Alright, this is my go at Josh's POV. Hope you like it!


The next morning I woke up feeling like an idiot. I shouldn't have kissed her. It was wrong of me. Her boyfriend just died and I was kissing her. But then again, I'd thought she'd wanted it. If not, why had she gotten so close? Why had she touched my chest? Why had she let me hold her hand under the lunch table that one time? Maybe she just didn't know what she wanted. Maybe she wanted me, but just wasn't over Thomas yet. No matter what the deal was, I had so figure it out. I had to know if Reed wanted me or not. And most of all, I had to kiss her again. But this time I'd be better. I'd be gentle and caring, not manic and forceful. I'd take my medicine today, just to make sure I was. Oh yeah, that's my dirty little secret. I'd been skipping out on my meds ever since Thomas' funeral. Ever since I'd wanted to just feel something. Ever since I'd had no reaction at all to the death of my best friend.

So after taking my meds, I came up with my master plan. I would invite her to play soccer. And I would make it so that she couldn't resist my invitation. I grabbed my soccer ball and made my way across the quad towards Billings. When I was almost there, I called her. It went right to voice mail. I immediately called back. I guess I really was that desperate to hear her voice.

"Damnit," I whispered under my breath as it went to voicemail again.

And again I pressed send. Finally, on the third try, she picked up.

"Hey," she said.

Because of the fact that she didn't say much of anything, I had to come up with a flirty remark. Something to make her smile. Something to make her forget about last night.

"So it's true," I began. "Third time is the charm."

"What's up?" she asked. I could hear the smile in her voice. Success.

"I am. For a game of soccer," I said. "The question is," I continued. "Are you?"

"What?" she said confused.

After making sure I was positioned on the path right below her window, I replied.

"Look out your window."

10 seconds later, her curtain moved and Reed appeared. She was wearing jeans and Penn State sweatshirt. I'd never seen anything more beautiful. With her plain brown hair, amazing blue eyes, and simple style, Reed was the epitome of simplistic beaty. She was unlike any other girl at Easton. She didn't have to wear makeup twenty four seven and she didn't care about what brand her clothes wore. It was refreshing.

"So…" she said after awhile. "You don't think I'm a psycho?" she aksed.

Of course I didn't! "No, I don't think you're a psycho," I said. "If anything, I'm the psycho. I think I was a little hyper last night and I…I didn't mean to be so forward."

If hyper was code for 'Josh without meds.' I didn't like lying, but really, we barely knew each other. I didn't want to tell her I was crazy and had to take medicine just to keep myself under control. I didn't want her to be afraid of me.

"Anyway," I said, shaking my head to get the bad thoughts out. "Let's just forget about it. Can we do that?" I asked.

She didn't say anything for a minute. I could see the gears turning in her head as she thought about what I'd said. And then she ventured off on a complete different subject.

"So…you want to play soccer," she said.

"I figure, what better was to get over last night than to let you kick my ass all over the field," I replied, grinning.

"I'll be right down," she said mimicking my smile.


Soccer was the perfect elixir. It was a great day and no one was on the field to see Reed kicking my ass.

"Oh! And she steals the ball again!" Reed shouted at me as she kicked the ball out of my reach. "I thought you were on the soccer team, Hollis. Your footwork is crap!"

So she could kick my ass athletically and verbally.

I raced towards her, tripping as I went. I got in front of her, attempting to block her path to the goal.

"I never said I was first string," I said flirting. "I kind of ride the bench, to be honest," I admitted. "Baseball's more my game."

She looked me right in the eye, while still managing to keep her footing. "Ah. Well that explains it. Cardio's not a priority when you're just standing on base all day, huh?" she said.

She topped, placing her foot square on the ball. My hands dropped to my hips as I took in a few sharp, cool breaths.

"Why're you stopping? You intimidated?" I joked, gasping for air.

"No. Just hoping I don't need the defibrillator," she responded. Oh, so she was going that route.

"Come on. Let's go," I said wagging my hands at her weakly. "I'm getting the ball back." Eventually. Just as soon as I got some air in my lungs.

She raised her eyebrows slightly, looking cuter than ever. "Are you really?" she said. "Go ahead."

I crossed my arms over my chest and smirked at her, looking her in the eyes. Then I looked at the ball. Then back up at her ocean blue eyes.

"Are you serious?" I said.

"Yeah. I dare you to try to take it from me," she told me.

I shrugged, my shoulders slumping up, then down. "Whatever. If you're not ever gonna make it hard-" I said, stopping short all of a sudden.

I whipped around, kicking my leg out for the ball. However, she simply rolled her foot back, sliding the ball around her legs. I tried to pull up and switch directions, but instead tripped on god knows what and slid forward. Her eyes widened, again with the cute facial expressions. Just before I realized I was falling down on the group, I swooped my leg out and pulled her down with me.

She was lying crooked over my side, face pressed in the ground. I quickly tried to extricate myself, but she was also trying, so we got tangled up. My heart pounded in tune to the awkward moment.

"You really do fall a lot, huh?" she said, trying to turn over.

I rolled over onto my side so that she was facing me. My chest was an inch from hers. I could feel my heart beat ever louder.

"Actually, I didn't that on purpose," I said trying to be sly.

And then I did it. I leaned in to kiss her. Softly, gently, sweetly this time. It wasn't hard and demanding, like the previous time. It was instead perfect. I slid my hand up to her face and brushed it with my fingertips. She rested her cheek on my bicep as she began to kiss me back. My mind was completely clear except for thoughts of Reed and only Reed. This was our first real kiss.