Chapter 26 — sneaky boy
"I cannot believe it took me so long to figure it out," Josie bursts into Josh's room out of the blue, very loudly talking to herself. Once in the room, she finds that the bed is empty which is weird because her brother said he was going to bed a couple of hours ago.
And only then she sees him by the window, straddling the windowsill, one leg in, one leg out. Narrowing her eyes, and crossing her arms across her chest, she raises an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"
Josh blinks once, twice — stunned and slowly, taking in the fact that Josie in his room. He thought she had already gone to sleep; he didn't know anyone in the house was still awake. He tries to come up with a plausible enough excuse as fast as he can.
"Nothing, nothing," and just as he tries to swing his one leg that is hanging outside, back in, his foot accidentally catches in the window sill and he trips and falls, "Ow," he groans as he slowly he pushes himself up into a sitting position, and looks up at his sister who is still waiting for an answer from him, "I was just... trying out an experiment. For Physics,"
Josh curses himself internally as soon as he says that. Really — that is the best he can do? Even a toddler can see through that lie.
Josie only cocks her head to the side and purses her lips, and Josh knows he should keep his mouth shut, but he doesn't. He keeps talking, digging himself a deeper grave.
"You know, momentum, acceleration, mass... It's for school," he finishes very much pathetically.
The girl only shakes her head, and gets straight to the point, "You were sneaking out, weren't you?" she doesn't even bother referencing the lame reason of an excuse her brother made.
The blond knows he is definitely caught red-handed and there's nothing he can say that can save him, but still, that doesn't stop him from trying. He imitates Josie, crossing his arms, and lifts his chin a little, "I wasn't," and then lowering his voice a little, he nods towards the door which is still wide open, "Can you close the door first? I don't want to wake mother or father,"
"Right," she agrees, and shuts the door, and leaning against the surface, she redirects her gaze towards the boy on the floor, "So, you were saying?"
Again, Josh could have just admitted the truth but he doesn't, "I wasn't sneaking out,"
"You know I'm never going to believe that that was for a school experiment,"
"That's your own problem then,"
Josie lets out a sigh, exasperated, and moves on to her next question, not wanting to dwell on that trivial matter for long, "So, you haven't been doing drugs after all. You have a boyfriend. And that's why you've been sneaking out so late in the night,"
"Wh- What?" he sputters and lets out a forced laughter, "That's stupid. That's so stupid. And wrong. What?!"
"Why are you still lying to me? I thought we were past all that,"
"Hah, never. I will always lie to you,"
"Bitch,"
"Language," Josh glares at her, but she walks away from his face, sitting with a plop on his bed.
"So, are you going to tell me or not?"
"About what?"
"About your boyfriend?"
"No,"
"That means you do have a boyfriend, hah!"
Josh can feel his cheek heating up which probably means that skin must have turned a bright red by now, "N– No. I never said that,"
"And you didn't deny it either,"
"Why do you think I even have a boyfriend in the first place?" Josh knows he is not going to win this argument and so he switches the topic a little — he is curious to learn from where his sister got this idea as well.
She grows alarmingly happy at the question, mouth stretching into a wide grin. She puts up four fingers and drops them one by one as she starts listing off her reasons:
"You've been sneaking out the house at night, like almost every day and come home after hours. And every time you come home, you have this big, consuming smile on your face — sometimes it actually looks creepy. Which leads us to our next case in point: you've been very, very happy these past few weeks. Like uber happy. Did you know you've actually even started to skip around instead of walk?"
"I do no–"
"Shh," Josie quiets him in an instant, "Just listen. Anyways, the main reason why some can be annoyingly happy is that they're high or..." she looks at her brother with a self-satisfactory smile, and adding a little tune, sings it, "... they're drunk in loooove,"
She, of course, does not give an opportunity for Josh to intervene and goes on, "You already confessed that you weren't doing drugs, and I believe you about that. Even more so now,"
"What — I won't do drugs, because I'm gay? That sounds homophobic," Josh jumps in, but is very quickly dismissed.
"Shut up," is all she has to say to his comment before she continues, "And then the other day when I asked you if you were seeing someone, you totally ignored that question and your cheeks got soooo red — like they are right now actually,"
Josh covers his cheeks with both of his hands at that comment, frowning.
"And you still haven't given me an answer to that question. You've been ignoring it ever since,"
"Maybe that's because there's no one I'm seeing,"
"Then why are you blushing?"
"Because I've got sensitive skin,"
"Sure. So, your turn,"
"My turn, what?"
Josie blows out air through her mouth, shoulders slumping, but that still doesn't mean that she is giving up, "You know what,"
And Josh gives in. Not completely involuntarily if he's being honest. He is perfectly capable of resisting her continuous, unending badgering; he's had years of practice after all. Maybe a part of him wants to tell his sister after all. His feelings for the bridge boy have definitely multiplied lots ever since he first admitted it and nowadays it feels like his feelings might just burst out of his chest. That is how much he likes Elliot, and he does not see the harm in sharing the information with his sister. She does look eager to know about it too. It will be nice to finally be able to tell someone.
"Okay, fine," he rolls his eyes, feigning annoyance — he does not want her to know that he is just as excited to tell her, "There is a boy,"
"Oh, IknewitIknewitIknewit," Josie starts chanting rather animatedly and Josh has to put up a hand and wait a few seconds for her to contain her excitement.
He'll admit this secretly: it is amusing to watch his sister be this excited for him, it makes him feel giddier as well, but only he is better at hiding his emotions. He continues in a bored tone.
"But, he's not my boyfriend or anything,"
"Oh, you guys are not doing labels? Yeah, that's cool too,"
"No, that's not it. I meant that we're just... friends," yeah, that doesn't sound quite right to him either, but it is what it is.
"Just friends,"
"Yeah, I think?"
"Well, you obviously like him," Josie states the very obvious.
"Oh yeah, I wasn't aware. Thanks,"
"What I meant is: why don't you tell him that?" and then immediately she adds, "Shit, is he straight?"
"I'm not sure how he identifies himself, but he did tell he had a boyfriend once," Josh shrugs, scratching the back of his neck. He cannot believe he is discussing his love life with his sister of all people, but he has to admit, it does feel nice.
"That's good. Unless he's seeing someone else?"
"Not as far as I know,"
"I don't get it; what are you waiting for then?"
Josh raises his eyebrows as if to say really, and then asks, "Have you told all your crushes that you like them?"
"No. But that's just crushes. This — you like actually like him, right?"
"Yeah, But, have you–"
"I don't like anyone at the moment, Josh. But rest assured, that if I do, I will them at that instant,"
"Hahaahahahah, you do that, I'll buy you anything you want. Anything," Josh stands up from the floor, stretching and brushing off his pants.
"Fine, Challenge accepted, then," and when she sees Josh walking back to the window, she asks, "Wait, where are you going?"
"Where do you think?" he smirks back at her, "Just don't forget to close my door before you go,"
"Okay. Are you going to tell him?"
Josh grimaces, shrugging, "We'll see,"
"You should," she calls after him.
"We'll see,"
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