blossom ↣ joshler ✓

6. Meet

Josh got sighed as he got into his car Monday afternoon. It was 3:15 and he was supposed to be at Kelly's house at 3:20. He had neglected to remember he had to retake a math quiz after school that he probably failed again.

He grabbed his phone and put her address into maps before he clicked on the contact his own mom had given him the day before. As it rang, he pulled out of his spot.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mrs. Joseph!" Josh greeted. "I forgot I had to take a quiz right after school. I'm so sorry. I'm leaving school right now. I should be there in ten minutes."

"That's alright!" She assured. "Just as soon as you can."

"Will do, see you then!"

"Bye, Josh."

He let her hang up since he was driving. Once the call ended, he turned the radio on and drummed his fingers along the steering wheel. He hummed to himself as he drove to her house, taking turns when Siri told him to.

Eight minutes later (earlier than predicted) he was pulling into the driveway of a small blue house with a red door. He picked up his bag and got out. He shut his door, locking his car as he walked up the steps.

His hands held onto his backpack straps as he walked up the steps. Josh rang the doorbell and stood back. A moment later the door opened and there stood a blonde woman, a smile on her face. "You must be Josh!" She stuck her hand out. "It's so nice to meet you. Your mom talks a lot about you."

"All good things I hope," he chucked, shaking her hand. "It's wonderful to meet you."

"Always good things," she replied, stepping aside. "Come on in. I have to leave soon so I'm sorry if this all seems sudden," she laughed.

"I'm still so sorry about being late," Josh apologized.

"No worries," Kelly told him. "Okay so," she grabbed a piece of paper off the table handed it to him. Josh grabbed it and saw it was sort of like a schedule. "Tyler can eat any time after six and before seven it just depends when he gets hungry but you have to make sure he eats because he'll be so focused on homework that he won't—" a kid that actually likes homework? Josh thought.

"—his bed time is eight on the dot. He has to be in bed and falling asleep by then. No exceptions. Other than that... he's pretty much fine..." Kelly trailed off. "Oh! He does have a peanut allergy. He's on a strict gluten free and vegan diet though and all the food in the house it okay for him to eat. There's leftovers I made him for tonight but he can pretty much make his own dinner any other night. Feel free to have whatever you can find since I won't be home until about 8:30. It's all on that sheet in case you forget. Any questions?"

Josh blinked, taking all that information in. "Um, no. I think I'm good."

"Okay," she smiled. "And if any questions come up you can text me. I probably won't answer right away but I'll reply as soon as I can."

"Gotcha..." he nodded. "Where's Tyler?"

"Oh!" Kelly laughed, walking over to the steps. "I knew I was forgetting something," she turned towards the stairs. "Tyler, honey! Josh is here! Come down!"

Josh stood there patiently, rocking back and forth on his feet lightly. He glanced down at the piece of paper while he waited, reading back over everything to make sure he understood it.

"Here he is. Josh meet Tyler, Tyler meet Josh," Kelly piped up, making Josh glance up.

However, his eyes widened upon seeing Tyler.

He was a teenager.

Tyler let a small sigh escape his lips as he looked at Josh, his eyes looking bored behind his glasses.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow to take you to school," Kelly pressed a kiss to Tyler's forehead. "Bye," she told him. "Bye, Josh. Let me know if anything goes wrong!"

"Will do..." he trailed off, confused as hell.

The front door closed and Josh looked at Tyler once more. "Hi."

"Hello," he replied.

Josh was about to open his mouth when Tyler spoke again. "Is Josh short for anything?"

"Uh, yeah," he nodded. "Joshua."

"I will call you Joshua then," Tyler informed, sliding his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Why?"

"That's your name," he replied in an obvious tone of voice.

"Okay..." Josh nodded once more, feeling awkward. "Hey, we match," he gestured to Tyler's glasses and then his own, trying to make conversation.

Tyler blinked. "We do not match. We merely have similarities."

Josh didn't reply at first. He didn't know what to say to that. "Question."

"Yes?" Tyler raised an eyebrow.

"Why in the world do you have a babysitter? You're a teenager."

"I have zero idea but my mother is paying you to watch me do my homework so you might as well just deal with it."

Josh figured he wasn't wrong. "Okay, yeah. Do you wanna bring your homework down here? Maybe I can uh... help you with it or something."

Tyler snorted. "I have an IQ of 135 I strongly doubt I need your assistance," he paused. "What mathematics class do you take?"

"Algebra II."

Tyler's face scrunched up in disgust. "Is that the on level class for your grade?"

"No," Josh shook his head, feeling dumb. "It's Algebra III but I'm terrible at math so..." he explained. "What math are you in?"

"Advanced calculus."

Josh purses his lips. "Never mind then. You take all advanced classes, don't you?"

"If applicable, then yes."

"Okay... guess I can't help you there," Josh sighed. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Nope," Tyler turned and walked back up the stairs, leaving Josh all alone.

The brunette stood there awkwardly. How the hell was he supposed to babysit a teenager? Especially a bratty genius one.

He sighed once more before flopping down on the couch. He may not have to do anything but all that did was make him feel useless.

He just hoped Tyler warmed up to him eventually.

Or this was going to be a rough month and a half.