Disclaimer: Kate owns Private not me.
I don't know if I will be able to post the rest f the chapters for this story before Suspicion comes out…I will finish typing it but I might not be able to post all the chapters but I will try so they will be coming faster than usual…if you review even faster than that!
After I left the room Tess and Tori said they wanted to talk for a while. As I walked down the stairs I heard Josh's voice and it sounded angry. Chad and Lynn were still out in the garage. When I got down the stairs Josh was facing the other way with my phone I his hands. He couldn't see me. I decided to hide behind the wall to the kitchen anyway.
"Why are you calling here?" I heard Josh yell.
"That doesn't explain how you answered the phone." Josh said.
"I don't care if she texted you." He said. It was Thomas.
"I love her and she loves me. She chose me and why can't you accept it?" Josh asked his voice cracking.
"Well get over it." Josh said.
"Thomas you left and she was hurt and I know it wasn't your fault. Even you thought you were dead but seriously, she did eventually get over you. You need to get over her. I love her Thomas." Josh said his voice cracking again.
"No you listen you always got the girl. We have been friends since we were little and regardless my feelings you always took the girl. This time she is mine. You can't always get what you want. You need to understand. It is my turn. Reed is mine." Josh said before hanging up the phone.
"Josh are you ok?" I asked.
I saw a tear in his eye. He quickly wiped it away and came to give me a hug.
"Reed, did you hear that?" He asked shyly. I nodded staying silent.
"Did you text him, leading him on." Josh asked. I pulled him up the stairs and into his room. This was a private matter.
"I did text. Only to ask why he didn't warn me about your sisters. It was a friendly gesture. You can check my phone." I said.
"No I believe you." Josh said.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Well I came in the house to ask why Brandon had left even thought Chad had told me he probably wasn't welcome anymore and that I probably didn't want to know. It apparently was all Brandon who was into the fancy stuff." Josh said.
"Well let's just say it's a good thing he is already gone." I said.
"What?" Josh said angrily.
"I'll explain later." I said.
"Well anyway I came in to find you and I had seen Tori run upstairs and you weren't their. I was about to come and look for you to make sure the twins hadn't like tied you up somewhere or something when I heard your phone ring. When I answered I hadn't said anything before Thomas said, 'Reed I love you.' I asked him what did you just say. He answered, 'Oh Joshy how goes it?' I asked why are you calling her." Josh said.
"That is when I walked in." I said.
"Well then he said, 'Oh I was just checking in to see how Reed was doing. She left me a text.' I said that it didn't explain how he answered the phone. He lied and said in the text you led him on. He kept saying how he loved you. Then he said it wasn't fair that I got you because we all thought he was dead. I explained that I understood but you did get over him and he needed to get over you but he didn't want to hear that. He said that you were his first. That I stole you from him. I said that wasn't fair because he knew that night that I had liked you too. He knew that I had fallen for you the moment I saw you. The problem was he had too but he had gotten other girls over me because he was Thomas. I told him not this time. You chose me. I hate to be protective but if I weren't he would try and win you back. He is never going to stop Reed." Josh said.
"Josh I didn't know you had felt that way. I mean about my first day." I said. He blushed.
"Yeah I did I mean Reed you are amazing." He said.
"Are you really worried?" I asked.
He looked up at me and nodded as another tear fell from his eye.
"You think you of all people have to worry about me picking someone over you. That could never happen. I love you so much and I feel like we are forever. No one is competition for you. You are my heart. You are my life." I said.
I walked over to where Josh was standing now and kissed him gently on the lips.
"So what happened with Brandon?" Josh asked.
"You may want to sit," I suggested. Josh sat down on the bed and I took my place next to him.
"Well Tess disappeared after breakfast and Tori was sitting on the couch worried. She had said to me that she was worried. Tess apparently made a big deal at school about things she says she has done but she really hasn't. She told me Tess had gone upstairs practically being dragged by Brandon. When I started taking the stairs two at a time passing your floor and going to theirs I heard a scream. I ran into Tess's bedroom where I found her with her shirt off and her pants unzipped. Brandon was trying to get her to do things she wasn't ready for. I started to yell at him and he decided to rip her bra off. I literally had to pull him off of her and shove him to the ground. I told him if he didn't leave I would get you and Lynn. He ran out of the room to get his stuff. Then Tori came in and knew what was up. While Brandon was being yelled at she scurried to get her clothes on. They both told me they were sorry about how things have been going down between us. I know why they are jerks to your friends. They feel like they have lost you and stuff. Like when you bring people home they ignore you and things like that and well if they were nasty we would leave and they would have you to themselves." I said.
I could tell Josh was furious. His face was getting red and his hands were shaking. I grabbed his hands and put them in my own. They started to shake less and he was calming down. I released his hand and pulled him in for a hug. As I felt him simmer down I let him go.
"That…that…that…slime ball disgusting pig." Josh snarled through his teeth.
"Your sister is ok and she is talking to Tori." I said. He looked up at me with pain in his eyes.
"That bastard hurt my sister." He said. He was getting upset again and I could see the tears forming.
"I know and we will never see his sorry face ever again. I took care of it Josh." I said before I hugged him again. I tilted his face towards mine and kissed him once more.
"I wish I could have taken care of him." Josh said angrily.
"Well there is no need to worry. Promise you won't go and like hunt him down and kill him?" I asked jokingly. He laughed a little.
"I promise," He said pretending to give in.
I love the way he smiled at me and how I could easily comfort him. The only thing was I already bought four dresses and I only wore one and we have two more days.
"So what are we doing for lunch?" I asked.
"I told my mom we should still go out so we can put our dresses to use." Josh said.
"Cool," I said.
"So if you would like to get ready I think we are going somewhere for lunch. It is a nice place even if it is just for lunch." Josh said.
"Ok are you going to get ready?" I asked.
"Not yet, it doesn't take guys an hour." He joked before walking out of the room. I was about to head to the bathroom when I saw Gia coming up the stairs. I had a great idea but maybe for dinner instead.
"Gia," I called.
She turned to me and smiled.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Well Tess has had a tough day and I was thinking maybe after lunch we could take them out and buy them a dress or something to wear to dinner and we could all get ready together." I said.
"That sounds fun. I will tell them now we have like a surprise and to tell them to dress nice for lunch." Gia said.
"Perfect," I said. I walked back in my room and my phone rang. Without looking at caller id I answered it.
"Hello," I said.
"Reed thank god it's you," I heard Thomas say.
"What do you want?" I asked sounding meaner than I intended.
"Well Reed I called you earlier and Josh answered." He said.
"I know he told me. Seriously Thomas I love Josh now. Why can't you accept that and move on? Let's just be friends. That's what I have been trying to do and you are making it really hard for me. If you can't stop with this whole I love you thin then we can't even be friends." I said and hung up the phone.
Everything had just gotten so good with josh's family. I couldn't let Thomas ruin that now. I went to my drawer to find some cash and put it in the purse that I got from Suzel. I took about two hundred dollars. It was the last of the money I had from when I was president at Billings. It should be enough to cover one of the girls' dresses. If not I could always put it on the Billings tab.
I decided I should get ready. I went to the bathroom and put some make up on. A subtle color of eye shadow then a subtle lipstick color to go with it. I decided to wear my pale blue Jovani dress that had black print with a sweet heart neckline and a black sash. After I put my dress on and my make up was done I went back into the bathroom and plugged my curling iron in.
When I was finished with my hair I had nice big curls that bounced with every step. I checked my watch and I was supposed to meet Josh downstairs in fifteen minutes so I grabbed my black stilettos and ran down the stairs. Well as fast as I could in four inch stiletto heels.
When I got downstairs Josh was waiting with a simple suit on.
"Hey tomorrow we are only going out for dinner but my mom said it would be fun to meet some of our friends from school so she is letting us have a party. You should start texting people to ask them." Josh said
"Really that sounds so fun!" I said.
"Yeah so I hear you and Gia are planning a surprise for Tess and Tori." Josh said.
"Yeah we are going to buy them dresses after lunch. It was going to be for dinner but it would be better for the party." I said.
"Yeah well everyone else left just a second ago so shall we go?" Josh asked.
"We shall," I said smiling. He led me out to his car.
The car ride to the restaurant was very short. The food was delicious and the wait wasn't long. I had asked Josh if we could have his car and Gia would drive so we could take the girls. The car ride to the mall was about fifteen minutes and we just left the restaurant. Josh told us that we needed to be home at like 6 to go to dinner. We told the girls to bring a change of clothes and Gia and I did too. We were all just wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
"Where are you taking us?" Tess asked.
"The mall," I said.
"Why?" Tori asked.
"Well we are buying each of you a dress to wear to the party tomorrow night. Did you guys invite your friends yet?" Gia asked.
"Seriously, Ohmigod thank you!" Tess and Tori said simultaneously.
"Yeah most of them can come." Tess said.
"Oh shoot I forgot. I know Josh texted some." I said. I whipped out my phone and invited the Billings girls. Then I texted Josh:
Hey almost at the mall…who did you invite?
He responded:
Most of Ketlar plus Dash.
I texted back:
Thomas?
He replied:
No couldn't get a hold of him…working on it. I understand he is your friend. He I mine too.
I texted him back:
K see you in a bit!
When I was done we were already at the mall.
"Ok so like where are we going to go first?"
"Where do you want to go?" I asked.
"Um let's just go to the first dress store." Tori said pointing at a store. I checked my purse just to double check I had tho money and I saw six hundred more dollars than I had with a note wrapped around it.
Reed,
My mom said we were doing breakfast and dinner tomorrow at nice places so use my money for my sisters and get yourself a new dress.
Love Josh
So I needed to buy a dress too.
"Don't worry Reed I am getting one too. Who should we start with though? One at a time" Gia said.
"Um Tori," Tess said.
We all agreed.
Tori tried on a sultry night's cocktail dress by Alexia Admor. It was yellow and had thick straps. It went loose around her body but was tight around the legs. It hut mid thigh above her knee. It was ruffled near the top and a little bit all the way down in the center. It was gorgeous on her. It really complimented her lovely long straight hair. Her hair reached down to her hips. It was gorgeous.
"Wow you rock that dress." I said.
"Yeah totally," Gia said.
"Tor Chad will love that dress," Tess said. I could see by the look on her face a hint of jealousy because she had a boyfriend and Tess didn't.
"Ok I want this one. You next Tess!" Tori said Changing back into her jeans and t-shirt. She carried the dress out into the big changing are that we had.
Tess tried on a turquoise voluminous strapless dress with a rose adornment. It was tighter on the top and poofy on the bottom. It was ruffled and had a rose in the middle of it. It went really well with her long curly hair. Her hair went to her stomach. If you straightened it, it would probably be the same length as Tori's.
"You look awesome Tess." I said.
"You think, I really like this dress." She said.
"You totally rock it." I said.
"How do you guys want to do your hair." Gia asked.
"Well I want mine straightened and put up in a swirly bun with hair falling down the sides framing my face. I want that part curled." Tess said.
"That will go awesome with that dress." Gia said.
"I want my hair in a ponytail, but you know how they make it with the hair wrapped around where the hair band would go. I want it like that and the ponytail part to be pin straight." Tori said.
"That will look awesome too." I said.
"Reed it's your turn." Gia said. I nodded and headed into the changing room.
I had a making a spectacle cocktail dress by Scala. It was a teal dress that was loose everywhere except the top. The top was sparkly and the dress got slightly darker as it went down. It hit above my knees. It went great with my skin one and hair color.
"Reed you look beautiful in that dress." Gia said. For my own amusement I twirled around once.
"I really like that dress on you." Tori said.
"Yeah me too." Tess added.
"Well I am going to get this one which means, Gia your up." I said smiling. I changed back into my regular clothes as Gia entered the changing room. I took my dress out of it.
Gia had on a strapless taffeta bejeweled evening dress by BG Haute. It was ivory colored and hit above her knees. It was beaded near the top and below the beads there was a bow hat tied in the back. It was looser as it went down. It radiated her skin tone and her beautiful brown hair. She looked truly gorgeous. Not that she hadn't always.
"You look absolutely stunning." I said.
"I agree," Tess and Tori said at the same time. We all laughed.
"So let's go pick out shoes and pay so we can go home." I said.
Tori picked out a pair of black pumps. Tess picked out silver stilettos. I didn't buy any because I had the ones from the purple dress I got that would match just fine. Gia picked out a pair of black high heels that were strappy but once your foot slipped in it was one were you had like ribbons to tie up your leg. We went to check out. I paid for Tori and Gia paid for Tess. I only used five of the six hundred Josh gave me.
As we were walking out of the mall we were rounding a corner when some one grabbed me and covered my mouth my bags dropped and since I was slightly behind the others they only saw my bags drop. They didn't see where I went.
I was kicking my legs and I couldn't see who had me. When they set me down I turned around to see Thomas standing before me.
"What the heck Thomas?" I said.
"Reed I couldn't leave things how they were on the phone." Thomas said.
"Yea you can now why are you here?" I asked.
"I needed to see you Reed." Thomas said.
"Thomas we are strictly friends. I love Josh. Accept it." I said.
I tried walking away but Thomas grabbed my wrist, and pulled me towards him. He grabbed my other arm and held me so I couldn't escape. I was about three inches from his body.
"Thomas let go of me." I said.
"Reed listen to me," Thomas was saying.
"Thomas no!" I yelled. That's when I saw Tess round a corner.
"Hey what are you doing here Thomas? And hey what are you doing with Reed?" Tess asked first sound sweet then confused and sort of angry.
Thomas loosened his grip and I escaped. I walked a few steps away.
"Um we know each other from school." Thomas said.
"Oh I assume you are here for the party tomorrow. You can totally stay with us." Tess said.
Josh had told his whole family about how Thomas came back. He didn't however tell them how it got us into a fight.
"Oh yeah the party," Thomas said looking at me. He had no idea what we were talking about. He couldn't exactly tell his best friend's younger sister that he came to see his best friend's girlfriend to try and win her back now could he?
"Well we were just buying dresses for it. You should totally come home with us now." Tess said texting on her phone to tell Gia and Tori she found me.
Thomas walked out of the mall with us after meeting Gia. He kept trying to grab my hand because we were walking slightly behind the rest of them. At first I was just slapping it away but eventually I stomped on his foot. Unfortunately for him I forgot to bring a change of shoes and was still in my other stilettos.
"Ow," He said loudly.
"Woops, clumsy me." I said not even pretending to sound sorry.
The car ride home was not much better because Thomas offered to drive so Gia sat in the back with twin talking about random things and Thomas kept putting his hand on my knee.
"What don't you understand about no?" I whispered.
"Sorry," He said.
I rolled my eyes at him.
"You know Josh will be pissed." I said.
"Yes and I am sorry. Can we please be friends?" Thomas asked.
"Will you stop trying to hit on me and win me back?" I asked. He nodded.
"Then yes," I said.
"Josh doesn't have to know how you tried to win me back and stuff. I am going to tell him about the little kidnapping. I will tell him it was just to clarify the friends thing. You owe me." I said.
"Whatever because we are here and it is 5:00 so we have to get ready for dinner." Thomas said.
When I walked in the house Josh was watching television with Chad and Lynn.
I walked over to Josh and pulled his arm up giving him a warning glance. As I pulled him up and he turned around I saw his face burn with anger but only for a moment as Thomas stepped forward.
"Thomas," Josh said. It got Lynn to turn around and give Thomas a man hug or whatever.
"Hi I am Chad. I am Tori's boyfriend." Chad said.
"Thomas, Josh's dead but alive friend." Thomas said.
"Well now that we all know each other I think it is time to get ready for dinner." I said pulling Gia up to my room as Josh stared at me angrily for leaving him with Thomas. The twins skipped to their rooms and I shut my door so no on would hear,
"Reed I am going to be flat out. I know Thomas was putting his hands on your knee. I won't tell Josh you are cheating as long as you do. I really did like you but you aren't who I thought you were." Gia said before almost walking out.
"Gia you have it wrong. I purposely stepped on his foot at the mall. I slapped his hand away from me. Believe me when I say I love Josh. I loved Thomas. Loved as in the past, he was my boyfriend when I first went to Easton. I hadn't met Josh yet when I walked into Thomas on the quad. When we thought he died I was heartbroken but Josh mended my heart. I felt more for him than I ever did for Thomas. Then things went bad with Josh but we fixed them. Thomas came back. He wasn't dead and I didn't know what to do. I mean I did love him. He was my first love and it got Josh and me into a fight because Thomas wanted me too. My brain was telling me Thomas but my heart said Josh. I chose Josh and Thomas didn't get over it. Trust me; Josh knows that Thomas loves me. I am trying to work it out because I would like to be friends with Thomas but I don't know if I can if he is always trying to break me and Josh apart. I think he will come around though. Just please believe me when I say I am over Thomas and I have been for a while." I said with complete sincerity in my eyes.
Gia really looked me in the eyes and found I was telling the truth.
"Reed I am sorry I jumped to conclusions. Forget what I said. So you and Pearson huh?" Gia asked.
"Yeah it was special but the breakup was coming. He didn't always treat me right." I said.
"Well it is Thomas but he looks like he has changed." Gia said.
"I think he has. It is a twisted story. It is almost as messed up as my life since Easton." I joked.
"Well let's get ready and have a spectacular dinner." Gia said leaving my room.
I went quickly to the bathroom to apply make up and re curl my hair just a little bit. I put on my red chic wonder ruched cocktail dress by Faviana. I grabbed my red pumps had a red base and a black heel. I took one glance in the mirror. I looked good.
I walked down the stairs to find Lynn, Chad, Thomas, and Josh all sitting watching television in their suits. Thomas had brought his own and had a tux for the party.
"Reed you look nice" Thomas said.
Josh walked over to me and grabbed my arm to sit next to him.
"You look hot." He said.
"I know," I joked.
"So I think I am giving you and Thomas a ride and Lynn is taking my sisters and Gia. My mom and Dad are already there. Let's go." Josh said.
I took his arm in mine and he led me out to the car. Thomas gave me passenger seat and Josh was driving.
"Why are you here Thomas?" Josh asked when we were out of the driveway.
"Why wasn't I invited to your party?" Thomas asked.
"You were I couldn't get a hold of you." Josh said.
"I needed to work things out. They are worked out. I understand Reed and I are just friends I get it. Can we please just go back to being friends?" Thomas asked with sincerity in his voice.
"Fine but no funny business." Josh said.
"So what are you going to do to get into prom? Everyone is going to recognize you." I said.
"I think I will get green or brown eye contacts and stile my hair a little different. I can tell them a different name. No one will know. Noelle already paid for me to get back into school. My name will be Palmer Thompson though." Thomas said.
"Nice P.T. instead of T.P." I said.
"Yeah real original," Josh joked.
We pulled into our restaurant. It was a French place. The Hollis's had a private room set up. Once Lynn arrived with Gia and the girls we ate our dinners. It was delicious. I had some sort of shrimp pasta in a French sauce. Whatever it was it was delicious. The drive back home was quiet. I think Thomas fell asleep and Josh still kept his hand on my knee. I looked over at him and smiled.
When we got back to Josh's house we woke Thomas up by laying him down out of the car and getting a bucket of water. It was mean but it was fun.
"I am so going to get you back Brennan…Hollis." Thomas joked.
"Whatever Pearson," We said at the same time.
Thomas stayed in Tess's spare room which was on Josh's floor. That night Josh kept his arm around me as we slept. I was as comfortable as ever. I was as excited as ever because Noelle, Kiran, Taylor, Ariana, Astrid, Constance, London, and Vienna were all coming tomorrow. I was going o get to see them all. I didn't know how we were going to tell them all about Thomas though. I hope Noelle warned most of the other girls.
Well I am determined to finish this story so here is 4,600 something words and 12 pages for you! It is like midnight and I have to start the next chapter so review fast!!!