The weekend finally came and Joshua was relieved of that. He had a good night sleep and was well rested. While he wanted to stay home and stay in his bed, he had a task to do.
His mother sent him to do grocery shopping while she was on her day off and began doing cleaning around the house. She gave him a list of things to buy and sent him to do it.
On a Saturday noon, here he was at a grocery store shopping which took him fifteen minutes on bike. He dressed in his olive green wool sweater over his gray tee shirt since it was a little bit chilly outside on his way.
He had a red plastic basket hung on his arm with a few things inside and glanced at the yellow notepad paper list for the next set of items to get.
"Eggs, Milk â Whole Milk, Cheese, Grapes..." Joshua mumbled to himself. He read the rest of the items in his head before he looked at the store.
He began to pace as he went down an aisle to find the things he needed.
It went by quickly. He took his time, adding basic necessity in the basket and afterward, he checked out at the cash register to pay for items.
Joshua had reusable bags to carry all the items with him. He tied them up before placing the bags on top of the woven basket on his bike.
He unlocked the U-lock and stepped one foot on the pedal. He sat getting ready to leave, but he heard something smacked on the ground.
He saw a woman grasp for the bag that fell. She had too many to carry in her hands. Four in one hand and two in another, and he guessed the bag there on the ground was the seventh one.
This led to Joshua swiftly going to her and aided by her side. She looked like she was struggling. "Here, let me help you," he said.
"Oh!" She looked astonished. Her fingers slipped as he took a couple out of her hands. "Why, that's very kind of you."
Joshua shrugged. "Where are you taking this to?" he asked.
"Over there." She pointed to the White Volkswagen.
To his surprise, that Volkswagen looked shiny and almost new. For someone to afford that car must have worked in a good job.
"Could you help me with this one too?" she asked, referring to another bag in her hand. Joshua didn't mind and grabbed it.
He walked all the way with her until they reached her car. She unlocked the car with her car keys and opened the back trunk.
"I appreciate it if you put those in the back," she said.
Joshua placed the bags down in the trunk and she came over to put the remaining ones. She shut the trunk and looked at him. "Thank you so much! I couldn't get my boyfriend to come with me so carrying those by myself wasn't easy."
"Where is he?" Joshua asked.
"He had to take care of his mother who's sick."
The women got into her car and she waved at him. He was expecting her to drive off but instead, she sat there with the keys inserted but not revved up.
"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing her body slacking forward near the steering wheel.
"Oh... I guess I don't feel like driving off yet. I think I need to sit out for a while." She giggled but it sounded dismayed than happy.
In the next minute, she got out of the car and stood before him. "I hate to ask, but would you want to sit somewhere with me just for a little bit?"
It sounded sudden but also peculiar that he didn't know what to respond. "I-"
"Just a way I could repay you for helping me there," she cut him off.
Five minutes just around the corner and not that far from the store, they sat at a bench and ate Popsicle.
Joshua didn't know what to say. He took a stranger's offer to sit and she paid for the Popsicle for them. It was really awkward for him.
It seemed to her that she sensed his discomfort around her so she began first, "It must be so strange that I ask you to come with me for a bit, is it?"
He looked at her and with the thought of making her feel bad, he shook his head. "Oh um, it was just sudden."
"I get it," she said, smiling. "I just didn't want to be alone for right now."
Joshua sucked on his blue Popsicle and examined her. Now that he looked closer at her, there was something familiar about her.
Her hair was a long dark brown and her eyes were as well a dark brown. She put on simple makeup, but she effortlessly looked nice and presentable. Although the woman was older than him, she still looked very young for her age. Her outfit was an apricot orange long-sleeved pullover sweater over her white collar shirt that appeared visible and a plaid black and light orange pencil skirt which stopped above her knees. She matched it with black flats.
She caught on from how Joshua looked at her and asked, "What is it?"
Once he saw that she became aware, he was fretful. "S-Sorry. I didn't mean to stare."
She shook her head. "Tell me."
"Err... I just thought you looked like someone I knew," he said. That was only partially true, but he didn't want to admit that.
"Really?" She widened her mouth. She seemed to have gain interest in this. "Who would that be?"
Joshua shook his head. "It's no one. I don't want to bother you."
"No, tell me. I want to hear it." Her eyes widened, brightening as much as like a puppy.
Joshua had almost finished his Popsicle so he finished his last bite and decided on telling the stranger. "Well..." his voice was quiet, but she leaned in closer to hear him.
"It's probably silly, but it's a girl I like..."
She nodded and that kept him going to continue his speech. "It's not anything. but I can't stop thinking of her."
"Why do you think it's not anything?" she asked.
Joshua awkwardly rubbed his hand on his neck, contemplating what would be the right words. "I'm not her type and I couldn't talk to her."
"Could I get your name?"
"It's Joshua."
"Joshua," she said. "Can I offer a piece of advice?"
He weakly shrugged, as the woman took a bite of her Popsicle. "Liking someone will always be complicated. Whether they like you back or not is not our fear. But you know what is?"
He didn't understand. Joshua had feared that Coral would never like him back. Because of the rejection he didn't want to face, he couldn't do anything but stay behind.
She watched his confused reaction before she continued, "It's never taking a chance."
Joshua froze.
"Yes, you can like someone and they won't like you back is something scary. I think, however, what's more, is that you would never know what could be accomplished if we just sit back all of our life watching others taking the move that we should have."
The woman gazed up to the sky, a sad look in her eyes. "It brought me back to my first love when I couldn't confess to him."
"How come?"
"I wimped out fearing rejection my whole life. He was a good guy and I truly liked him. I waited too long until it became too late," she said and dusted her flats against the concrete.
He was growing curious. "Did it work out in the end?"
"No. I'll tell you a brief story. It started sophomore year. I liked this guy for at least five months. He was funny, daring, bold but he also had this sweet side of him. He's really protective of his younger sister. She was bullied and he never left her side. One day, he stood up to the girls that bullied her. He was very firm that if they didn't stay away from her, he'd make sure to report them and also that they would let their coach know. They were in a Cheerleading squad and he knew the coach very well. She was very strict about the rules and whoever causes any issues will be kicked off the team."
"Is that why you liked him?" Joshua asked, and she nodded.
"We became acquainted through mutual friends. But any time he talked to me, I'd find excuses to not see him because I didn't know what to say. I watched him instead. On February 14th, I decided I would confess to him. I dressed up nice in red which was not only that day theme color but also his favorite. I only brought a red rose which I thought would indicate how I felt for him.
I waited until after school to try to get the courage to confess to him. I went to the piano room where I saw him through the door's window. He loves the piano. I thought I would let him finish his song piece before I could walk in. And when he did, I was about to go to him. I thought he was alone, but there was another girl there. I heard their conversation and the girl confessed to him. I saw them hug and he accepted the gifts from her. He held her hand and kissed it. Once I saw that I couldn't go in there. I ran out and left the rose outside the room."
Her smile became sad. Joshua clearly saw how that story stung her as if she didn't want to remember that time.
She turned to Joshua. "After that time, do you think I try talking to him again?"
He was at a loss to respond so he said weakly, "I don't know."
"I didn't for a while, knowing that he has a girlfriend. It was painful that I didn't tell him first. Of course, I knew that something like this might happen, but just not that fast. Eventually, I talked to him and told him how I felt despite knowing that it's not reciprocated. He thanked me, but he didn't like me that way."
"Were you crushed?"
"Of course, I wanted it to be me. But I guess if it weren't for that time, I wouldn't have met my current boyfriend now. We've been friends for a long time and he asked me to be his girlfriend two months ago. I'm happy with him now," she said, replacing that sad smile with a cheerful one.
"You just need to know that you did something and you may find yourself in a better place than you were before."
"Do you think I will?" he asked nervously. He never thought of himself more of a coward than after he heard her story.
"No," she said in a serious tone.
His face fell in dejection.
"Not unless you move one step forward. In order for anything to go anywhere, you have to take it," she said, and that's how she assured something that he had been feeling in his chest.
Joshua could only nod. "I will try to take that into consideration."
"You're a handsome boy, I don't see why not she won't like you," she said, smiling gently at him.
She looked at the time on the watch on her right wrist. "Oh, I must go now. Thank you for the time and I hope you work things out."
"Thank you," he said, watching her stand up. She moved past him and then it occurred to him. "Wait."
She glanced back at him. "Yes?"
"I haven't gotten your name."
"Isabel," she answered him before walking far from his vision.
Isabel was an interesting woman and he was glad that she spared him the time of the day for him.
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This might be a little bit longer than you wanted but this could make up for the lack of writing of not posting anything of this story??? Well, let's see what happened to Joshua in the last few final chapters ahead.