Shy Boy

Chapter 17

"You've been doing a little better than you were before," Scooter complimented him. He was repleted, with calmness resting on his countenance, falling back on the couch. 

He'd come over to Joshua's house as usual during the night. Before, he'd stopped at trying to make his friend talk to a girl he had liked, and now this was his first time to bring it up in a while, since that time with him.

Joshua couldn't forget it. He could've been a stumbling mess. He was ditched—maybe not entirely since he was watching from a distance, but that didn't give him a good excuse to leave him hanging.

He had a face like thorns had poked him. "I don't think I could forgive you."

"No, really, you have. I didn't think you would. I'm happy to see you progressed. I don't think I need anything else," Scooter said, expressed by glee.

He wouldn't believe it himself either. All this time, when Joshua was on the sideline, he didn't mind converting to a background and blended like some other ordinary people. In the way she talked, walked, and dazzled, she owned the spotlight of the school's floor.

He thought he wouldn't mind admiring her the way she was. The only thing he knew about her was from how other people talked about her and her achievements. Whenever she did something right or wholesome, he liked a person like her. 

"So then, is that all?" Joshua questioned, not knowing what's to come next.

Scooter let loose a sigh, giving him a look of your call. "I'm not going to make you do things if you don't want to. It's your life. What do you want to do?"

Somehow, Joshua had never considered it. To think about what he wanted to do and not worried about it wasn't something natural for him. He could think about going to school and put his subjects before him, but what he wanted, was unfamiliar like trying out a new recipe unfamiliar.

Did he want to just watch her whenever she was around, or would he actually want to feel her presence close to him? It was a different feeling from observing her than to have her recognize him. He never felt that the number of days was short, but he was considering the days were good because she acknowledged him. Not as a fool, but just as someone.

"I want to have fond memories and look back at them someday." It would be something remarkable, and the first thing that wasn't lame.

"Is she someone you think you could remember back on? That you think, "I really liked her. She was nice, and I'm glad I have talked to her before", " Scooter asked.

If that idea wasn't there before from all the anxiety it had cost him, it sounded good to him currently. Joshua replied, "It wouldn't be a bad thing."

Scooter threw him a soft punch on his shoulder. "No, it wouldn't."

"How do I do it?"

"Wasn't the answer always obvious? Just be yourself. Do what you're comfortable with."

And by comfortable, he didn't mean going back to his old ways where hiding was his best friend, but by taking it slow and speaking from the heart. 

"Could I really do it?" Anything would be easier, but her? She was almost frightening. 

"Remember that one time you thought you couldn't walk again after you broke your leg in middle school?" 

That had to be one of the worst memory Scooter brought up for Joshua. He fell on the tile of a swimming pool while he and Scooter at the time were in charge. As he seized the equipment and observed the filthiness, Kenny, an over-hyperactive kid, sneaked up an attack from behind him. He was panic-stricken, and the fall caused him a good eight weeks.

"You let him did that to me." He glowered at him.

Scooter put his hands up defensively. "I didn't see him coming, okay?"

"I was afraid to walk with a cast around me like a freak." The leg crutches were horrid for him to carry. Joshua hated that.

"Nah, you were brave. I thought you were a cool man."

"Am I still cool?"

"Of course, you're my buddy so why wouldn't you be?" Scooter chuckled.

Joshua weakly smiled at him. "Thanks."

He thought that maybe now he knew what he could try to do or at least wait it out to see what would happen to him. 

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Hi, thank you for your patience if you have been keeping up with this old story of mine. I'm afraid the story may stop to an end with the next chapter. I know, it's sad :( But I think we'll see something good. Also, Thank you so much for 32.7k reads for this story! Wow, it's unbelievable. I'm really so grateful for that many reads. In the last chapter, I want to dedicate a chapter to one lucky reader so comment if you want to be that one.

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