jrpushing (jrpushing) wrote in themouserace,
@ 2012-01-21 00:46:00

Who: Josh Roberts and Dari Davison
What: A picnic at the botanical gardens
When: Saturday lunch-ish time
Rating: PG-13 to be safe
Status: Incomplete

Nervous wasn't strong enough a word as Josh got out of his car and reached behind him for the basket of food and the blanket he brought. He knew Dari. They were friends. But he always had kind of a little bit of a crush on her. She was cute. And he liked being around her. And at the party she said he could kiss her anytime, and he did. The memory of her little blush as he kissed her again filled his head and he smiled. And then got more nervous. But he didn't show it, at least he hoped not. He laughed easily and just sort of went with it, trying to tell himself to relax and not over think it and just have fun. Like everyone kept telling him.

Sometimes this was easier said then done. He held his arm out to her as they made their way into the park. "I take my siblings out here all the time. They like the flowers and feeding the fish and stuff," Josh said pointing out the Japanese gardens. There was a cool little picnic spot he really liked when he brought his sisters and brother. It was shady and quiet by a little pond.

"I'm glad you got to come with me," he added as he set the basket down and went to lay out the blanket. "I didn't pick up anything too special though. I was just hungry and wanted chicken and thought it made good picnic food." He laughed as he looked over at her and motioned for her to sit down. He didn't really know what to say. Partially because he was nervous, but mostly because he was hungry and this chicken smelled really good. And the strawberries with the cool whip he knew he had packed away. They were his favorite.

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cheergirl
2012-01-20 10:40 pm UTC (link)

Dari was glad she'd talked Josh into getting out and doing something. He was always taking care of his siblings and that was really admirable, but he deserved a little fun, too! Besides, Dari liked Josh. He was really sweet and a little dorky. She enjoyed hanging out with him. And she'd meant it when she'd told him at Chelle's party that he could kiss her anytime. He wasn't Jeremy, but no one was and he was still fun to kiss.

Then again, Dari really liked kissing. It was easily one of her favorite activities.

When he showed up at her door with a picnic basket she beamed at him. Dari loved picnics, too, and she was lookIng forward to hanging out and relaxing with her friend. Being stuck at home with her sister and parents was already planning to suck. She could usually run off to Jeremy or Ashleigh for distraction, but she didn't hate letting Josh be her distraction for a few hours today.

"Chicken sounds great!" she assured him, brushing away the hair that the wind had blown over her face and tucking those strands behind her ear. "And I'm really glad you had some free time," she added, flashing him a bright smile. "Sometimes it's nice to just get away for a few hours, you know?"

Josh wouldn't know why she needed to get away, of course, but she knew him well enough to guess that he would probably agree with the sentiment.

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jrpushing
2012-01-21 06:36 pm UTC (link)

"Well, I'm glad you like it. I have this thing for fried food and strawberries, which I don't even get. Maybe my dad was Southern. Wouldn't that be funny, right?" He laughed and shook his head as he passed her the bucket. Don't be a dork sort of chanting in his head as a little mantra. He liked Dari, and he knew he was a dork. He was ok with who he was. He was confident and silly and just kind of kept to himself most of the time because that's who he was. He didn't have to wonder about what could have been, he just was. And he was ok with that. He didn't really like it when other people made fun of him, though. But who does? He was comfortable with himself, which is saying something for a 16 year old boy. Even if he was a bit hard on himself sometimes.

"I'm glad I had some free time, too. Things have been kind of slow so it was nice to get out. And I know exactly what you mean about getting away. I go hiking or rock climbing when things get to be too much in the summer. Especially when I just need to really escape from everything and think. It's nice." Though he was nervous, he really enjoyed spending time with Dari, even as a friend.

"So, what's going on with you? Running away with anyone for the summer are you just hanging out here in Chi-town?"

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cheergirl
2012-01-21 07:31 pm UTC (link)

"You brought strawberries?" Dari didn't have too many feelings either way about chicken. She liked it well enough, of course, but it was nothing special. Strawberries, though? Those were her favorite. She preferred them on a plate of French Toast, but she loved them by themselves, too.

She nodded as he talked about getting away, hiking and camping. She understood all too well about things getting to be too much, even if his home life was really different from hers. Dari wasn't so into the hiking and camping things as she was lounging on a beach somewhere or going for a swim in her lake, but she definitely understood the sentiment behind what he was saying.

Dari smiled as she helped herself to a piece of chicken and took a bit. It was really pretty good and she had to admit this was a nice spot. A good place to relax and get away from things. She could see why Josh liked coming here.

"We have a wedding in August to go to, but aside from that I haven't really made any plans," she answered him once she'd chewed and swallowed her bit of chicken. Of course, she never knew when Jeremy might spontaneously whisk her away somewhere, but that was one of the perks of having Jeremy Pitt for a best friend. As of this moment, though, her summer was relatively free.

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jrpushing
2012-01-21 08:12 pm UTC (link)

Josh looked around like he was making sure no one else could hear him. "Maybe," he reached for the basket and pulled out a huge box of strawberries. "Do you like them? They're my favorite. I've got something else, too." He reached back in the basket and pulled out the cool whip. "Now it's my favorite." Forget the chicken, he wanted the strawberries. So he left his fried chicken and grabbed a strawberry and some cool whip.

"Holy crap, these are good," he laughed. "I could eat strawberries all day."

He grabbed another and just bit into it, but this one was all liquid and dripped down his chin, making him laugh and trying to wipe his face.

"That's cool. I think I'm going to be around here for most of the summer. We should hang out more. This is nice."

He wiped his hands on his jeans. "We should play a game or something," he said. "There's this one I like. It's called three questions. The rules are you have to ask three questions, the other person has to answer truthfully and you go first." He stuck his tongue out kinda and laughed.

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cheergirl
2012-01-23 10:52 pm UTC (link)

Dari's eyes widened visibly when Josh pulled out a large box of strawberries. She could already feel her mouth watering and she anticipated how good they would taste.

"I love them," she breathed. "They're my favorite, too."

She laughed when he bit into the strawberry and the juice rolled down his face. "Do I need to find you a bib?" she teased him, shaking her head. She was grinning, definitely enjoying herself.

"We should!" she agreed between bites of fried chicken. She really wanted to try one of the strawberries, but she was trying to be good. "This is really nice. We don't get to hang out like this often enough."

She meant it. Josh was a great guy. She liked spending time with him and this picnic was pretty much perfect. She was glad they'd decided to do this.

Chewing and swallowing first, she nodded as he proposed game. It sounded like fun. After taking a moment to think, she asked her questions.

"Favorite color. Favorite song. Favorite movie." They were pretty lame as questions went, but they were the first things that came to mind.

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jrpushing
2012-01-24 06:49 pm UTC (link)

Josh laughed about her bib comment. "Yeah, I probably do. I'm gonna end up with more strawberry on me than in my mouth if I'm not careful." His smile came easy and he was glad that he did this, that he came out with Dari. He didn't feel like he knew her well. Frankly, he thought she was just being nice to him because she was nice to everybody, but he was enjoying getting to hang out with her.

Josh pushed the cool whip bucket toward her. "Have some. They're really good," he said. Grabbing some more he dipped some in the cream and bit into it. This was the perfect summer treat. Strawberries were one of the only things he liked about summer. A rare treat he'd allow himself whenever he could.

"This is nice. I'm glad I got to come out here with you, spend time with you outside of like school and stuff. See, botanical garden is greater than a movie. Maybe not dancing," he teased remembering their conversation online. He was having a nice time as he played with the strawberries in his hand, running them between his fingers like a nervous sort of fidget. He was uptight about what had happened last week, but he was trying to let it go, just let what would be... be. But it was hard to let go of something like that at a moment's notice.

Josh leaned back and smiled at her questions. "Brown. The Princess Bride because that movie rocks. And... That one's hard. Breath by Breaking Benjamin. My turn." He scrunched his face like he was thinking really hard and laughed, shaking his head, his curls kind of falling around his face. "What do you want to be when you "grow up?" Favorite book. And... Favorite animal." Maybe it was a lame game, but he liked coming up with silly questions and games and things like that to play with people. It was fun and you got to know somebody in a silly way instead of droning on and on and feeling awkward with silence.

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cheergirl
2012-01-25 10:59 pm UTC (link)

Dari really didn't need any more encouragement than that. Her chicken was forgotten as she tried the strawberry, humming softly as the flavor spread over her tongue. Her eyes slipped closed for a moment as she savored the flavor. It was so good.

"These are amazing," she told him as she reached for another.

She laughed at his quip about the dancing and shook her head. "I bet you'd like it if you tried it," she told him, a hint of a pout on her lips. "Dancing is fun." she knew not everyone liked to dance the way that she did, but she happened to like it a lot and she couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't feel the same.

"I have no idea," she answered his first question with a soft laugh and a shake of her head. That wasn't strictly true, but she wasn't going to freely admit to anyone that her greatest ambition was to simply be loved. Not even to Ashleigh and Jeremy who she knew already loved her. Instead, she continued to answer, "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and my dogs... I can't pick a favorite between, them, though. I love them both."

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jrpushing
2012-01-31 04:41 am UTC (link)

Josh laughed about her comment about dancing. "Hey, I dance," he said smiling. "I do. Leslie made me take a country line dancing class with her in middle school because she didn't want to be the odd numbered girl. I can two step. I just prefer going out with people where you can talk, share something. So many people go out together but thy don't really know each other. You go to a show or a movie and you sit and watch by yourself and then what? Talk about it? I like getting to do things with people. It's nice." He really meant it when he said how he wanted to talk. Probably a large part of that was because he was lonely. He didn't really have friends, close friends. He kept to himself and was afraid to open up. More than that, Josh Roberts, with his huge heart and compassionate nature, always trying to take care of everyone around him, has never really known love. His mother doesn't care about him. His sisters and brother love him, but it's a very shallow sort of love. One he knows comes and goes to an extent with what's happening at home. He wants to be loved, to be put first, to have someone ask how he's doing for the first time in his life.

Josh laughed when she was done answering her questions. "Cheater," he teased that she didn't answer the first one, but that was all right. "No way are you going to get out of this that easy. It's your turn to ask me three questions." He leaned forward and grabbed another strawberry and dipped it in the Cool Whip. This was turning into the first day of summer vacation that didn't feel like a nightmare.

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cheergirl
2012-02-03 09:32 pm UTC (link)

If anyone understood a desire to be loved, it was Dari. Sure, she had a ton of friends, but there weren't many people in her life who really loved her. There weren't even very many who really knew her. She didn't let it show, but there were times when she felt really lonely. It was a part of why she spent nearly every night with Jeremy. That feeling went away when she was in his arms.

"I am not!" she protested, laughing and shaking her head when he called her a cheater. She'd answered, it just probably wasn't a really acceptable answer, but she had told the truth.

Dari chewed her lip thoughtfully when he reminded her it was her turn to ask him three more questions. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" she asked him first. It was stealing, which was probably a lot like cheating, but oh, well. "If you could be anywhere in the entire world right now, where would you be?" was the second question followed by "If someone handed you a million dollars, no strings attached, how would you spend it?"

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jrpushing
2012-02-05 06:20 pm UTC (link)

"You are totally a cheater! Stealing my questions," Josh said, smiling big at her. "No, it's ok. I know I make awesome questions. You can't help but steal them."

He sat there for a minute thinking about his answer. The questions were more revealing than he liked to be, but she did ask, and he did have a firm answer all questions policy. Granted, she probably didn't know what she was asking. That's not true, he knew she didn't know what she was asking. No one did.

"What do I want to be? I want to be safe and happy..." he trailed off there because he wanted to say and loved but couldn't make himself say it. He couldn't make himself admit that he knew he wasn't loved. That all he wanted was for someone to love him and want him and want to check on him the way he always took care of everyone else.

He took a deep breath and sort of shrugged, trying to play it off, but he was sure his face gave the game away. "If I could be anywhere in the entire world? I don't know I haven't really traveled much. I love hiking though so being on top of a real mountain, like the Rockies or something would be really cool. And if I had a million dollars..." he paused again.

Another telling question. He kind of wanted to order a hit on his mom and stepdad somedays. He wanted to buy a house. He wanted to buy security. He had other fanciful dreams about trips and a family, but all of those involved another person. A person that didn't exist right now. And he didn't want to be alone, but he didn't want to sound pathetic either. He couldn't lie to Dari, though. So he looked at her and there may have been a hint of sadness in his eyes. "I don't know. I'm not all into the big houses and fancy cars. I want to travel, but not alone. I would want to do things with someone. Give myself a little stability so I didn't have to work so hard, maybe buy out something that will pay me for owning it so I don't have to work, like an apartment or a store, and that way all the people I care about can be taken care of. But mostly I just want to do something with people. I know? Total corny answer. My middle name is cheese, just so you know." He laughed and waited, letting himself feel his feelings and be ok with it, even though he knew it wasn't the "guy" thing to do, but Josh wasn't like other people. And he was ok with who he was, and liked who he was, but he kept to himself because of it. Kids are judgmental, and a big hearted person like him who loves easily gets hurt easily, too.

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cheergirl
2012-02-12 12:07 am UTC (link)

"I am NOT a cheater!" she protested, sticking her tongue out. She was sure he was teasing, but so was she.

This probably wasn't the ideal "game" for two people who didn't like revealing too much about themselves to others, but Dari thought it was nice just sitting here and talking with him. And she was enjoying teasing him a little, too, when he could.

She grinned as he said his middle name was cheese. Maybe he was kind of corny, but she sort of liked it. She liked how much he took care of his siblings. Maybe a part of her was a little bit jealous. She had Ash and Jeremy, but no one she was related too would ever do anything close to what he did for his family for her. Her parents didn't even know where she was half the time. She was pretty sure they didn't care, either. She had their money, but it was Ash and Jeremy and their families who cared about her, worried about her. Jeremy's house felt so much more like home than hers ever could in that way.

"It's okay," she told him, flashing him a quick wink. "I happen to like cheese." It was true. Dari didn't tend to wear her heart on her sleeve or let people in easily, but she was a complete sap. She liked that cheesy, corny stuff.

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jrpushing
2012-02-15 01:09 am UTC (link)

Josh smiled as she said she liked cheese. "Yeah? Well let's pack this stuff up and go walk around. There's some cheesy little flowery overhangs people like to take wedding pictures at."

He was glad he came out with Dari. He really needed a friend. And even though this was just casual to him, it didn't mean they couldn't have a fun time walking around and joking and teasing. They picked up the chicken, the strawberries, everything and put it in his basket. Folded his blanket and walked side by side through the gardens, for one day just being and letting everything else go.

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