chlorine// joshler

10

word count: 380 

josh's smile fell as he stared at tyler staring at the water. 

"tyler.. you can express your feelings without.. doing something wrong? you do know that right?"

"i don't, talk about these feelings, never. never have."

"talk with me," josh sat next to tyler.

"i don't know how."

"what are you thinking right now?" 

tyler gripped his styrofoam cup.

"can you give me an example on how i should do it?"

"I can't give you an example because there's no right or wrong way to express your feelings.. unless it's abusive or something.. but uhm, what im thinking right now."

tyler looked up at josh. 

"what's in your cup?"

tyler had to lie, to josh. 

"gatorade."

"really? can i have some?"

"no, sorry. mine," tyler faked a laugh. 

"ah, fine, bully."

tyler smiled slightly.

"so, what's on your mind, tyler?"

tyler wanted to kiss josh, because he had never felt so cared for in his life. kind words meet a kind hand, and tyler had never known what either felt like before. 

"why are you so nice?"

a summery of his feelings, minus the wanting to kiss josh.

"it's what my folks taught me."

"folks? you sound so country."

josh laughed, "my mom was from georgia, moved up to arkansas to go to college, met my dad, they settled here in ohio and had me."

"oh."

"but, i learned from her and her southerness country talk."

"what were they like... your parents?"

"my dad, he was a northerner, like us. heh. he liked not sweet tea and to just play in the snow. my mom liked super sweet tea and the beaches. but she liked change, my dad very much did not like change. they were complete opposites, but they complimented each other so well. they were the best. my dad came from a rich family, he knew who he was when he was born. my mom had more discovering to do. they were friends, met in college, but they were friends for a good ten years before i was born."

"they sound nice."

"yeah.. it still stings to talk about them, maybe because ive never talked about them.. but this, with you.. this is nice."

josh set his hand on tyler's. "thank you."

tyler shrugged it off, "don't worry about it. ive never really had a friend to talk to... if we are friends."

"i think we can make that transition."

"friends?" tyler asked.

"friends," josh promised.

a/n: and so it starts <3