the boy on the bridge ✔️

22. friends boy

"Nah," he shakes his head, running a hand through his now cropped curls, "My aunts'"

The dog looks up at Elliot and then Josh as if it knows they are talking about it. Josh holds a hand out, palms up, and smiles at the dog encouragingly. It takes a few moments, but it does eventually, walk up to him, and sniff his hand. He lets out a small chuckle, and crouches down to pet it.

The dog is all black, not a spot of any colour in its body making it look elegant. But there's also a sense of goofiness to the dog, with its mouth stretched out and tongue hanging out as if it's smiling at Josh.

"What's her name?" Josh realises the dog is a she as he is petting her.

"Crystal,"

"Crystal," Josh repeats the name to the dog in a slightly high-pitched tone and she instantly recognises her name and starts licking his hand, "Oh, that's you, yeah? Crystal," he scratches her neck for a few more seconds before standing up, brushing his hands on his pants.

As much as he would like to continue playing with the dog, there is another something he needs to tend too as well — the something standing right before him a hand covering his mouth as if he's trying to hide something.

Josh narrows his eyes at him, "What?"

He shakes his head and shrugs but gives in when the blond raises his eyebrows again implying that he is not letting this go without getting an answer from him.

He clears his throat, rubbing his mouth with the back of his hand before dropping it, "Just surprised you remembered to ask her name first,"

Josh scoffs, rolling his eyes, "Maybe she made a good first impression on me,"

Elliot places a hand over his chest, feigning shock, "And I didn't?"

"Eh," the blond simply shrugs.

"And I'll take that personally,"

Another carefree shrug.

But to be honest, Elliot did leave an everlasting first impression on him and Josh thinks he should know that by now, if not what are they still doing there.

"Can we talk?" the curly-haired boy is the first to acknowledge this awkward gap between them, which is temporarily covered by the presence of the dog, but it's still there.

Josh nods and walks past him towards the edge of bridge, sitting down. He takes a deep breath and pats his hands on his knees, trying to build some sort of composure before Elliot joins him.

He is filled to the brim with nerves and just one small tug, he feels like he might just burst. But he can't show him that, and he has to remain calm and not assume something all on his own. He is going to behave like an adult — he is going to talk to Elliot and listen to whatever he has to say.

If everything turns sideways even then, then yeah, maybe he will run away.

Elliot sits beside him, leaving a few inches of space between them. Josh reminds himself that no, he's not going to read into this, and before he can do so, he blurts out the first thing that pops inside his head:

"You cut your hair," Josh doesn't mean for it to sound so accusatory but it does sound like that — he bites his inner cheek, maybe he should have taken another deep breath before saying that.

Or maybe he does mean it to sound accusing. From already not meeting and talking for days, Josh feels like they are strangers once again and Elliot having cut his hair short only adds on that feeling. And Josh really prefers him with long hair; he sighs to himself as that thought enters his mind.