Shy Boy

Chapter 8

Weeks had passed since that first interaction with her. It was mind-blowing with just that one conversation could do to him. 

Ever since that time, that was it. 

He was never weaker until the thought of her ran loose. Just a little bit of her in his mind was enough to feel awfully weird and put him in low self-esteem. 

The only distraction he could get out of was burying himself in the works of school subjects. Outside of that, he had nothing. 

To avoid again after that time was normal but it made him feel like a total loser.

Scooter did try to tell Joshua to try again but he wouldn't know what reasons to come up to her. 

While Joshua was stuffing his book in his locker, Scooter came up next to him.

"Hey Joshua, how's it going buddy?" he asked, leaning against the locker and waving goodbye to a friend he was with. 

"Fine, the same as usual," Joshua said, shrugging. 

"I feel like you've been silently hating on yourself," Scooter said, looking at him with his chin cupped by his hand.

"If you guess that then you're right."

Scooter looked at Joshua as his expression was deadpanned. He really was a thorough guy, he knew. 

"You really think you can't do it?" Scooter asked, for what seemed like a repeated process of reassuring. 

Joshua stopped to think about it as if he actually had to think about it. "I know that I ca—"

He saw across the hall that Coral arrived talking to one of her friends and there she was. He was so busy these days that he wouldn't have the time to even glance at her.

At this moment, she's still good no matter how long it had been. There's no doubt that Coral would cease to be her natural beauty. 

Time seemed to stop again for him as he was just staring at her. 

It wouldn't hurt just to look a little bit, would it? He asked himself. 

Nobody else could get him to look as much as she could. He hated looking at her way but there's something about her that wouldn't let him get her out of his head. 

And as he thought to continue to stare just for a little longer before he'd stop; swiftly, Coral looked at his direction.

He snapped out of it as soon as she saw him looking at her. His eyes widened when their eyes met across. 

She blinked, gazing at him for a bit. Soon falling to a soft, easy smile, and she waved at him. 

When it looked like Coral acknowledged him, Joshua was in an astonishment. He waved back clumsily and then turned his head away.

"That happened bro," Scooter praised positively.

Joshua tried to shake it off and couldn't believe it to himself. "Did that really?"

"Do you know your cheeks are red?" Scooter said, an eyebrow-raising.

He instantly placed a hand on his cheek, feeling a little bit warm. "Really?"

Scooter nodded his head.

Joshua didn't own a mirror to put up in his locker so he couldn't have a good look at himself to see. Maybe that sign of the warmth of his cheek may be indicating that he could be a little heated. 

"Embarrassing..." he uttered quietly.

"You said that time you talked to her, all you talked about is books, right?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe that's your key."

He looked at Scooter with no clue of what he meant by key.

"Common Interests," Scooter emphasized, slapping with the back of the hand over his palm. 

Joshua just looked at Scooter with a disgruntled look. He remembered that conversation only lasted almost ten minutes before she dismissed him. 

He hardly could keep up talking to her without pausing or stuttering. 

"It's not like I could," Joshua said, embarrassed.

"Ask her about literature or recommendations."

He pouted. Wouldn't I look foolish? Joshua put a hand on his neck, reasoning behind his words. 

He did love to chat briefly about a couple novels.

Joshua turned his head back to look at Coral who's still chatting with her friend then looked back at Scooter. 

"Well?"

It did appear to him that she wasn't harmful and unapproachable than he would've thought. 

"Maybe once," Joshua said softly.

He liked that time when she came to talk to him even though she didn't have to and that little moment was nice even though he was very nervous in his speech and being around her particularly. 

Once he did his best to shake off any anxiety although it didn't wash any out, he still wanted to see what he could overcome. 

He took some steps to walk over to where she was, but the closer he came, he began to internalize panicking inside and stop. 

Joshua questioned himself whether or not this was the right thing to do for him.

He glanced over to the side and to his relief, she hadn't seen him yet. Okay good. 

Small bits of doubts and fears were the usual but no surprise there, were there?

Just about books, just about books. Joshua repeated in his mind, calming himself. 

When he took a deep breath and looked up, he was walking. But instead of him going to her, there was another person that appeared before him who walk to Coral.

"Hey," a tall guy with broad muscles said. 

Coral looked from her friend to him, a soft smile appearing. "Hey."

Joshua noticed blonde hair and his that stick out in front going upwards. He's wearing a black and white jersey jacket. A quarterback, maybe. 

Looking at her reaction and how they started talking a bit, she gave him her attention. 

This was where the uneasiness came in. He couldn't be that guy. 

It took one second to see someone more superior than he was, and he realized he's out of his mind. 

He watched them, unknowingly what he could do. 

Something inside Joshua made his heart ached. Inside it twists, turn, all it could do to make him feel smaller. 

Insecure, he called it.

--

A NEW CHAPTER. WOW. WAY TO GO AUTHOR. IT'S BEEN FOREVER. 

Thank you. 

Anyway, it's up. Sorry for the extreme long updates for those silent readers who might be anxiously waiting for updates. I am so sorry. School has been in the way, and that one college class sucks no matter how hard I try. It's impossible for me, so now I need to fix it by fall semester doing well. Gahh. Writing is a relief. I hope I still got it. My writing. Sometimes I think it's suckish because I don't receive a lot of feedback like other authors and it makes me wonder how poor I am and unnoticeable :( I want some love in my books.

But seriously guys, check out my other stories! You might come to like it. While waiting for this story to finish soon, just read my other works! It's longer but has more plot line and dialogues for you people? Aha. It'd be nice if you people would for me. 

Since it's summer, I'm a try to update and finish this story. Maybe a bit more chapters before I make an ending. Anyone wondering between these two? I am. Am I the only one?

So vote and comment would be appreciated for me so I know you're into this story and know you're reading my works and even this update. Aha, hope so.