"Mia, wake up."

I groan burying my head farther into my really comfortable pillow. Wait... my pillow is not this soft and warm.

As soon as I come to this realization, I hear and feel Josh chuckle. I scan my memories to try and remember how I ended up sleeping on Josh's shoulder. I had that oh so pleasant arguement with Elizabeth and Alec then he took me home. We then practically inhaled an entire tub of ice cream... then what?

I let out a sigh, opening my eyes and looking up at Josh. "Morning, sleepy head."

"Hey," I mumble, wiping the sleep from my eyes.

"It's time for dinner, so up, up, up." Josh pulls his arm from around me and stands, causing me to fall sideways on the couch. I groan and he chuckles, holding his hand out to me. "Come on."

I place my hand in his and he hoists me up from the couch. I follow him lazily into the dining room and he pulls out a chair for me. I smile at him and sit down as he sits next to me.

"How was school today?" Dad asks, a few minutes into dinner, taking a sip of his water.

I shrug, placing my fork down. "It was fine, I guess."

"What about you, Joshua?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," he replies, glancing at me out of the corner of his eyes as if he's trying to tell me something. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion and he shakes his head.

"And you, Elizabeth? How was your day?"

I look over in shock to see her sitting across the table from me. How in the world did I not notice her? I scan the rest of the people at the table. Nope. No Alec.

"It was good, thanks," she answers, also taking a second to look at me and raises her eyebrows.

Oh. That. The arguement. I guess that could be something that would damper someone's day.

I lower my gaze to my plate and take a bite of my chef's salad. Could this day get anymore awkward?

"Where's Alec?"

Apparently it could.

Everyone turns to look at me, including Lauren. A blush rises to my cheeks as I swallow my food. "I don't know. At home, I'd guess."

Dad doesn't seem to believe me, but thankfully he doesn't ask any other questions.

The rest of dinner passes uneventfully. Lauren and Dad continued to make small talk with all of us, but I avoided speaking as much as I could. As soon as we all finish eating, Dad and Lauren take over clean up and excuse us to go into the living room.

I sit down on the couch in the same spot as before, letting out a sigh. Josh and Elizabeth sit on either side of me and I rest my head on his shoulder again.

"Maybe we should invite Alec over," Josh suggests, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

I wrinkle my nose. "I feel like that would just be really awkward for all of us."

"I think it's a good idea," Elizabeth chimes, pulling out her phone. "I'll text him right now."

I sigh again, but don't make any move to stop her. Josh grabs the remote from the side table and turns on the TV. He flips through different channels until he finds ANW again and settles on that.

"He's on his way," Elizabeth declares, setting her phone down in her lap.

"Does he know to come to my house? Or is he headed to yours?" I ask, looking over at her.

She opens her mouth to respond, but soon closes it, realizing her mistake. She mumbles something under her breath and picks up her phone again.

"He says he doesn't want to come over," Elizabeth whispers so quietly that I almost don't hear her. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths before standing up and walking to the bathroom.

I lock the door behind me before taking out my phone and calling him myself. Not surprisingly, he doesn't answer. I try again. Still no answer. It takes me a few more tries before I come to the conclusion that he really doesn't want to talk to me.

I open a new text message and begin typing. I know I overreacted. I'm sorry. I just want to talk to you to clear some things up. Please call me back.

I send the message and sit down on the rim of the bathtub, waiting for some reply.

Ten minutes pass before someone knocks on the bathroom door.

"Mia? Are you okay?"

I don't respond, still staring at the small device in my hands, willing it to receive a text.

"Mia? Let me in," Josh pleads, but I continue to ignore him.

"Come on, Alec. Text me back," I mutter, spinning the phone around in my hands.

"Mia. Please."

Sighing in defeat, I stand up and open the door for Josh. Wordlessly, he gathers me into a hug and I accept it readily.

"Give him some time. He'll come to," Josh says, softly.

"Promise?" I ask, holding in my tears. This is the first fight that I've had with my friends and I hate it. It's tearing me apart and I have no idea how to deal with anything. Once this is all over and we're friends again - and I sure hope that we are - this is never going to happen again.

Josh nods. "I promise."

I keep my arms around him for a few more minutes, calming myself down.

Then I hear a beep and I'm out if his arms faster than I thought possible. I open the text once I see that it's from Alec.

Leave me alone

Those three words alone cause my heart to shatter. New tears spring into my eyes and I do nothing to stop them. Josh reads the text and pulls me into another hug as I start to sob. I fall to the floor and Josh comes down with me, pulling me into his lap. He starts rocking us back and forth slowly, whispering softly into my ear.

Elizabeth soon appears by my side and strokes my hair soothingly.

After I stop making dying cow sounds, Elizabeth asks a question. "What did he say?"

Josh gives her a warning look as I close my eyes, taking a deep breath. Not wanting to speak I simply point at my phone, holding in the tears as I think about the text again.

Josh wipes my tears away from my cheeks before wrapping both arms around me again, continuing to rock me.

"That unsensitive jerk!" Elizabeth screeches, placing my phone down. "How dare he say that?"

I shake my head, burying it in Josh's neck. "Don't ruin your friendship with him because of me."

"Don't you worry, Mia. He's going to be sorry that he ever sent that text to you," Elizabeth continues, ignoring me. "You ignorant fool, Alec. Do you have any idea of what you just did?... No, don't try to defend yourself... I'm sorry but who's the one here with Mia, trying to calm her down?... Yes she is... Oh don't pretend, Alec... You know what, now you've sickened me too."

The room falls silent after Elizabeth ends the call, all of us taking it in.

"And to think that we already ate all the ice cream," Josh jokes, causing me to laugh slightly.

"Come on, Mia. Let's not focus on him anymore. How about we go watch some movies?" Elizabeth suggests, grabbing my hands and pulling me out of Josh's arms and onto my feet. "Besides, who needs boys?"

I roll my eyes, pulling Josh to his feet before following Elizabeth back into the living room. Of course, at the same time, Dad and Lauren walk in.

They both smile at us, but they drop them as soon as they see my red eyes.

"Mia, what's wrong?" Dad asks, walking up to me and taking my face in his hands.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

He gives me a look of disbelief but drops his hands. "What's going on, Joshua?"

"Um, well," Josh stutters, clearly not prepared for the sudden attention. "It's just some drama with Alec."

"Oh? Do I need to beat him up for you?" Dad asks, looking at me in concern although I can't tell if he's being serious or not.

Lauren places a hand on Dad's shoulder. "Oh let them figure it out, will you? This stuff happens all the time at their age."

Dad glances back and forth between Lauren and me before sighing. "Alright. Don't stay up too late, kids."

I nod. "Okay." Normally I would debate him on this but after today's events I don't think I could stay up very late.

Lauren leaves to go home and Dad retires to his room, silence falling over the house.

"Are you sure you're in the mood for a movie? I don't mind going home if you're tired..." Elizabeth says.

I give her a tired smile. "Thanks, Liz."

She raises an eyebrow at me and I smile back. She hates it when people shorten her name at all, no matter how much easier it would be. She shakes her head. "You're lucky you've had a bad day or else I'd be mad at you."

"I know."

"I'll see both at school tomorrow." And just like that she's gone as well.

"Come on, Mia. Let's get you to bed."

I nod, taking his outstretched hand and letting him guide me to my room. He leads me to my bed and sits me down.

"I'll see you later, Mia. If you need anything just call," Josh says, brushing my hair back from my face.

"Okay," I whisper, laying down, not bothering to change into my pajamas. I close my eyes and sleep immediately starts to pull at me.

As I'm falling to sleep, I feel him kiss the side of my head before I hear my bedroom door close softly.

Updated on my birthday, just as I was hoping to. Hope you all have a good day!

Thanks for reading!