Headspace // Joshler

ᴇᴍʙᴀʀʀᴀssɪɴɢ ᴍᴏᴍᴇɴᴛs

Josh stares out the window, Dallon is late which doesn't make sense since the boy lives five minutes away from the coffee shop. The brunet sighs heavily, his thoughts are somewhere over the clouds. He keeps imagining his date today and all the ways he'll embarrass himself. There is no way for it to go smoothly knowing how clumsy Josh is. The boy sips the coffee that he had made for himself. A spike of caffeine jabs his heart making it thump even faster than before. Josh knows it's not good for his health but if the hours keep sliding by so slowly he might die anyway. He might die out of boredom.

Josh keeps thinking about his outfit. The more he thinks about it, the more self-conscious he feels. Dallon keeps telling the boy that he's beautiful no matter what but it's kinda hard to believe that.

Josh's head shoots up when he hears a jingle from the bell above the door. One more second and he would've fallen asleep despite all the coffee he drank. The boy's face blushes immediately after he recognizes the person walking through the door. Josh suddenly feels incredibly warm inside, his heart beats a frantic beat. It must be the coffee cup in his hands. The liquid in the paper cup is barely warm but yes, it must've been the coffee.

Tyler is in his uniform, the yellow reflective strips are so neon they're almost blinding. The boy notices dark stains around the man's sleeves.

"Boom," Tyler slaps his palm against the counter smiling proudly, rattling the small keys in his hand "You're welcome."

"Thank you," Josh utters, his fingers rush against Tyler's as he takes the keys. "I don't know what else to say."

"Just say I do when I propose to you," Tyler jokes, Josh feels the tingling warmth in all his body again.

"I'll keep that in mind," Josh leans against the counter in his pathetic attempt to flirt. His elbow only slides off, poking Tyler's forearm in the process. The man pretends that he's hurt and Josh is already panicking.

"Oh, gosh," Josh strokes Tyler's forearm soothingly, afraid that he had really hurt the man. "I'm so clumsy, gosh, I'm sorry."

"I'm okay, Josh," Tyler shrugs it off "How's your day been going? Ready for the date I bet?"

"Uh-" Josh's cheeks are blazing, there is no way he can hide it so the boy just marinates in his own shame "Yeah, I'm- I'm ready."

"Cool." Tyler bites his lip, Josh's soul had already left his body.

The only thing that snaps the curly-haired boy out of his trance is the dark stains on Tyler's uniform. The boy points at them, raising a brow with a question.

"What is this?" Josh asks shyly, afraid to seem annoying.

"Oh, this?" Tyler laughs and tugs his sleeves down a bit "I had a nasty, nasty, nasty rodent problem to deal with this morning. Can you believe that rats can grow to the size of a cat? Sheesh, they're aggressive as well."

"Did it bite you?" Josh's eyes fill with concern, Tyler chuckles rolling up his sleeve to reveal his wrist.

"No, I got my sleeve caught in between the floorboards when I tried to pull one out of the floor," Tyler points at his bloody bandage "There was a nail poking out and I didn't see it."

"There was a lot of blood..." Josh whispers staring at Tyler's tainted sleeves.

"Well, yeah," Tyler leans in, elbow resting against the counter with confidence "I'm okay now, you don't have to worry."

Josh nods, he doesn't have much to say. Tyler buys a small pastry and leaves. Josh is left staring at two keys in his hands. The metal is still warm from Tyler's palms. He must've carried them for quite a long time.