love notes // joshler a.u.

08

  Josh usually wasn't lucky. Hell, look at his school career: Sure, he had decent grades, but nobody liked him. His dad died when he was four. He was born with an embarrassing stutter. Luck never really favored him- good luck, at least. But the second the teacher backtracked and adjusted the partners, he felt like it made up for all of it. Well, that was being a bit dramatic, but most of it.

  He honestly felt like he was in some sort of Disney movie as Tyler walked toward him. It wasn't even a special moment, like meeting him at a dance, or walking down an aisle (he blushed); it was literally just class. I guess that shows how the mundane can be changed by... whatever these feelings are, he thought to himself.

  Josh was broken out of his mini daydream by Tyler plopping down. "Hey, partner," he said with a cheesy grin and bad country accent.

  "Please don't," Josh replied with a giggle, rolling his eyes.

  "Are we actually going to do this project?" His nose wrinkled in playful distaste. "You know she never actually grades anything."

  Josh shrugged sheepishly- he had been planning on actually doing the project. "Better s-safe than sorry," he retorted, wrinkling his nose back. "I'll just do it at h-home."

  "Are you sure?" His partner tipped his head to one side. "I can help you out if you want."

  Josh shook his head dismissively. "Nah, I got it. Worst comes to worst, I can just G-Google it," he added with a smile.

  Tyler chuckled softly, though he could still tell the taller boy wasn't entirely convinced. "Alright, Joshy, whatever you say."

  Once again, something Tyler said seemed familiar to Josh. He had read that- 'Joshy'- somewhere, he was sure. Maybe in a letter from his mom or something? No, she never called him that. Nonetheless, he blushed at the nickname. Yeah, I definitely need to ask Mom about this.

  A few hours later, Josh was finally back home- emphasis on 'finally'. Okay, so maybe the letters and Tyler made school a lot more bearable, but he still mildly disliked it. You can like a person without liking school, right? Which reminded him: Ask Mom about these weird feelings.

  Rising from his bed, he left his room and trudged down the hall. For some odd reason, he felt nervous about asking. Was it wrong somehow? Hopefully, his mother wouldn't be angry or think it was weird. She'd understand, right?

  "Josh?" He heard his mother's voice echo from the living room as he stepped from the last step to the floor. He didn't blame her for the puzzled tone in her voice; he hardly ever came out of his room unless it was for food- and he had just eaten an hour ago.

  "Hey, Mom," he replied, walking into the living room. By the look of it, his mother had been dosing up on her daily influx of celebrity drama. A glass of red wine sat on the table, and a magazine rested on her lap. "Um, I need to a-ask you something."

  Her brows furrowed in curiosity and slight confusion. "What is it? Come, sit down."

  Josh obediently sat down beside her. He hadn't even said anything yet, and the nervous feeling was already intensifying. It was sort of like the one he got with Tyler, but not nearly as pleasant. "Uh, th-there's this person in school who I feel w-weird around.." he started, unsure how to phrase the way he was going to ask this.

  A small smile tugged on the corner of the brunette's lips, but she didn't mention the knowing sparkle in her eyes. "Go on."

  "It feels like I'm n-nervous.. butterflies!" he suddenly remembered the term. "But it's not unc-comfortable," he added. "It's... kind of n-nice."

  His mother's smile only grew wider. "Do you like being around them a lot? Do you feel pressured to look and act nice around them?"

  Josh found himself nodding fervently to her words. It was almost exactly how he was feeling! It must not be too weird, then! Relief swept through him. "Y-Yeah! So, it's normal, right?"

  "Perfectly normal." She chuckled quietly. "It sounds like you have a crush."

  The small boy almost visibly jolted with surprise. How could he have a crush on Tyler? He'd only known him for a week- and he got the same feeling from the letters, too! Did he have a crush on two people at one time? Was that bad? It probably was, especially considering he hadn't even met the writer of the letters yet.

  Josh couldn't believe he hadn't connected the dots, though. Of course, it had to be a crush! He knew that was how it felt- sure, he'd never had one before, but he remembered from other people describing it to him, and he'd found other boys attractive before, but those never really developed.

  "Is it Tyler?"

  This time, the surprised jolt was visible. How did she know?

  The brown-haired woman seemed to read her son's mind. "I've heard you mumbling his name in your sleep. It's rather cute, actually."

  A pink hue began to stain the doe-eyed boy's cheeks as his mother spoke. "No it's n-not," he mumbled. "He doesn't even like me b-back."

  The brunette's smile widened as she sang, "You never kno-ow."

/ / /

i went to a sleepover yesterday and we never actually went to sleep and i'm fuckin exhausted dude

it was worth it though lmao

i highkey love all this fuckin teasing i'm doing

like 'josh hadn't even met the writer of the letters'

lol ok josh

thanks for the votes and commentsss ^.^