THE LIGHTS THAT STOP ME,, josh

Joshua had been awake for some time now, at a loss of what to do now that school had let out for the summer holidays and he had a lack of studying to do. Not that this was a bad thing--he didn't adore studying, after all, he just did it without complaint because it was necessary. Even if he didn't love it, he certainly enjoyed it a lot more than some of his classmates. The thought made his lips twitch into the briefest of smiles. His mother, Patricia, caught his eye from across the dining room table and arched an eyebrow. "What are you thinking of Joshua?" she inquired curiously, then smirked at him. "Or who, perhaps?" He rolled his eyes at her; it didn't take a genius to know that she was just teasing him about Nell again. "School, actually," he replied, being honest. Now that Nell had been inserted into his thoughts, however, Joshua was indeed thinking about her. "She's out of town," he said, trying not to sound too disappointed about this. He understood that his girlfriend had a life and he'd committed himself to being patient about this. "I think she'll be back in a few days or something." Trish seemed to understand, staring at her son with amusement. "You really like her." He just shot her a glare, picking up Donovan's newspaper and playfully swatting her arm with it. "Oh shut up, Mum!" Trish gave a quiet laugh and excused herself to go answer her cellphone, which interrupted their conversation with a loud ring.

She poked her head into the dining room a moment later with an apologetic grimace, gesturing the phone as if to say she'd be a while. Joshua merely replied with an understanding nod and picked the two plates up from the table, heading into the kitchen and dropping them into the sink. He could have just left them there for the butler to collect--Donovan would have done--but he supposed it was pure habit from living on his own for several months. Sighing a little, he contemplated what he might be able to do. He could have called one of his friends up but there was a problem on each and every standpoint--Phil didn't live in the Hollow, Asha was probably busy, Jake didn't know where he lived, Nell was out of town. It didn't really bother him as he was used to solitude, it was merely the task of finding something to occupy his time that put him off. He could read a couple of the medical journals his father had gotten him but even Josh wasn't in the mood to waste his summer break with too much reading. The sunlight streaming through the window and casting patterns across the objects in the room caught his attention--it was a nice day outside, likely just as hot as it was bright. Maybe he would spend the day outside. It would be a waste to take his Aventador out for a drive seeing as he wouldn't feel the warmth and he wasn't in the mood to walk down to the Hollow, so he instead opted to head out the back door into the yard. The fragrant smell of his mother's garden hit him immediately, and he swatted a bumblebee away from his face, quickening his pace in case it decided to sting him.

The warmth and light were the perfect conditions to be practising his powers, and so Joshua called to the flame and brought it to life under his fingertips. He was gentle with his movements seeing as this was not a fight, coiling the flame around himself and flexing it as if it were an extra limb. He then allowed the fire to touch the grass, watching it go up in flames before extinguishing it without a mark left. Such things still had some drain and he had certainly not perfected them, so Joshua decided against making it more widespread. Patricia would murder him if he set their lawn on fire by accident, he believed. The sound of the back door opening made him spin around and extinguish the flames, just in case it was their very non-elemental butler. Sure enough, after a minute or so the man had weaved his way through the garden and found himself facing the elemental teenager who was carefully drawing his heat around him and slowly getting rid of it. "Is something wrong?" he queried. The man just shook his head and replied, "There is someone called Nell to see you." This brightened his day considerably--but wait, wasn't Nell supposed to be out of town? Even still, he replied, "You did let her in, didn't you?" He would hate to think of his girlfriend dying of the heat out on the doorstep whilst their butler tried to stalk him down. "Of course," was the reply, and Josh gave a quick thanks before heading up toward the house.

When he found Nell, she was handling one of his mothers expensive vases. Not wanting to startle her and make her drop it--Trish would blame him, no doubt--he made sure to clear his throat a little before he spoke. "Nell," Joshua said warmly, a grin splitting his features. He waited until she set it down before closing the distance and pulling her into a hug, brushing his lips against hers briefly before pulling back. "I missed you," he said. "You're back early; how come? Did something happen?" The glee from seeing her again faded to a sort of concern as he realised that there might be a reason that she'd returned early. He hadn't pried and asked her where she was going so he didn't know what the 'something' could be even if it had occurred, but of course he was immediately worried about Nell and her well-being. "Regardless, it's great to see you." He tried not to look too pleased, but he was failing pretty miserably at that. It was remarkable just how happy she made him by so much as being in the same room. This was what it was like to trust and love someone unconditionally. It had been so long since he'd had even a good friend that he'd almost forgotten. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? I could get you something. Was the drive back alright?" Laughing and shaking his head, he said, "Jesus, I fret more than my mother. Sorry about that." His tone was light, though, implying that he really was concerned and serious about what he'd said.

He allowed himself a slight exhale of relief when Nell said that she'd only been visiting a friend. He admonished himself for worrying so much about her considering he had obviously gotten himself a little worked up for nothing and nodded. "It's a shame you had to leave early," he sympathised, knowing that it must have sucked that she had to ditch her friend because relatives had gotten in the way. He didn't have many friends to relate this to but he could at least guess that it wasn't the nicest thing to be forced out seeing that you didn't want to intrude. "Doesn't mean I'm not glad you're back, though." Joshua gave her a bit of a cheeky grin. He was allowed to be selfish and relish in the fact that she was back in the city, right? That wasn't a bad thing? He enjoyed talking to Nell and having her company. They both had lives and so there were days where they spoke very little or not at all, but it was still good to know that she was close so that if something did happen, he'd know. Then she started going on about how she could come back later and he waved a hand as if swatting away an irritation. "Oh, nonsense," he grinned. "You're always welcome here, you know that!" His gray eyes were light as the smile lit them. If ever there were a bad time for her to drop by he'd probably text her to make sure that she knew he was busy, just in case. He was always up for the unexpected visits however because it made him that much more cheerful if it was just a random thing that came out of the blue.

Joshua arched an eyebrow at Nell when she quickly switched the subject away from herself, smirking a little. You don't think I notice? he thought. He had become accustomed to the fact that Nell enjoyed fretting over people and asking after them a lot more than she liked talking about her own well-being. All the same, he wasn't about to insist that they switch the subject again. "I'm fine," he said, then laughed and added, "No, really, I am. Summer is good for everyone." With the stress of exams and school work melting away at last, Joshua hadn't had much to worry about except for the trial in coming months. Of course, his lawyer was going to attend most of the hearings for him but he was sure they'd expect testimony eventually. That wouldn't be for months yet, probably, and he was confident he could win, so that too could be put out of mind. "Unfortunately I haven't been doing much of anything," he answered with a shrug. "Most everyone I know has been busy, so I've been cooped up in the mansion for the past week or so. It's not been too bad, just a little boring." He ran his fingers lightly along the surface of the expensive vase that Nell had put down, admiring the familiar hand-painted surface and trying to remember if his mother had ever told him the story of where she'd bought it. Probably, he thought, though I don't remember a thing. "I have taken Harper out a few times," he said as an afterthought, sounding as if he might be speaking of a dog. Nell would understand it to be the gleaming white Aventador in the garage. "There was a summer sale on shades a few days ago, so naturally that kept me occupied for a while."

Gesturing in the direction of the back door, he said, "I was just out back, come on, you can join me." Nell was probably growing familiar with the large garden with it's sweet perfume and its very unusual flowers. He was always amazed that the people his mother brought over so willingly bought the story about Trish having a great uncle that worked with plant hybrids. Bullshit baffles brains, I suppose. The intensity of the sunlight made him blink in surprise for a moment, but he shook it off and expertly led the way through mazes of plant-life and to the lawn. "It was a nice day so I was merely practising my powers. You didn't interrupt anything too--" But at that moment, it was he who was interrupted as something very wet and cold collided with the back of his head. Drenched and stiff with shock, Joshua blinked and turned slowly to face a very triumphant looking Patricia. She only smiled at him and gave an innocent wave that he saw right through. Glancing down at his feet, Josh saw the remains of what had been a water balloon before she'd lobbed it at the back of his head. "Thanks, Mum," he said sarcastically, though he really couldn't sound too angry with her. That is, until she tossed a balloon much more lightly toward Nell, intending it to be caught rather than using it as a weapon. "Go on, see if you can hit him with it," she encouraged wickedly, grinning. "Hey, not fair!" Josh protested. "I haven't got any--" He was cut off as she threw another one at him, laughing as it splashed across his chest. The water was very cold. "You should have caught it," she teased. His mother could be so young at heart sometimes it was hard to remember that she was entering her forties. She gestured toward an entire crate full of water balloons and said, "Why don't you two join in?" Josh gave Nell an almost apologetic look, but also an inquiring one. 'Do you want to?' he seemed to be asking.

He dipped his head lightly in response to her words. "Even for me," he confirmed. Though devoid of grinning or smiling the complacent look that his features assumed was more than enough to indicate cheerfulness. "I may not hate school but I certainly don't mind a break." She seemed to disapprove of his boredom and even went as far to suggest that he climb a mountain, which gained a small snort of amusement and exasperation from Joshua. "There certainly are plenty of those about." Maple Hollow was literally up in the mountains. It had started as a small settlement in a sort of valley between a few of them, but over time it had spread out and curved around several. The Academy was on top of a rather flat one that looked more like a hill with the lake at the bottom of one side framed by the jagged cliffs of another peak. He wouldn't change his birth place for the word. This was indeed home to him. "I've been trying," he shrugged. "Mostly when I'm alone I read a lot of books or go out and buy things." He wasn't the biggest fan of television and playing tennis with yourself wasn't very fun. His sister sometimes humoured him and played along, but she wasn't exactly the best tennis player in the world and so the game always ended up being entirely one-sided. There was also the boat, but he wasn't able to find any fun in that at all. "Why? What do you plan to do this summer?"

Apparently Nell had no qualms with tossing around water balloons and that was alright with Joshua. He might have been a serious and stoic person but even the graduate knew that it was alright to act young sometimes. He had grown up as the playmate of his little sister, after all, and when you babysat someone that was seven years your junior you had to get used to the sort of things they wanted to do. A lot of the times when their parents were out they would bake things behind their backs and smuggle the brownies upstairs amongst giggles and snickering. "I can't exactly say the same for myself," he replied with a hint of a smirk, picking up a rather sizeable red balloon. It was somewhat heavy, but being that Joshua had some strength to him it was not much of a problem. With a hard flick of his wrist he sent it in Nell's direction, making sure not to aim for the face. Having a balloon pop across your face was bound to be unpleasant and he was hardly an asshole, even if he did inherit his mother's trolling tendencies. "It's a shame none of us control water," he mused as he picked up another and backed away from the box slightly, hefting it in preparation. "Then again, not really. It would make this far too easy." Then you could control the direction of the balloons by manipulating the water inside of them and it would be too simple of a game. He doubted he'd be as eager to play if there were a cheater in their midst. No, this was a little better.

But even still... Trish threw a balloon toward her son and he countered it by hitting it with a blast of his fire and giving her a smug look. She'd tried to get in a cheap shot when he wasn't looking but Joshua had seen it out of the corner of his eye. "No cheating, Mum," he joked. He actually didn't care if someone aimed at him from behind seeing as he would be sure to do the same thing--he was just teasing her the same way she had him. She sent a small ball of flame toward him in response, which he blocked with a flick of his wrist that dispersed it. Clearly his mother wasn't trying too hard to best him, because she was marginally better with her powers than he. "Not bad," she chuckled, then threw another balloon. He didn't bother cheating to block this one, instead throwing up his arm to 'block' it. That didn't work very well, seeing as it was rather large and the pop soaked him regardless. Whilst Josh was busy spitting water from his mouth and blinking it from his eyes, Trish sent another water balloon toward Nell. He could have (again) taken an easy way out and just dried himself off, but that wasn't part of the game. He could dry himself off (and Nell, too) once they had exhausted the population of brightly coloured balloons. Besides, the cold water felt nice in contrast to the summer heat in the backyard. He might not have known how to or had any desire to learn how to swim, but even Josh could appreciate how nice the chilled water felt.

He was amused by her comment about how pale he was, swatting her and acting offended. "Well, excuse me for my lack of sunbathing." He of course understood that Nell was only joking and that she didn't mind the way that he looked. If she could deal with the scars then skin shade surely wasn't an issue, right? At least he wasn't gray. Now that would be a little concerning. His fair skin was more attributed to the fact that he simply didn't seem to be capable of acquiring a tan, even if he did spend a lot of time out in the sunlight. He also couldn't burn because of his fire affinity, so he was pretty much out of luck. "Make sure and give me a call when you plan to climb that mountain of yours, I'll tag along," he joked. Would he really climb a mountain if she called him up unexpectedly? It would probably surprise him but he would definitely be up for something crazy and adventurous like that. He did have a sense of fun after all. Just because he preferred reading books to scaling mountains didn't mean that he'd never do the latter. And he had, before, too. When you grew up surrounded by mountains it was not uncommon to take a family hiking trip. Those trips had stopped some years ago, though. "Maple Hollow is great in the summer. There's an ice cream parlour that I'm quite partial to." Of course he was partial--it was ice cream. It was incredibly expensive per scoop but in Josh's opinion the delicious and chilled dessert was well worth it. Besides, it wasn't like money was ever an issue for someone like him.

Shivering slightly from the water that soaked his skin, Joshua was nevertheless left with a slight smile by the time the last balloon splashed harmlessly in the grass. Even Patricia was drenched and dripping wet--she certainly hadn't cheated any more than Joshua himself had. Now that their game was over, however, Josh flicked his wrist and allowed the heat to sweep over him and dry his clothing. "Hold still," he suggested to Nell, not wanting to accidentally hurt her. "I'll dry you off, too." Just like Nell herself, Joshua was concerned about illnesses and catching cold by hanging around in soaked clothes for too long. He caused another wave of heat and glanced toward his mother, who had already dried herself off just as quickly. "That was fun," she said cheerfully. Joshua nodded in agreement. He snorted with muted laughter when Nell said that she couldn't hear out one of her ears. "Did I get you in the side of the head?" he said innocently, gray eyes twinkling with undisguised mischief. "Accept my sincerest apologies." Joshua gave her a smug sort of look, though it was all in good fun of course. He'd enjoyed this little game even if he hadn't went into the backyard with the intentions of playing it. Patricia had a knack for finding fun things to do that everyone could enjoy no matter how old they were. The woman was carefully tucking her blonde hair into a ponytail when Nell said something that caught Joshua's attention. "No," he frowned, confused. "What?"

The confusion dissolved into a laugh a moment later when Nell revealed to him exactly what she'd been planning to say. She was hungry of course. "I'm not surprised," he replied after the chuckling had died down. "I was going to work on something, but I could make something if you two wanted," Patricia offered. Much as Joshua was tempted by the idea of his mother's cooking, Josh shook his head. "No need, Mum, I'm not going to blow up the kitchen or anything. Go on." Patricia hesitated, but eventually she gave a nod. They parted once they were all back inside--Trish headed upstairs and Joshua down the left hallway and through the arch that led into the wide white kitchen. "Hmm, looks like the fridge needs restocked," he frowned as he opened it. There was plenty of stuff to make sandwiches, though, so he got everything out and told Nell she could extract anything extra that she wanted (mainly the meat, since he was vegetarian and had no idea what meat might taste good on a sandwich. It didn't take very long, of course, but he still wasn't satisfied after the second. Not sweet enough. "I want dessert," he said suddenly, sliding off from where he'd been sitting casually on the kitchen island. Patricia hated when he didn't sit at the table but what she didn't know couldn't hurt her. As he rummaged through the cupboards he got a sudden idea. "Hey, Nell, are you any good at baking?" he asked deviously. "I feel like brownies and it'll go a lot quicker if we make them together."

Joshua grinned slightly when Nell thanked him, firing back a smooth, "Any time, greenhouse." Patricia seemed confused by this exchange of words but Joshua didn't bother explaining the odd little inside joke of theirs. He remembered how she'd called him a space heater all that time ago back in the forest and he'd withheld his little joke until she was literally breaking down in front of him. Perhaps that had been a bad time to mess around and joke, but at least they were both much happier now and had the chance to appreciate how amusing it was. He assumed a blasé look when she joked about sign language, flicking his wrist as if to dismiss her words. "And who said I'd care?" he returned, for he knew that she was only kidding around. It was almost effortless to joke around with her. Perhaps that was why Joshua enjoyed her company so much--stoic as he may have been, even he enjoyed amusement every once and a while. He chuckled as Nell crossed her arms. "Deaf and mute, eh? What a shame." When Nell pointed out that she was hungry, however, he dropped his joking façade and turned serious as he realised that he could also do with some food. Though his appetite couldn't exactly rival that of Nell's, he still needed quite a bit of food in his stomach to keep him content. So far he'd only eaten the small snack with his mother, not having bothered to ask for breakfast or even make it himself as he'd not exactly been feeling up to it. Boredom could make anyone a little lazy, even Josh. Having company over made this a little different.

Joshua shook his head when Nell asked him if they had any mix. "I always make mine from scratch," he said. "It's not too difficult." Rummaging through the cupboards again, he pulled out the flour, sugar, and a bag of what looked like powdered chocolate--cocoa. He took the rest of the ingredients from the fridge and then got out a couple of bowls, including their large mixing bowl. "If we make enough we'll have more for later," he said to explain away the size. Joshua could go through brownies like nothing else. It was perhaps one of the only things he could eat more of than Nell--anything to do with candy and sugar. Plus there were three other people living in the household that would surely sample their work if they happened to walk by and see the cooling treats. Joshua slid the carton of eggs and one of the other bowls across the kitchen island toward Nell. "You get the eggs, I'll get the butter and sugar." He selected one of the smaller bowls and started to whip together the indicated products, leaning casually against the island as he did so. He was impatient to actually stick them in the oven so that they could be done quicker. He let Nell put the eggs into the larger bowl before he poured his own mixture in, then dumped in the measured cocoa and flour and mixed it. "Pass me the trays?" he requested, realising that he'd forgotten to take them out. "They're in that cupboard over there." He pointed with his foot.

Once the brownies were done and cooled, Joshua didn't bother waiting much longer before he took one gingerly off of the plate and bit into it. "Wanna go watch some movies while we eat these?" he asked her. "We've got On Demand." Their 'home theatre'--which was actually just a comfy sitting room with a big-screen TV that they used for watching movies--would be a good place to spend a few hours. "You can stay as late as you like," he mused. "My parents don't mind and I've certainly got nothing planned." He knew that Patricia hated it when he took food out of the kitchen, but Joshua slipped a good portion of the brownies onto a smaller plate and put his finger over his lips with a smirk. "Mum doesn't have to know." Besides, what were movies without snacks? He made some popcorn, too, just for good measure, and grabbed one of the two litres. Trish didn't mind if they brought popcorn and drinks into the sitting room if they watched a movie as a family, so surely this could be an exception right? Even if it wasn't, Josh had no plans of eating in the kitchen. Flopping down on the couch, he gestured for Nell to sit beside him and brought up the full movie guide on the screen. "What do you want to watch?" he asked, not minding either way as long as it wasn't something boring like a cheesy romance movie.

[btw you can just handwave/time skip in your post to several hours later when it's dark outside and really late so that we can skip to the point and Nell can stay over >:D]

Joshua grinned slightly when Nell suggested The Human Centipede. "Are you sure you want to watch that?" He had already seen the movie and knew what to expect and he couldn't help but wonder if Nell had ever watched it before. If she had and it was just for kicks and giggles that was also fine with him. If she hadn't, well, the movie was crap and the concept was mildly disturbing. Just the sort of film you wanted to watch with your current love interest. "Have you seen it before?" he wondered curiously, already flicking ahead to 'T' in the letter-by-letter guide. He hit the order button and selected another brownie from the plate. After The Human Centipede was finished, however, Joshua was not. He might not have been too enthusiastic about films, but that didn't mean he found no enjoyment in them. Especially not when it was with Nell. She was good company to keep. "Let's watch another," he suggested with a grin. It probably wasn't too surprising when 'another' became several more and all of the snacks were soon polished off. Not that he minded. He was too preoccupied with laughing at the cheesy movies and pointing out their obvious flaws. Yawning ever so slightly when the most recent ended, Joshua blinked and smiled lazily at Nell. "I think I'm done with movies for the night or I'll end up falling asleep on the couch," he chuckled. He only had a certain attention span for these sorts of things. He could sit up all night in his library with the books but there was a limit to almost every other leisure with Joshua. Except puzzles. He did enjoy puzzles.

Not having noticed the time, his brows lifted slightly when Nell pointed out how late it had gotten. "Seems we got a little caught up in our fun," he remarked. It had certainly been much more fun of a day compared to the first few of summer when he'd had absolutely nothing to do and no one to hang out with in the expansive mansion. He'd enjoyed himself and he was a bit disappointed when Nell said that she should get going. "Must you?" He fixed her with a searching look as if trying to judge her reaction. He didn't know whether Nell had anything more important to do. Given that she'd returned home early it didn't seem too likely that she had other plans, but she might have phoned someone up as she was leaving her friend's place and told them to meet with her early the next morning. "I don't want to keep you if you've got other things to do," he started slowly, wanting to word this as open-ended as possible, "but if you haven't got anything better to do... you could stay overnight?" He tried to keep all aspects of hopefulness out of his tone. He figured that he could make it for another hour or two before going to sleep if he had company over and it would be nice to have her over in the morning to talk to. This was summer, after all, and neither of them had to worry about school. No school. That was a nice thought even for Joshua, who was looking forward to a month of reprieve before he was flung back into the hell of constant studying. "Would you need to go back to your apartment to get anything?" he asked suddenly, furrowing his brow. Sleeping over was something one usually prepared for, right? He didn't have much experience in the field.

After they'd gotten everything sorted out, Joshua realised that all of their film critiquing had disrupted his usual nightly routine. Frowning for a moment, his expression had cleared before he turned to Nell. "Come on, we can hang out in my room for a few hours before we turn in." They were less likely to be met with a curious little sister or a trolling mother when they went up to the third floor of the house after all. Once in the comfort of the large master bedroom, Joshua gestured vaguely around the room and said, "Go ahead and make yourself comfortable, there's just something I've got to do." 'Something' involved the usual nightly habit of brushing his teeth and the like--he'd skip on the shower and just handle that in the morning so as not to keep Nell waiting too long. While he was busy, however, the screen of his phone--sitting on the bedside table--caused a half-blinding flare in the darkness. Josh had forgotten to turn on the lights and the ringer, apparently, for the phone only buzzed softly against the table. Josh didn't hear a thing, so he was none the wiser as a text from a very voluptuous looking blonde girl whose chest was practically hanging out of her shirt came up. Plainly visible against the white screen in the otherwise dark room, it read:

Heyyyy, your girlfriend is out of town, right? We should totally hook up. Last time was fucking great.

Then the light flashed again, a new text replacing it. This second was rather sexually explicit and disturbing to anyone who might have glanced upon it, suggesting exactly what this blonde wanted to do to any guy that would 'hook up' with her. Then a third in quick succession.

btw, we should meet somewhere near the Academy. Not a lot of people would go up there. Love you J! <3 Hope you can ditch that bitch and fuck me instead, yeah?

When Joshua left the bathroom, the room was dark and he was completely unaware of the dangerous text messages that had just found their way onto his phone... and into his girlfriend's mind. "Sorry if that took too long," he said in a perfectly pleasant tone, allowing a smile. He did not notice the phone, but he did notice that the lights were off. Furrowing his brow, he shook his head and flicked them on. "Did I leave you in the dark?" Little did Joshua know that Nell was completely convinced he was leaving her in the dark about another thing--a pretty blonde thing whose texts had lit up his phone thrice already. Josh didn't often check his cellphone unless he was expecting a call from his parents so he completely ignored it even though the light flooding the room announced its presence. The screen was no longer lit and thus he simply carried on as if the voluptuous girl hadn't even though about texting him. "So what do you want to do?" he asked, flopping down on his bed and giving her a lazy smile. He was tired and could probably go to sleep if he wanted to but he wasn't about to go lights out on Nell when he'd promised to sit up and talk for another couple of hours. "I don't think we can do anything too crazy considering my family are probably asleep, but we could talk or something." There would be no water balloon fights in the middle of the night, thank you. Trish might not have minded having Nell over but she certainly would have had a problem with being woken in the dead of night. Though he was too tired to give her any sort of deep kiss, Joshua did lean forward to brush his lips against hers in a silent goodnight.

- - -

It had not taken him long to fall asleep after he'd bid Nell a good night and crashed on his bed. He awoke to sunlight pouring through the large windows at one end of the room, squinting and rolling over as he waited for the intensity of the light to become less prominent. Yawning, Joshua swung his legs over the side of the bed and rose, shirtless, to his feet. His dark hair was messed up from sleep and he still needed to shower, but before he had the chance to fix either of these problems his phone buzzed on the bedside table. The new call pushed back the unread texts, and he didn't even notice the small red number in the corner of the screen as he picked it up. "Hello?" It turned out to be one of his acquaintances from school. They were not what you could call friends but more like study partners--Josh had borrowed a book of this boy's and forgotten to return it, accidentally taking it home for the holidays. "Is your girlfriend still out of town? I remember you saying something about that." Josh nodded despite the fact that the guy couldn't hear him. "She's back now, but it doesn't matter. I can meet with you anyway." It wouldn't take long. He didn't like ditching Nell in his house but he was only going to drop off a book and come straight back. It wasn't like he planned to sit and have coffee with the guy. "Where should we meet?" He didn't know where this guy lived, but the boy gave him his address. "That's near the Academy, right? Works for me."

Noticing that it was still pretty early even for Joshua to rise, he figured that he might be able to make it back before anyone in the house was awake to worry about him. Deciding to tell this to his acquaintance so he knew that Joshua could not stay long, the graduate said, "Nell's staying over but of course I wouldn't bother telling her about this. I'll be back before she wakes up. See you in a bit." It was rather trivial to mention something so small. Even though she was sleeping over it wasn't something he figured was important enough to nip into the guest room and inform her of. He only paused to get dressed and flatten his hair half-heartedly with one hand before stepping out into the dark hall. He didn't bother turning on the lights and tried to step as quietly as possible in case he woke someone up. The floorboards in this house weren't prone to creaking but as a very light sleeper himself he worried about how easily he might disturb Nell or a family member. He didn't know how early his girlfriend usually got up but it seemed like the sun had only just risen when it had peeked through his window and practically blinded him awake.