at me. "Who's gonna go up and invite Josh?"
I shook my head. "One of you three can. I'm not opening that can of worms right now."
Jaden got up, offering to go get Josh.

We all piled into Bryce's car. The ride was silent. I couldn't focus on anything other than the fact that Josh's thigh was pushed against mine. What did Nessa's letter mean for the two of us?
We arrived at BOA and were seated quickly. I heard someone yelling at us as we walked past. "Oh, so she wants the whole crew?" My face flushed red, and Josh pulled my hand into his to comfort me.
As we ate, it was almost as if the last few days hadn't happened. We talked and joked amongst ourselves, but Bryce could tell that there was something that I couldn't get my mind off of.
"What's wrong, Bails?" he asked, interrupting the conversation that was already taking place.
"You didn't hear those people as we walked in?" I asked. "Tiktokroom kind of made me look like a whore, and going out with four of the guys I live with doesn't make it look much better."