Tethered ? Awsten Knight

Continued from the same night...

"No." I spat, quickly averting my gaze away from Josh.

"Tatum-"

"I said no-"

Josh caught me arm as I walked away, pulling me back to him and yanked it away.

"Do not fucking touch me." I wrinkled my nose at the smell. "Are you already drunk?"

"No, I'm not. That's rich coming from you, Tatum."

It felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. He knew. He knew my weak spots.

"Fuck you. I'm not doing this."

"We never talked, you blocked me on everything-"

"You think I wanted to fucking talk to you after I saw you with your dick in someone else weeks after my mom died? Go fuck yourself, Josh."

I got away from him and heard him following after me just as I locked eyes with Francesca and her eyes widened. Nathan noticed immediately too and he headed right over to where we were.

"Josh back off." Nathan stopped Josh and Francesca was now up, motioning for me to scoot in first with her on the outside.

Now I sat next to Ben with Francesca on my right, digging my nails into my palms while I watched Nathan figure the situation and Josh walk away, but not before he caught another glance at me.

The last thing I wanted was a scene.

Actually no, the last thing I wanted was to see him, but it was too late for that.

"What happened?" Francesca asked, rubbing my arm with her hand.

"He was just like waiting for me to come out of the bathroom I guess. I don't know. He wanted to talk."

"Fuck that." Ben mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"That's what I said - essentially."

Nathan sat back down and I could feel everyone watching me.

"Guys, I'm fine." I assured them, reaching back for my Diet Coke. "Let's just talk about something else, alright?"

"Let's go back to the new man!" Cailey said trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh my gosh." I took my turn to roll my eyes but couldn't help the small smile that curled on my lips. "He's in a band called Waterparks and he's really cute and loves thrifting and going to antique stores. He's also from Houston."

"No way." Cailey laughed. "I thought you said you were never dating a musician again?"

"I did in fact say that-"

"Guys!" Here comes Francesca again."As Tatum's best friend for the past eight years - Awsten is great for her. It doesn't matter if he is a musician, what matters is the two have the hots for each other and I have played matchmaker. You deserve to be happy, Tatum. Not with a piece of shit like that."

She motioned over to wherever Josh was.

"Yeah, we'll see how it goes. It could fizzle after two or three dates." I shrugged.

Even though I really didn't want it to.

We called it a night not too long after that - we maybe stayed for another half hour or so. In all honestly, my anxiety never went away. There was a giant pit in my stomach.

I now laid in my bed and took deep breaths trying to calm myself down.

I felt guilty - and I had no reason to. Josh didn't deserve to talk to me. I had moved on - I was beyond moved on, and I really liked Awsten.