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"Oh, my God. What is that supposed to mean?" I shoved him in the shoulder. "There is nothing wrong with reading. I'd much rather hang out with my book boyfriends than real-life guys who—"
"Jess," Josh interrupted.
"What?"
"You know I love to read too. It was a joke."
"Oh. Well, it wasn't very funny." My eyes narrowed even more, making Josh grin.
"Look," Josh said, his hands out in surrender. "You just seem kind of, um, well, not yourself lately, and I thought it might be fun for you to get out, have a few drinks, eat a good meal."
That piqued my interest for sure. "There's food involved?"
"Definitely. My man James loves to eat."
I put my hand on my hip. "Where?"
"I can't remember the name of the place. Some restaurant right on the water that he wants to try, then some bar nearby, maybe karaoke."
"Oh, God."
"Right? So please come with me," he begged. "Don't make me hang out by myself with a bunch of drunk dudes doing karaoke."
I couldn't help giggling, and Josh knew he almost had me. He began to sing the lyrics of a certain song that I could never remember the name of... about getting knocked down but getting back up again, his voice terribly off-key.
And now, I doubled over in laughter. "Please stop."
"I'll stop once you agree," he said, his eyes lighting up as he continued to sing, this time louder.
"No! Stop!" I was going to pee my pants any second, but he didn't stop, his voice even more terrible when he tried to reach a higher note. "Stop! Please! I'll go. I'll go."
Josh continued, and I heard Magic begin to howl.
"Stop! I said I'll go."
But he wouldn't stop, so I ran up my stairs, laughing my ass off. "What time?" I yelled back.
"Be ready by six," Josh said as he went up his own steps, still singing, his voice echoing between our building and the one next door.
My stomach hurting from all the laughter, I rushed into my apartment and slammed the door shut. And of course, the entire time I was getting ready, that song wormed its way around in my head, relentless, annoying as hell. I was going to kill him.
But I ended up having the night of my life, especially because something so amazing happened that I dared not even hope for, something that only existed in my dreams.
As I sat there at dinner, sandwiched between Josh and James—who by the way was ridiculously handsome and an LA Galaxy player, hello!—I soaked in the ocean view from our outdoor patio and actually felt happy. I was shocked to realize it.
For the first time in a long while, I felt content. And I knew who I had to thank for that.
This guy named Josh who was sitting here on my right.
When Josh had introduced me to all of his friends and they had known who I was, I realized he must have talked about me or at least our podcast to them. That thought alone gave me a warm, gushy feeling inside.
And when he made an effort to include me in the conversation with his large group of friends of which I was the only female, it was so sweet, melting me inside, slowly thawing my frozen feelings.
But I was also scared. Was I ready to jump back into something? Shouldn't I take more time to myself to process and work through all of my emotions?
Oh, God, I didn't know. So I sipped away at my margarita, laughing with Josh and his friends who teased each other constantly. Maybe tease wasn't the right word. Maybe busting each other's balls was more like it.
Like an idiot, I giggled to myself and Josh shot me a smile before saying, "Hey, I need the men's room. Be right back. Will you be okay with these guys?"
