𝙏𝙍𝙀𝙀𝙎 || 𝗝𝗼𝘀𝗵𝗹𝗲𝗿

3 - Sapling

Friday, September 17th:

Josh stared up at the large house in front of him as he got out of his car, hesitating a bit before continuing past the gate.

"Of course he's rich," he muttered bitterly as he walked up the wooden steps onto Tyler's large patio.

That day at school, the other boy had, once again, barely spoken to him, only giving Josh his number so that he could give the curly haired boy his address. As he did so, he wouldn't look at Josh—per usual—and acted like he was too good to talk to him. He basically ran the other direction once he was done, and it pissed Josh off. Once again, Tyler was acting like he was too good to speak to anybody below his social standing. Go figure.

Josh hesitated once more as he approached the large, white front door. He felt slightly unnerved. As though he was encroaching on Tyler's personal life a little too much without actually knowing him. He felt like being at his house was overstepping a bit, but it's not like he had much of a choice.

He rang the doorbell, and the door quickly opened, seemingly as though Tyler had been waiting on the other side. But Josh shook that thought from his head quickly, almost laughing at himself for even thinking it. He probably just happened to be walking by the door. Why would Tyler be waiting for him? That would require him to actually think about Josh, and the older boy was convinced that Tyler very rarely paid him much mind.

"Josh!" Tyler exclaimed, for once looking Josh in the eyes. He seemed nervous, Josh noticed. Probably because he, too, felt as though it was weird to have somebody who was basically a stranger to him in his house. "Come in, come in!"

Tyler led Josh inside, making a beeline for the backyard. Josh couldn't help but look around. The house was huge, with so many rooms that he didn't get a time to look at all of them as he passed by. He did, however, notice a striking lack of family portraits. But maybe they were all up the large staircase he had noticed.

They entered the backyard, and Josh was surprised by how big it was. There was even a pool and a hot tub sitting there, along with a wide, green space with perfectly trimmed hedges and trees. There was even a fountain.

"This is huge," Josh marveled, looking around, missing it when Tyler looked at him, his cheeks pink. "How do you keep it so green?"

"We have gardeners and other people come and work on it," Tyler explained. Josh had to refrain from rolling his eyes. Of course he had people to tend to everything around his house. He probably had people there for his every need. The thought just made Josh feel more bitter towards the other boy, feeling a spark of jealousy at him having such a seemingly easy life.

"Ah, makes sense," Josh replied stiffly.

"So." Tyler walked towards the corner of the yard, where a small sapling in a plastic pot was sitting. "Here's our tree. We can really just plant it wherever, and we have to record its initial height once it's in the ground."

Of course, Josh knew all this, and he had to bite back vocalizing that. Instead, he just settled on saying, "Sounds good. How about right there?" He pointed at a clear little spot, a little bit in front of the hedges that lined the back fence. Josh noticed Tyler smile a little. He didn't think he'd ever seen Tyler smile around him before. He must have actually been excited about the project.

"Sure! I brought out some tools, too," he told Josh, gesturing over to a box sitting next to their tree. Josh carried the box of tools over to their spot while Tyler carried the sapling. Josh noted how careful he was with it, watching it as he gingerly took each step, acting as though if he dropped it, it would actually feel pain. For some reason, Josh found his usual bitterness towards Tyler softening at the sight. It was strangely humanizing.

"Alright," Tyler said, turning towards Josh once he carefully set the pot on the ground. Josh looked away quickly, catching himself staring. Tyler definitely noticed, and when Josh looked at him, he found that Tyler was blushing. Why would he be blushing?

"Um," the younger boy stuttered, avoiding Josh's eyes.

"Let's just start digging," Josh mumbled, embarrassed that he'd been staring at Tyler. Tyler, of all people. The boy he greatly dislikes.

They got out tools and started digging into the ground, an uncomfortable silence between them.

"So," Tyler started after a while, his voice sounding strained, like he was very uncomfortable, "are you excited for this project?"

"I guess so." Josh shrugged. "I'm interested to see how it goes. I have to come over, what, twice a week? Right? So that we can track its progress."

"Right," Tyler confirmed. "So, since it's Friday, maybe you also come over on Tuesday or something?"

"I can do that," Josh agreed. The thought of coming over to Tyler's house twice a week for about four months was daunting to him, but he had to agree. Maybe it would get less weird overtime.

Maybe Tyler would become more bearable overtime, too. Or so he hoped.

Once they were done digging, they carefully got the sapling out of the pot, working out its roots gently. They placed it into the hole they dug in the ground, working together to fill in the dirt around it. Josh was mildly surprised that Tyler was so willing to get his hands dirty, figuring that the people his family employed did everything for him. Again, it was humanizing. But not enough to make Josh like him.

Tyler clapped his hands together once he was done, getting the dirt off of them and beaming at their work. "We did it!" he exclaimed with a smile.

Josh stared at him for a moment as he beamed at the sapling, and he found himself smiling. Tyler's smile was cute.

Objectively. Only objectively.

"Mhm," Josh hummed, smiling a little as the other boy glanced at him. Tyler then quickly looked away, and Josh's smile fell. Tyler was back to not even looking at him. Go figure.

"Um, I guess I'll go now," Josh muttered, feeling disappointment creeping into him. For a moment, he let himself think that Tyler wasn't that bad. He was proven wrong quickly.

"Right. See you Monday," Tyler mumbled in response, not looking up at Josh as he stood from his kneeled position.

"See you."

Josh then walked right out of the back gate, feeling his bitterness coming back in full. For just a moment, Tyler seemed to let his guard down, but he quickly went back to acting like he was better than Josh, and Josh was fed up with it. He was dreading the next three months.