Duly Noted

Duly Noted Part 5

Joy sits on a low hanging branch watching the leaves dance in the cool spring breeze. She smiles seeing a flock of birds fly overhead hearing faint honking and chirping. Her eyes shift from the sky to the ground to the beautiful array of trees that bend and twist together. Her gaze wanders around the orchard until they fall on the small wooden stand at the end of the walk, where Castel stands buying a few baskets of the fruit they had picked. She smiles softly feeling relieved that he's finally himself again.

They had spent the afternoon strolling through the orchard and picking some plums that looked good. Joy plans to make some jam with the ones that were about to turn bad--her philosophy is that no matter how bad something looks it can still be made into something sweet. She hums and swings her dangling leg off the branch, watching Castel make his way back over to her.

"Ready to go?" He asks smiling up at her

"I can't," she says.

"How come?"

"I've become part of the tree," she grins and presses her back against the tree. "I am one with the tree."

Castel chuckles, "So I'm just leaving you here tree girl?"

"Yes go on without me," she giggles. "Tell my story!"

"I will tell your story!" He grins and thrusts his fist into the air.

They both laugh and Joy climbs down out of the tree.

"Come on tree girl," he smiles and bumps her with his elbow, "let's go home."

She giggles and takes his hand heading home. They talk along the way, teasing each other, making jokes, Joy is so thankful to see him smiling again. When they get back to the house Joy invites Castel to play some video games.

"I'm always up for beating you at Smash Bros." Castel smirks as Joy unlocks the door.

She snorts, "That's only cause you cheat."

"I don't cheat Jo-jo," he chuckles, "you just always pick the worst characters to play as."

"You're just vicious," she teases and pushes open the door.

He chuckles and slings his arm around her pulling her close to him, "That's just how I roll Kirby."

She giggles and pokes his side earning her a very unmanly squeak from him.

=============

Joy is sitting on her bed rereading the email her alias received from him. After they played a few rounds of Smash Bros and a few cheesy scary movies Castel had gone back to his house to read over his notes for their test on Monday. Joy has been rereading his email for nearly an hour now and she's got zip.

She chews on a strand of hair as she stares at the screen of her laptop. He's just so smart it's not fair, she thinks to herself reading over his questions. He knows if this is someone he knows writing him these love notes he'll be able to tell by the way they answer...or the way I answer I mean.

She huffs loudly and collapses back onto her bed, flaring her arms around before dropping them at her sides. This is so hard, it shouldn't be this hard. She's written little short stories before...this is kind of like that...in a way. Haley is right, she is the creative one of the four sisters. She draws, she paints, she sculpts and knits, anything that involves art Joy is pretty much a master of. So why is this so difficult for her to write!?

Ugh, she needs brain food. Specifically sugary brain food.

She rolls off her bed and skips down the stairs. The kitchen is empty, the 'rents went out for date night and she's pretty sure Haley went out with her friends. Main point: she's got the house to herself. She grabs a plate full of brownies and a glass of milk before propping herself against the kitchen counter. She munches on a brownie as she tries to think of how to go about writing a response email.