I Am Not Uptight!

The House part 6

A dinner to be held to welcome Josh—once he thought about it during his break times at work, he actually found it to be quite nice of them to do. He had never been one to have a big group of friends. Even at his job, he only had mere acquaintances he talked to out of politeness and fitting into the social norm. During college, he never really had close friends either. The people he hung out with then were just Perry and his group of friends—and he was contented with that. So, this entire dinner thing with a bunch of people just for the sole purpose of getting to know him was a completely foreign occurrence—and despite his initial reluctance due to what he had seen of his housemates by far, he found himself choosing to give them the benefit of a doubt.

Maybe, he thought as he got off the bus onto their neighborhood, they really weren’t as… unpalatable as they initially seemed.

So, despite having two nights with very little sleep plus the simmering unrest from having been broken up with and kicked off his old apartment, Josh straightened his tie and put on a small smile on his face before walking up to the door. He had decided that he was going to try and be friendly, and keep an open mind with these people—even though both were never really his strong suit.

“Joshy!” Gary exclaimed as soon as Josh opened the door, and just like that—at the sound of being called an unwanted nickname—his resolve received a tiny c***k.

Gary sat on the couch next to Dustin, who was too busy doing something on his phone to even look up as he muttered a half-hearted, “Hey,” presumably at Josh.

“Welcome back, Josh!” Daniel popped his head out from the dining room. “Dinner's on its way, but it’ll take a while so you can either have a seat with Dustin and Gary or go and take a bath,” he said before turning to his cousin. “What’s the status on Wells and Jane, Dustin?”

“On their way,” the younger guy simply replied.

Meanwhile, Gary stood up from where he sat and kneeled on the couch which had its back turned towards the door. He placed his elbows on the backrest and excitedly told Josh, “We got McKenna’s again tonight, so settle in if you can’t handle cheese.”

Josh, who had been changing out of his shoes and into his slippers, stopped and stood up straight. McKenna’s—he recognized the name well from just last night. “Pizza for dinner?” he asked, unable to keep himself from frowning as another c***k formed in his resolve.

“Yup,” Daniel nodded with a proud smile, so he didn’t expect it when Josh's face contorted with judgement.

“That’s it?” he couldn’t help but ask. Daniel's eyebrows met in the middle, confused at Josh's lack of enthusiasm, but he nodded in response.

“Yup,” he said.

Josh was quiet for a second as he pursed his lips, deep in thought. Normally, he would let a menial issue like this go since it wasn't worth the energy to argue or be assertive about; but he was tired, sleepy, and his brain was just in a complete disarray. He was looking forward to a proper dinner, and a proper dinner he was going to get. So, after a while, he just shook his head and firmly said, “No.”

Gary gave Daniel a questioning glance before turning back to Josh. “No?” he asked, unsure if he heard or understood him correctly, and whether he should find it funny or not.

“We are not having pizza for dinner,” Josh replied rather passionately as he removed his slippers and took his shoes off the rack. “That’s not a real meal. It’s a snack or party food at best.”

“The Italians would beg to differ,” Dustin said with a smirk, clearly finding it amusing just to add to the flame.

“I'm cooking,” Josh said with finality. “You can choose to eat your pizza or my food, but I’m cooking either way. I already have some ingredients there, so I just need to buy a few more then thirty minutes to cook.”

“But, the pizza—” Gary was about to argue when Daniel stepped out of the dining room and cut him off.

“No, it’s fine. Josh can cook if he wants to,” he said, making Gary give him a look of betrayal while Josh looked at him with surprise. “It’s his welcome dinner and it’s still pretty early in the evening anyway. We can have the pizza for dessert or something. Are we all good?”

“Fine,” Gary grumpy muttered with an eye roll before he sat back down on the couch. “I’ll chat the others about this last minute change of plans.”

Daniel smiled in contentment and turned back to Josh. “Okay, let's go,” he said, walking unprompted towards the door and taking off his slippers.

“You don’t have to come with me, you know.. I can find the market on my own since I passed by it this morning,”

“And pass up the opportunity to have a one-on-one talk with you?” Daniel scoffed as he opened the door wide and politely gestured for Josh to go out first. “After you.”