"Stop touching me!"
"I'm not touching you!"
"You're breathing on me!"
"I have to breathe or else I'll die do you want me to die?"
"Right now I do because you're pissing me off!"
"Ashley! Language! I will turn this car around!"
"Sorry, Dad."
"Take that!"
"You too, Jordan!" Bill glared at him from the rear view mirror.
Josh saw Tyler glance at him, trying not to smile. 'Does this always happen on car rides?' He mouthed.
'You don't know the half of it' he mouthed back making Tyler laugh. They were sitting in Josh's parents' SUV with Tyler on the right, Josh in the middle, and Abbie on the left. Jordan and Ashley were cramped in the back because they had to make sure they had enough room for the three suitcases they were bringing. One for his parents and Jordan, one for Ashley and Abbie, and one for Tyler and Josh. They had decided to share one just to make the load a little lighter. Besides, Josh was pretty sure half the clothes in his closet were Tyler's and vice versa. It was just a thing that happened when you were friends for that long. One of the suitcases had even been shoved on the ground in front of Abbie's feet. It was a tight squeeze but they made it fit.
"How much longer, Dad?" Abbie asked, resting her head on Josh's shoulder.
He looked at the GPS for a split second before his eyes fell back on the road. "Five minutes."
"I'd like to thank not only God but Jesus too because I'm going to lose my mind if I have to sit in this car any longer than that," she mumbled making Josh and Tyler bust out laughing.
The last few minutes of the car ride were silent as the Duns waited excitedly. Despite the short car ride to his aunt and uncle's house, he didn't get to see them very often. It was his mom's sister and brother in law and they only spent every other Christmas together and a week in the summer because both families were way too busy to see each other more often than that. Josh was excited to see his cousin. They texted sometimes but he hasn't seen him since last summer. His other cousin, Lilia, was thirteen and got along with his three younger siblings so Josh usually hung around with his older cousin since he was turning 18 in a few months.
Finally, Bill pulled into a long driveway and parked in front of a large tan house. There was already a pick up truck and SUV parked there so he put the car off to the side.
"Get out of the car," Ashley rushed Abbie and Josh since she was on the left side in the very back. The two quickly got out of the car and Ashley hopped out, running to the blonde girl who was waiting outside for her. They hugged before Josh heard his sister speak. "I'm gonna fucking kill Jordan help me," she whispered so their dad couldn't hear.
He just laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Jordan you might want to distance yourself from Ash for a little bit."
"Why?" He asked as he got out of the car after Tyler did. "Is she on her period?"
"God I hope not," a voice sounded. Josh turned around and was met with us other cousin. "I avoid girls for many reasons and that's just one of them."
Josh grinned, pulling him in for a hug. "Hey, Nico."
They pulled back and Nico ran a hand through his dark brown (almost black) hair that heavily contrasted with his sister's. "Is this the famous best friend I've heard so much about?" He asked, shooting Tyler a smile.
"Yeah," Josh nodded, nudging Tyler's shoulder making the brunette chuckle. "Nico meet Tyler, Tyler meet Nico."
Nico stuck his hand out and Tyler shook it. "Thanks for letting me come stay with you guys. It's gotta be weird having some rando come to your house," he laughed as they let go. Josh noticed the way his hand lingered on Tyler's for a second too long.
"How are you and uh Aaron doing?" Josh spoke, changing the subject.
"Oh we broke up a few months ago," Nico shrugged. "He and I just realized there wasn't anything there anymore so we split," he explained. "I'm fine though. Thanks for asking."
"I'm sorry, dude," Josh replied. He looked over and saw Tyler doing the thing he does. The analyzing thing. The thing that would make him the perfect therapist.
"If you're homophobic I'm letting our cows piss on you," Nico told him.
Tyler and Josh looked at each other and busted out laughing. "Far from it actually," Tyler chuckled, smile resting on his face.
Nico didn't ask any further questions, seemingly grasping what Tyler meant. "Well good now you won't get covered in cow urine," he joked. "Anyway a little birdie told me you wanted to learn how to ride a horse."
"How did you know?" Tyler gasped playfully.
"I just get vibes."
"Don't be a dumbass. I told you," Josh cut in, looking at Nico.
"I know you told him, J," Tyler laughed. "I was joking."
"Well," Nico cleared his throat. "We can head inside and get your stuff into my room. I hope you guys don't mind sleeping on an air mattress."
"Of course not," Tyler responded. "We're just grateful you let us stay."
"Tyler stop being so nice to him. He's an asshat," Josh teased his cousin.
"Oh fuck off," the relative replied, smile on his face.
---
The three walked into the Bruce family's barn and Josh's eyes scanned the various animals located within the walls. They kept mostly horses in there but they had their four cows, six pigs, sheep, along with the three horses. They had a chicken coop by the house with about a dozen chickens. It wasn't a large farm by any means but it was still useful.
Memories of Josh's childhood hit him as he looked at the different aspects of the building they were in and a comforting wave of nostalgia hit him.
"These are the horses," Nico told Tyler. He was giving him a tour of the barn and had already introduced all the other animals. "We have Belle, Sadie, and Harold."
"Harold. And you made fun of me for naming my dog Jim," Josh scoffed.
"You named your dog Jim?" Nico asked. "Dumbass."
"Thank you!" Tyler replied.
"And don't make fun of Harold he didn't do shit to you," Nico defended before looking at Tyler. "You can ride any you want but I'd recommend Belle. Harold is old and kinda pissy and Sadie is dumb but you didn't hear it from me."
"I'll go with Belle then," Tyler smiled. Josh watched as Nico smiled back, his eyes trailing up and down Tyler.
"Perfect," his cousin replied and Josh has never wanted to kick his ass more. He was just being annoying.
Once they were situated, Belle was outside, and everyone had the proper equipment, Nico led them over to a large area of grass. "Here," Nico handed Tyler a helmet. "You can just borrow mine since we don't have many others."
"Thanks," Tyler responded, clicking the helmet on. "Have you ridden a horse before, J?" He asked, turning to Josh.
"Once," the red haired spoke. "I used one of their old horses and I was like eight. It freaked out and stopped too abruptly and I fell off it. That's why I have that weird scar on my arm. Sliced my arm open on a rock."
"Huh," Tyler looked at him. "You never told me that was the reason why."
"Never came up," Josh shrugged.
"Alright, what's next?" Tyler asked Nico.
The dark haired glanced down at Tyler's feet. "I mean I already had you put on boots in my room before we came out so other than that you're good," he grabbed Belle's reigns and led her over to the wooden block he brought out, the piece ending up on her left side. "Okay, you're gonna mount her but be careful cause you don't wanna hurt her. Your left foot goes in the stirrup and you'll swing your right foot over."
"This is the closest I've ever gotten to mounting a girl wow," Tyler joked making the other two laugh. He did as he was told and sat contently on the saddled horse.
Nico handed him the reins. "Hold onto those rightly so they don't slip but not too tightly or you'll hurt her. Don't lift them up any higher either. Just grip them, don't move them."
"Got it."
"Okay, we're not gonna do anything crazy because I don't want you getting hurt. Is it alright if we just walk around for a few minutes?"
"I'd prefer it," Tyler admitted.
That's what they did for the next half hour. Nico led Belle around the grassy area, joking around with Tyler while he did it. Josh just stood in the background, not having any way to contribute. It pissed him off. He was supposed to be doing the bucket list with Tyler. Not Nico.
Finally, Nico told Tyler it was probably time to be done since it was getting hotter out and Josh almost let out a sigh of relief when he dismounted the horse and made his way over to Josh, grin on his face. "That was so fun."
"I'm glad," Josh smiled. "Let's go inside so I can eat all my aunt's food."
---
"Jordan oh my God get off the blanket you crumpled it up and I just laid it out," Ashley groaned.
"It's gonna get crumpled, idiot. I'm sitting on it it's not gonna stay flat."
"Do you guys ever shut up?" Lilia asked, humor in her voice.
"No," Abbie spoke, not looking up from her 3DS.
The two families were currently sitting in the park that belonged to the town the Bruces lived in. They had just eaten dinner and firework show was set to start in about half an hour.
"Josh scoot over I wanna sit on your blanket with you Ashley's being mean," Jordan told his brother.
Josh was about to object and tell him Tyler was siting with him but Jordan had already sat down and he didn't want to be an asshole.
Suddenly, Nico was setting another blanket down next to Josh and sat on the left side of it. He patted the right side. "You can sit here if you want, Tyler."
Josh watched Tyler smile and sit down on Nico's opposite side, placing his cousin in the middle of the two. He didn't like it. He wanted to sit next to Tyler.
It was currently 9:15 at night and everyone was a little tired. They had to wake up early to leave and no one slept on the ride there so when Tyler let out a loud yawn no one was surprised.
"Sorry," he chuckled. "I'm exhausted."
"That's okay," Nico replied. "If you want you can lay down. There's not enough room on the blanket so you'd have to put your head in my lap. No homo though," he added making Tyler laugh even more.
"Awesome, thank you," Tyler accepted the offer, laying down.
Josh watched the whole thing go down with a clenched jaw. That was his friend and he wanted to have a good time with Tyler to celebrate the last holiday they'd have before he left. Nico was getting in the way of that though and it was pissing Josh off.
He just wanted to send time with his best friend.
Nico's faceclaim is 2018 Anthony Padilla with long curly hair. That's not important to the story but I wanted to know that you had this information.