Compositions of Us

21 · The Innovation of What's and Why's

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21 · The Innovation of What's and Why's

The brownies were indeed burnt. 

Joshua even had to crack a joke about it as he walked inside. When I threatened to kick him out of the house, it managed to shut him right back up.  

Opening the windows in the kitchen to get rid of the smell, the scent of rain didn't hesitate to seep in. Poking the brownies, they were hard as a rock which were, unfortunately, a waste of food. After scraping and tossing the brownies in the trashcan, I came to realization that Joshua was inside my house, using my bathroom this very moment. 

Because he was soaking from the rain, I insisted him to freshen up. Also, I didn't want to have to explain the random water puddles to my mom. Luckily, there were some clothes I found in the hallway closet that my cousin, Arnold, accidentally left when family came in town last Thanksgiving.  

As I waited for Joshua to come out of the bathroom, I wasn't sure why this unsettling feeling was churning in my stomach. It was quiet besides the rumbling of the dryer that contained his drenched clothes. I then recalled back to what my locker buddy said to me moments ago. 

He was jealous of Drew Larkin.  

The entire thing was confusing because it seemed unbelievable. Joshua Anderson expressing jealously was like saying the square root of a negative number existed. Joshua was constantly oozing with confidence. Being jealous was never a trait in him — so I thought. 

My head was going to blow up if I continued thinking, but I couldn't grasp Joshua's words around my head.  

"I don't know why I should be feeling jealous over that guy. But, I saw you with him on Monday outside during lunch. Seeing you two together made me feel all weird." 

My heart thumped. 

Stop it, heart. 

Jealously was never a shining trait because nobody liked jealous people, but there had to be an explanation to why I felt quite happy. Maybe a little jealously wasn't so bad. I expected the worst — like, Joshua secretly hated me all along and couldn't take it anymore — but it turned out that he was jealous.  

The moment I heard the bathroom door creaking open down the hallway, my entire body froze. Prepping myself to be strong, I hopped down the stool and waited longer than I anticipated. 

Once Joshua finally emerged from the darkened hallways, I understood why now. 

"Yeah, yeah, keep laughing," Joshua muttered through a monotone, rubbing his hair dry with the white towel. 

It didn't occur to me that the t-shirt Arnold left had the most ridiculous print and was shockingly ironic.  

Joshua Anderson was wearing a large, gray shirt that had a huge smiley-face smacked right in the middle. 

Not wanting to question my older cousin's fashion sense, I didn't even try to stop myself from laughing. The suffering expression on Joshua's face made the situation ten times better. 

As Joshua looked down at the tee and the bright red basketball shorts, he shook his head. "Did you honestly plan this to torture me? I told you that I was sorry." 

Even though Joshua tried to look serious, I noticed a crooked smile trying to creep on his lips. I knew he liked the reference. It was connected to his nickname after all.  

Suppressing my laughter, I finally got a hold of myself. "It's just funny how relevant that is." 

Joshua nodded with disinterest. "Where are my real clothes, by the way?"