Coming Home (Complete)

Prom?

That summer was the best summer that they could have spent together. They spent almost every day together and Josh was determined to help Lindsey regain her confidence. He was happy to see his best friend glowing again. There was only one week they spent apart and that was due to her cousin taking her for a week to her place, about 16 hours away, driving.

They texted constantly, never putting their phones down. They talked every night when they were not together. He was falling hard for her, but something inside him kept it a secret. He wanted nothing but happiness for her.

When she came back from her cousin's house, it was the last day of summer. Her parents picked her up from the airport and the first thing she wanted to do was see Josh. Her parents convinced her that she would see him tomorrow and that they wanted to spend time with their senior before school started. Her and her parents were eating dinner, laughing at the jokes that her and her siblings were saying to each other. She was telling everyone what they did when she was down there when her phone went off. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and smiled to see that it was Josh.

*Hey, you busy?

*Yeah, eating dinner, then I am going to head to bed so I can be well rested tomorrow.

*Can I stop by before you head to bed?

*Sure, I don’t see why not. 8pm?

*Yeah, I’ll be there.

She tucked her phone away and went back to finish her dinner with a huge smile on her face.

“So, honey.” Her mother started. “Is this going to be the year?”

“What are you talking about mom?” she looked at her mother with confusion.

“You and Josh!”

“Oh my gosh! Mom! No! We are just best friends.”

“Everyone can see that you two are meant to be with each other. He loves you and you can’t even see it.” Lindsey just looked at her plate and smiled. Does he really love her? He has always been there for her, through her worst and best times. He had always been her biggest supporter and she had always been there for him, through everything that life had thrown at him. She let her mom's words sink in and soon, that was all she could think about.

That night, Josh came by and let her know that he was there. He was sitting on the swing. She went outside and smiled at him and instantly went over and hugged him.

"I missed you.” She smiled into his chest. He rested his head on hers and kissed the top.

“I missed you more.” They pulled away from each other and sat down on the swing, looking up at the stars. “Tomorrow starts the last year of high school. You excited?”

“You have no idea! I want to do everything! And now that Kevin is gone, I am not so afraid anymore.” She smiled at him. “And I have you to thank for that. Thank you for protecting me and helping me. I don’t know what would have happened if you weren’t there to save me.”

“I will always be here for you Lindz. That is a promise and it’s a promise I know I can keep.”

“I know.” They cuddled a little bit on the swing and looked up to the stars one last time before it was time for her to go back inside to get some sleep for school.

Their senior went by quickly. He was voted MVP for football. She helped lead her volleyball team to the state championships. They did all the senior activities together and had all the same classes. Soon, spring came, and it was time to get ready for the parade band along with senior ball.

“Ugh! I cannot get this!” Josh put his sticks in the snare drum holder with frustration. “Why did they have to pick this song for the parade? It’s harder than all the other ones we’ve done.”

“No, it’s not.” Lindsey laughed. “You just haven’t been practicing.”

“Neither have you. You basically gave up on the whole band thing and are just here for the trips and stuff.” He laughed. He wasn’t wrong. She stopped going to her lessons and was just there because all her friends were there, and they took trips all the time. She was doing enough to just get by. “Can you help me get this memorized?” he asked her.

“You cannot be serious right now? I am the worst person to ask.” He gave her the puppy dog eyes, those irresistible puppy dog eyes. “Ugh! Fine.” And with that, they started to spend even more time together, if that was even possible.

“So, there was something I needed to talk to you about.” Josh said, trying to memorize more. She looked at him quickly before pointing to the sheet music where he needed to start. “Did you know that people are voting for us for prom king and queen?” She burst out laughing. Tears were flowing.

“I’m sorry, that’s funny. They do know that we are not dating, right?"

"It is, but I guess they don’t care.” They laughed. They practiced some more until they heard the doors open to the band room.

They both paused and looked up to see it was one of their classmates. He wasn’t in band, so it was weird seeing him there. Matt slowly approached them, hands in pocket. Matt was on the baseball team with Josh. Lindsey knew about him, and how nice he was to everyone. He was on the quiet side, but that added to his mystery. He might have been nice, but he never really talked or hung around anyone. He kept to himself. His dark hair and blue eyes popped, and his smile was to die for.

“Hey guys.” He said, looking at both Josh and Lindsey.

“Hey.” They both said, respectively.

“Can I talk to Lindsey really quick, it won’t take anything but a minute, kind of important.” She looked over at Josh and he nodded. She walked over to him, and Josh was watching intently while they were talking, laughing and smiling. He knew that Matt was a good guy, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t want to stop their conversation. He was becoming jealous. Josh was wondering what they could be talking about and all of a sudden, he saw her hug him and he hugged her back. Something deep inside, he knew that he had just asked her to prom. He wanted to go with his best friend. They never talked about it, he just assumed, and now it was too late.

She walked back to Josh with a huge smile on his face. He looked at her and faked one back.

“So, what was that about?” he asked her.

“He asked me to prom!” she said, all giddy.

“That’s great!” he smiled at her, hiding his disappointment.

“I know. I can’t believe it. I thought he didn’t know who I was! Now all we need is to get you a date and we can all go together!”

“Nah, I’m good.” They went silent. She was wondering why he was acting like that. Why was he being so weird about prom? Is it because Matt asked her? If he wanted to take her, then why didn't he ask her? All these questions and more kept running through her mind.

He couldn't help but feel a pinch of disappointment. Why did he assume that they would go together? He knew he needed to change the subject before it got even more awkward.

"So...what schools did you apply to again?" he said, not looking at her. He just didn't want to talk about prom anymore.