Until Dawn| Saving Josh

Chapter 4| Joshing Around

He gasps, and holds his cheek before seeing me and jumping. But he sees me.

"Wh-who- who are you?" he asks.

I quickly take my head lamp off and set it on the ground. "Josh, can you hear me?"

"Brook?"

I sigh in relief, and tears come to my eyes, but I blink them away.

"It's me," I reply, and open my arms to hug him.

He doesn't hug me back at first, he just sits there stiffly, but eventually he reaches his hands up to my shoulder blades. "Are you real? Are you actually here?"

"I'm here. This is real, it's really me." I laugh with joy.

"Wh-what happened?" he asks when I pull away from him.

I take off my gloves and hold his hands. They are freezing. I feel his ears which are purple. I immediately take off my beanie and put it on him. There is frost on his overalls, he probably waded through the pool earlier and hadn't properly dried off.

"Take your clothes off." I order as I stand to gather some of the scaffolding to make a fire.

"Will you be joining me?" he asks suggestively. His right eyebrow is probably raised.

"You're going to catch pneumonia in those damp clothes, just take them off. I'll start a fire and you can dry out."

"Naked?"

"Josh," I groan.

"With you?"

I can't help it, I laugh. I hear clothes rustling and my ears go red. I am so tempted to turn around, but I keep my back to him.

I find a half-way dry area and dump an armload of splintered wood on the ground.

"Good?" he asks.

Not even thinking, I turn to see what he is talking about. Other than my cap, he is stark naked, arms crossed and leaning to the side in an easy pose with a smirk.

I quickly turn away, my face on fire, and I forget how to function.

"Are-are my legs supposed to be all pale and wrinkled like this?" he asks. I hear the patter of his feet on the ground.

"I don't know!"

"No, just, just look." He pulls on my shoulder to turn me, but I manage to walk around him with my back to him.

I pull a t-shirt, some thick socks, and a pair of sweatpants out of my backpack and hold them up in his general direction. "Put these on."

"Aw, you're no fun."

I carry my backpack over to the pile of wood and pull out some pamphlets I took from the ranger's office.

"Hey, what about the whole, uh, underwear situation?" Josh asks.

"Sorry, I didn't think about packing for a boy," I call over my shoulder as I flick the lighter on and bring the flame to the Blackwood advertisement.

"A boy? What's that supposed to mean?" he asks.

I sigh, at a loss for words. "You, Josh, I didn't think about packing boxers for you."

"Boxers or briefs?"

"What?"

"Did you forget to pack boxers or briefs? Or was it those- those nice whitey-tighties?"

"You are ridiculous."

"But that's why you came looking, right?" he asks, right behind me.

I chance a look over my shoulder and see he is fully clothed.