pool ; joshler [✔️]

[3]

a few hours later josh, melanie, and tyler were sat on josh's patio drinking lemonade and listening to music. they were waiting for the pizza they had ordered to arrive as they watched the sunset.

"we should do this more often, you guys are cool," josh beamed at his new friends, all three of them startling as the doorbell rang.

"i'll go get it!" melanie chirped as she stood up and bolted inside without giving tyler or josh any time to object. the two boys awkwardly smiled at each other, desperate for the other to say something to break the silence.

"so if melanie isn't your girlfriend and you're gay, do you have a boyfriend?" josh finally spoke up, clearing his throat and glancing at the ground.

"no, i'm not dating anyone. i normally try to avoid all of that stuff, it seems too difficult," tyler informed, watching as josh looked at him in confusion.

"difficult?"

"yeah, too time consuming and not exactly worth it. i mean how am i supposed to know when someone actually likes me versus someone trying to use me? it's complicated and not really my type of thing."

"that makes sense, you aren't exactly wrong," josh sighed, a hint of sadness in his voice. "that's how i feel sometimes about debby. since she's been gone i've had this gut feeling that she's with some other guy. i can't get caught up on that though, it'll tear me apart if i think about it too much."

"i'm sorry josh, maybe you just have to talk to her about it."

"i know she wouldn't do something like that though, but i just can't help feeling like she is. i'm just paranoid i guess."

"what'cha paranoid about," melanie chimed in as she walked outside with two boxes of pizza in her hands.

"oh, it's nothing," josh sighed, taking a slice out of the box and handing it to tyler because he couldn't reach it. tyler smiled widely as he took the pizza from josh and melanie gave them a confused look.

"he's worried his girlfriend is cheating on him," tyler spoke, earning a nod and a small 'ah' from melanie. "i don't get why though, she'd be stupid to lose someone like you."

"someone like me?"

"shit- yeah! y'know, a cool dude like you!" tyler rushed out, his face flushing pink from embarrassment.

"so cool bro, no homo," melanie teased but quickly shut up as tyler sent her a death glare and josh nearly choked on his pizza.

josh cleared his throat and wiped his mouth off with a napkin and smiled as tyler messily ate his pizza, getting sauce all over his cheeks.

"you, uh- you got a lil something there," josh chuckled, wiping the sauce off of tyler's face with the pad of his thumb. a loud giggle escaped melanie and she covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her laughter.

"so you're sure you're not even a tiny bit gay?" melanie questioned and tyler smacked her arm in response.

"y-yeah, i'm sure," josh breathed out, running a hand through his hair as he abruptly stood up. "it's getting pretty late and i'm starting to get tired, i think it'd be best if you leave. we'll definitely have to do this again soon though."

"oh, okay. bye josh, i'll see you soon," tyler gave josh a solemn smile as he gathered up his things and motioned for melanie to hurry up. josh cursed at himself for being so harsh but he really just didn't like the way melanie was talking to him.

"bye joshy! have a good night!" melanie called out as tyler dragged her to the fence and led her out of the gate.

"bye guys," josh beamed, waving goodbye to the two odd friends he had made.