Crushing on the Wrong Joshua (7 page)

“Video games, the internet, and guitar,” he said.

“Guitar?” Amber asked.

“Yeah, I started playing last year. I'm decent at it, I guess,” Joshua shrugged.

“You have to play for me sometime,” Amber said.

“Okay,” Joshua chuckled, “We can go to my house now if you like.”

Amber blushed. She had never been invited to a guy's house. Her dad wouldn't like the idea, but she wanted to find out if
this
Joshua could really play the guitar.

“I better not,” Amber sighed, “I don't know when my dad's going to pick me up and if I'm not here when he gets here, I'm in for it.”

“Okay,” Joshua shrugged, “What about this weekend?”

“Can I get back to you on that tomorrow?” she asked.

“No,” Joshua laughed.

“That's rude!” Amber said.

“No, you can't get back to me tomorrow, because I won't be at school. My dad's opening another branch of his automotive store and I have to help him set up tomorrow and Thursday,” Joshua chuckled.

“Oh, okay,” Amber said, “I could text you.”

“I don't have a cellphone,” Joshua laughed.

“Really?” Amber asked.

“I washed it in my jeans a few weeks ago and Dad's making me help them setting up shop to earn the money for a new one,” he admitted.

“Sounds fair to me,” Amber nodded.

“I guess so,” Joshua shrugged, “I don't have to see O'Bannon for two days.”

“You might miss the pop quiz,” Amber laughed.

“I can only hope,” Joshua laughed, “Crap, I didn't realize it was already after five. I've got to get home! I'll see you on Friday!”

Amber watched as Joshua pushed open the heavy door with ease and darted away from the building. Once he was out of sight Amber allowed herself to relax. A grin played around her lips and she giggled.

“It's a nice change to feel giddy over someone who actually knows I'm alive,” she laughed.

Chapter Eight

Friday

“My answer is still no, Amber,” her dad said as she walked out the door, “If you want to hang out with this kid, he can come here. You're too young to go to a boy's house alone.”

“What about him? He's not too young to go to a girl's house alone?” she retorted.

“He's not my child,” he said.

“I'm not a kid anymore, Dad, I'm almost sixteen,” Amber sighed.

“I know how old you are,” he sighed, “Amber if he really wants to hang out with you he won't care where it is. If he's not willingly to meet me, you shouldn't even be his friend. It means he has bad intentions. I was a sixteen year old boy once, you know.”

“Yes, I know, Dad, you remember when the leader of your caveman tribe invented the wheel,” she laughed.

“That's the deal, Amber. I'll be home all weekend. If you want to hang out with this
new
Joshua, invite him over,” he said.

“I will, but only if you promise not to mention Joshua Nelson,” Amber sighed.

“Joshua who?” he asked.

“You know who I… Oh, gotcha! Thanks, Dad,” Amber grinned, “I've got to go or I'm going to miss the bus.”

“Have a good day at school,” he called after her.

“You enjoy your day off!” she said, waving goodbye.

Larry idled the bus and waited for Amber to sprint on board.

“Thanks, Larry,” she panted and slid into her seat.

“Not a problem,” he smiled and pulled back onto the street.

Amber's hands trembled as she counted the stops.

Three more to go.

“Will he be back today?”

Two more to go.

“Should I invite him over?”

One more to go.

“Ah, the hell with it. Even if we don't hit it off, I can at least enjoy the music. I want to hear him play.”

Joshua Kirk stepped onto the bus wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. The shirt sported a band logo that Amber didn't recognize.

“Hey,” he said and slid into his own seat, “You ready to get back to me?”

“Umm… Yeah, so my dad, he's, well, epically old fashioned and doesn't think I should be hanging out with gu…people he doesn't know. So if it's okay, could we hang out at my house this weekend. Just so he can meet you and see that you're not a psycho or something. I understand if you don't want to, because that would mean lugging your guitar around and stuff, but...” Amber rambled on, her blush deepening with every word.

“Sounds great,” Joshua said.

“Really?” Amber asked, trying not to sound as surprised as she felt.

“Yeah, I don't want to get you in trouble or anything, so I'll meet him,” Joshua said, “So around noon on Saturday, okay?”

“Yeah, that's fine,” Amber smiled, “See you in math.”

Amber didn't have time to tell Tamara about her weekend plans with Joshua Kirk nor did she have much time to think about them at all. She had a history exam that took the length of the period and Mr. O'Bannon finally sprang his pop quiz, which turned out to be more of a test than a quiz. She even managed to make it through her monologue without missing a single word.

“I think I gave a pretty convincing show, didn't I?” she whispered to Tamara as she walked back to her seat.

“I think so,” Tamara laughed, “Though I always flunk out on monologues, so don't ask me.”

At lunch, Amber had just finished Tamara about her dad's insistence on having Joshua come to their house and was waiting for her response when Joshua claimed one of the empty chairs at their table.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey, Josh,” Amber said.

“So you met Amber in math?” Tamara asked.

Amber slapped her on the arm.

“Ouch! You're going to have to watch out for her. She can be violent,” Tamara laughed.

“I'll show you violent,” Amber laughed and playfully hit her arm again.

“Quit abusing me, BFF,” Tamara laughed.

“Forever is looking shorter and shorter,” Amber grinned.

“Oh, speaking of forever the school newspaper is out today! There's an article about Joshua Nelson and he's such a liar! In the article he says his favorite color is blue!” Tamara said, sliding the paper across the table for Amber to read.

“What?” Amber asked.

“Why do you guys care what his favorite color is?” Joshua asked.

“I don't, not really,” Amber lied, well it was a half lie. Until recently she had cared very much about what his favorite color was. She had forced herself to give up the crush, but couldn't stop herself from reading the article.

“Reporter: So you have a lot of female fans here at school and some of them want to know more about you.

Joshua: Okay, like what?

Reporter: What's your favorite color?

Joshua: My favorite color has always been navy blue.”

“He lied to you!” Amber said, tossing the paper back to Tamara “He's a lying dog!”

“I already told you I didn't think he was telling the truth,” Tamara sighed.

It occurred to Amber Joshua Nelson's lie was exactly the reason her spell hadn't worked. If his favorite color wasn't black!

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”
Amber cursed silently,
“That's what screwed up the spell! That's what went wrong.”

“So Josh,” Amber said trying to sound casual, “What's your favorite color?”

“Black,” he said automatically.

“Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap!”
was all Amber could think,
“He's only paying me so much attention because of the spell! I put his name on the candle and it was his favorite color! What am I going to do?”

“You okay?” Tamara asked.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Amber lied, “Isn't black the absence of color?”

“Only if you want to get technical about it,” Joshua laughed.

The bell rang signaling it was time to head back to class.

“Are you going to the library tonight?” she asked Joshua as they left the cafeteria.

“No, we still have a few more things to finish up at the new store,” he said.

“That's okay, I'll see you tomorrow then,” she grinned and turned into her sixth period English class.

“See you tomorrow,” Joshua called back.

“Yeah, you will,”
Amber thought to herself,
“and hopefully by then I know how to break the spell.”

When the final bell of the day sounded Amber didn't go to her locker. She sprinted past Tamara and headed outside.

“Hurry up!” she bounced on the balls of her feet and muttered to herself, “Hurry up, Dad, hurry up! Please, hurry! I need to get to the library and find out how to fix this! Why did I even do that spell? Now, I've got the wrong guy following me around and I think I'm starting to like him! No!”

“What's wrong with you today, BFF?” Tamara asked and Amber started.

“Nothing,” she spat out, trying to avoid having to explain herself to Tamara.

Tamara arched an eyebrow and put her hand on her hip.

“You wouldn't believe me,” Amber sighed, “Even if I told you, Tamara, you wouldn't believe me.”

“What's going on, girl?” Tamara asked.

“Can you come to the library with me after school?” Amber asked, not wanting to be alone when she confronted the librarian.

That old bat knew more than she was letting on and Amber knew it! She had planted the book on the shelf for her to find and left her to it, to screw up her life even more than it already was.

“Is this about Joshua Nelson, Amber?” Tamara asked, “I thought you were finally moving on from all of that.”

“It's not about Joshua Nelson,” Amber sighed, “It's about Joshua Kirk.”

“Hmm…” Tamara said, “Did he ditch you or something?”

“No,” Amber sighed, “We're hanging out tomorrow, but I'm not sure if I want to. I'm not even sure he really wants to hang out with me for...er...the right reasons.”

“Do you think he's going to try to get into your pants or something?” Tamara asked, arching a lined brow.

“NO!” Amber said, feeling her cheeks turn a bright shade of crimson, “No, no. Just no. I don't think he's like that.”

“Then what other reason could there be that wouldn't be... What did you call it? Right?” Tamara asked.

“Lots of reasons would be the wrong one, but I can't tell you right now. I'll tell you at the library. If I tell you now you won't come with me,” Amber said.

“Why? Are you planning to do something illegal? Are you finally acting out?” Tamara laughed.

“No!” Amber sighed, “It's not illegal, at least I don't think it is. Will you come with me or not?”

“I'll have to ask Mom, but if it's cool with her I'll come along for two reasons. One: You have me intrigued. Two: I think you have finally lost it,” Tamara said.

“I haven't,” Amber said shaking her head.

An hour later Amber and Tamara were huddled together in the back of the library.

“What are you dragging me into dark corners for?” Tamara asked, “Did my BFF turn into a vampire?”

Amber laughed, thankful for now that Tamara never took anything seriously, but finding a good deal and saving money. It was a good thing too, because Amber felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. Things were going downhill fast and she needed to find a foothold.

“You're not going to believe me, but I need you too,” Amber whispered.

“Are you pregnant or something?” Tamara asked, “Has someone hurt you?”

“No,” Amber shook her head, “No, I'm not pregnant and I haven't been hurt, not in the way I think you're referring to anyway. Do you remember how I was really sure that Joshua Nelson was going to ask me to the dance?”

“How could I forget that, girl? Seriously, you made a total fool of yourself at the mall,” Tamara laughed.

“Don't remind me,” Amber groaned.

“It's all good now, right? You're hanging out with that other Joshua and you're over Joshua Nelson.” Tamara said.

“Yeah, sorta,” Amber said and bit her lip, “I think I'm over Joshua Nelson and I have been hanging out with Joshua Kirk.”

“So what's the problem then? BFF are you trying to make a problem where there isn't one again? Like the time you thought your headache was a brain tumor?” Tamara laughed.

“No and that could have been a brain tumor,” Amber said, “But this is a real problem.”