The Adventures of Josie

“WHAT?! NO!” Josie yelled when she saw Brian.

“See, I was distracting you so you couldn’t run.” Joe laughed.

“Lets go.” Brian said pulling her arm. He led her back up the ramp and down the path towards the bus stop.

“Mr. K was over there not too long ago.”

“You have to pick up butts again?”

“No.”

“Well, he should be gone by now.” They soon reached the end of the path and could see the bus stop and the surrounding parking lots were deserted. Brian pulled Josie to a bench and sat down while pulling her down with him.

“I’m not gonna run off you know. You don’t have to pull me everywhere.”

“What if I just like touching you?”

“Please stop.” she said and Brian instantly released her arm.

“Not too long ago you didn’t have a problem with me touching you.”

“That was different. You weren’t half dragging me anywhere.”

“Fine I’ll stop taking you places.” he lit the blunt and took a hit.

“You know, thinking about it now, I don’t think I ever just walked next to you. You’re always pulling me.”

“Not always. That night you went to the old dorms with Nick, we walked together.” he said, handing her the blunt.

“Only after I asked you to let me go.” Josie said before taking a hit. Brian shrugged.

“Habits are hard to break.” he said lacing his fingers through hers. “I’ll make you a deal; I’ll try not to pull you around anymore as long as I get to hold your hand when we’re alone.”

“About that… Whats happening?” Josie asked, handing Brian the blunt.

“I don’t know. Its not so bad, right?” Josie couldn’t help noticing how he sounded less than confident. This was a side of Brian she’d never seen before.

“Its not bad at all.” Josie answered. Brian kissed her cheek and passed her the blunt. They smoked the rest in silence and Josie admitted to herself it really wasn’t bad at all. When they were done they walked the long way around the offices and dorms to the smoking section. When they got close Brian released her hand and the game was back on. They each took their seats on their separate benches and Josie wasn’t even sure if she wanted the game to continue. Today had been so different… unreal almost. And what if he was just changing the game? Well, perhaps it had grown a little old. Whatever was happening, Josie was sure she could handle it.


“GOOD MORNING LADIES!”

Josie stretched and got out of bed. She stumbled into the bathroom and came out 20 minutes later, after a freezing cold shower because there was never any hot water in the morning. She got dressed, blow dried her hair, and brushed her teeth before going out, a little later than normal. She pulled open the door and mumbled “what the fuck?” when she saw that it was pouring. Her day was made worse when Brian appeared on her left.

“I brought an umbrella.” Josie wasn’t sure she could handle Brian right now. Of course, he had an umbrella and she didn’t… all Josie had was her just dried hair and a white shirt. Brian put his arm around her and held the umbrella over them while they walked. Brian walked her down to the cafeteria and the entire time Josie had the twilight zone theme playing in her head. When they got into the entrance hallway Brian closed the umbrella and turned to face her. “Brian I don’t think this is a good time or place…” Josie began, backing away when she saw the look in his eyes. She hit a wall and suddenly Brian was in front of her, trapping her against it. “We’re alone. Just give me 10 seconds.” He said, pressing his lips to hers. He ran his fingers through her hair as he licked her bottom lip and Josie got the chills. Sure enough, 10 seconds later he was done and Josie was breathless. “I like your hair down.” he said as they walked towards to cafeteria. Josie said nothing and just went for her coffee. She sat in her usual place and Brian sat in his.

Ten minutes later Lisa joined them and Jay and Chris soon followed. After they were done with breakfast they all went outside and were pleased to see it was only lightly drizzling now. Brian gave the umbrella to Lisa who shared it with Josie while they smoked.

“Mike.” Lisa said.

“What?” Josie asked.

“Pimp hat.” Lisa said, pointing him out.

“Oh. He’s cute but a total asshole.”

“He’s not really an asshole.” Lisa argued.

“You like him.” Josie stated.

“I don’t like him and you just said yourself that he was cute.”

“True, but he was an asshole to me.”

“It was his first day.”

“And you’re in love with him.” Josie taunted.

“I am not. I’m just saying he’s alright.”

“So instead of us standing here talking about him and staring we should invite him over?”

“Yeah.”

“If you want to, go right ahead.”

“Me? No. I can’t.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because I haven’t really ever talked to him.”

“I thought you just said he wasn’t an asshole. If you haven’t talked to him how do you know?”

“Well, I’ve overheard him talking to other people and he didn’t seem like an asshole.”

“You so like him.”

“God Josie, I do not!”

“HEY YOU WITH THE PIMP HAT. COME HERE.” Josie yelled. He again look momentarily surprised but started walking towards them.

“What do you want now?” he asked sternly.

“See? I told you he was an asshole.” she told Lisa. “I was going to try to be nice, again, and introduce myself, again, but again, if you want to be a dick you can go right back over there.” Josie said pointing to where he’d come from.

“I’m Lisa and this is Josie. She isn’t always such a bitch.”

“YEAH ON THE WEEKENDS SHES PRETTY TOLERABLE!” Brian yelled from his bench. Everyone around them looked at Josie and she glared at Brian.

“I’m Mike.” Pimp hat finally said.

Josie, Lisa, and Mike all made small talk thought Josie and Mike never talked directly to each other. Soon, Jackie appeared and it was time for the Monday morning assembly. After the assembly Josie ended up in class with a stressed out teacher. He seemed more nervous about the upcoming GED test than all the students that were taking it. By 3:30 Josie was ready to scream. The minute the bell rang Josie was out the door on her way to the smoking section. Josie lit a cigarette and sat down on a bench.

“Breakfast tomorrow?” Brian asked from the bench opposite hers.

“Sure.” she replied, looking around to make sure none of their friends were nearby.

“Josie don’t worry. No one is going to find out unless one of us tells them, and I’m not telling. Are you?”

“No.”

“Good. I mean, if you’d just ran and told somebody, that would be really immature.” he said, Josie was reminded that Brian was an asshole.

“And nobody likes immaturity.”

“Got that right. Game on.” Brian replied as he saw Chris and Lisa approaching. Lisa joined Josie on the bench while Chris just stood in the middle of the two benches talking about his video game. Jay soon appeared on the bench next to Brian and their daily afternoon ritual continued like normal. At four it was time to go in for the daily mini meetings they had inside the dorms. It was a five minute talk that consisted of nothing important while they handed out mail. After the meeting Josie went to the bus stop. She wasn’t going to smoke, but she wanted to hang out with Joe. Chris and Jay always stayed in the dorms till dinner and all Chris talked about lately was his game and Jackie and Lisa stayed in the dorms too… gossiping about random goings on and talking about hair and stuff. Josie couldn’t deal with that. So here Josie was, waiting for Joe once again.

“Miss Reynolds. Waiting for Joe?”

“You didn’t restrict him to his room again did you? And call me Josie.”

“No I didn’t. But I seem to remember him and Chris talking about a video game.”

“Uh-oh. That can’t be good.”

“Lonely?”

“Everyone is just somewhere else doing stuff. Stuff I either can’t do or stuff I don’t want to do. And here I am at the bus stop, waiting for my last friend and he doesn’t come. I’m not lonely yet. Right now just mostly disappointed.”

“Why not hang out with Brian?”

“No. That’s not an option.”

“Come on, I’ve seen you two.”

“What? When?”

“Yesterday. And this Morning. You’ve never willingly eaten breakfast with Brian until today.”

“Do you think anyone else has noticed?”

“Not yet. Is it serious?”

“Not yet. I’m pretty sure its just a way to pass the time.”

“You’ve got time to pass right now, don’t you?”

“You’re encouraging us?”

“The handbook says no sex. I don’t see any harm in hand holding.”

“Oh god!” Josie exclaimed. Mr. K chuckled softly.

“I’ll see you later Miss Reynolds. If not, good luck with that test tomorrow.”

“I know what you’re thinking Mr. K and the hand holding thing wasn’t my idea-”

“I’m sure it wasn’t.” he said, walking away. “He was on the hill not too long ago. He might still be there.” he called over his shoulder when he was halfway to the office. Josie didn’t really want to see Brian though. Things were different and Josie wasn’t sure if she was comfortable with it. After a few minutes Josie stood and began walking up the hill. Brian was better than nobody.