natalie

"Hi," I responded quietly. I still wasn't in the mood to talk, but I didn't want to be rude after he let Emily come meet them. I decided that I would only talk if he spoke first.

"How'd you like the show?" Josh asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It was great. Everyone was so energetic."

"Yeah, I love performing. I get kinda anxious about it, but it's good to know that people live for such small fractions of their life such as this."

I nodded, looking over at Emily. She was talking to Tyler about how creative and artistic their songs were.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Josh asked. "You seemed really excited to see me, but now you don't seem to be."

"Can we talk somewhere about this...maybe alone?" I asked, keeping the same tone as before.

"Okay." He took my hand and led me even further backstage. We stood outside of Tyler's dressing room. "Can you tell me now?"

"Josh, why would you do that? You know I don't like talking about my dad, but you decided to have Tyler talk about it anyway?"

His eyes widened. "Oh, I thought that you'd—"

"You thought that I'd like it? Why would I like it? I get the idea is nice and all about how you're giving people hope, but you said it was for me, and I didn't need that. My dad has been gone for a while now and I've dealt with it just fine."

Josh reached for my hand. "Natalie, I'm—"

I pushed his hand away. "No! I don't need the comfort! I'm okay, I didn't need that." All of a sudden, tears began to roll down my cheeks. "I didn't need it." I didn't know why I was crying—since there wasn't much of a reason to cry—I couldn't stop it though. The tears just kept falling.

Out of nowhere, Josh wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a hug. "I'm sorry...I didn't expect this reaction."

My face was buried into his chest. I wanted to pull away, but he was so warm and comforting. He let go after a few more seconds and looked back at me. "I'm really sorry."

I wiped the tears off of my cheeks. "It's alright. I shouldn't have acted like it was only for me, anyway. You were just trying to help."

"I was worried about you when you had that nightmare. I thought that little speech would help."

"Why are you so nice to me?" I asked abruptly.

"What?"

"You're so nice to me. You've always been, and I don't deserve it."

"Well I—"

"Hey there you guys are!" Emily shouted from behind me. Tyler followed her.

I turned around and smiled. "Hey, Em. Hi, Tyler."

"Hey, thanks for coming to see us! I never got to thank you earlier." He smiled.

"Oh I was glad I could come. The show was great!" I replied.

"Hey Nat, I think we should head back to the hotel soon." Emily began to yawn. "I'm exhausted."

"I was going to get coffee with Josh—"

"Don't worry about it," Josh interjected. "We'll be here for a few days, so we can go some other time. Now's not really a good time for coffee anyway."

"Okay, that makes sense."

Emily beamed and walked over to Josh, wrapping her arms around him. "Thank you so much for letting me come meet you guys!"

Josh returned the hug, chuckling quietly like he's always done. "You're welcome."

Emily gave Tyler a hug, and thanked him as well, then we walked out of the venue together.

-

"He smells good, and you smell good. A match made in heaven."

"Oh shut up," I chuckled, tossing a pillow at Emily.

"What were you guys doing backstage anyway?" She asked, tossing the pillow back.

"Just talking about the speech thing. He gave me a hug and apologized, which he didn't need to. I think I was just overreacting."

"A little, but he didn't have to say that it was for you, he could've just said it was for the fans."

"Yeah. I think I'm going to turn in for the night."

"Good, I thought you'd never stop talking." Emily joked.

I chuckled, turning off the lamp next to our beds. "Goodnight, Em."

"Goodnight," she whispered.

I turned to the side and stared out of the window. The moon was shining in. I couldn't stop thinking about Josh for some reason. When he hugged me, I felt so safe and comfortable.

I felt so horrible for how I used to treat him. He was always so patient and kind to me, and I just pushed him away. I hoped that being his friend now made up for the past.

My eyes began to grow heavy, and I drifted off into a deep sleep.

-

Natalie: I made it.

Josh: Good, I'm inside, at the very last booth.

I opened the door to the diner and the bell chimed. The podium was empty, and the sign next to it read, "Please Seat Yourself." Josh was sitting at the back of the diner, looking down at his phone. I smiled, walking over to him and sitting.

"Is this seat taken?" I asked, smiling.

"Nope, all yours," he chuckled. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Great. How about you?"

"Not too bad. So, have you ever thought of moving back to Ohio?"

I chuckled. "Why, you miss me?"

"Yeah, we all miss you."

"I do miss your family. I miss when my mom and I used to visit you guys, even though I tried to talk to Ashley and Abigail the entire time."

"If you miss it, you should come back."

"Well I don't want to do that to Emily. California is her home, you know? But I will think about it."

"Cool, because I'd love to see you more often."

Suddenly, the waitress came to our table. "What would you two like to drink?"

"Just coffee please," Josh replied.

"Same with me."

"Alright, I'll be back with the pot." The waitress walked away and Josh and I resumed talking.

"So how do you like touring?"

"It's amazing! Seeing the entire country, and even other countries, is just so cool. Maybe one day, we'll be big enough to see the whole world."

"That would be awesome. Oh, by the way, did you mention yesterday that you get anxious before you perform?"

"All the time. It's really hard to explain. I chose the drums since I didn't have to do much talking." He chuckled nervously.

"Well, if you ever get anxious —even if I'm miles away— just know I'm cheering for you, no matter what."

He smiled. "Thanks, Nat."

I glared at him jokingly. "What was that?"

"Oh! I meant Natalie." He grinned. "Force of habit."

I smirked. "Better."

"Man, I wish I could stay here longer and catch up with you."

"Oh don't worry about it. We can always call each other."

"I know, I'm just really happy to see you, but I'm not going to be here for much longer."

"Well then we just need to make the most of our time." I smiled.

The waitress brought the coffee pot over and poured it into our mugs.

"Thank you," Josh and I said in chorus as she walked to another table.

Josh poured some sugar packets into his coffee and sipped it. "This is good, but nothing compares to The Roosevelt."

I gasped. "Oh my gosh! I remember that place! My mom would never let me get coffee there, so your mom took me whenever you guys went!"

"Yeah! That was pretty fun, except when you tried not to talk to me..."

"I'm sorry about that," I sighed. "I had a lot of trust issues and I wasn't really open to making friends and—"

"It's alright, don't worry about it. I understand." He sipped his coffee again. "That's in the past, and right now, we're buds."

I smiled, taking a sip of coffee. "Yeah."

"So what's it like in L.A.?"

"It's warm," I replied.

"That's it? It's just warm?" He chuckled. "If I get a place here then I'll need something a little more than warm."

"Well I dunno," I chuckled awkwardly. "Emily and I usually just stay in the house unless we have to go to work or get food."

"Aww, you need a little adventure in your life."

"I like my plain little life just fine, thank you very much." I sipped my coffee while glaring at him playfully.

"I could be the adventure in your life," he mumbled under his breath, or so I thought.

I wasn't sure if he said something completely different. "What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing, just complaining about the coffee not being at an up to par with The Roosevelt."

"Oh," I chuckled. "So what's it like being on the road all the time?"

"It's fun. I spend time with Mark, our manager, and Tyler in the bus. Sometimes Jenna comes too."

"Who's Jenna?"

"Oh that's Tyler's girlfriend. She's really special to him."

"Why can't your girlfriend come on the road? Just not enough room?"

"Oh, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Wait what? Really?"

"Yep."

"Wow. I expected that the charming drummer of a band on the rise would have a girlfriend."

He smiled at me for a second, but then proceeded to speak. "Nah, not yet. I'm waiting patiently for the right person to come along."

"I'm with you on that one."

Josh and I continued talking for twenty more minutes, then he insisted that he paid the check. Afterward, we walked out of the little coffee shop together and stopped at my temporary car.

"So what do you think?" He asked, "you think I should get a place in Los Angeles?"

"Well I'm pretty biased but, um, yes. Houses down here tend to be pretty expensive, so you should make sure you know what you want."

"Yeah, I probably wouldn't stay there as often as I would stay back at home, but I'll think about it the next time I go there."

"Okay, sounds good."

"Well, I guess this is it. We'll be going back to just phone calls and text messages, huh?"

"Oh, please don't make it sound like you won't be coming back."

"Well, I won't be back for a while, that's for sure." He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me the same way that he did two days ago.

I returned the hug, saying, "thank you for being so forgiving, and thanks for hanging out with me."

"Anytime." He let go of me, and opened my car door for me.

"Wow, such a gentleman," I said as I sat in my car, fanning my face with my hand.

He chuckled. "I hope I can see you again soon, Natalie."

"Please, call me Nat." I smiled. "Now get outta here, you have people waiting for you, unlike me."

"I bet you Emily is waiting for you."

"Touché, I'll talk to you later, Josh."

"Alright, goodbye." He smiled as he walked away.

I shut the car door and drove back to the hotel. And as Josh predicted, Emily was waiting at the door for me.

"How was it?" She asked. "Give me every detail."

"It was just coffee, Em." I replied, setting the keys down onto one of the accent tables.

"Did he pay the check? That automatically makes it a date."

"Just because he paid the check doesn't mean—"

"It means that he is a kind and generous person."

"Yes, he is. I've known that, but that doesn't mean we need to be together. We talked about it there. He said he's waiting for the right person."

"Natalie, I don't think you realize how many girls would throw themselves at him if they had the chance."

"I do realize, but with us, it isn't like that. Besides, I live here, and he lives across the country. He also travels to different states and countries. He's going to find somebody."

"What if he isn't looking for someone? What if he was just staring at her thirty minutes ago?"

"You are so persistent in this happening, but it probably never will."

"Alright, I get you don't want to talk about it."

I sighed in relief. "Thank you."

"But he is pretty cute, and that's coming from me."

I chuckled. "Just friends."

"Okay, we'll see."

Hey I haven't updated in like years I'm so sorry. I'll try to get back to writing because I really like this one. Also I'm thinking of re-naming this, because the current title is boring. I'm thinking "'Just Friends'" but what do you think I should re-name it to? Okay have a nice day, and don't do drugs.