an ode to you//joshler

nine: trees

Josh's POV

     I had skulked off to my room after spending a reasonable amount of time in the bathroom contemplating the previous moments. I thought it was a little out of the ordinary to be "shipped" with your best friend, as well as having it said directly to your face. Well, not directly to your face, but close enough. I had been laying in bed for awhile, trying to decide whether or not to be overjoyed, afraid, or straight up depressed (lol Joshua you can't be "straight up" anything stop faking) I mean, it would most likely never happen, so being depressed seemed like the correct emotion. However, the thought that my friends believed it could happen was reassuring.

     I listened to the sound of receding footsteps, along with some distant apologizing about something, before the front door shut. I heard Tyler's awkward pace up the steps (he did this stupid thing where he took two steps at a time), and slower footfall to my bedroom door. He knocked gently before testing the doorknob for being locked. The white door swung open.

"Hey Josh, I had them all leave. I kinda assumed it would've been uncomfortable to let them hang around. Plus they were leading themselves out and-" I cut him short.

"Tyler, I get it, they're gone. Its fine, it probably would've been really uncomfortable to go back down there." I agreed to his rambling before. When your friends realize they've taken a step too far, it really hits them. Unless they're selfish jerks with no consideration for others' emotions, which I'm surprised Brendon wasn't.

"Yeah. Sorry about that whole thing, I could've told them to stop the first time I heard them talking about it, but-" I cut him off again.

"Jeez Tyler, calm it with the apologizing. It wasn't your fault, and it's not like I care." That was a load of bullshit. I cared a LOT. and my choice of words and tone in that last sentence didn't seem to sit too well with Tyler. I watched a pang of hurt flash through his eyes before he smile through it and shook his head.

"You wanna go for a walk and forget about this?" He asked before I could fix my mistake. It was too late now. I nodded instead, standing to grab a jacket and shoes. As I did so, Tyler wandered back to his room to do the same.

As I stepped down the stairs, I heard Tyler fall behind me. I spun around to see him on his butt, glaring up at me as if I had done something wrong. I let out a loud wheeze that progressed into full on laughter as I bent over and offered my hand to him. I pulled him up and continued down. I nabbed my phone off the coffee table and shoved it into my back pocket before dragging Tyler into the fall evening.

"Forest?" I suggested, finding a pebble to scuff along the concrete. My Vans were getting really worn, I probably needed a new pair. I looked to Tyler as I hadn't heard his response. He was looking to the left, across the street and into the thicker parts of the forest that I didn't usually venture into. He weakly pointed at first, unsure, then tapped my shoulder like I wasn't already looking and pointed with more confidence.

"Do you see that? Way in there, there's something. Wanna check it out?" Yes barely left my lips before I was being dragged across the street by a Tyler on a mission. He picked up from speed walking to jogging, then sprinting through the forest, leaping through the underbrush, ducking under low branches, and dodging tree trunks and saplings as they sped through. Tyler began to slow and fully stopped at the base of one of the biggest oak trees I'd seen.

     "How on Earth did you see this tree this far into the forest?" I questioned him, before noticing Tyler had zoned out and was looking up. A gargantuan treehouse sat amongst the branches of the sturdy White Oak, old rotting pieces of wood swinging from nails which had been sloppily hammered in.