Ruby -joshler-

chapter nine

Josh's P.O.V:

     "Gotcha!" It was the night before Christmas Eve. I'd stayed at Tyler's house the night before, texting my mom to let her know that I'd be back on the night of Christmas Eve.

     Me and Tyler were playing outside since we woke up. He had lent me some winter clothes, including a soft red scarf and these black snow boots. We had a snowball fight, we built forts, we made a snowman, and now we were playing tag. In the three foot deep snow. Awesome, right?

     Tyler tackled me to the ground, and we both landed softly, sinking into the soft, powdery snow. He was right on top of me. I swear, our noses were even touching. I was summoning the courage to just flat out kiss him when he got up and shook the snow off.

     "You're it!" He yelled, and ran away. Damn teaser. But there was no way I was giving up on the game. We were playing best two out of three, and this was the decider round. If I gave up before I managed to tag him, he won. If I tagged him, I won. So I chased after him.

     "Knees to chest, Josh, knees to chest!" Tyler taunted me, sounding like one of my middle school P.E teachers. 

     I stuck my tongue out at him and continued chasing him, but it was like wading through wet cement. I was sweaty and exhausted within five minutes (wHY DoeS ThAT soUnD WRoNG n0) and I collapsed into a heap of cold snow.

     "I give up!" I called defeatedly, and sat up, barely able to see over the snow. Then I stood up and shook the snow off of me. Tyler came out from hiding shyly behind a tree. It must've been really cold, because his face was red, like it had just been stuck in the freezer.

     "You wanna go inside now?" He suggested, shivering. I nodded and followed after him as he waded through the snow to get to his back porch. We took off our excess clothes, stripping down to our normal outfits. I knew it was the same temperature it was a few seconds ago, but it felt like it dropped at least 15 degrees. We hung up our clothes in the washer room and headed down to the basement. 

     After playing a few rounds of Mario Kart, we decided to watch another movie. We agreed on Home Alone, because it was a Christmas movie. We kinda just snuggled on his bed the whole time the movie was playing. I promised myself that I would tell Ty how I feel about him that day, so I spent the whole time planning on what to say. When the movie was over, Tyler just turned off the tv and we laid there together.

     "T-Ty?" I made sure he was awake. 

     "Yeah?" He murmured drowsily.

     Everything I was planning to say was gone. I couldn't remember any of it. My mouth felt dry, my heart was beating at least ten times faster than usual. I felt so alert, though. Any sudden movement startled me. 

     "I... I think I'm in love with you." I blurted out. I closed my eyes and held my breath, frightened of what would happen next. There was a long pause. I felt like time had stopped or something, because it was deadly quiet, and the stillness was unbearable.

     Tyler, who was looking up before, turned onto his side so we were facing each other. "I-I..." His voice trailed off.

     I felt my face fall. "Oh." He didn't feel the same way. Great job, Josh. You've really done it now. "I-it's okay if you don't like me back..." I tried to keep my voice steady, but even I could hear the disappointment laced through it. Tyler didn't talk again, and neither did I. He shifted onto his back again, and so did I. Soon enough, he was asleep. But I stayed awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering why I just did that.

Tyler's P.O.V:

     Well, I wasn't agonizing over trying to figure out how Josh thinks of me anymore. I was afraid I had hurt his feelings by saying nothing. But I didn't dare open my mouth again, for fear of saying the wrong thing. I closed my eyes and I know I fell asleep, because I woke up when I heard Josh snoring beside me. I looked at the clock. It was 2:57 am. I glanced over at Josh, still feeling guilty about not replying to him when he admitted his love for me.

     I was so frustrated with myself. Why did I have to do that? I managed to make a friend, and maybe even more than that after the death of my only friend, and I'd probably scared him off. I felt horrible. Because I did like Josh. I really did. But I was so afraid to say anything that I ruined it. It was stupid of me.

     An idea crossed my mind. I couldn't say anything wrong if I worked out that idea. So I laid on my side, propping myself up with my elbow. With my one free hand, I shook Josh's shoulder.

     "Josh?" I shook him some more, and his snoring subsided. His eyes flickered open. Before he could say anything, I made my move. Placing my free hand on the far side of his face, I brought my head down and our lips crashed together. His were soft underneath mine. At first I caught him by surprise. But he quickly melted into the kiss. Fireworks exploded in my chest. Josh pulled away.

     "I thought you didn't like me back?" He said, his voice barely just a breath. 

     "I'm sorry. I was just so afraid that I would say the wrong thing, and then I said nothing and-" I could've babbled on forever about how sorry I was and how I should've spoken up, but he cut me off by pulling me into another kiss. We were both sitting up at this point, and he had one hand on the back of my neck, with the other holding my waist. After he broke away a second time, we laid down and cuddled for the rest of the night. When I woke up, he had his head laying on my chest and our fingers were interlaced.

     Everything was perfect.

 

||A/N: Okay, altogether now... 1, 2, 3, 'awwww!' There. I had to get that out of me. So, after like eight and a half chapters of waiting, here's some real Joshler action. The chapters are way too long, you folks have probably grown beards n stuff at this point... Anyway, the story is far from over, so stay seated, my lovely readers!||