Part 13

Justen's POV

Before I knew it, Josh and I were laying on the ground in front of the oak tree in our special spot. We had finished our hot chocolates a while ago and now we're watching the sunset as Josh played with my fingers. He would carefully touch the tips before measuring his hands with mine.

"What are you doing?" I asked as Josh measured his hand with mine again.

"This," he said as he suddenly brought his fingers down so he was holding my hand.

I blushed and did exactly as he did.

"Now we're holding hands," Josh pointed out.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," I said sarcastically.

"Hey," Josh laughed.

"Hey," I said, trying to keep a straight face.

Josh laughed and soon I did too.

When we were done laughing, I turned to face Josh. He didn't seem to notice me as I studied his features. I looked at his dirty blonde hair that was all ruffled up from a long day. I spotted all of his light freckles on his nose. Freckles so perfect an artist must've painted them on him. I watched his very blue eyes look up at the sky and examine the sunset. Looking down his face I saw little bruises and scars that someone wouldn't notice unless they were really looking.

"What are you doing?" Josh asked with his perfectly white smile.

"Looking at a masterpiece," I said.

"What masterpiece?" Josh asked.

"The one laying next to me," I smiled.

"Me?" Josh asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"I'm flattered that you think I'm a masterpiece but, I'm just a discarded thing," Josh said as his eyes looked back at the sky.

"Hey," I said, making him look at me. "A great man once said, "life is a tapestry, beautifully woven from discarded things"."

"That was beautiful," Josh said.

"I know," I said. "You should hear the song I took those lyrics from, it's ten times better."

Josh chuckled. "Maybe I will check the song out," he said.

I smiled as my eyes found their way to the sky. I felt Josh's eyes on me for a moment more before he too looked up at the sky.

After a few minutes, there was a shooting star.

I looked at Josh. "Did you see that?" I asked.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Josh said.

"It was amazing," I said.

"Rad," Josh said.

I started laughing. "Who says rad anymore?"

"Uh… me?" Josh asked.

His response only made me laugh harder.

"Justen, stop," Josh whined.

"Only if you tell me you use better words to describe other things," I said.

"I mean, when I describe you to my brother, I definitely use different words," Josh said.

"Like what?" I asked, immediately interested in how Josh described me to Michael.

Josh's face turned bright red. "It's a little embarrassing," he admitted.

"It can't be that embarrassing," I said.

Josh took a deep breath.

"But if you'd rather keep it to yourself, for now, I'll let you," I said.

"Thank you," Josh said.

"What I really want to know is what you tell little Michael," I said.

"You'll find out," Josh said.

"When?" I asked, purposefully sounding like an impatient child.

Josh laughed. "Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe next week. You'll never know," he said.

"Now you're just teasing me," I said.

"Congrats, Captain Obvious," Josh said.

"That's my thing," I said. "Wait, are you stealing my things to become more like me?"

"No," Josh said. "To be honest, I forgot you called me Captain Obvious."

"Ha!" I said.

Josh stuck his tongue out at me before we both looked back up at the beautiful colors in the sky.