Should have brought my library card because I wanna check you out / joshler

Chapter 7

Working in a cafe with his house mate's boyfriend was definitely not always the best thing Josh could think of. Having one of his coworkers privy to a lot of things in Josh's life because of Brendon's big mouth always meant for Ryan prying into things nosily without meaning to. Josh liked them, he did. They were genuinely nice people and he liked Ryan the best out of all of his coworkers and Brendon was practically a childhood friend, supporting him through is entire transition for which Josh was forever grateful for. If anything Josh probably wouldn't even have a social life let alone a job without the pair of them so really he'd be in bed all day every day if it weren't the annoyingly cute couple. But today Ryan had decided it was time to poke and prod him about Tyler and Josh's horribly pitiful crush on him for which Josh was not grateful for.

"So," Ryan started, "how's your librarian friend been?"

Josh, working his way through cleaning recently vacated tables, turned around to glare at the shorter man behind the counter. Ryan gave him a knowing grin while he leaned his chin on his hand with his elbow on the counter surface.

"What has Brendon been saying to you?"

Ryan waved his hand dismissively. "Not much, just that it's like living with a lovesick puppy now." he said and Josh frowned.

"That's rich coming from the pair of the most lovesick idiots I've ever seen," Josh replied and threw the cloth he was using to clean towards Ryan's direction. "Anyway I'm not sure how he's been, he stopped texting me a couple of days ago." The anxiety that laced Josh's words were enough to make Ryan forgive him for the cloth to the face and he stood up away from the counter and crossed his arms.

"He's probably sick or lost his phone or something man, I don't see how it could be anything personal." Ryan offered him a consoling smile and chucked the cloth back to Josh who grabbed it before leaning against one of the tables.

He could have realised I was wearing a binder rather than an undershirt and decided to break contact Josh wanted to say but he didn't want Ryan getting concerned and telling Brendon so instead he just stuck with mumbling "I don't know, I'm just a little bit worried about him."

Ryan didn't reply at first, tapping his fingers against the granite counter as the gears in his brain turned.

"Maybe you should go to the library, see if he's there or if he really is just sick or something like that," Ryan said. He glanced around the cafe, there were only a couple of patrons there. One man working on something furiously on his laptop and a pair of women snacking on the cafe's sandwiches just outside. "You could go now if you want, there's really no need for the both of us to be here."

Josh started making his way to the counter Ryan was standing behind. "Really dude? You're a lifesaver honestly, I owe you." Josh told him with a huge grin on his face as he took off his apron and handed it to Ryan.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm only doing this because I'm scared your luscious blue locks will fall out from stress any moment now." Ryan shooed him off with his free hand, the other still holding Josh's apron.

Josh left with a couple more thank yous sent Ryan's way before he left the quiet cafe and made his way to the nearest bus stop. Since he didn't own a car Josh had grown accustomed to the bus and train schedules and silently thanked Ryan again as he realised the bus that included the library in it's route was only a couple of minutes away from the bus stop. He had yet to mention to anyone that he had pretty much memorised every bus route that was near the library.

As soon as Josh arrived to the local library, which was technically also a community centre, he made his way up and came face to face with Jenna who he was sure he had accidentally spooked but she didn't mention anything of it.