"Look! It's snowing outside!" I yelled, voice a bit confused and disoriented.

I could feel Joshua laughing beside me and turned to stare at him. What the heck was he laughing about?

Pausing mid chuckle, Joshua answered, "No, Jilly, it's not snowing."

"Then, why the hell everything white?" I asked, getting a little pissed off.  Now I was positive that Joshua was pulling my leg.

"Because there's an advertisement taped on to your window," Joshua explained, pulling the piece of paper away from the glass. Sure enough, the streets and buildings of New York came into full view again.

It took us twice as long to get to my apartment. Mostly, the cab ride consisted of me chattering like an idiot and not being able to remember where the hell I lived. The scary part was that in the back of my mind, I realized that I was sounding like my mother.

The words would not stop spilling from my mouth, while Joshua simply smiled and nodded at every stupid thing that came out. The alcohol induced euphoria was beginning to wear off by the time that we got close to my apartment.

 Drowsiness replaced my drunken state. I tried to keep my eyes open, going as far as pulling the lids of my eyes up with my fingers. I made the mistake of turning towards Joshua while I did it, and he couldn't stop laughing. I smiled too, realizing that I liked to make him laugh.

Jesus, I needed to get a grip on myself. I was beginning to feel happy with making Joshua happy. That wasn't healthy, right?

I hated myself when sleep finally won over. I had barely just seen Joshua after a few weeks, and now I couldn't stop myself from closing my eyes. The last thing I remembered was Joshua's voice, telling me that we had finally made it, before my eyes shut and consciousness left me.

________________________________________________________________________

I dug myself deeper and deeper into the spot where Joshua's back met with the mattress. Sighing, I tried to fall back asleep. It didn't work, and when Joshua turned around to wrap his arms around me, I was fully conscious. What the hell was he doing in my bed? Had anything happened?

I started cursing in my head for not being able to remember. A part of me was entirely disappointed for selling myself out so easily. What had happened to respecting myself? Had I gone all the way? 

I had no clue. The warmth and comfort that Joshua's hug provided was making it really hard to think. I had never been this comfortable and I never wanted to get up. I cracked an eye open and investigated my appearance.  I started to lose my shit when I realized that I was in nothing, but my bra and underwear.

"Crap." I whispered, too loudly.

"Good morning to you too." Joshua replied drowsily, shifting a couple of inches away from me to get a better view.

I tried to get myself together, but I couldn't stop noticing that Joshua kept eyeing me. Was he staring at my bed head? I had never cared before, but now I was hating the fact that I usually looked like I had a bird's nest on my head in the mornings.

I tried to smooth the craziness on my head down with my hands, but realized it was no use. I focused my attention on Joshua's bare chest and nearly died. This was not how I was expecting my morning to start off as.

I tried to sprint out of the bed as fast as possible, planning my escape my head before putting it into action. I should have probably thought of a better plan, because instead of quickly standing up and taking the loose bed sheet with me to cover myself up, I ended pulling the sheet but getting it stuck under Joshua's weight and slipping. There was a huge thud, as I face planted the floor in nothing but my panties.

Hating my luck, I turned face up and simply laid on my carpet, staring at the ceiling in frustration. I had lost my dignity at that point. What did it matter if Joshua saw me?

I was started when Joshua's head popped out, so that he could peer at me from on top of the bed.

"You good down there?" He asked. I could tell that he was a little thrown off by my spectacle, but also amused.

"Lovely. Just peachy. Spectacular! Fucking amazing down here!" I answered sarcastically.

Joshua arched a perfect brow, as he continued to stare at me from where he lay.

"So," I awkwardly laughed. "Did anything exciting happen last night?"

Would deflowering me count as 'exciting'? I sure hope so, because I needed answers.

Joshua gave me a fake innocent smile, before answering, "That depends on what you would classify as exciting."

I quickly noticed that the asshole was waiting for me to say it, no matter how awkward it was for me.  What was I supposed to say?

Did you put your willy in Lilly?

I shuddered at just imagining me say that.

"Did we...uh..." I realized that my technique was not working. Joshua was just looking more and more mock confused. I really needed to know the answer.

"Did I do anything I should be ashamed of?" I tried to look down at the floor, afraid of what his response would be.

"Well, you did ask our cab driver if you could pay her in gum. That was actually really funny." Joshua chuckled, probably remembering the incident.

I rolled my eyes at my stupid behavior, but quickly remembered the subject I was on.

"No, I mean...with you?" The room became awfully silent and I could feel my toes curling up in anticipation.

Joshua sighed, "No, Jilly. Nothing happened"

I started to feel the relief running through my body, until it hit me that Joshua had sighed. Why the heck would he sigh? I wasn't going to read into his breathing habits, and decided to get up from the floor. I jumped back on my feet, trying to ignore Joshua's gaze, and dashed towards the bathroom.

It took me a few minutes to get myself back in order, my hair being the most time consuming. I put it up in a messy ponytail and walked back into my bedroom. Joshua was thankfully gone, and I wondered briefly if he was in the kitchen

 My apartment wasn't very big; the only other room left had been Greta's. I sighed at the loss of my friend, as I pulled on a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top. The guy had already seen me in my unmentionables, so it didn't really matter what I wore.

I walked into the kitchen, only to find Joshua in his boxer briefs pulling pots and pans out of my cup boards. What the hell?

Jesus Christ, the guy was cooking in his underwear. Wasn't there some sort of law against that in the food industry?

Joshua noticed that I had made an appearance and quickly turned his attention towards me.

He only smiled, until I found myself being pulled towards him by some invisible string he was pulling. I forgot all about Gola and her threats all over again, when I felt Joshua's arm go around me. I needed to get a grip on myself, but quickly forgot about it when I felt him pull me against one of the counters.

 This was most definitely not the way I had expected my morning to be like. I could have counted the seconds before his lips met mine. There was a small hesitation before I felt my mouth moving against his and his hand on my back.

The kiss was slow and sweet, just like the one the night before. He was a lot taller than me, so I let him lift me onto the counter. I wrapped my own arms around his neck and tried to pull myself closure. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder, because I was actually disappointed when Joshua was the first to pull away. I couldn't believe that I had let that happen a second time.

I ignored the fact that my entire morning was becoming more surreal than a dream, and decided to go in for the kill. I was growing tired of having so many questions and no answers.

Clearing my throat awkwardly, I randomly asked, "Did you and Lanning have an argument last night?"

I guess no one could call me subtle. I had just really needed a diversion between us after a kiss like that.

I saw Joshua open and close his mouth, as if he was about to answer.

"You want to make pancakes?" He asked me, totally avoiding my question and pulling away. I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to get him to talk. He finally sighed before saying, "Jilly, could we at least make some pancakes first?"

I could tell that he was trying to make some puppy dog eyes, and hated myself for melting under the cute look he was giving me.

"Fine." I agreed gruffly, sliding off of the counter and making my way towards the fridge to get the milk.

It didn't take long before we had made a huge mess of my kitchen. It became obvious that Joshua had no clue how to cook when I saw him throw all of the eggs into the blender, without bothering to crack them open.

"You do know that you're supposed to crack those, right?" I wondered out loud.

Joshua gave me the cutest confused look, that I couldn't keep a straight face. I quickly showed him how to crack the eggs. It took him half a carton, but he finally got the hang of it.

I couldn't stop myself from laughing when he asked me if he would put more eggs into the mixture, just so that he could practice. I didn't have the heart to tell him no, so I ended up making twice as much batter.

I was pouring the batter into a bowl at the exact moment that Joshua decided to stick a finger in and leave a trail of batter on my cheek. I mocked a look of utter surprise.

"Run," I told him with narrowed eyes. Joshua ran like a little kid, trying to get out of the kitchen. It was a half effort, because I got to him in no time and poured a large amount on his head.  Thus began the biggest food fight that could ever be possible between two people. It went on for a really long time, until both of us ended up lying on the floor in a pool of pancake batter. It was disgusting, really.

I decided to give my questioning another go.

"So, you want to tell me what happened with Lanning now?" I asked, while making a batter angel with my arms and legs.

"It's kind of a long story..." Joshua tried to shy away from my question, again. Why was he being so reluctant?

"I've got time. I'm practically glued to the floor now that the batter is drying." I tried to lift my leg, seeing the fabric slowly rip from the linoleum as the batter fought to keep both together. Oh yeah, we were definitely stuck.

Joshua sighed, before beginning his story.

Here's the next chapter for you guys :3 I was planning on making this longer, but my mom walked in while I was writing about the pancake batter fight. She wanted to have heart to heart *rolls teenage eyes* and she stayed for like two hours. By the time she left, it was already two in the morning. Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading, commenting, and voting! It's the best :D

Finally, if you didn't get why Lilly wanted to pay the cab driver in gum, check out the video on the right. XD