hooked ↣ joshler ✓

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"Joshie!"

Josh had just closed the door and was taking off his beat-up shoes when Patrick ran up to him and embraced him, ignoring the fact his clothes were soaked, more so hugging his legs.

"Hey, Trick!" Josh bent down and hugged him back. "Where's Ashley?"

"She's in the kitchen making me a sandwich!" Patrick let go of him and bounced into the kitchen as Josh laughed and followed him in. Sure enough, the pink haired girl was standing at the counter spreading jelly onto a slice of bread. "Ashie! Josh's here!"

"What did you give him?" Josh whispered with a smile.

"Just one cup of coffee, don't worry," Ashley whispered back and winked. She put the other slice of bread on top to complete Patrick's sandwich and picked up the plate. Turning around, she straightened her back out and bent her elbow, sticking it behind her back as if she was a waiter.

"Here you go, kind sir. A delectable peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a nice tall glass of water with the world's best ice. Enjoy your meal," Josh watched Ashley gently set the plate onto the table where Patrick has since taken a spot at. He giggled at her behavior and thanked her, which she returned with a grin. He suddenly frowned and looked up at Ashley and Josh while biting his lip.

"You okay, buddy?" Josh asked, concerned.

"Could you maybe please tear my crust off?" He mumbled, looking back down at the table.

"Sure thing, Trick," Ashley replied, removing the crust from his sandwich and discarding it into the trash. She ruffled his hair as he began to munch on his food.

"I'm sorry it took this long for me to come home, the test I had to retake took a little longer than expected."

"Oh, it's cool," she assured, picking her purse off of the couch. "I had today off so it was no big deal. I'll stop by later tonight to get my money from your mom," Josh followed her over to the door, so he could lock it on her way out. "If you ever need anything, Josh, I'm right down the street. Feel free to come get me if anything is going on," she said sincerely as she opened the door.

"Thank you, Ashley," she nodded and Josh waved goodbye to her as he shut the door. Josh twisted the lock closed and shut his eyes, leaning against the cold door.

He was interrupted by tiny feet making a pounding noise as they carried Patrick in from the kitchen. "Josh? I'm done eating," he announced quietly upon entering the room. Josh picked his head up off of the door and looked at Patrick, giving him a small smile. He walked into the kitchen, and Patrick followed, keeping his head down and fiddling his thumbs.

Josh went to pick up his plate to wash it, but froze when he saw the amount of food still on the plate. "Trick?"

"Yeah?" he replied quietly from behind him.

"You only ate half of your sandwich..."

"Yeah, my tummy's full," Josh turned around to see him and could tell he was lying. His eyes darted everywhere and he twisted his foot back and forth on the ground with anxiety– something no eight year old should have.

"Are you sure? You know there's no bedtime snacks."

"'m sure," he mumbled looking up at Josh with tired eyes. Josh sighed and set the plate down, walking over and kneeling down to Patrick's height to give him a hug. Almost instantly, Patrick's small hands wrapped around Josh and clutched on to his shirt. He buried his head into Josh's shoulder and sniffled a little. Josh rubbed his back as he held his little brother. "I love you, Joshie," he whispered.

"I love you too, buddy," they pulled back and looked at each other; Patrick had tears in his eyes and Josh's heart shattered. Nobody cries over a sandwich, he thought, so something must be wrong. "How about you go upstairs and get a piece of paper out of my calculus notebook? There's a couple highlighters and pens in my backpack, you'll find them."

Patrick nodded and wiped his eyes, thanking Josh and running up the stairs, excited to draw. Josh smiled a little before standing back up and discarding the rest of the food, hoping his parents don't find out Patrick wasted food.

He stood at the sink and began scrubbing the little bits of jelly off of the plate, humming a song as the soap bubbled up and fell down the drain.

As he was setting it in the dying rack, he heard the sound of metal scraping and watched his parents enter through the door. Without hesitation, they walked straight into the kitchen– with his dad grabbing a beer out of the fridge –and instantly bombarded Josh with questions.

"How'd it go?"

"Did you fuck up too badly?"

"Could he tell you were nervous?"

"Is he gonna tell anyone?"

"Did he buy your 'why're you buying weed' line?"

"Fine. Not that I know of. Probably. I don't think so. I think so," Josh replied all in one breath, hoping to give them their answers before they started spewing more questions. They let out a relieved sigh in unison before walking back into the living room, beckoning Josh to follow them with one swift hand motion. His parents both sat on the couch while Josh awkwardly stood by the coffee table.

"I'm just glad you didn't fuck it up," Alice smiled as she shut her eyes, leaning further into the stiff couch, attempting to feel more comfortable.

"Thanks...?"

"Joshie!" Patrick yelled, bouncing down the stairs. "I drew a picture for you! Oh, hi Mommy and Daddy," his face instantly dropped from a smile and went to an emotionless state.

"Hello, Patrick," Mike mumbled, taking a swig from his beer bottle and turning on the television, only for it to start cutting out on whatever channel it was on. "Piece of shit," he mumbled. He stood up and went to go mess with the antennas sitting on top of the entertainment center.

"Ashley said she was stopping by later tonight to get her babysitting money," Josh mentioned, tossing the wad of cash that Tyler handed him earlier. "Here's this."

His mom perked up, eyeing the money. "Is this from earlier?" She asked with wide eyes. Mike turned around to see what his wife was talking about, and raised his eyebrows.

Josh nodded. "It's what he gave me."

"Go upstairs and do your homework or whatever, and take your brother with you," Alice replied, distractedly.

Josh nudged Patrick up the stairs and followed behind him, directing him into his room. Josh closed the door and shut his eyes once again, Patrick quietly sat on Josh's bed— or he tried. The bed horribly creaked and Patrick shifted awkwardly, both him and Josh cringing at the sound.

"Sorry!" Patrick whispered, beginning to sit up a bit. Josh opened his eyes and gave Patrick a tired smile, sitting down next to him, resulting in another creak and the bed to dip down further. Josh patted his shoulder and Patrick laid his head on it, sighing slightly.

"I think we did okay today, buddy," Josh murmured, rubbing his brother's back. Patrick smiled and hummed an answer, before going quiet, taken over by sleep. Josh smiled contently to himself, glad that today wasn't a totally disaster.