As they made their way over to Emily's place, they passed by one of the new indoor trampoline parks that recently opened up. Not really thinking, Josh turned towards Jenn. "You know, I really wish I was younger so that I could go to one of those places." He replied gesturing over to the trampoline park building. He could see Jenn had a perplexed look on her face. "We were a nice happy family when me and my sisters were growing up." He started but was interrupted by Jenn.
"My sisters and I." She instructed causing Josh to looked at her questioningly. "The correct phrasing is my sisters and I" She repeated before going back to her book and shaking her head. "I swear, if I didn't help you I wonder where you would have ended up."
Looking somewhat annoyed, Josh looked back at the road. "Whatever." He huffed. "I trying to pour my soul out to you and all you can do is correct me."
Feeling a little hurt by what had just transpired, Jenn put her hand on his leg. "Look, I'm sorry." She replied with a loving tone. "You know how I get when people use the wrong grammar. But go ahead and finish your story."
Waiting a moment to make sure that she was being sincere about it, Josh continued. "When my sisters and I." He repeated with a little emphasis. "were growing up and my Dad left us for his bimbo of a secretary. We had to learn real quick on what we could and couldn't do with our lack of income. I mean, for the first couple of years, I told my Mom that I didn't want any birthday presents since it meant that Bri and Courtney could get something that they needed or could go do something with their friends." He paused for a moment and glanced back over at Jenn who seemed to put down the book to listen to him.
"That's so sad." Jenn told him as she started to wipe tears from her eyes. "Is that why you were made fun of a lot in Middle School?" She asked not wanting any clarification since she already knew the answer. When they first met, back in the 6th grade, Josh would come to school in clearly second hand clothing that would have been seen at the Goodwill stores and most of the time it would be too loose fitting and looked like he was drowning in them.
He nodded his head. "Yeah, it was that way for about another year. Until Dr. Dennis gave my Mom a nice pay increase after hearing what was going on, I mean it certainly wasn't out of pity. She was already doing most of the insurance paperwork and helped him with the more advanced procedures. Well in more ways than one, our family owes it to him for helping us get back on track." Josh told her with a small grin.
Hearing this, Jenn looked back down at her book. "So are you serious about what you said earlier?" She asked while opening the book to the page where she found the potion. "About being a little kid again so that you could have fun once more?" Confused about what she was talking about, Josh had to think back to what they were talking about just a few moments earlier.
Shrugging his shoulders, he sighed as he continued to keep his attention on the road. "I guess, but how would we do that?" Josh asked glancing back towards Jenn, who had the pair of vial out and holding them up. Giving her a double take, he looked back towards the road. "You can't be serious, Jenn." He replied, not wanting to be some kind of lab rat for his girlfriend.
"Oh come on." Jenn scolded him. "I think I've got it figured out, I mean, all you have to do is take this potion and change into a younger version of yourself." She told him thinking back to what she read, but stopped and had an evil grin starting to form on her face. "Or better yet, what if you and Emily changed spots." She told him with eager eyes.
Still feeling a little uncomfortable about everything, Josh just smiled and nodded. "But Jenn, I don't want to be a girl." He announced, starting to feel uncomfortable about the situation. Glancing back over at Jenn, who looked like she didn't hear anything from him. "Jenn are you even listening to me?" He asked, trying to get her attention. "Why do I have to be the one to test it out? I mean, what if it poisons me? Or worse yet, turns me into some kind of slime monster?"
Putting down the vials, Jenn looked over at him. "How is turning into a slime monster worse than being poisoned?" She shook her head. "That doesn't matter, but what I'm saying is just try it out and if it doesn't work, you have nothing to worry about." Jenn smiled, something that she tended to do when she knew Josh was on the fence about something.
Knowing that he wasn't going to win against her, Josh let out a long drawn out sigh and mumbled under his breath. "Whatever, I still don't want to be a girl." It didn't take long for them to reach Emily's place and Josh was surprised to see her living in a house. "Does she live here by herself or does she have room mates?" He asked Jenn, who seemed to look up to see that they were there.
She shook her head. "No, she lives here by herself. Her Dad owns several rental properties and she wanted to try living by herself for a year and he let her live here." She gestured with her head towards the house that they pulled into. "Oh, don't say anything about Will, please. I know you two are friends, but lets make this about Emily right now, okay?"
Josh blinked and chuckled. "Jenn, sometimes you forget that I have 2 sisters. Courtney has been dumped more times than I can count. I know what to say and what not to say." He replied with a wink. The both looked up to see Emily opening the door. She didn't look like her normal self. Instead, she was in sweatpants and oversized hoodie, her blonde hair was tied in a messy bun, and they could see a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream sitting on the coffee table. Seeing this, Josh turned to Jenn. "Okay, this is bad. Like Courtney being dumped by the football player bad."
Placing her hand on his, Jenn looked him in the eye. "This is why I love you so much." She smiled as they started to get out of the car.
Walking up the walkway towards the house, Emily opened the door and quickly enveloped Jenn in a loving embrace. Looking at her Josh could tell that she'd been crying, with her puffy eyes and tear streaked face. "Thanks for coming over so quickly." Emily replied with a soft voice that he wasn't used to. Looking back over at Josh, Emily quickly made her way over to him and also enveloped him in an embrace too. Not knowing what to do, Josh stood there and waited for her to finish. Sensing his discomfort, Emily let go. "Sorry, I'm actually glad to see the both of you." She replied not making eye contact with either of them.
"Its not a problem, Em." Jenn quickly replied as she placed her hand on Emily's arm and guided her back towards the house. "Let's go somewhere warm and we can talk about whats going on, okay?" Emily, feeling a little embarrassed at how she was acting, nodded her head and followed Jenn's guidance and made her way inside.
Making their way inside, Josh couldn't believe how clean and put together everything was. He'd been to several other friends houses since getting into college and each one always tended to have clothes, food, and/or utensils somewhere in the Living Room. But Emily's had the occasional rogue piece of clothing and that was it. Emily and Jenn both sat down on the sofa sitting next to each other and talked about what had happened while Josh sat on one of the sitting chairs that were on each side of the sofa. Apparently, Will was wanting to go to a party, but Emily was going to spend several days with her Dad a couple counties over since they hadn't spent much time together since she started school. Not liking this answer, he went off on what he expected her to do for him and being a piece of arm candy when they went to parties was one of those things. After telling the story, Emily looked back over to Josh. "I know you two are good friends and I'm sorry for putting you in this..." She started, but Josh held up his hand to stop her.
Looking at her in the eyes, Josh replied with a calm voice. "Em, the reason why we became friends isn't because of the way he treats his loved ones. Honestly, I'm appalled with they way he treated you and Jenn can attest to this." He looked back over at Jenn and smiled. "A relationship is like a bird in flight. Working together to stay in the air or fight against each other and fall from the sky." He turned back towards Emily, who had tears welling up in her eyes once more. Scared and uncertain of what to do, Josh got up, made his way over to her and enveloped her in a hug. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry again."
Through the tears, Emily shook her head. "Its...hic...Its not that." She replied through the tears. "You and Jenn have always been looking out for me ever since we met." Emily pulled away and looked back at them both with a smile. "And I appreciate that more than anything else."
Blinking and letting that statement sink in, Josh returned the smile. "Emily, don't take this the wrong way." He started as he glanced over to Jenn. "But you're like a sister to me and I will rain hell down on anyone who makes you cry."
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