Page 104 of The Crush Next Door

His voice loud in the hushed silence, he continued, "And he said it was the most fun he'd ever had listening to a podcast, that you two were hilarious and super knowledgeable."

"What in the what?" I asked, stunned from my head to my toes.

In the noise that followed, Josh suddenly grabbed me, pulling me close, and dropped a loud smooch right on my cheek.

And now, I was even more shocked. What in the Matt Blaze was going on right now?

Behind me, Anaya shook my shoulder, and Josh's friends were all over us, congratulating us, some of them looking up the tweet themselves, shoving their phones in our faces.

Matt Blaze had actually remembered our silly little podcast?

If I had orchestrated it myself, I could not have asked for a better birthday present for Josh. First, the baseball game. And now this?

What an amazing day!

Josh's bright eyes were on me the rest of the afternoon as the sun crossed the sky, eventually peeking out from the large trees that were on the outskirts of the field.

Once evening arrived, Josh's buddies began to get sloppy, the laughter louder, easy catches being missed, some pitches "accidentally" hitting batters.

James' cooler was nearly empty, and I had to wonder how all these guys would get home safely. But James assured me that he was the designated driver for a group of them and that the rest would Uber it.

Thank goodness.

And with that reassurance, I relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening, not drinking myself, just reveling in the fun vibe.

Hearing all these guys try to sing happy birthday to Josh was maybe the funniest thing ever. The cupcakes I'd baked disappeared in about two seconds, and I worried I hadn't made enough. However, Dr. Haute, of all people, reassured me that hundreds of cupcakes wouldn't have been enough for this group of locusts who devoured everything in their path.

And through all the chaos, Josh and I always found each other, our eyes drawn to each other like the strongest magnetic pull. Crazy thoughts whirled around in my head, thoughts about that kiss, thoughts about Josh's fit body, and—dare I say it—thoughts about my feelings for Josh, honest-to-goodness, actual feelings.

What was happening?

If I'd had the time, I would have dissected everything with Anaya. But all I could get with her was a quick moment as she helped me load my trunk along with Dr. Haute. And best friend that she was, I didn't even have to say anything. She brought it up herself.

"So..." she began, handing Dr. Haute an empty container to put in my car after he offloaded the cooler. "What's going on with you and Josh?"

I glanced over my shoulder to see the whole gang slowly making their way to the parking lot, loaded down with bags and drunken idiocy.

Quickly, I turned back to her, realizing I didn't have time to play any games or pretend I didn't understand her question. "I don't know. I have no clue where this is all coming from."

"Oh, my God, Jess." She shook her head while giving me an Olympic-sized eye-roll. "Are you kidding me?"

"What? No. Yes. What do you mean?" I whispered hurriedly, trying not to notice Dr. Haute edging away, looking supremely uncomfortable.

"I mean, you and Josh have had a thing for forever. And you've just been ignoring it, I guess rightly so because you were with Devon, and of course, you weren't going to cheat on him. But now." She grabbed my wrist a little roughly for such a petite girl. "Now, you better do something about it. Because that guy," she said, looking over my shoulder, "that guy is crazy about you."

His rejection of me ran through my head like an awful scene from a movie. "You really think so?"

And now she shook me. "Yeah, it's only obvious to the whole world except you."

Huh. That might take some time to digest. But the thing I really wanted to know, needed to know from her, was Josh going to be another Devon? Clearly, I had shit taste in guys, and she'd quietly bit her tongue while I was with Devon.

I took another look behind me and saw Josh saying goodbye to his friends, passing out bro hugs, and giving dude handshakes.

"Hey, I need to ask you something," I said in a low voice even though we were all alone at the moment.

Her attention was completely on me, her large eyes staring at me in the twilight. "What?"

"Josh isn't like Devon, is he? I mean, do you like him?"

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