the boy on the bridge ✔️

16. oh boy

It's like two worlds colliding; it can only either be good or really, really bad and destructive and– Josh dreads to think what else. His throat has dried up only from thinking about it. He has to admit, it will be nice to have this boy meet with other people in his life, but–

Fortunately, Josh is pulled out of his thoughts by a nudge at his shoulder before he can delve in any further. He didn't even know he has slipped in; it's very easy for him to get lost in his own thoughts.

"Hey, you still there?"

"Hmm," Josh looks at the boy beside him and stretches his lips into what he hopes is a smile, "Uh, yeah,"

He doesn't look too convinced though. He raises his eyebrow a little, "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry — you were saying?"

He continues to look at Josh, but to the blond's relief, doesn't ask anything more, and resumes whatever it was that he was saying.

"I was asking what it was that you two were talking that neither of you noticed anything burning,"

"We did notice it," the blond exclaims, quickly coming to his own defense, "It's just... it was a little late,"

"Mm hmm,"

"What — it happens,"

"Sure, sure,"

Josh rolls his eyes, shaking his head, thinking to himself if he should tell him what it was Josie and him were talking about. It's not that they were talking anything bad or that Josh had anything to hide, but won't it be weird to talk about his ex with him.

Maybe it's because this boy never actually forces him to talk about anything that he doesn't want to — even now, he's not nagging at him. He asked, and if Josh wants to talk about it, fine; if not, that's fine too. It makes it all the more easier to talk to him.

"She was asking me if I got back together with Valerie, my ex," he tells him and sneaks a look over at him, anticipating what kind of reaction he will get from him.

"Oh,"

Josh doesn't know what he can draw from that, except that he's a really bad perceiver. He's not cut out for this — unless the bridge boy explicitly tells him what he's feeling. The latter is really good at hiding his emotions — he only lets you see what he wants to.

Josh waits for him to ask him his answer to that, if he's actually gotten back together with Valerie. But of course, he doesn't. He's not going to ask him; he probably even thinks that Josh won't want to tell him which is the exact opposite here really.

He decides to tell it himself, "I haven't. We're only friends now,"

"Oh," he says again, noy very different from the first oh.

Josh used to think that he was really good at reading people — he's not, he is coming to realise now.

The blond tries not to be disappointed by the lack of reaction from the other boy. He doesn't know what he was expecting really, and this is after he told himself he won't be expecting anything — he wants to facepalm himself.

Josh has well started berating himself when the curly-haired boy in a meek voice, which Josh has never heard him sound so before, asks him:

"But, um... are you seeing someone else?"

That's enough to inflate Josh's heart back up. He really is bad at reading people; if not, he will have noticed how the bridge boy had gone quiet all of a sudden and how he had his hands fisted in his lap. He was struggling to ask Josh this very question. Yeah, Josh feels like he does deserve a facepalm or two.