My Heart CH.11

My Heart: A Joshayley Story
CHAPTER 11

The next day came by just as every other, and the same old school routine was in effect. Not only was it boring, but to Hayley, the only time school was good was when it was lunch, and when she walked home with Josh. The two talked more and the school was in a buzz. Today was also the day she would have to convince her parents to let her go to Josh's.

Once she got home, only her mom was home, making something foreign on the stove. It smelled strange and Hayley realized it was probably another experiment. She came up slowly in the kitchen and sat on the high chair by the kitchen counter. "Uh..watcha cooking there, mom?" She asked casually. "It's just something I found online. I am so excited for you to taste it, Hayles. It smells really good!" Hayley just smiled kindly, hoping it really did taste good and her mom wouldn't be disappointed. "So um...yeah I've made some really good friends, mom," Hayley began. Her mom smiled and looked over at her. "Oh yeah? Well honey tell me all about it."

"Yeah okay so...well there's this one guy, the guy that called last time," Hayley paused to think back on the events, realizing she yelled at her mom that time. "Oh my gosh I'm sorry I yelled at you that time he called, mom. I was just stressing and all."

"Honey I've forgotten long about that. I understand," her mom replied.

Hayley looked at her and exhaled, relieved. "Oh okay. Well yeah, anyways he's um, you know...invited me to his house. I mean his brother is there. His parents won't be home by six, and you know we're just really, really good friends right now," Hayley's face felt so red. "So I was wondering if I could keep them company and you know, hang out there? I'll be back around five or something..."

"So you're just asking for permission?" Her mom asked.

"Y..yeah." Hayley replied meekly.

"Well sure, Hayley! You've made new friends! Just promise there aren't going be any risky business because you're gonna go to a home with two young boys and you know..."

"Woah, woah way ahead of you mom," Hayley said. "I'm totally going to be safe and I promise if they start that type of business I swear I'll slap them both silly and run off," She and her mother shared a laugh and her mom nodded her head again.

"Okay, go on ahead Hayley. Your dad won't be back until eight so you might as well get home before then, hon. See you later." Hayley kissed her mom and then left out the door. Once she was out the door, she was surprised to see Josh already there, walking towards her house. "Oh my God! What are you doing here?" Hayley asked, caught off guard. She quickly walked away from her house, dragging Josh by the arm. "I was supposed to meet you at your house." "Yeah," Josh began, "but I was pretty worried your parents would say no and I thought maybe if I could come over and introduce myself, let them know it will be okay and all."
"So you were going to actually come and meet my parents?" Hayley was surprised.
"Yeah. But hey, you're out, so come on."

HAYLEY'S POV:
We began walking, and not far from my house was his. Of course we were on the opposite ends of each other, but I didn't realize our houses were that close. Once we stopped in front of a tall, white, and quaint house, I figured it would be his. "So yeah, this is...it." he told me, acting as if there was nothing to the situation at all. I looked up at it without a word and he led me to the front door. Inside, you could see a stairway towards the left, the living room, a fireplace, a drum set, and the dining room towards the right of the house. "Zac's on the couch, eating and watching TV. Typical behavior," Josh smirked. I nodded and smiled. "So...are we going to talk to him?" I questioned. "Do you want to?" Josh replied, sounding like the thought was a bad idea. "Why? Is it bad?" I asked, letting my thoughts come out of my mouth. "No..no, not bad. Wow, seriously now. What are we doing? He's my brother. He's younger. I don't understand how this could be a problem." Josh took my hand and we both walked towards the living room.

"Hey Zac," Josh said, monotone.

"Hey. 'Sup," Zac replied, without even looking up. He put a chip into his mouth.
"So..." Josh began, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"So?" Zac replied, still staring at the TV. He picked up another chip, but suddenly dropped it. It was an abrupt movement. I stayed still.

"You must be Hayley," Zac looked up at me, and I only smiled and nodded. "Yep. That's my name."

"Well, Josh told me you were coming over. He got all excited, I mean he..." Josh started making some peculiar movements, like he was trying to stop his brother from saying anything further.

"Oooh......" Zac began, looking up at his brother, like something big just hit him, "I get it."

"I think we've all met each other here, right?" Josh announced in a low, shaky voice. He took a moment to compose himself and began walking away. I followed. "Nice to meet you, Hayley!" Zac called out after me, half-waving. I turned back to him and flashed my gap-tooth smile. "You too."

Josh and I went upstairs, passing by two bedrooms. There was a short ladder at the end of the hallway, leading up to hole in the wall. He unlatched something and it slid some wood to the right, opening up the hatch. "My room's up here," he said. He climbed up first, and then I did, feeling like a child climbing into a treehouse. I didn't expect much but a typical guy's room, but his room was so open, so wide, despite the mess of paper by the large window. He had one acoustic and one electric guitar standing by the wall. "So you play?" I asked, picking one up. "Uh...yeah. Been working on it." I looked around more. His bed was laid against the right side of the room. It was small, and you could barely find it over the amount of posters and chairs around this room. Books were placed neatly in a tall, wooden bookshelf, and he didn't have a TV in here. There was a large radio, and an amazing collection of CDs next to it. Again, they were neatly stalked up in a CD holder hanging on the wall. Only the sunlight moved in through the one, giant window. "This room isn't much," Josh shrugged.

"Are you kidding?" I told him, my voice high, "This is awesome!"

He smiled and gazed towards me. "Thanks." I took a seat next to him on his bed, and he had the acoustic guitar in his hands. I picked up the electric, and looked for the amp, finding it right in front of his bed. I began plugging in the wires and setting the volume. He eyed me, surprised. "Wow, you really know how to work this thing, don't you?"

"Hey, I know how to play, too," I replied.

Josh chuckled, raising his hands, palms up, in defeat. "Okay, girl power to you. So um...I don't really know what to play right now."

I noticed a pile of papers with musical notes piled up on top of his side table. He was strumming something to himself, so I got up and grabbed one of them. "What's this?" I asked, sitting back next to him. "It's nothing. Something Zac and I practice," He didn't even look up at me. "So that's why there's a drum set downstairs?" I continued. "Yeah." He was clinging onto the emotion of embarrassment, it was obvious. I shouldn't have picked this music up. But since it's in my hands now, I looked at the first line and began strumming the notes. It was a nice progression at the beginning.

"Wow. This is great," I told him happily. "The bottom part must be Zac's part, right?"
"Yeah," he said.
"Well it's nothing to be embarrassed about. This is awesome. It's cool to be making music. I've been taking vocal lessons since I was fourteen."
"Really?" I immediately perked up. "Do you have any lyrics that go along with this?"
"Well, it's under construction, but here it is," Josh pulled out something from the bottom of the pile. On the top it was entitled 'Conspiracy'. I quickly scanned it. There was one verse and no chorus. Again I read through it, but slowly this time, already creating some melodies in my head.
"Interesting." I said.
He looked back at me like I was mad. "You actually like it?" he asked.
"Well yeah. Give me the music for it."

I began to strum the notes and sing along with the lyrics. It began to fit more, and as the hours passed, we both wrote the chorus and second verse. Not only did I enjoy this, but I understood him more. "So this was how you felt when Jaelyn dumped you?" I asked him, after finishing the second verse. "Not really. A little, but I guess it was more than that." For a second we just looked at each other, eyes connected in some unnatural gaze, and as quickly as it happened, our eyes flickered away. I quickly looked up at the clock, realizing it was 5:50.

"Wow, time's way too fast," I said to myself softly. "What?" Josh asked, hearing my incoherent mumble.

"I gotta get home. You know we still haven't talked about killing Jaelyn at that party," I said aloud.

"Wow. I forgot all about that," Josh said, a bit of laugh in his voice.

"Well there's still tomorrow. I'll see you then." I got up from his bed and began walking towards the hatch.

I felt something grab my arm. "Hayley wait," Josh said. I turned towards him. He was so tall. "Yeah?"

"There's someplace better than my room to plan and scheme and write music," he told me with a smirk. "But you'll have to meet me after school again."

"Oh, so now there are directions for me, huh?" I inquired sarcastically. "Wait..what?" Josh asked. He was confused. I laughed at him. "I'll meet you then, promise," I agreed, raising a hand.

"Cool," he said, letting me be.

I went back downstairs, alone this time, and Zac was in the kitchen. "Hey Hayley," he called. I looked up before grabbing my sneakers. "Oh, hey, Zac. Didn't see you there."

"Sorry about being all weird earlier," he said.

"You weren't weird. Why? Is there something that I was supposed to know?"

"Not really. Well you aren't supposed to know. I mean, yeah. You know." He began babbling. "Yeah okay well see you soon, then?"

"Sure, sure. Hey, we've been writing songs upstairs. You like drums, right?" I sat down on carpet, tying my shoes.

"Man, I've been drumming since age nine. I love drumming," he replied.

"That's cool," I said, getting up from the floor. "Anyways, thank Josh for having me over, okay? It was fun."