The Outliers (The Outskirts Duet #2)

"You know about as much as I do. Nothing.”

"Typical Finn." Josh said with a roll of her eyes. She took the soup out of the bag and set it on the counter, carefully taking off the lid to release the steam. She opened a drawer and retrieved a spoon.

"Who is that for, anyway?" I asked.

Josh pointed a finger at the closed bedroom door and motioned for me to follow her inside.

Something under the covers on her bed moved and it took me a moment to realize it there was a dark head of hair sticking out from the top of the stack of white fluffy pillows. Not just any head.

Miller's head.

"I'm soooooo sick," he moaned, rolling over with the blanket bunched up in his fists, pulling it up over his head.

Josh leaned over him and shouted through the covers. "The only thing you have is a case of the man-flu! It's not deadly, just annoying as all hell." She looked over at me. "Especially to the female population."

Miller pulled the blanket back down revealing a slightly reddened nose. He sniffled. "Don't yell at me. I don't feel well. I think it's the black plague." He lowered his voice to a whispery rasp. "Who knows how much time I have left..." He said, followed by a dramatic series of coughs into his closed fist.

"Here is your damn chicken soup," Josh barked and plopped the bowl down onto the nightstand, sloshing some over the side.

"Stars or noodles?" Miller asked without so much as glancing at the bowl or what was inside. He pulled the covers back up over his nose, peeking out at Josh over the top.

Josh rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her jutted hip. "At this rate, just be grateful it's not arsenic." She turned and ushered me from the room.

"It's too far away," Miller whined, making a grabby motion with his hand the soup which was in arm's reach if he would've tried to reach it. "I can't...I can't reach iiiiiiit. Don't leave me like this, woman!"

"He doesn't even have a fever," Josh informed me, ignoring Miller and shutting the door.

"Sawyer, why are you letting her be so cruellll!!!!"

Josh sneezed into her elbow and retrieved a tissue from the box off the counter to briefly blow her nose. "I have the same exact cold." She said, pitching the tissue into the trash and washing her hands in the kitchen sink. "And see how differently we're handling it?"

"Just a little different," I agreed.

She stared at the closed door. "He needs to woman-the-hell-up because I swear to God if he asks for one more thing I'm gonna load him in the truck and toss him in the drunk tank. He can sleep it off like Mr. Ward has to every time the Panthers lose and he drowns his sorrows in his grandfather's moonshine."

"You wouldn't!" Miller shouted came from the other side of the door.

"Oh yeah? Try me!" She shouted back.

After a few seconds, when no reply came, she turned to me. "I'm sorry about that. Are you alright? I mean, are you REALLY alright? I feel like we haven't had a ton of time to talk and I've been busy dealing with Mr. Crazy Possessive in there."

Fiercely. Possessively. Crazily.

"Josh, can I ask you something? You don't have to answer but I'm curious."

"Miller asked me to use my nail to reach something in his nose he couldn't. I told him if he asked me again I'd kick him in the dick, but the point is that no question besides that one, will offend me at this point."

"Gross, and noted. I'm curious." I pointed to the bedroom. "Do you love him?"

Josh narrowed her eyes to slits. "Today might not be the best day to ask me that."

Josh and Miller were complete opposites. , you’d think they hated each other. But once I discovered they were an item, and had been for a long time, I saw it. The love they didn’t want anyone else to see. I can look back on all our interactions and pick up on the exchange of glances. The way Miller knew where she was in the room at all times. The way they always seem to be touching one another when they thought no one was paying attention. It was so glaringly obvious now that I don’t know how I ever missed it to begin with.

"The last time I saw you two you were at each other's throats. Have you two talked things out?" I asked, sipping from the bottle of water she handed me from the fridge.

Josh shook her head. "Only if you consider him showing up at my door, sneezing in my face and telling me he loves me and needs me to take care of him before falling face first into my bed, talking things out then, yeah. I guess we talked."

"The last time I saw you was the first time I'd seen you really angry at him. Not playfully angry but truly angry."

Josh strolled over to the couch and plopped down, tucking one foot underneath of her. I took a seat on the opposite end and mirrored her position.

"Yeah, that," she said, pinching her bottom lip and shaking her head, she stared blankly at the wall. "I still don't really know what that was. When it comes to Miller I think that I try to push back all the feelings so much that when they push through, they spring out like a damn jack-in-the-box.”

"Maybe talking to him about it will help," I suggested, although I wasn’t one to give advice. I’d only had one romantic relationship and I was guessing as I went.

"You know?" Josh asked, narrowing her eyes, "for someone who claims to be innocent when it comes to a lot of things you sure can Dr. Phil a situation like a champion."

I didn't know who Dr. Phil was, but the way Josh said it made it sound like a good thing.

"Or maybe," she nudged my arm, "you're just a really good friend."

My chest swelled. "Before I came here I never had a real friend. You're officially my first one. And thank you. For listening. For everything. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Either Josh wasn't surprised or she hid it really well. "And don't forget you've also got Miss Miller in there." She jerked her thumb to the room. "We're more than friends though, Say. We're family."

Family.

When I first arrived in The Outskirts I didn't have anyone, and now it seemed that I was adding to my family daily.

"I'm sorry. I know this has all got to be hard with your mother and all." Josh said, taking my hand in hers and giving it a squeeze. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. I had a good talk with my mother when she was with it for a bit and then Critter and then Finn. I think I'm all talked out for now."

And all cried out. And emotionally exhausted.

"Good because after dealing with Miss Prissy Pants I could use some damn silence." Josh argued.

"I heard that!" Miller called out. "Save me, Sawyer. She's sooooo mean."

"These walls are too damn thin," Josh said. She squeezed my hand. "Well, you know that I'm here for you, Sawyer. No matter what you need. I'm here. Finn too."

All I could do was nod in response. Josh was really a great friend and I was truly lucky to have her. I made a move to stand up when I heard Finn's truck pull into the parking lot but swayed and sat back down when I suddenly felt dizzy.