Crushing on the Wrong Joshua (12 page)

“Wow,” Joshua said.

“Yeah, they did a really good job,” Amber nodded.

“I usually don't come to dances. Does the gym always look this great?” he asked.

“Most of the time it looks pretty good, but this is the best I've ever seen it. It's freakin' epic!” Amber smiled.

A fast song was playing and Amber prayed that Joshua didn't ask her to dance to it. He came from a musically inclined family, but she didn't. She'd had a few slow dances in her life, but Amber lacked the rhythm to dance to anything like the techno pounding into her ears.

“I hate techno,” Joshua said.

Amber was barely able to hear him over the music.

“Me too,” she agreed.

“Let's get something to drink and try to escape this madness,” Joshua said.

“Agreed,” Amber said and entwined her fingers through his. His palm was warm and soft against hers, making her smile.

“Soda or punch?” Joshua asked, when they found the refreshments table.

“Soda,” Amber said, “My dad's told me too many horror stories to trust the punch at any school dance.”

“Fair enough,” Joshua shrugged, “but you could tell if it was spiked by the smell.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Amber said because she didn't want to have a conversation about date rape drugs at a school function. Maybe Tamara was right and her dad had made her paranoid.

“Do you want to go back outside?” Joshua asked, “We'll still be able to hear the music, but we'll still have our eardrums intact tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Amber said and allowed Joshua to lead her through the throngs of people dancing and standing around talking. She spotted Tamara dancing with Doug in the middle of a crowd of his friends. Tamara was a great dancer, but Amber had to question the crowd she was beginning to hang out with. After all, hadn't she spent years telling Amber she didn't like them? What had changed?

“We're just growing up, I guess,” Amber muttered to herself, thankful the loud music covered her words.

Once outside the doors Amber took a deep breath and gave her mind a moment to recover from the techno she had been forced to endure.

“You gonna be okay?” Joshua asked her.

“Yeah, that was just awful,” she laughed.

“It was,” he agreed, “Now I remember why I never attend school functions.”

“Now I remember why Tamara usually has to drag me to them,” Amber smirked.

“I'm glad you came tonight,” Joshua said.

“So am I,” Amber said.

The techno music faded away and was replaced by a slow song.

“Would you like to dance?” Joshua asked her.

“Out here?” Amber laughed.

“No, on the roof,” Joshua said.

“Now, that would be interesting,” Amber grinned and stepped closer to him.

She rested her hands around his neck, entwining her fingers so that her hands rested at the nape of his neck. Amber blushed when Joshua's hands came to rest on the small of her back.

“I'm a horrible dancer,” she said, trying to distract herself from her racing heart.

“Nah, slow dancing is easy. Believe me, I suck at dancing and even I can slow dance,” Joshua chuckled.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Amber laughed.

“Anytime,” Joshua said.

When the song ended the pair made their way hand-in-hand to a bench by the front doors of the school. Around the curb Amber could smell cigarette smoke and it made her crinkle her nose. She'd never understand how anyone could think smoking was cool. It smelled horrible and made her want to sneeze. She nearly sighed in relief when a breeze blew the scent away from her.

“What are you doing this weekend?” Joshua asked.

“Most likely being grounded over my hair.”

“Oh, I forgot about that,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I hope my dad does too.”

“This is one time when you could use a spell,” Joshua smirked.

“True,” Amber nodded, “but let's not talk about spells right now. We're supposed to be pretending to be normal, remember.”

“Ah, yes. Pretending to be normal. Pretending to be something we are. I should say we're as normal as teenagers can be.”

“Most teens use love spells now?” she joked.

“Ha! You said the bad word this time!”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Although, it's really not a bad word. It just didn't work on the other guy and I'm glad it didn't,” Joshua said, “because then I wouldn't be sitting here with you.”

Amber opened her mouth to speak. She was going to retort that it was just the spell talking, but Joshua put a hand on either side of her face and pressed his lips against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. Her heart raced as her thoughts faded away. Kissing Joshua Kirk felt good. It felt normal.

“I know I'm not under some love spell,” Joshua said when the kiss broke.

“How's that, Josh?” Amber asked, leaning her head on his shoulder and looking up at him.

“Because I liked you before the spell,” Joshua said.

“What?” Amber asked.

“Yeah, I liked you since the first time I saw you at the library. That was like two years ago. I didn't think I had a chance, because you and Tamara were obsessed with the basketball guy,” he shrugged.

“What finally made you decide to talk to me then?” Amber asked, blushing.

“I got tired of waiting around. I figured I'd give it a shot and if it didn't work, well that would be that. I couldn't figure out where else to talk to you so I started riding the bus,” Joshua laughed.

“Why didn't you talk to me at the library?” Amber asked.

“Because it's rude to interrupt someone when they're reading,” Joshua said.

“Truth,” Amber laughed, but knew he was right. If he had interrupted her while she was reading at the library she wouldn't have looked at him twice, “but you have interrupted me while I've been reading.”

“Yeah, but you knew who I was then,” he laughed.

“It's okay. I'll forgive you this time,” Amber laughed and leaned into kiss him again, “Come on, they're playing another slow song. Let's dance inside this time. I need to check on Tamara.”

The dark gym with the glow in the dark shapes faded into the background when they began to dance. Forever was a word far from Amber's mind, but that's what the moment felt like. Forever in bliss, not like the agony akin to Mr. O'Bannon's math class.

“I need to use the restroom,” she said when the song ended, “I'll meet you by the refreshment table when I'm done.”

“Okay,” Joshua said and stole another kiss.

The bathroom was surprisingly empty for a school dance. Normally it was filled with girls crying, giggling, and gossiping. Not to mention complaining about how punch and soda went right through them. A single person stood washing her hands at the sink. She was too old to be a student. Amber guessed she was a parent volunteer.

“Hi, Amber,” the woman said.

Amber turned on her heels and let go of the stall door she had been pulling shut. She hadn't recognized the librarian with her hair down.

“You witch!” Amber said, “You gave me such a hard time! Half the people I know think I'm crazy and the spell didn't even work!”

“But it did work, dear,” she said.

“Um. No, it didn't.”

“Yes, it did. You should have read the warning at the top of the page. 'Magic is often known to take the path of least resistance.'”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Amber asked.

“Meaning it did just that. You used the wrong color candle, but that didn't really matter. The universe saw an opportunity to get someone noticed, which the spell was supposed to do and took it,” she explained.

“Meaning?” Amber asked.

“Basically, the spell's magic knew a Joshua liked you, but
you
hadn't noticed
him.
So it took things in that direction. You could have noticed him and hated him, but instead you noticed him and liked him,” the older woman said.

Amber was about to tell the woman she was full of it when she realized she was now standing in the middle of a crowd of girls gossiping about their dates.

“There you are, Amber,” Tamara said, “I've been looking for you everywhere.”

“We went outside for awhile,” Amber told her.

“That's cool. I know techno wasn't your thing,” Tamara said, “Doug's sort of boring. After the first dance he went off with his friends and left me hanging solo.”

“That sucks!” Amber said.

“Is your evening going better?”

“Actually it is. I've had a lot of fun,” Amber grinned.

“At least one of us has,” Tamara frowned.

“I'm sorry,” Amber said.

“Nah, it's okay. Do you want to go get something to eat before it's time to head home?” Tamara asked.

“You know I'd usually say yes, but I want to spend the rest of the evening with Joshua,” Amber said.

“What happened to sisters before misters?” Tamara asked.

“It's still that way. We'll hangout this weekend, okay?” Amber offered.

“Fine, I think I'm going to see if Mom can go ahead and pick me up then,” Tamara sighed.

“I'll see you later,” Amber hugged her and made her way back to the refreshment table.

“Did Tamara find you?” Joshua asked, “She looked pretty bummed out.”

“Yeah, she's going to go ahead and go home,” Amber nodded, “She wanted to go out to eat, but I told her I'd catch up with her tomorrow.”

“Did you want to hang out with her?”

“Yeah, but I want to hang out with you too,” Amber nodded.

“So go get her. We'll all go get something to eat,” Joshua said, “They're back to their techno torture.”

“Thanks Joshua,” Amber said and ran off to catch Tamara before she called her mom.

“Hey, I talked to Joshua and if you still want to go grab a bite to eat, let's get moving,” Amber said.

“Come on then,” Tamara said and kicked off her shoes, “These heels are killing my toes.”

“That's why I wore flats,” Amber laughed.

“Hey, Tamara!” Doug shouted over the crowd, “Do you and Amber want to come hangout with us?”

“Nah!” Tamara shouted back, “It's my turn to ditch you.”

“Really? Did you tell Amber that Joshua Nelson will be there?” he called back.

“I think you're talking about the wrong Joshua!” Amber said, pushing open the door and stepping out into the warm night air, hand-in-hand with the right Joshua.

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