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After we were practically thrown out of Lydia's office, I knew I had to go find Owen before he packed up and left, so I headed straight for his desk. Unfortunately, Josh being Josh, blocked the way. 

I sighed, glaring at him. "What?" 

"Fix it," he demanded. "This is your mess, yours and Owen's." 

"I don't have time for this right now," I huffed, walking past him. 

He shifted, blocking my way yet again, taking a step closer to me, towering over me. "Poppy, you listen to me," he said sternly. His voice didn't go up at all but it was so clear that he was fuming. He tucked his hands into his pockets, his shirt growing tight as his shoulders tensed. 

The man's a giant. How tall is he anyway? Six foot four, maybe? 

"This is your fault. I don't care who broke the rules, if it was you or Owen. Owen got fired anyway but I'm in this mess because of you." 

"Because of me?" I rolled my eyes. "Do you think I asked her to make you Owen's replacement? It was her idea. If you have such a problem with it, you tell her. We all know she likes you in this office." 

"So, you don't have a problem with it?" He lifted a brow. 

"Of course, I do. But I know there's nothing I can do about it right now when Lydia's in there, ridiculously angry." 

"I don't care. That's your problem, not mine." 

I stared at him in disbelief. "Josh—" 

"Fix it," he ordered. 

"I can't," I laughed humorlessly. 

"Poppy—" 

"Look, she's given us until tomorrow. Can we talk about this later? Let's talk during lunch, I have to go right now." I pushed past him, rushing down the hall before he caught me again. I made it into our office room, stopping at Owen's desk. 

He had a box on his desk while he packed up all his things wordlessly. I grabbed the lid, putting it on the box. His attention turned to me while he pushed my hands off slowly and continued packing. 

"Owen," I sighed. "Come on, don't leave yet. Let's talk to her after lunch, she'll be in a better mood." 

He chuckled, "Poppy, you seem more upset than me." 

I frowned, "Well, I am. You're my travel buddy." 

"Well, don't you have a new one now?" He glanced at the entrance as Josh walked in. 

I ignored him but heard him throw his journal onto the table before he sat down. "I don't want that one," I huffed, glaring at Josh. "What are you going to do?" I asked, leaning my hip against the table. 

He shrugged and then paused. "Maybe I'll go to that other magazine. You remember? They emailed me a few weeks before we went to Madrid. They wanted an editor." 

I nodded, glancing at the others in the office who were all watching us. "Do the others know?" I mumbled. 

He shook his head. "Lydia told me to say I quit for a better job." 

"What about your salary?" I asked. 

"She'll transfer it. I'm more or less not allowed to come back here. What about you?" He sighed, glancing at Josh. "What are you going to do? You can't tolerate each other," he snickered. 

"It's not funny. I have to get out of this situation. If I end up traveling with him, it's going to be the worst trip of my life. We'll argue about every little thing, I just know it and the worst part is, it would probably make me hate the city. Maybe I can convince Lydia to let me work alone like he does." 

"I doubt it. I really pissed her off. It was kind of funny," he snorted. "She seemed too stunned to speak for a minute and that was the first time I saw that woman speechless. I made Lydia Blossom speechless," he bragged. 

I watched him, releasing a breath before giving him a hard shove. "This is on you," I said through gritted teeth, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You're getting out of here and leaving me in a huge mess. Have some shame." 

He chuckled, "Sorry. But it can't be that bad, come on. You still get to travel, isn't that what matters?" 

I mumbled half-heartedly, "I guess. But with him?" I groaned, running a hand through my hair. 

"Do you really think he's that bad? Some people in the office kind of like him." 

"Who likes him?" 

"Katy. She thinks he's hot." 

"She's horrified of him, Owen. She's never even spoken to him." 

He shrugged. "He's a dick, I know. But he's good at his job. Maybe if you both can learn to agree on some things, it really will be better for your career. Your articles could really improve." 

"Well, I'm still going to try to get out of this bullshit. I'll talk to the Devil himself during lunch. We shall see then." 

He closed the box and picked it up, turning his attention to me. "I'll head out now." 

I nodded slowly. He gave me a quick hug before pulling away. "Bye!" I called out after him as he left after saying goodbye to everyone else in the room. He said he wouldn't bother with whoever was somewhere else in the building. I walked to my desk but didn't sit, staring right back at Josh who was looking at me with such hatred, I started to feel a bit guilty. 

He wasn't completely wrong in his argument. It wasn't really his fault that he got pulled into this mess with me but it wasn't my fault either. There was no way anybody could make me believe that I would have been able to stop Owen and I feel so frustrated that I have to suffer through the consequences, but not just me, I'm even taking Joshua down with me. 

"What?" I cried out, stomping my foot. 

"Are you insane? This is a genuine concern," he said bluntly, holding my gaze. 

I ground my teeth and grabbed my phone. "You want to talk about this now?" 

"Don't you? I want to get this out of the way," he replied. 

"Fine. Let's go out to eat brunch then." 

"Where? To the coffee room?" he asked sarcastically. 

"To a restaurant, Joshua. My friend owns one nearby." 

"You have friends?" He stood up, watching me with amusement. 

"Definitely more than you," I countered, grabbing my purse. I called up Jenny on my way to the elevator. 

Jenny's my best friend, not to forget, she's Josh's sister and I met her only when I started working here at Travel Addict Weekly full time, which was about two years ago. Josh definitely knows that I know his sister and have met her once or twice but strangely enough, I don't think he knows we're really good friends. 

Josh and I aren't close, hell, that's an understatement, we don't talk at all, just argue. And I may not have known everything about them as siblings but from the few stories I've heard and from the numbered interactions I've seen them have, it's obvious that they aren't close. Maybe they don't get along at all, but they act civil, they more or less avoid each other generally. 

Their restaurant is called The Locket. I went there one night to grab dinner when I had to stay back at the office to finish work and met her there. Jenny owns and runs the restaurant with her husband Colton, who's the head chef there. Sometimes, they bring their son around and he's just adorable and barely a year old. Jenny's older than me, she's twenty-nine but sometimes she feels like the older sister I wish I had. 

Growing up, I was the older sister. With only Dad and my younger brother Jack around, I was the only girl and the older sister at that too, so it was really just handling an annoying younger brother and being alone most of the time while Dad worked his nine to five. Both Jack and Dad are back in San Diego, which is where I was born and raised. Jack is three years younger than me, so he's still finishing up college but he sees Dad every weekend and they fly out once in a while. Other times, I fly over between trips. 

"Hey," Jenny said, finally answering the phone while I heard crying in the background. 

"Hey, are you at work? Sorry if I'm disturbing you," I said, stopping in front of the elevator while Josh pressed the button. 

"No, not at all. We're not that busy today, actually. What's up?" 

"Is it okay if I come down for a while? I'm bringing a..." I glanced at Josh. "Co-worker." 

She hesitated, "You're not bringing Josh, are you?" 

I paused. "Maybe?" I said, but it came out more like a question. 

"Never mind. Yeah, yeah, come on over. I'll get a table ready for you both." 

"Thank you," I sang before hanging up. Josh pushed me into the elevator as it opened and I glared at him, pressing the button to the lobby. 

Once we left, scanning ourselves out using our IDs, Josh started walking to his car, so I followed behind. He climbed into the driver's seat and I heard him lock the car before I could climb in. I rolled my eyes, knocking on the window. He lowered it half an inch. "What?" 

"You don't know where we're going yet," I teased. 

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out, Valentine," he muttered before unlocking the car. 

I climbed in quickly and buckled up while he started the car, turning in his seat and putting an arm around my chair to back out of the parking spot. I glanced at him before staring out the window. "It's barely five minutes away, we could have walked," I told him. 

"It's hot out today," was his short reply. He didn't utter a word to me for the rest of the ride. 

I've been working around Josh for three years and I've come to terms with the fact that we just don't talk and when we do, it's petty arguments and witty remarks. Our exchanges are not pleasant, to say the least. I'm not exactly fond of asking for his help, but occasionally, when I really need it, he still refuses. 

Like a few weeks before I left for Madrid, it was pouring all over the city and I couldn't get a cab to my apartment. Josh lives barely five minutes away from me, so I asked if he could give me a ride. He told me he would and then he left without me, leaving me to walk home in the rain, soaked from the inside out. 

When I think about that night, I don't feel guilty at all about our current problem. Not one bit. But then I remember that there are days where he feels like being a little more human and if he's driving past my building, he offers to drive me to and from work. And then I feel super guilty. 

God, he drives me insane.

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