Author's Note~ Takes place between 'My Date with Bobo' and 'Josh is Done' but only because of a continuity gag I wanted to include.
Disclaimer~ I do not own Drake & Josh or any of the characters involved. This is just for fun.
Leah had a problem. The problem being 6'1 with dark hair, a cute smile, and absolutely gorgeous eyes. She had a crush on Josh, her coworker and she'd like to think her friend, and she didn't know what to do about it.
"Excuse me, Leah." She jumped slightly at being addressed, turning to meet the eyes of Crazy Steve, who seemed to be in one of his rare calm moments.
"Oh, hey Cr- I mean Steve," she corrected. "What's up?"
He gave her a steady look. "I noticed you've been staring at Josh a lot."
She froze, chuckling nervously. "Oh, have you?" How obvious was she if Crazy Steve, who was normally in his own little world, noticed it? Did Josh notice too? If he did, why hasn't he said something?
"He's single, by the way." The sound of her co worker's voice jolted her out of her thoughts.
"What?" Surely she heard that wrong.
"Josh. He's single." Crazy Steve repeated. Was this really happening?
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I consider Josh a good friend and you seem like a nice girl. If you like him, you should ask him on a date."
This is not a conversation she ever imagined having with this guy…
"Look, that's really nice of you but I don't think-"
"ASK HIM!"
"Okay!" she squeaked.
Josh usually worked behind the counter. Helen said it was because he was out of her way that way but Leah suspected it was actually because he was one of the few sane people here who knew how to interact with others.
She saw him in his usual spot, writing something down on a clipboard, focused. He seemed like he was busy, but she could feel Crazy Steve's eyes boring through the back of her skull, and the last thing she wanted was for him to cause a scene.
"Hey, Josh," she greeted.
His eyes only flitted up for the briefest second. "Hey, Leah."
She tried to casually scoot closer. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Inventory."
Helen trusted him to do inventory? So much for hating him…
"Isn't inventory normally a manager's job?"
She knew it was the wrong thing to say when his jaw clenched in annoyance. "Yeah. Normally."
Stupid. Apparently that was a sore subject for him. Crazy Steve was still staring so she bit the bullet.
"Do you have plans, Saturday night?"
He gave her his attention then. "Mmm. no, I'm off Saturday night. Why? What's on Saturday night?"
"You should come out with me then."
She expected him to brush her off nicely, but he just cocked his head in confusion. "Come out with you where?"
Did she really have to spell it out for him? "On a date."
He froze like a buffering computer and she wondered if it was possible to actually sink through the floor.
"You wanna go on a date?" he asked slowly.
"Yes…?"
He gave a dry laugh and she was already drafting her two week notice. He had been slumped over the counter and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him stand to his full height.
"Who put you up to this?" he demanded.
"Wha-?"
"Was it Drake?" He stepped closer and she had to back away.
"Why would Drake-?"
"Look, whatever he paid you, I'll double it. I keep telling him I don't need his help!"
"No one paid me!" she finally got a word in. "That's awful! Who would do that?"
Almost like a switch, he relaxed. "So then why would you ask me on a date?"
Because I have a giant crush on you, and Crazy Steve might murder me if I don't.. But that might be too revealing…"I wanted to…?" He looked mildly skeptical, and her nerves came back. "I figured since we were both free on Saturday-but like-it's cool if you wanna think about it or something…"
"Okay."
"Completely understand if I'm putting you on the spot and-" her brain caught up. "Wait...okay?"
He shrugged, "Yeah, okay. Saturday night? Just tell me when and where and I'll pick you up."
He wanted to drive her himself? "You don't have to-" she tried to protest, but he cut her off.
"I'm picking you up." He emphasized and she knew this was a losing battle.
She grinned. "Yeah, okay, great!" She started backing away slowly towards her station. "I'll um- I'll text you!"
"You have my number.."
She nodded rapidly and she knew she probably looked manic, so she cleared her throat. "I should probably-uh- get back to the theater." She didn't look where she was going and rammed her hip right into the corner of the counter and hissed in pain.
She saw Josh wince in sympathy. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she groaned, her hip throbbing with a white- hot pain. "That really hurt."
"Do you need an ice pack?"
"Please."
She needed to take deep breaths. She'd been agonizing over this for days and even tore apart her entire closet to find something proper to wear. She almost went for a pair of jeans and a blouse but she decided that was too casual. She was going on a date not to a study hall. She wanted to look nice. She wanted to look...desirable. Heels were never her thing, so she ended up resorting to her nicer pair of sneakers. She just hoped that the denim miniskirt and the cardigan made up for it.
She heard a horn honk through the door and took another deep breath. It would be fine. Josh was nice. This didn't have to be any different than when they hung out at work.
What she saw when she opened the door caused her to pinch herself. She had expected someone like Josh Nichols to drive a sensible Buick or even an SUV, not...a bright yellow beetle with flowers on it.
Vaguely, she wondered how he even managed to fit inside. He was a pretty big guy…
"You comin'?" she jumped when she heard him call out. He had rolled down the passenger side window and was giving her a strange look.
She shook her head to snap herself out of it and opened the passenger door, sliding in.
"I thought maybe you'd changed your mind or something." he joked.
"No, I-" she chuckled, "Sorry, I just didn't peg you as the type to drive a Beetle."
"I'm not. My little sister picked this out."
She smiled. "Aww, you have a little sister? What's she like?"
"Evil," he said flatly.
"Okay then." She wasn't sure what to say to that, so she just looked down at her lap, discreetly pulling down her skirt.
They weren't moving yet, and when she was about to ask, she noticed him staring at her. Even in the dim light, his eyes were so intense it made her skin crawl.
"What's wrong?"
He flinched. "Nothing, sorry, I-" he gave a breathless laugh, "I'm just not used to seeing you not in uniform. You look nice."
She felt her face heat up. That's right, they hadn't really hung out outside the theater before...now that she thought about it, she'd never actually seen him out of uniform. She allowed herself a small peek from the corner of her eye. A nice, pressed button-up, sleeves rolled up the forearms, a sweater, and some jeans. He looked good. And he was her date, so she should probably tell him that.
"Y-you too," she stuttered out. "You look good, I mean."
"Thanks." She heard the gears shift and felt the car start rolling. "So what was the plan?"
Ah, good, a change of subject. "Well, I was thinking we could just go to the Premiere and catch a movie. I've heard Daddy One Leg is good."
He snorted. "You know the Premiere is not the only movie theater, right? We could go to Sunset Theater across town."
"Well, yeah but Sunset doesn't give us free movies."
"True. But we're both already there four days a week. You really wanna go on your day off, too?"
Why was he fighting her on this? "I'm pretty sure I've seen you come in on your days off atleast twice."
Not true because they shared almost all the same shifts but maybe he didn't know that.
"We work almost all the same shifts so there's no way you could know that unless you were there too." He gave a smug look. "And I've never seen you." And then his face fell once he realized what he admitted to.
She gave him a knowing look but she was more concerned about something else. "Is something going on there that I don't know about?"
"No. Why?"
"So why are you so against going?"
"I'm not!" he said defensively. She raised an eyebrow and he backtracked. "It's just-"
"Just...what?"
"It's just that Helen might see us."
"...So?"
"So? She's our boss."
"What, are you afraid she's gonna put you to work?"
"No, I'm afraid she's gonna fire us."
….huh?
"Why would she fire us? She said we get free movies."
Josh gave her a look of disbelief as he started pulling in the mall parking lot. "She won't fire us because of the movie. She'll fire us because we're co-workers."
Well, now she was even more lost. "I'm-" she laughed awkwardly, "I'm not following."
She watched as he focused his attention on finding a spot before he pulled in, shifting his gear to Park before turning towards her with his complete attention.
"Co-workers aren't allowed to date, Leah. So if Helen sees us, we could get in serious trouble."
She felt her brain freeze. "Wait, what?!"
He started repeating, "We could get in serious-"
"No no no, I heard that part. What do you mean, coworkers can't date? Since when?"
"Since always…? No one told you that?"
No, they didn't. And Crazy Steve was the one who got her in this mess. Did he know? Had he been setting her up? He didn't seem like the type.
"But- but-" she fumbled, "But Crazy Steve- and- date- and-"
"What about Crazy Steve?"
She shook her head. "Nothing!" She grabbed his lapel. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"I thought you knew!"
"Well, I didn't!"
"Clearly!" And then he gently pried her off, smoothing out his shirt. "What, you didn't read the handbook?"
"Helen never gave me a handbook."
"Of course she didn't."
And now she felt bad because she dragged him all the way out here and- "Wait a second." She turned towards him. "You already knew."
"Well, yeah, I've been there for 3 years-"
"You already knew," she cut him off, "And you agreed anyway. Why?"
She watched him stiffen, completely averting his eyes. "No reason."
"Josh."
"Look, can we not talk about this right now?"
She really wanted to push it, but they were already getting off to a rocky start. She gritted her teeth. "Fine."
"Thank you." and then he opened the door, and she watched as he came around to open her side too. He held out a hand. "You comin'?"
"We're still going in?"
"Well, yeah, you wanted to see Daddy One Leg, right?"
"But the handbook-"
"Look, I've worked with Helen a while. She mostly just stays in the back, so she probably won't even see us."
"Sure, but-"
"And even if she does, she doesn't have to know what we're doing. We could just say we're meeting with friends or something."
She bit her lip thoughtfully. This was her idea, but that was before she knew that they could get fired for it. But Josh knew and he went along with it anyway. If he was willing to take that risk, then so was she.
His hand was large and warm and she tried not to be disappointed when he immediately let go once she was standing. It would be pretty revealing if they walked in holding hands.
She felt herself inwardly groan when she saw the line for the ticket counter. She was hoping to just get the tickets and go so that they weren't caught but she should've known better. It was a Saturday night. Of course it would be busy.
She was growing more anxious the longer they stood around and she covered her face with her hand like a shield.
After what seemed like an hour, she felt a hand push her gently forward.
"Hey, Josh," a bored male voice greeted.
"Hey, Gavin. You don't normally work the ticket counter."
"Todd's brother is in the hospital."
"Oh my god, is he okay?"
"I dunno."
"Hey, stop chatting and hurry up!" An angry sounding lady spoke up from behind them.
"Oh, sorry." Josh sad sheepishly. He turned back to Gavin. "Two tickets to Daddy One Leg."
"Sure." She watched as Gavin slipped him the tickets.
"Thanks!"
"Sure." She was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when Gavin called out, "Hey Josh?"
"Yeah?"
"You wanna work?"
Josh furrowed his brow. "It's my day off."
Gavin stared at him blankly. "So do you wanna work?"
"No!"
"Gavin, stop chit chatting and get back to work!" Helen scolded, appearing out of nowhere.
Leah's eyes widened and she started nudging her partner to get him to move towards the theater quicker before they were spotted.
They were almost around the corner when they heard a throat clear behind them. She winced and she saw that Josh had a pained look as they both turned around slowly.
"Hey, Helen," Josh greeted nervously. "Fancy seeing you here."
Helen narrowed her eyes. "And just what would you two children be doing here," she asked threateningly, "on a Saturday night by yourselves?"
Josh's eyes widened in panic. "We-we-we-we're not by ourselves," he insisted frantically, "we're-we're-" he snapped his fingers like he was trying to think of something.
"Meeting up with friends!" she finished for him.
"Meeting up with friends!" he repeated, giving her a grateful look. "We were running late so we told them we'd just meet them in the theater."
Helen looked skeptical and Leah thought they were busted for sure. "Well, don't keep your friends waiting," she said, "Movie's about to start." She...bought it?
"Well, we'll see ya around!" He gave a tight smile and they both started walking again when Helen called.
"Wait, Josh!"
Josh pressed his lips together in irritation. "Yes, Helen?"
"Do you wanna work tonight?"
"No," he snapped.
"Watch your tone with me, boy."
"Sorry."
It was when they were around the corner they slumped against the wall for a second.
"I thought we were gonna get fired for sure."
"Yeah." He nudged her shoulder. "Thanks for saving me back there."
"Lying's not your thing, is it?"
"No, how'd you guess?"
She bit her cheek to keep from laughing. "I got lucky."
He snorted, smiling. "C'mon, the previews are probably almost over now."
The theater wasn't as packed as she expected it to be, probably due to this movie having been out for a few weeks. To her disappointment, there weren't any center seats. Those ones were usually the best, but there were a couple in the back row surprisingly, and she brushed Josh's arm to get his attention.
She'd been very careful to avoid any sort of spoilers about this movie, so she wasn't quite prepared for how suspenseful it was. In a scene that took place in a hospital, she found herself grabbing the closest thing for comfort, which happened to be Josh's hand. She was about to pull away and apologize, but he adjusted to where their fingers were intertwined and gave her a small squeeze, which in turn, made her heart do a flip in response.
He leaned over, whispering, "You good?"
"I am now," she sighed out without thinking, and then wanted to kick herself. Way to play it cool, Leah. 18 years old and getting all tied up in knots over a boy holding your hand.
Thankfully, Josh didn't seem too bothered by it, putting his attention back to the movie. She wondered if he even heard her or if he was just being nice and pretending he didn't. She would bet money on the latter...but he didn't let go of her hand so that was something, right? In fact, she couldn't really take in what she was watching because his thumb was stroking the top of her hand and it was really distracting. And also felt really nice…
In a time that felt way shorter than the allotted two hours, the movie was over. Which meant her date..was also over. Basically.
Josh let go of her hand as the lights started coming back on, gesturing with his head for her to step in front of him.
"Ladies first."
"Such a gentleman," she teased.
"So what'd you think?" he asked as they walked down the hallway.
She didn't retain anything about the movie because she was so distracted by him, but she wasn't gonna tell him that.
"It was…good," she finished lamely.
He gave her a skeptical look like he was about to call her out on that bluff until a familiar face came from the theater across the hall.
"Hey, Josh!" His brother, Drake greeted out, looking rather nice in a blazer and jeans.
"Drake? What are you doing here?"
Drake scoffed. "When am I not here?"
"Touche." Then Josh looked past him. "Didn't you have a date?"
"She's in the little girls room." And then, as if he only just realized she was here, he turned to her. "Hey, what's up?" He paused. "Lola?"
"Leah." She corrected.
"Gotcha." She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Ever since she'd turned him down that first night she worked, he hadn't been able to get her name right. She wondered if it was intentional, but part of her doubted he had the capability for that kind of malice. "So, how's the date goin' so far?"
She saw Josh freeze up, eyes widening and thought that was a strange reaction until she spotted Helen at the entrance, talking to someone.
"What are you talking about?" Josh tried to ask innocently. "We're not on a date!"
Drake furrowed his brow. "Yeah, you are. You've been talking about it all week." Leah saw Helen's eyes catch on Drake and she started walking towards them. She put her hands in a swiping motion across her neck, hoping he would get the hint, but to no avail as he kept talking. "You even said 'Oh, you know that cute girl I work with at the Premiere? We're going on a date!'" He cocked his head innocently and Leah put her face in her hands. "I wish you would've told me you were coming here though we could've doubled up."
"A date?" Helen came up behind him.
Drake, none the wiser, just smiled. "Oh, hey Helen!"
She smiled sweetly. "Hi, Drake. Did I just hear you say that these two were on a date?"
She heard a muttered, "Oh, God," from next to her and she knew this wasn't going to end well.
"Oh, yeah," she heard Drake hammer in her tombstone, "They didn't tell you?"
"No, they most certainly didn't." Her voice had an edge to it that screamed danger. She grinned at Drake. "Why don't you run along and get yourself a soda? Free of charge."
He shrugged. "Okay."
"Wait wait wait!" Josh protested. "Drake, shouldn't you wait for your date?"
"Eh, she can find me."
Both watched with dread as no sooner did Drake round the corner, Helen's face immediately changed from starstruck to stony.
"Helen, I can explain-" Josh started.
"You certainly can," she cut him off. She started walking down the hall. "My office." They both froze and she snapped out, "Now!"
They wasted no time following her.
Helen locked the door behind her when they were both inside her office. This is it. This is how I die. She's gonna kill us and throw the remains in a river.
She immediately turned to them. "So let me get this straight. Not only are you two on a date, but you also lied to me about it."
Josh chimed in. "Look, Helen, if you just let me-"
"How long have you been working here, Josh?" she cut in.
"Going on three years."
"And was no workplace dating not one of the first things you learned?"
"It was but-"
"And did I not tell you on her first day here," she pointed to Leah, "To not try anything funny?"
Realizing he wasn't going anywhere with this, he sighed out. "Yeah, you did."
"So not only did you lie to me," Helen put her hands on her shoulders from the side, "but you also threw yourself at the first pretty coworker you saw like some sort of desperate orphan seeking nourishment."
He recoiled. "What? No I didn't-"
"Don't you backtalk me, boy. You give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire you on the spot."
She couldn't just sit back and watch this happen.
"It's my fault," she spoke up.
"Oh, honey, you don't have to lie for him. I'm sure his money isn't going anywhere."
"I'm not lying!" she insisted at the same time as Josh said in an outrage, "I didn't pay her!" She gave him a look to let her handle this.
"I'm not lying. I asked him out. He tried to tell me it wasn't allowed and I-" she looked to him, who was giving her a pleading look, and then steeled herself, "I didn't listen. I even brought insurance so he would have no choice."
Josh wrinkled his nose in confusion and even Helen looked a bit doubtful. "What...sort of insurance?" she asked slowly.
Think of something quick! "Blackmail."
"Blackmail?" Helen repeated and she even saw Josh mouth it over head.
"Yep. I...took a really embarrassing photo and I told him I would show everyone if he said no. It's my fault. I knew the rules and I dragged him into this anyway. So if you're gonna fire someone," she looked straight at Josh, "you should fire me."
Helen, stunned, turned towards Josh. "Is that true?"
She gave him a tiny nod and he mumbled out, "Yeah, it's true."
"Well, I must say, I'm rather surprised at you Leah. I never expected you to be so….aggressive."
"Yeah, no one does," she muttered to herself.
"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to write you up."
She looked up in attention. "Write me up?"
"Well, yes, you broke the rules."
"So…" she asked slowly, "You're not gonna fire me?"
She scoffed. "Fire you? When we're already short-staffed? What kind of boss do you take me for?"
"But you were just about to fire Josh," she pointed out.
"Was I?"
"Yeah, you were," Josh said flatly.
Helen shrugged, not seeing Josh's offended look. Or maybe she did see and just didn't care.
She watched Helen get out a notepad and as she was clicking her pen, she said, "Just one question though."
"Yeah…?"
She looked towards Josh with thinly veiled disgust. "Why him?"
"Huh?"
"Why go to all that effort for Josh to go on a date with you? Drake, I would understand, but him? He's a disaster waiting to happen.""
She expected Josh to say something in outrage, but he just hung his head, avoiding eyesight. Almost like...he agreed with it.
And in the first honest thing she'd said all night, she just stated, "Because I like him."
She saw Josh stiffen, but she held her ground. Maybe she should request different shifts. The last thing she needed was to make Josh uncomfortable after this disaster of a night.
Helen looked unimpressed. "Mmhm, if you say so. Let's go over this form. Josh, you can leave."
She heard Josh mumble what sounded like a "Yes, ma'am" before softly closing the door shut behind him.
"Alright, Leah, well I hoped we learned our lesson from this." Helen lectured as they walked towards the lobby together.
Leah gave a tight smile. "Sure did."
"Good, good." she pointed to Josh. "Well, there's Josh, so you might as well finish what you started" She saw Josh poke his head up at the sound of his name. Interesting how she was willing to pass her on to the very person she just wrote her up for seeing. Which could've been avoided had she known about the rule in the first place..
"Oh, um, Helen?"
"What is it?" she asked impatiently. "I don't have all night."
"It's just you never gave me an employee handbook."
"I didn't?"
She shook her head. "No, so I was thinking, so I don't break any more rules that you could-"
"Get it from Josh," she interrupted rudely. "I'm not a library."
The boy in question was listening and looked like he wanted to approach, but was afraid of what would happen if he did.
"But-" And Helen was already walking away. "Right," she talked to the air. "I'll do that."
Josh still hadn't moved, so she joined him against the wall of the theater entrance and they started heading towards the exit.
"I'm surprised you're still here," she said.
"Why wouldn't I still be here?"
"I thought you would've gone home."
He said softly, "I wouldn't leave you stranded."
He was so thoughtful. She almost wished Helen had fired her...then atleast the 'no workplace dating' thing wouldn't apply. But speaking of Helen...
"I asked her for a handbook."
"Oh yeah?" He opened the door for her, following behind. "What'd she say?"
"She told me to get it from you. Do you happen to have an extra?"
"Well, yeah, but we'd have to stop by my house." Realizing the implications of that, he froze. "If that's okay. I could just bring it to you Monday if you want."
"That's fine. I wanted to read it over before my next shift actually."
He nodded, as they got to the Beetle. He unlocked the door, opening it for her again, as if it was instinct. "Well, I only live about two miles away so don't worry. It's not too much of a detour."
She wasn't worried. If anything, she was not so secretly glad for the extra time.
It was a short drive, just like Josh said, and they pulled into a nice, but modest house.
"Alright, this might take a few minutes," he said, putting the car in park. "You should probably come inside."
She saw the SUV parked next to them. "Is someone here?"
"My mom and probably my sister. Why?"
She wondered what they would think of him bringing a girl into his house this late…"No reason."
She raised an eyebrow when he was able to just walk in without a key. Did they not lock their doors?
Her eyes had to adjust to the lit entryway.
"Alright, uhh-" he pointed to the huge living room, "You can just have a seat over there. Hopefully this shouldn't take too long. Do you want water or something?"
"I'm okay, thanks."
She watched him bolt down a hallway towards where she was sure was his room and only vaguely regretted that she couldn't follow him. She wondered what his room looked like. Josh was such an anal person, surely he would have a clean room. But he did mention he shared with Drake so maybe not…
She slumped into the couch cushion, letting her thoughts wander and not processing the footsteps coming from behind until there was a figure out of the corner of her eye.
She looked over with trepidation and saw a preteen girl with dark hair eying her suspiciously. Josh's little sister if she were to assume correctly.
"Hi," she greeted.
The girl stared at her for just a beat too long and then sighed, calling out, "Mom! Drake brought another girl home!" And then she started running out.
"No wait!" Leah protested. "I'm with-" But the girl was already gone. Why did they assume she was with Drake? Did Drake bring girls home a lot? She was surprised their parents would allow that. Her mom would throw a fit if she ever brought a boy home without asking.
She adjusted as she heard voices, an older woman this time. "Sweetie, what are you talking about?" she heard the woman ask. "Drake's not even here and-" she paused as she spotted her. She was pretty...with auburn hair. Drake's mother? Certainly looked like him.
The sister was with her, looking annoyed.
"Um, hi." she tried greeting again. Maybe the mom would be more receptive.
The older woman smiled tightly. "Hi."
"I'm Leah."
"Hi, Leah. Are you with Drake?"
"Um, no." And then she tried to joke. "Should I be?"
"Well, I hope not because he's not here."
"Oh yeah I know. He's at the Premiere."
"You know…" she repeated slowly.
"Yes…?"
"Okay. So...not to be rude, but...why are you here?"
The sister scoffed. "Isn't it obvious? She saw him with another girl and she came here to bust him."
Did they think she was a stalker? "No, I-" she protested, "That's not why I'm-"
"Found it!" she heard Josh call as he came back into the room. "Alright, Leah, it's getting late so I should probably take you-" he paused, taking in the scene, "Sorry, was I interrupting?" His eyes started flitting in a panic. "I'll leave."
"Not so fast," his mom said and Josh halted in his tracks. Then she looked between the both of them. "You know each other?"
Josh chuckled. "Well, yeah, I brought her here."
Both women stared at him for a long while, looked to her, then back to Josh, and then to her again. "You're with Josh?"
She bit the inside of her cheek. "Yeah, I tried to tell you."
"You're not with Drake."
"No."
"But you know him."
"Well, kind of. He comes by my job all the time."
"Your job?"
"Mom," Josh intervened, "This is Leah. We work together."
The sister finally spoke up. "Wait, aren't you normally off Saturday nights?"
"Yeah. So?"
She started laughing and then addressed her. "Okay, how much did he pay you to pretend to be his date?"
"Megan…" The mom scolded lightly. So her name was Megan.
"I wouldn't pay someone to date me. Why does everyone think that?"
"Because Mindy dumped you and you're lonely and desperate?"
Her eyebrows went all the way to her hairline. She was an only child, so she didn't have much experience, but Megan was a jerk. Is that what Josh meant by 'evil'? Was this normal for siblings? Him and Drake seemed to get along just fine….And who was Mindy? A previous girlfriend?
Josh clenched his jaw. "You know what? I am gonna-"
"Hey now, we do have a guest." She grabbed Megan's shoulders, steering her away. "Josh, you said you had to take Leah home. C'mon, Megan, go grab the ice cream from the kitchen."
"Fine." The surly girl sighed and then went into the kitchen. Josh's mom got an apologetic look. "Sorry. She's been cranky ever since her teacher gave her a B- on her Math test yesterday." That was kind of a weak excuse in her opinion. His mother nodded her head ."It was nice meeting you, Leah."
"You too, Mrs…." she trailed off. What was her last name?
"You can just call me Audrey."
Leah laughed drily. "Yeah, no I can't." Her mother would be so disappointed in her if she called an older adult by their first name.
She felt a warm hand grab her wrist. "C'mon Leah I need to take you home." Josh said softly at her side.
She felt herself being dragged off, so she just waved awkwardly and the older woman waved back. And then she was dragged through the door.
The car ride from Josh's house to her own was a bit longer than the one from the theater. And unlike before, it was incredibly tense. That interaction with Josh's mom and Megan had clearly bothered him a lot, but he didn't say anything, just breathing heavily, hands tight on the steering wheel. This entire date had been a disaster and the atmosphere was stifling. She saw Josh pull into her driveway.
"We're here." he said softly, unnecessarily. She didn't know what to say. Maybe he was tired, maybe he was angry, but either way, she didn't want to end off like this..
"Thanks for coming out with me today." she said, careful not to be too loud and break the fragile string holding Josh's mood in place. She knew he could be temperamental and she didn't wanna set him off.
He gave a small half-grimace. "Thanks for inviting me. It meant a lot."
He was still being so quiet, and something Megan said was bothering her.
"Who's Mindy?"
She thought that might've been the wrong question when he sighed. "My ex-girlfriend."
She'd gathered that much, but she wondered if it was a bad break-up. "How long were you together?"
"About a year." And then he huffed, "Why does it matter?" A year...That was a pretty long-time relationship for a teenager.
"You seemed really upset when your sister mentioned her."
"Yeah, well, that's Megan for you. She makes her living off of making me upset."
She winced. "Bad break-up?"
"Not really, we're still friends."
"So why would talking about her make you upset?"
"Okay, look, no offense, but I didn't go on a date with you just so I could talk about my ex."
And there was the crux of it. "So why did you?"
"Why did you ask?" he deflected.
"I already told you."
"When?"
"In Helen's office." She steeled herself. It was one thing to say it to her boss when presenting a cover story. It was a whole other thing to say it directly to him. "I like you."
He straightened his back, finally looking at her dead-on. "I thought-" he started, then started again, "You just said that as part of a cover, right? I mean obviously, the blackmail thing was a lie."
"That part was. But not all of it." He still looked skeptical, so she rolled her eyes and repeated it. "I like you. I don't know why that's so hard for everyone to believe."
"Oh, c'mon, when you live with someone like Drake, you get used to always being the second choice."
"That can't be true." Josh gave her a doubtful look and she scrambled. "What about Mindy? She clearly chose you, right?"
"She tried to get Drake suspended once so that bridge was already burned. And she's quite possibly the smartest and one of the scariest girls I've ever met, so most guys wouldn't bother. The more she learned about Mindy, the more intrigued she became. "I know it's probably not shocking to you," he said, "But I don't exactly have a line of pretty girls waiting for me. Not with Drake around, anyway."
Her heart skipped a beat. He thought she was pretty? And Drake mentioned earlier how he'd called her 'cute'. But she couldn't focus on that.
"Okay, look, if I'm gonna be honest, Drake's cute and he plays in a band, and for most girls, that's enough. People our age are shallow, but it's not always gonna be like that. I think a lot of them are eventually gonna figure out that they'd rather have someone who is nice, and who can make them laugh, and be reliable. And really patient with them in training because they're too distracted by his really pretty who was willing to risk his whole job just to humor them." He was staring at her and she felt her face heat up. "Y'know, someone like you."
She was afraid she'd said too much, when she heard a small sniffle. Was he...crying?
"That's probably the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."
She buckled down. "Well, it's true. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. Helen may act like she hates you, but she clearly relies on you to do things no one else will, and she's kept you around this long for a reason, right?"
"I guess…"
"And Drake, even though he's the 'cool guy' and could probably hang out with anyone he wanted, really seems to like you and goes out of his way to come to your job and talk to you."
"Well, yeah, but-"
She wasn't letting him derail. "Even Crazy Steve likes you. He told me the other day he considered you a 'good friend'. I didn't even know he considered anyone friends."
He looked like he was about to argue, but then he cocked his head. "Really? Crazy Steve?"
"Yep."
"Huh. That's nice…" He looked mildly disturbed. "In a weird way."
"My point is, you have a steady job, you have friends, you're really smart, you had a steady girlfriend at one point and you managed to stay friends with her….I think you're doing pretty well. You don't have to compare yourself to Drake."
He gave a tiny flicker of a smile. "I guess I never really thought about it like that. I just-" she didn't interrupt, "I was this dorky little fat kid when I started high school that no one really wanted to talk to. They all thought I was a loser. I know a lot's changed, but I guess sometimes, when I stand next to Drake, I still feel like that. And it feels like everyone else does too."
She'd never seen him this vulnerable before.
"Well, if it helps any, I didn't know you then. So I never saw you that way."
His eyes flickered to her. "It does." And then he clarified, "Help, I mean."
"Yeah, well, it was the least I could do after you risked your job for me."
"So did you." He turned towards her. "Y'know," he gave a slight huff, "that was really cool what you did for me back there. You didn't have to. I knew the risks when I agreed to this."
"It was just a write-up," she tried to brush off.
"You didn't know that."
That was true. She'd fully expected to be fired.
"You-" she stuttered out because he was holding her hand now and when did that happen?, "You've been there a long time. Figured I was more replaceable than you." And then she looked at him steadily, hard to see in the dim porch light fading in, "It was worth the risk."
She watched his eyes flicker down for just a brief second and the gravity of the situation hit her. She was just on a date with the guy she liked, the last date she'll probably ever get with him, and now they were in his car, alone, in the dark outside her house. And no one else was around.
She'd never kissed anyone before. But she wanted to...But for whatever reason, her body was frozen and she couldn't seem to move.
Josh, after a longer period than needed, of staring at her-waiting for her?-cleared his throat. "You should probably head inside. Your parents might freak."
They weren't here but she knew a dismissal when she saw one, so she just nodded.
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right, um.." she brushed a lock of hair back. "You got the handbook?"
He looked confused for just a brief second before his eyes lit up. "Oh, right, yeah. I got it."
He handed her a thin spiral book with a thin layer of dust on it. He grimaced. "Sorry, it's been a while since I've opened it."
"It's cool, it's perfect." She wanted to lean over and kiss him, even just a quick thing on the cheek but she was a coward. She settled for a light squeeze on his hand before letting go. "Thanks. See you Monday?"
"Yep, Monday."
She didn't really want to leave because that would be confirmation the night was over, but she forced her hand to open the door anyway.
She expected him to peel out of the driveway as soon as she closed the door like most people would. She'd kept him here for a while and his mom was probably worried. But he was still there, just watching her through the window as she approached her front door. Was he...waiting for her to be safely inside? She felt a wave of affection and not for the first time, she almost wished Helen had actually fired her. She put her hand on the door and paused. She had gotten written up as a warning and it was pretty clear she wouldn't have an opportunity to do this again.
She straightened up and marched back to the car.
She opened the car door and slid back in the seat, much to the confusion of Josh. "What's wrong? Did you forget something?"
"Yeah." And then with all the strength she could muster, she grabbed his face and kissed him, cutting off whatever question he was about to ask.
He stiffened like a block of wood, but it was too late for her to regret it now.
It wasn't great. She'd never kissed anyone and it probably showed. She broke away right as he came to and put his hands around her waist.
"What was that for?" he asked, breathless.
Remembering something Helen had said earlier, she smirked. "Finishing what I started."
"Good idea." He moved the seat back and then he was kissing her again, softer this time, but a bit more frantic. She felt the hands on her waist tighten and she was being adjusted until she was on his lap and she wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. Coming back had been the riskiest and best decision she'd ever made.
She should take risks more often.
Epilogue
She clocked in, buttoning her red vest all the way. "Hey, Steve," she greeted her coworker, who normally did usher duties with her.
"Good evening, Leah," he said calmly. "How did your-" he looked around dramatically, and then put a hand to shield his face, whispering loudly, "date go?"
She chuckled at the dramatics. Everyone already knew at this point, so there was no point in trying to be discreet. "It went really well, thank you." Atleast by the end...she'd had a lot of firsts that night. But she didn't wanna give Crazy Steve all the details. "Actually, I got you something."
He perked up "Oh, you got me a present? No one's ever gotten me a present."
It was basically a 'thank you' gift for him pushing her into that date, but he didn't have to know that. "I just saw it at the store yesterday and I thought of you." She grabbed a small bag from her purse. "Here."
She saw Crazy Steve gasp in elation.
He grabbed it from her and a man approached them.
"Excuse me, you're out of toilet pa-"
"I'M OPENING A PRESENT!" Steve yelled, causing the man to run away in fear.
Well, there went another one...she wondered how her coworker hasn't been fired yet. But she guessed it made sense why Helen wouldn't wanna have that conversation.
"A ball!" he gasped out.
She grinned. "Not just any ball." she grabbed it gently from his hands. "Watch this." And then she bounced it on the floor, and watched as it lit up and Steve's jaw dropped.
"Oh my god, that's AWESOME!"
"Yeah? You like it?"
"I LOVE IT!" he yelled in her face, which she would normally flinch at, but he seemed happy for once.
"Hey, guys," Josh started walking over, "someone just came to me and said there was a problem with the men's-" and then he whimpered, falling to the floor as Steve threw the ball at his head. She winced, but Steve looked delighted.
"Best present ever," he picked up the ball, which was lighting up again, and then he ran off, probably to terrorize some more people. Maybe giving him that was a mistake...
Josh groaned.
She hurried to help him up, and he grunted, holding his head. "Where did he get a ball?"
She grimaced. "Who knows?"
Josh blinked in confusion and then walked back towards the counter, none the wiser.
She'd never told him Crazy Steve had tried to set them up. Whatever he didn't know wouldn't kill him.
A/N~ This was supposed to play out like an episode with the epilogue being an after credits scene but idk how successful I was at that. Also I can't be the only one who thinks it's wild that Josh went through such a massive glow up in between seasons and it is just never acknowledged in universe. Poor boy can't catch a break D:
Review, please! 3