Page 46 of I Love My Mistake
Chapter Twenty-Four
Minutes Later
Josh is waiting outside when we drive up, looking scared and guilty. I climb out of the car and give him a hug as my cabbie waits.
“It’s all me. It’s all me, Nicole. It’s all my fault.”
“Josh! You’ve been a jerk – I won’t lie to you, but it’s never just one person. Okay? I don’t know what’s going on, but Amber loves you. Okay?” He nods and I turn to my cabbie friend. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see how much I…” I’m interrupted by a text alert and Josh practically jumps me.
“IS IT AMBER?!”
“Josh! Yeesh. Calm down.” I call out to my cabbie, “Hold on, please. I’m so sorry.”
He motions don’t worry.
The text is indeed from the best friend in question. She’s at the bar where we met Chris, and when I read, “Need help,” my stomach twists. Maybe she doesn’t want to see Josh. Oh God. What do I do?
I look up to see Josh on his phone, calling her. I grab at it and wrestle it from his hands. “Josh put the phone down! You’ll scare her off!”
He stops fighting me and says helplessly, “But she had her phone back on! I had to try.”
Oh man. I want to bear-hug the poor guy right now, he’s so pathetically cute. This might be the biggest mistake, but I’m taking him with me, come what may. I turn to my cabbie. “Can you drive us over to the East Village?
His sweet little head bobs. “Let’s go!”
Josh climbs in one side while I jump in the other. He mumbles, brain spinning and eyes hazy with worry, “She’s at Jess’s isn’t she? That’s why Jess didn’t respond.”
“No.” I shut the door. “She’s at a bar. I couldn’t get a hold of Jess, either.”
“Oh.”
I give his hand a little pat and then turn to look out the window, because I am pretty sure I’m breaking the best friends code and I can’t look at him anymore. But something is telling me to bring him, and something is telling me to go to her, too. How can I not listen to these instincts? Angels, I hope you’re not leading me to a big fat mess!
When we arrive at the bar, I look at its door. Why didn’t I try harder to make sure she was okay when I saw her lost here, last weekend? What kind of a friend am I?
I climb out. Josh insists on paying our cabbie. “Thanks, man,” he says, distractedly pulling too many bills out of his wallet.
My cabbie gives him half of them back. “No no, that’s too much!”
I walk over and kneel down in front of his window, so we’re eye level. He smiles an encouraging smile.
“Let’s do this again soon, okay?” I say.
He grins, that one missing tooth still charming my socks off. “Anytime.”
I tap his door. “Have a good night.”
“It will work out. Don’t worry,” he says to me, as he puts the car in gear.
I turn and Josh isn’t there. Shit!
“Josh! Wait for me!” Running after him, I fumble for my ID as I open the door. I frantically wave it at the bouncer who nods in the direction Josh went. I look over and see the back of Josh’s head moving fast and ahead of him, Amber’s blonde hair unmistakable, at the bar. I have to beat him! But the crowd makes it difficult! By the time I see that Amber isn’t alone – that she’s talking to a handsome man who’s holding her hand – it’s too late! Josh has drawn back his arm and lands a punch hard into the guy’s jaw. Neither of them even saw him walk up. I am a failure as a friend.
Amber yells our names, looks guilty as hell and reaches for the stranger, who turns and looks at me. When we lock eyes, I see his face move with a gasp – like how Amber gasped the night she first saw Josh. The surprise in his eyes flickers at me before he turns his attention to Josh, his attacker. It’s as though seeing me was more surprising than the hit.
Life has a funny way of taking you places you never saw coming. What happens next between Josh and Amber is their business and their story, but when they leave to make some very tough decisions, I am left alone with this stranger, and we look at each other with the same awkward expression, not knowing what to do. Motioning to the chair Amber vacated, he says, “You look like you could use a drink.”
I nod and sit down, inspecting him. “You, too. Your jaw is pretty red.”