I Don't Wanna Be Alone Ch. 7 [Hayley Williams & Josh Farro]

Melanie ignored my look, and smiled, walking over to me, and grabbing my arm, and then walking over to Josh - who sat on the opposite side of the table, on the couch, with a weird expression on his face - and pulled us both over to the coat closet. Throwing open the door, she shoved us in.
''You have seven minutes,'' she informed us, smiling, before she shut the door.
Talk about awkward.
Not to mention I was pretty sure I was sitting on my mom's 'business' stilettos. Ouch.
I heard - and felt - Josh moving around on the other side of the cramped closet.
''Uhm. Talk about awkward, eh?'' Josh said, laughing nervously.
I was just glad he couldn't see my burning face in the dark.
''..Yeah,'' I whispered, biting my lip.
And before I knew what was happening, Josh's lips were pressed against mine, his hands on the small of my back, and mine around his neck.
Just like he and Brittany had been, at the dance, 8 months ago.
But no thoughts of Brittany or anything else, for that matter filtered through my brain. It seemed to have completley shut off. All I could even think of was how soft Josh's lips were, and how good of a kisser he was, and how I wish I could stay in this cramped, stuffy closet for more than just seven minutes.
We could have been kissing for three seconds for all I knew, when the closet door boomed open and I heard Melanie's triumphant squeal.
''I FREAKIN' KNEW IT!!!!''
Josh and I jumped apart, as though electrocuted, and I felt like my face was on fire it probably rivaled my hair. I couldn't even look at him.
''Shit Melanie. Don't tell Brittany, will you?'' he mumbled, his face staring down at the floor, as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
I felt like I had been punched in the gut.
Oh, right, Brittany.
It had blissfully slipped my mind that Josh still had a girlfriend. Who he had basically cheated on with me.
I felt tears prickle the back of my eyes.
Melanie snorted, ''What? You think I'm really waste my time saying a single thing to that bitch?'' she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at him with an expression that looked like she had just smelled something vulgar.
''What the hell, Melanie! I'm DATING her - you could at LEAST TRY AND BE DECENT TO HER. ALL YOU'VE DONE IS TREAT HER LIKE SHIT. MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET TO KNOW HER!'' Josh exploded.
''ARE YOU JOKING?! ARE YOU COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MIND? DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE'S DONE TO ME AND HAYLEY?! ALL THE TIMES WE'VE BEEN PUT DOWN BY HER? ALL THE RUMORS? ALL THE GLARES IN THE HALLWAYS?! SHE'S RUINED OUR LIVES, JOSH,'' Melanie screamed back at him.
This was way too much.
I felt the tears flow out of my eyes before I could stop them.
It wasn't fair. Josh was sticking up for Brittany. My best friends kept fighting. I had just kissed the guy I had been dreaming about all this time, and he still had a girlfriend. His girlfriend was the biggest bitch ever, and he wouldn't listen to me or Melanie.
I shook my head, and covered my eyes with my arm, not wanting to show the tears that were pouring freely out of my eyes now, and ran past both Melanie and Josh, up the stairs to my room.
I slammed the door with a loud 'CRASH' - causing many of the pictures I had taped up onto it to fall - and threw myself on the bed, my tears streaming down my face like rivers.
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Downstairs, the rest of the people who had been left sitting on the couches while Melanie went to retrieve me and Josh out of the closet talked amoung themselves, sipping their drinks.
Suddenly, just about everyone could hear every single word Melanie and Josh screamed at each other.
....''LEAST TRY AND BE DECENT TO HER. ALL YOU'VE DONE IS TREAT HER LIKE SHIT. MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET TO KNOW HER!''
''ARE YOU JOKING?! ARE YOU COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MIND? DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE'S DONE TO ME AND HAYLEY?! ALL THE TIMES WE'VE BEEN PUT DOWN BY HER? ALL THE RUMORS? ALL THE GLARES IN THE HALLWAYS?!' SHE'S RUINED OUR LIVES, JOSH.''
Zac peeked over the edge of the couch, and saw Melanie and Josh in their shouting match, and me on the floor, with what seemed like tears running down my face.
I ran upstairs a moment after that, my arm covering my face, as Josh and Melanie shut up for a split second, looking after me, bewildered.
Zac muttered under his breath, ''God dammit Josh..'' as he got up from the couch and followed me up the stairs to my room.
Zac of course, had realized that I liked his brother way before I had even told Melanie. He saw my reaction that day at lunch when Brittany had first asked Josh to come with her to the dance, had been outside and seen me run away upon realizing that Josh and Brittany were kissing on the bench, had seen me go from happy to sad the second she realized that Josh and Brittany had come together to the various outings we had had over the summer, and had seen my utter annoyance when Josh brought Brittany along to our band practices.
He heard the crash of my bedroom door shutting when he was halfway up the stairs.
''Uhm. Hay? Are you okay?'' he asked, as he finally got upstairs and knocked lightly on my door.
I couldn't hear his knock over my cries.
Apparently not.
''Look, Hay. Listen to me; Josh is my brother. He's a pompous bastard sometimes and I don't know what the hell he was thinking when he agreed to go out with Brittany, but he likes you. I don't know how he rationalizes hurting you like this - by going out with her - but I think he's just afraid that you'd reject him if he asked you out, and it would be way too much for him to handle,'' Zac said, putting his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.
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Downstairs, Melanie and Josh just stared at each other, mouths open, as I ran upstairs, my arm over my eyes.
''Look what you did now!'' Melanie exclaimed, exasperatedly, as she followed me up the stairs.
Josh cursed under his breath, putting his hand to his head, and walked out the front door, slamming it.
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Melanie ran up the stairs to find that Zac was standing under my door, looking at the floor, his hands in his pockets.
''She's not coming out?'' Melanie asked, furrowing her brows.
''No.'' Zac said, looking at Melanie sadly.
''Shitt. God. Maybe I shouldn't have made them go into that closet together,'' Melanie whispered, biting her lip, and knocking on my door sadly.
''Hay, babe. Open up. It's only me and Zac,''
I wiped the tears from under my eyes, got up off my bed, and walked over to my door. I unlocked it, and Zac and Melanie came in.
Melanie immediatley threw herself at me in a big bear hug, and let me cry into her shoulder a bit more.
Zac kind of stood on the side, awkwardly, switching his balance from one foot to the other.
''Did you hear what I said?'' he finally asked, after a long awkward silence filled only with my sniffles and Melanie's soothing words.
I looked up from Melanie's shoulder.
''Yes.''
''Okay. Well, it's true. Ever since Josh first saw you on that first day of school for you, he's had a thing for you - won't stop talking about you. Even around Brittany, and it's driving her crazy,'' he said, staring down at the toes of his shoes.
''How'd you know?''
''It's not hard to miss. You're really obvious about it, Hay,'' Zac replied, looking at me and smirking. Melanie smiled and nodded.
I felt the corners of my mouth twitching upward.
''Seriously?''
''YES! Haven't we been over this already, Hay?!'' Melanie exclaimed, in a jokingly exasperated way.
I smiled, ''Where'd he -'' I started, but Melanie interrupted me.
''He left. I don't think he can deal with it - knowing that you're so upset because of him. Or that he kissed you when he's still theoretically with Brittany. Though he probably won't be for much longer. You know how she is about guys being faithful to her. She can cheat all she wants, but when a guy does it to her, it's absolutely the end of the world,'' she said dryly, making a face.
''Oh.''
''Don't worry about it, though, Hay. He'll put his tail in between his legs tomorrow, and come over and apologize, I promise you,'' Zac said, smiling reassuringly at me.
Melanie agreed.
That made me feel a bit better.
''Thanks guys - you have no idea how much that helped. Now, I think we should probably go back downstairs to my birthday party, shouldn't we? Can't have my other friends thinking I'm a big drama queen that needs to be sure that all attention is on her at all times, can we?'' I asked, a watery smile appearing on my face.
Melanie and Zac nodded. ''Nope!'' they agreed, as we made our way back downstairs.