FRI 9/26/2003 2:54pm (Josh)
He sat in his car, waiting for Jordan to come out of the school. Sometimes, Josh thought his brother could be one of the slowest people in the world when it came down to getting ready to go somewhere. He always took forever in the morning when they were getting ready for school and in the afternoon when Josh would be picking Jordan up from school. Even when Josh first started picking up his siblings from school when he first got his car, 6th grade Jordan still took forever to get ready. He didn't even have to do much except put on some deodorant and brush his teeth. Josh would never understand how he always took so long.
Finally, his brother walked out of the doors. Jordan got into the passenger seat, panting. "What the hell happened to you?" Josh asked, watching sweat pour from his head.
His brother gestured for Josh to wait a moment. "Coach... Atkins made us... run... so much." he panted.
"Huh?" Josh said, raising an eyebrow.
Jordan leaned against the back of the seat and savored the A/C. "Coach Atkins made us run 8 laps around the track and it was literal hell. I think I nearly died." he breathed.
"Sounds rough," Josh answered. "Hey, at least you'll be prepared for your freshman year on the team next year. Coach Aki's gonna want you in the best possible condition."
His brother sighed. "I know. Coach gotta chill, though." he grumbled.
Josh simply shook his head. "Whatever you say, Jordan." he snickered. He drove a little further up where Ashley's group usually was.
Unlike his little brother, Ashley was patiently waiting on the sidewalk for Josh to come pick her up. She was typing away at her phone, occasionally giggling and blushing, then typing something back. Ashley didn't seem to realize Josh had pulled up. He honked the horn and she jumped, nearly dropping her phone in the process. She climbed into the backseat with her stuff. Josh simply giggled and waited for her to get fully situated before he drove out of the pick-up line to Southwood Elementary, where Abigail was at.
Once again, Abigail was waiting outside at the entrance for Josh. She wasn't dragging her ass like a certain one of Josh's siblings and making everyone wait on Jordan to get in the car. She got in the backseat behind Jordan. Abby immediately thrust a piece of paper into Josh's hands. He looked at it and saw a bunch of circles with names beside them and lines connecting them. He noticed his own name, his parents, and both sets of grandparents.
"This a family tree?" Josh asked, craning his neck to see her in the backseat.
She nodded. "I have all of our cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and Mom and Dad on there. We had to do it for a project in Mrs. Gracie's class today. She's giving us two weeks to do it because she wants us to trace back our ancestry as far as we can." Abigail explained proudly.
Josh nodded and put the paper on the dashboard. "I can visit Maw-Maw, Paw-Paw, Gramma, and Papa Jack throughout the week and get their families on here. I know for a fact Papa Jack can trace his family pretty far back. So can Maw-Maw." he told her, driving back to their house.
Abigail's face lit up. "Really?! I could outdo everyone in my class!" she exclaimed.
"That's the spirit. So, Ashley. You've been pretty quiet. What's up with you?" he asked.
"Oh, uh... just talking to a friend." she responded in a casual voice, too casual.
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
"Josh!" she exclaimed. "Me and Jonah are not like that!"
Josh laughed. "Aha! So, he has a name." he declared with lots of pride and triumph.
Ashley sighed. "Fine. Me and him have been getting a little closer lately. But we aren't even close to dating. He's not even my type!" she protested with an offended look on her face.
Jordan started oooo-ing. "Ooooooooooo, Ashley Dun has a boooooooyfriend." he teased with a smirk.
"Shut your mouth the up." she ordered, her hand coming around the seat and popping Jordan on the head.
"Ow! And also, what the fuck is 'shut your mouth the up'? Doesn't sound like good English to me." he pointed out.
Ashley's hand came flying at Jordan's head again. "I never want to hear you criticize my grammar after I read the essay portion of your 7th grade English finals." she responded aggressively.
"Damn, Jordan, she got you there." Josh chimed in. "But regardless, y'all two chill out. Jordan, stop antagonizing your sister. Ashley, stop slapping your brother with the truth." he ordered as he pulled into their driveway.
He got out of the car and walked towards the porch. He noticed that his mother and Tyler's mother, Kelly, were sitting outside on the porch chairs talking about something. He didn't see Tyler anywhere, but then realized that his truck wasn't in his driveway either. Jordan, Ashley, and Abigail went inside, so he just shrugged and walked up the steps.
"Hey, Mom. Afternoon, Kelly." he said, with a wave.
They both smiled. "Afternoon to you, too, Josh." Kelly answered. Laura grabbed his arm before he went inside. "Hey, once you go inside, can you sit out here with us for a bit? I was just telling Kelly how you were one of the best basketball players at your old school."
He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure. I can do that."
Josh went inside and up to his room. He sat down on his bed, deciding to stay in his room for a minute. It was pretty hot outside for Columbus, considering they were approaching October. He stepped over to his desk. Josh pulled out his biology work and finished up the last few questions he had left on the paper. It was a boring class for the most part; Mr. Sanchez was not much of an improvement compared to Mr. Farfield. The girls in the class seemed to think otherwise, though. Most of them couldn't stop undressing him with their eyes and whispering about how hot he was. A couple of the more popular girls would also make jokes about staying after school and going to his class to "finish up some work" and "get help on some confusing topics."
People were weird.
Once he had finished his biology work, he went to his bathroom. Josh noticed his hair was looking faded and that the purple was now a lilac color. It wasn't even remotely as bright as it used to be. Josh had been trying to schedule an appointment to the hair stylist in downtown Columbus, but school had been getting in the way and Josh's mother had been extra picky about where he was going ever since the tornado. He sighed.
He went back down to the front porch. "Oh, there you are! Took you long enough." his mother said excitedly.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I was telling Kelly about how you've been playing basketball since 4th grade and that you are one of the best players on the team." she answered. "Kinda wanted to get your point of view."
"Y'know, Tyler is actually one of the best basketball players in the country. Ranks in the top 100 basketball captains in America. Columbus hasn't seen a loss in basketball games since either 1997 or 1998." Kelly bragged proudly.
Oh, not these conversations. Josh realized. It was one of those subtle and casual conversations between mothers where they brag about their children, compare their talents, subtly berate the other mother's child, and try to size them up to each other. He mentally sighed. Maybe this was his chance to get his hair redyed.
"I was actually thinking. I need to get my hair redyed. The purple has been fading out for a while." he asked with a wistful look.
Laura sighed. "Josh, you know the answer. I don't want you going out into the city on your own." she responded with an exasperated sigh.
He returned the sigh. "Mom, I'm going to be indoors. I will be fine." he pointed out.
"Josh, the answer is still no."
"But, Mom-"
His mother opened her mouth but looked out at the driveway. "Oh. Hey, Tyler." she said politely.
"Afternoon, Mrs. Dun. Hey, Momma." he answered. "Hey, uh... Joshua."
Josh waved to him. Kelly's face suddenly lit up. "I have an idea. Say, Laura, if Josh wants to get his hair redyed, maybe Tyler can go with him. You don't want him out on his own. But he'll have Ty with him." she said with a bright smile.
Laura also smiled. "That's a great idea."
"Wait, what-" Tyler started.
"And it'll be a fun bonding experience for them both." Kelly piped in. "Won't it be fun, TyJo?" she asked him cheerfully.
He sighed. "Yep." Tyler looked defeated.
Josh turned to Tyler. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going." he said with a mischievous smile.
The boy gave him a glare, to which he simply smiled even more. "You boys be careful now." Laura said to them.
Tyler got in the passenger seat. Josh got in the driver seat and started the car. The other boy audibly groaned. "Aw, what's wrong, baby boy? Stuck in the car with the bane of your existence?" he teased, punching him in the shoulder.
"Just drive, Joshua."
Josh scoffed playfully and pulled out of the driveway. "Whatever you say, TyJo."
Tyler gave him an irritated look, but then chuckled. Like, actually chuckled. "Fuck you." he answered.
"Mmmmmm, baby boy, I can't or else your girlfriend might pimp slap me." he pointed out jokingly.
Tyler rolled his eyes. "So, what are we doing in the same car again?"
He turned onto the highway. "Well, I need to get my hair redyed. Clearly, my hair is all faded and don't look as good as it used to." he answered, looking at Tyler.
"Decided on a color yet?" the boy asked curiously.
"I'm caught between blue and yellow." Josh said.
"Really? Why not pink?" Tyler inquired.
Josh scoffed. "'Will you wear pink, Jenny Jenkins? No, I won't wear pink because I rather drink ink.'" he sang in a cheerful voice.
"Black?"
"That's basic and generic, try again."
"Orange."
"I didn't know I was trying to look like California during the summer."
There was an awkward pause. "That's fucked up." Tyler snickered. "Fine, blue."
Josh stared at the road for a moment. "Hm. I think that'll look nice." he finally said.
Josh turned onto the street the hair stylist shop was on and parked along the curb. "Well, here we are. Street looks busy today, but I'm sure it shouldn't take too long." he muttered to himself, not feeling too sure about it.
To his surprise, the dye shop was actually pretty empty. There were only two other people in there and another person in the back getting their hair blow-dried. Josh and Tyler walked up to the front counter where the lady was looking through a fashion magazine. She also had headphones on, which were plugged into the MP3 player sitting beside her. He rung the bell on the counter twice to get her attention.
"Yes, sirs, how may I help you?" she asked, walking forward. She had black hair that was dyed lime green at the ends and another pink streak in her bangs.
"I'd like to get my hair dyed blue, please." Josh responded.
"Both of you?" she asked.
"Just me." he answered.
She typed at the computer. "Yeah. Do you want any specific treatment for your hair while we wash it?"
"No, ma'am." Josh said, looking out of the window.
"Alright. Any highlights, ends, or patterns in your hair?" she continued typing into the computer.
"No, ma'am." he said again.
The lady printed out a receipt. "Just sign here and we'll have you ready in a couple of moments." she handed him a pen.
He signed the receipt and he and Tyler went to go sit in the waiting area. After a couple of minutes of them sitting in silence, reading through some of the magazines or scrolling through their phones, Josh was taken to the back to get his hair done. Tyler simply kept looking through the female model magazines because he was suuuuch a straight boy and only liked women.
FRI 9/26/2003 5:27pm (Tyler)
He watched as Josh stepped back into the waiting area with his newly dyed, blue hair. It was close the color of the tropical waters you would see on a postcard from Florida, Hawai'i, or the Bahamas. Tyler noticed that it also looked a little more voluminous, it looked a little bit healthier. It was less frizzy and had a lot less hairs sticking out all over the place. He actually looked really good with the blue hair.
Tyler lost track of how long he was staring because while he was looking in the mirror, Josh smirked at the boy. He looked in the mirror at Tyler and turned around to look at him, the smirk still on his face. Tyler could feel his face heating up slightly.
"Careful, you might fall in love." Josh teased.
"Whatever. Let's go get some food. I'm literally on the verge of gnawing my elbows off." he responded, rolling his eyes.
They drove off towards a nearby McDonald's. Once they had gotten their food, they sat down at a table. Tyler watched as Josh grabbed the ketchup packets and started making a little smiley face on his burger. He smiled at the childishness of Josh, but then realized what he was doing and reverted back to a neutral, inattentive expression. He felt his phone start buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out to see the call screen. The name read Jenna Black <333
He answered it. "Hey, babe, what's up?" Tyler said.
"Hey, Ty, are you busy right now?" she asked, a sweet tone in her voice.
Josh was nodding his head and moving his body to the rhythm of some music that was playing quietly from his MP3 player. Tyler chuckled quietly to himself and ate a few of his fries.
"Ah, I mean, I'm not busy. What's your idea?" Tyler asked. Josh looked at him.
"There's a really good movie I want to see with you." Jenna said excitedly.
"Yeah, I'll be there. What time?"
"6:30."
"I'll see you at the theater, then." he replied.
"Alrighty, see you at the theater. Bye, TyJo, love you." she said with a lot of excitement.
"Bye, Jenna, love you, too." Tyler hung up the phone. "Hey, Josh, ready to go?"
The boy simply gave a look of disbelief, gathered up his trash, and started towards the door. Tyler followed after him, completely unaware of Josh's mood change. They got in the car and Josh started driving in the direction of the movie theater. It was awkward, tense silence the whole ride. Finally, Tyler spoke up.
"You're quiet all of a sudden." he pointed out.
"Yep." he replied flatly.
"You good?"
"Yep."
Why's he being so weird? Tyler questioned. They finally pulled into the movie theater parking lot. Tyler spotted Jenna's Toyota and sighed with relief. She was here and he wouldn't have to wait for her awkwardly. Josh parked along the entrance of the theater. Tyler gathered his things and opened the door of the car. He looked back at Josh, who simply stared straight ahead.
"Bye, Josh." he said.
The boy looked at him. "Make sure you buy some Lysol wipes soon. I heard that diseases spread faster on plastic surfaces." he said before driving off.
Tyler raised his eyebrows. What was that supposed to mean? Was my phone case dirty? I just cleaned it last week, maybe I missed a spot. he thought to himself before walking inside to find Jenna.
However, he couldn't help but feel guilty that he had ditched Josh for Jenna, considering that she had been avoiding Tyler a lot lately. But he decided to think nothing of it and feel happy that his girlfriend was returning back to normal and wanting to take him out on dates again.