Summary: What happens when Josh has a rough day? Who's there to help him? What happens? Read to find out. R&R please!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Clique, Anna Ayers' Manhattan, Pocahontas, Disney, Aladdin, Mulan, Dance Moms, or the Cheetah Girls.
A/N: Yes, I'm finally back here! Enjoy people!
Narrator POV
Joshua Hotz was sitting in his room. It was just past five pm, and it was six days after the annual Christmas Day Dinner he spent with his mother's relatives somewhere in Pennsylvania. He remembered what he had to endure during the table's conversation.
FLASHBACKJosh had been seated next to his mother for the evening meal. The topic of discussion had recently turned from his dad recently divorcing his mother, to if they were going to move from Westchester to this dinky town he didn't even bother to remember the name of.
"We might just have to; what with the financial situation and everything, it's been harder to pay for Josh's schooling, soccer, and whatever else he does. His dad doesn't help anymore. I know I have a good paying job, but it's all the other stuff too." his mom said to his uncle Jerald.
"But what about Josh?" his uncle asked.
"I don't know; it's going to be a stretch if we leave in April, much less the end of the school year," Ana Hotz-now Lopez- said.
Had Josh realized the eighty percent chance was gone, it had now gone up to ninety percent. He looked down at his plate and tried to finish his dinner. His grandmother looked at him with worry.
"Nieto*, are you alright?" his grandmother asked.
"Sí, abeulita*, just fine." Josh answered.
Josh, having finished his dinner, asked to go to his room.
"Abuelito, me permite el dormitorio, por favor*?" Josh asked.
"Sí, Sí.*" His grandfather looked concerned.
"Buenas noches, gracias*." Josh mumbled to all of his relatives.
END FLASHBACK
Josh and Alicia hadn't texted each other. Well, Alicia had, but Josh didn't reply. He didn't want anyone to try and 'help' him. He was sick of that. What would happen, Josh realized, is that he'd leave everything behind, and, that suddenly, Derrick or Cam would become the new Josh (just without the Spanish and total romantic cliché) and that he, Joshua Antonio Hotz, would be nothing but a distant memory.
Hell, even Alicia might forget him. Or worse, cheat on him if they decided to go long-distance. That would be horrible, and then he'd go insane. He wouldn't have Derrick as his best friend anymore, either.
His phone buzzed.
New Text Message, Alicia 3
He smiled as he remembered when Alicia put the little heart at the end of her name when they started dating. He was hesitant to open it, but did anyway.
Alicia: Hey, u ok?
Josh: No
Alicia: What's wrong?
Josh: There's a 90% chance I'm moving to Pennsylvania
Alicia: What? When did you know about this? This is horrible!
Josh: It might be even worse for Derrick.
Alicia: Yeah...
Josh: Tell me about it.
Alicia: Love u
And he hadn't sent a reply back. He was at his dad's house with the girlfriend, Elizabeth, and her kids, Liam and Tasha, both of whom would do anything to get Josh in trouble. Right now, all he needed was Alicia, but that wouldn't happen for awhile unless he snuck out or she came to visit. Which she couldn't, her mom forbade her to even go over to Kristen's, Josh's, or Massie's, in the event that she might miss out on something, anything her family might do this year during the holiday season.
Josh wasn't getting any sleep either. You could tell, but only if you looked very closely. Thank god for his oblivious family, because there is just no way he could handle the interrogation.
His phone buzzed. Once, twice, three times.
It said Alicia 3
Alicia: U ok?
Josh: Fuck you
Alicia: Did I do something?
Josh: No
Alicia: okay then never mind.
Smart girl. She knew when to stay out of things. Somehow, he needed to talk to her, but he wasn't with his mom, he was with his dad, on the other side of Westchester.
"Joshua, could you please come watch Liam and Taylor?" his dad's girlfriend asked.
"Whatever. And it's Josh, not Joshua!" he yelled.
"It's your given name, and I will call you that; now hurry up!" Elizabeth said.
Josh rolled his eyes. What did his dad ever see in Elizabeth? She wasn't pretty, she wasn't rich, she's divorced two husbands; and why does he think it's going to work out for him? It won't.
He smiled wryly. He knew how to get out of this. There was a ninety percent chance that this plan will work, like usual. He packed his bags and silently dropped and lowered them off his balcony. He left a note on the bedroom door saying he was going back to his mom's place, and went out on to his balcony. When he got to the edge, he hung his legs over, found the pole, and silently wiggled to the back pole. He heard the sound of Elizabeth's heavy footsteps and paused, holding his breath, silently praying she wouldn't find him.
She didn't, and Josh quickly grabbed his bags and ran to his car. He zoomed out of the gated community, and went to his mom's house that was five minutes away from Alicia's house.
Josh didn't care what his dad's girlfriend thought of him; it didn't matter because he wasn't important to either of them. His mom did, though.
He knew he was adopted; so did everyone he was close to. Josh had told Alicia how she felt about this now, a few weeks back.
FLASHBACK
Josh was sitting in Alicia's room, Alicia sitting right beside him on the bed. Alicia just chose his parents divorce and the adopted thing as a conversation.
"How do you feel about being adopted now?" Alicia asked, laying in his arms.
"I feel worse about it, now," he said, being honest about this for once.
"What made you feel that way?" she asked him.
"I overheard my mom and dad fighting; my dad said I better be happy that I'm not really related to any of them." he said.
END FLASHBACK
It was going to be one of those nights, he could feel it. The one where he was in such a bad mood that he cussed out his girlfriend, then apologized because he felt like such an ass.He heard his phone buzz again.
Alicia: Love u
Josh: Can't u take a fucking hint? FUCK OFF!
Josh couldn't take it anymore. Cam had took his Alicia with him and Claire to the movies right as he needed her the most. But, whoop de fucking doo. Alicia was at the movies and he was stuck here, speaking Spanish to the maids.
It never happened to amaze him until now. There was something about Alicia, about her presence that made him feel good, better. She could cheer him up by just talking about something random, like even Pocahontas or Aladdin.
Sometimes he thought she was too good for him.
I mean, look at me, Joshua Hotz, the one and only notorious bad boy of Briarwood, being all depressed and shit? Yeah, that's going to go over well, me being with the gossip girl of OCD and the second most popular. Josh thought.
He sighed. He picked up his phone. Alicia should be home now, just reading, probably. He decided to text her, apologize, and come over.
Josh: Hey, babe, I'm really sorry... :(
Alicia: Come over? We can talk about it there.
Josh: Sure, babe. Five minutes.
Alicia: Kay. Love you.
Josh: Love u 2
Josh smiled. She knew when he was having a rough day and needed a distraction like a Disney movie, like Aladdin or Pocahontas. She knew when he just needed to talk, or to have her just be there with him.
He left a note for his mom saying he was over at Alicia's, and went off to her house in his car, with an overnight bag just in case.
He knocked on the door, and Joyce came to the door.
"Josh! Hello, come in!" Joyce said.
He smiled. "Hi, Joyce, how are you?" he asked.
"Good, but why does it look like you haven't gotten any sleep for the past week?" she asked him.
"Because I haven't, but I will get some sleep later, okay?" he told her, reassuring her.
"Alright. Miss Alicia is in her room." she said.
"Thanks, Joyce." he said, and walked up the stairs to her room.
Josh knocked twice, just in case his girlfriend was changing or something. She didn't really care if he saw her or anything, but he figured he would be nice. It doesn't really matter, but he liked being the romantic gentleman. It was kind of like Romeo and Juliet, minus the not allowed to be together part. They had their issues that they would always sort out before going to school, and look like one of the most perfect parts of America's "Dream Team" and that always got a kick at school with the OCD/Briarwood kids.
She came to the door.
"JOSH!" Alicia tackled him into a hug.
"Hey, Leesh. Mind if I crash here?" He raised up his overnight bag.
Alicia looked at his bag, and figured that it must've been his old hockey bag from when he was just a little kid in elementary school.
"Sure, but don't you have hockey in the morning?" she asked.
"Nope, it's in the afternoon tomorrow, babe. But we both aren't going to be in church on Sunday," he told her.
"Josh, as much as I love you, you know my parents," she trailed off.
"I know, that's why I already got permission. They said you could go, since I've been in Pennsylvania all week." he said.
"Really? Awesome!" Alicia said, smiling.
"I thought so too!" Josh said.
"Alright, well, come on in." Alicia said.
He walked in and was amazed by how Spanish her room looked. Reds, oranges, yellows, it reminded him of Spain, and what great memories came with it every summer.
Josh had kissed her on her sixteenth birthday as her present-of course, he gave her actual presents too- but it was on her birthday that they started dating. So they will have been dating a year on June eighth, and Josh loves how many good, bad, or both types of memories they had.
Sometimes, Josh never knew why Alicia stayed with him. She could even go to Harris Fisher, if she really wanted to. Even Chris Abeley, if he didn't have a girlfriend. She stayed with him because she wanted to, not because she had to.
Of course, Massie was jealous that Alicia and Josh clicked more and were a cuter couple than her and Derrick, but that didn't matter. Their relationship might last, if Massie and Derrick weren't power-trip-egos all the time, and made them break up.
It wasn't hard to see that every single guy at Briarwood wanted Alicia Rivera. He recalled that he beat up Kemp after he had talked with her and scared her to the point of not going out of her house unless she had Josh or the whole PC with her.
He went to lay down on the bed with her. She kissed him, and he kissed back. Then she started to speak.
"Do you want to talk, or watch Dance Moms or Pocahontas or Aladdin or Cheetah Girls?" she asked.
"Hmm...Pocahontas?" he asked.
She nodded and put in the DVD. He loved how she loved Disney, even though they were both seventeen. And the way Cheetah Girls spoke to her in a way no other movie could. Of course, these movies weren't exactly real life, but that didn't matter to Alicia.
And strangely, Josh didn't care either. But he knew that she loved how Pocahontas and Jasmine weren't exactly the typical light-skinned Disney princesses, and that they actually seemed more like real girls rather than stuck up princesses waiting for someone to rescue them. She liked Mulan, too, because she loved her father so much that she went to war for him.
She sang along with all the songs, hitting each note. And when she got to the part of If I Never Knew You, with John Smith, (Alicia had the extended version) Josh sang his part with her.
He was distracted from his problems, at least for now. She turned off the movie and looked at the time. Eleven thirty. Time for bed.
"Come on, Josh, let's go to sleep. Change in here, and I'll change in my bathroom," Alicia told him.
She put on Anna Ayers' Manhattan before going into the bathroom. He listened, and he understood that it was a lot like their relationship. Both of them wanting to go to Spain, but some person held them back every time. Whether it was family, themselves, or friends, it didn't matter, because they would eventually.
They didn't regret a thing about their relationship at all. And that was the thing that made them last. They didn't hold a grudge, they forgave and forgot, without a second thought.
Apparently she had it on her repeat. She didn't care whether or not they cried together, it was like they were married. Kristen told them that a while ago when she spent a day with them, but she didn't seem like a third wheel.
She came out of the bathroom and laid down under the blankets next to Josh, the room dark and the only sound was the soft sound of Manhattan before Josh started to speak.
"Do you think we can talk tomorrow?" he said.
"Yeah," she murmured sleepily.
A few seconds passed, but to Josh they felt like an eternity, before Alicia spoke.
"Josh? Promise me you'll be careful tomorrow, you know it's your first time back," Alicia told him.
"Yes, Alicia, I will." he said.
He heard her deep breathing and remembered how he got about five weeks off total, counting holidays and his actual time off that he was supposed to have.
FLASHBACK
He had gotten hit in hockey. He was going into the corner to get the puck, and he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He didn't think much of it.
Then he woke up on the ice. He couldn't feel his feet or legs, and then next thing he knew, he was being lifted onto a stretcher and put in an ambulance. They told him, when he woke up in the hospital, his mom told him he had a concussion and that he almost broke his neck. The doctors had wanted to make sure his neck wasn't broken, so they put some type of device around his neck. It wasn't though, and Josh was fine to go the same day. He missed the rest of the tournament and went home.
END FLASBACK
He just closed his eyes and listened to Alicia's deep, even breathing, and the sounds of the song. He held her in his arms and fell asleep.
A/N: Here's the translations:
*1- Grandson
*2- Yes, Grandma
*3- Grandpa, may I have permission to go to my room?
*4- Yes, yes
*5- Good night, thank you.
Okay, so how was that? Did you like it? I'm sorry it's a little AU and all that, and I'm terribly sorry the characters might be OOC, even if it's a little or a lot.
Let me tell you something. This was based on personal experience, on what my boyfriend went through and what he's still going through. I kind of typed out what he/I was feeling about this, and this particular instance happened, maybe a little differently, but still happened. I figure that it's nice to have people on here, like my girls at The Writers' Lounge: Clique Fanfic Edition. Shout out to them!
Have a happy new year, guys. My stories are on hiatus until further notice, so I'm sorry about that. Here you go! Have a great day.