No Matter What (Twenty One Pilots)

Chapter 17

The café turned out to be really good. The food was amazing and they even had a special menu for dogs, full of specialty treats. Tyler, if he could speak, would have given the "Milk Bone Cake" four out of five stars. He was holding off on the last one simply because he had eaten it too fast and wanted more.

Debby and Josh liked the café as well, and spent most of the time talking and joking, swapping somewhat embarrassing stories about the past. Josh found it easy to loosen up and talk to her, despite being so self-conscious about sharing things with people. He didn't want her to think that he was weird or lame, which he thought he was. He didn't want her to run away and abandon him like his old friends had. He really liked her, and he wanted her to stick around. He wanted her to like him, whether as a friend or something more, he didn't care. He just didn't want her to leave him.

And so when she didn't, he was ecstatic. He couldn't keep the smile off his face as they continued talking, and seeing Josh smile made Debby smile. She liked how open and honest he was being. She liked how he trusted her with some pretty embarrassing things. She liked his lame jokes and his blue hair. She like his smile and the ball of fur that was asleep at his feet. She liked him, she realized. She really, honest to gosh, liked Joshua Dun, and could only hope that the feeling was mutual.

On the walk back to Josh's house, Tyler ran in front of them, sniffing and pulling in all directions. This had been yet another new sidewalk that Josh had taken him on and since he hadn't gotten a good enough sniff when they first walked to the café, he was determined to smell everything now.

Every other step or so, Debby's hand would brush against Josh's, sending sparks up both of their arms. It took everything Josh had not to grab onto her hand and entwine their fingers. He wanted to so badly, but he didn't want to mess anything up if she didn't feel that way about him. He wanted this friendship too much to give in and hold her hand and potentially mess everything up. The only thing was that Josh didn't know how badly she wanted him to hold her hand as well.

When they got back to Josh's house, they collapsed on the couch, side by side, in the living room and Josh turned on the new TV since the old one had been too badly damaged when the guy had tried to steal it. They settled on some old original movie that a kids channel was playing and fell into a comfortable silence until Debby spoke up.

"I was going to try out for a role on one of their shows when I was younger," Debby said referencing the channel they had chosen.

Josh shifted in his seat and found himself closer to Debby than when they started out. He blushed. "How come you didn't?" he asked.

"We moved."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"I'm over it," she sighed and leaned her head on Josh's shoulder. He blushed even more as she shifted to make herself more comfortable. "They wanted me to speak with some kind of southern accent, anyway. Can you imagine that?" she laughed.

Josh laughed too and they went back to watching in silence. At one point Josh moved his head to rest on top of Debby's and she grabbed his hand, absentmindedly playing with his fingers. He smiled and glanced down to see her face, sighing happily when he saw the faintest smile on Debby's lips as well.