Sam's house

Splash!

Sam dropped her pencil by surprise. She looked out to her window shade that was open outward, only to see some part of it turned brown, soaked with water. She looked around and saw Josh behind the bush wall that boarder her house. She watched him as he looked up, their gaze met. Josh flinched for being busted but he threw another water balloon at her anyway. Swiftly, Sam blocked it off.

"Well, Good morning to you too, Josh." She shout out to him. "You almost soaked my project, dammit!"

"Hey! It's not my fault you didn't reply my text last night. I thought you were kidnapped or something." Josh shout back.

"What!?" Sam made a dazed face at him. "N..No!... Argh... Let's talk inside. Or else we'd wake up my neighbors." her voice softened. She turned around and went downstairs to get the door.

"Knock knock." said the grinning Josh.

"Ha. Ha. You're not welcome." said Sam as she opened the door for him. Josh entered and sat on a cozy coach in the living room. After Sam locked the door she walked towards the kitchen.

"You eat anything yet?" asked Sam.

"Aaa... yeah. I'm fine." Josh answered.

She grabbed her favorite granola bar and walked back to sit with Josh. She had her snack while watching him checking his phone, only to be noticed by the dark semi-circle under Josh's eyes.

"So... Did something keep you up again?" she asked with concern.

"Apparently, yes..." Josh's lips line up straight. "I came over a photo yesterday while I was cleaning up my bookshelf. Here, take a look." he gave the photo to Sam.

Sam took it. She saw a photo of the Washington family hanging out near a lake on Mount Washington surrounded by golden pines, larches and spruces. She guessed it was 2 years ago, in Autumn. All of them looked very happy - Mr. and Mrs. Washington, Beth, Hannah and Josh. It was a very heart-warming scene. Sam really felt sorry for him. The prank they put on Hannah was a big bullshit. A cabin in the middle of the woods was spooky enough. She hoped she had tried harder to convince her friends to stop or tried to warn Hannah afore. Even though she was broken inside, Josh was the one who's living a living hell.

"Who took this?" Sam asked.

"We've got tripod, silly. My dad's in movie industry remember?" Josh said and chuckled.

"Oh... Righttt." Sam inhaled. "Do you got.. something in mind you wanna share with me? I always listen." Sam said with a weak smile, scared that she'd upset him or trigger something in him.

"I was up last night. I couldn't sleep." Josh started. "It's like those flashback hit me all of a sudden. I thought about Beth, she promised me that we'd go canoeing, bungy jumping, driving ATVs, paintball and shit. Just us. Since Hannah isn't down for the extreme." He sighed. "And Hannah... She always talked about nature, especially the butterflies. Gosh.. she really liked them. She knew almost everything about butterflies, their types, anatomy, life-cycle, habitat and myths."

"I understand what you feel. She usually lectured me about that."

"She almost knocked my hand off once, for poking a butterfly. She can be scary at times." He paused. "She also talked about Mike a lot, too. Real obsessions, ha ha."

"Yep, called it." Sam added.

"Do you remember the month I got mocked by everybody? Like.. Josh's gay or he's dating some guy.." he brought up examples with a girly voice.

"Ha ha ha ha! Of course! I remember!" Sam bursted out laughing. "What about them?"

"Someone saw me giving Mike a bouquet of Roses last Valentine's. Hannah made me a hammock for that, you know?" Josh chuckled. "But we share it anyway."

"Sounds like a comfy cradle for baby Joshy." Sam teased.

"Ha ha. I always fell asleep within 10 minutes." He looked down at his phone. "I missed them both. Wish the police would find them soon." his gaze went to the window, sadly watched the clouds castaway.

"Me too.. but as Hannah's bestfriend, I'm sure they both got some guts to stay alive somewhere in that mountain. Keep your head up, kay?"

Josh nodded as an answer. "How's your parents?"

"Well, they're doing good." Sam smiled. "They called me yesterday and somehow they had a road trip to Santa Monica."

"From San Diego, Right?"

"Yes. 3 day-trip. They wanted to stay longer, but too bad they were the best dentist in town. Their schedule is very tight." she paused. "But they're happy and that's what I wanted for life." she gave him an assuring smile.

Josh felt at ease for hearing that. He thought Sam was a very grateful person. Which he looked up to that all the time. Sam then, gave him the photo back, but he denied it.

"Keep it." said Josh.

"Thanks." Sam confused, thinking why did he give this to her. After a few minutes, Sam came up with something.

"I bought new movies." She reached under the coffee table in front of her, grabbed a bunch of DVDs and showed it to Josh. "Frankenweenie, Cosmopolis, Resident Evil 5 and blah blah blah. I heard MIB3 was insanely cool." Sam gave the DVDs to him. Josh went through them and he chose The Expendables 2.

"You better not spoil that later."

"No promise." Josh grinned.

"Ahh... Anyway, I gotta finish my work. Make yourself at home." and walked toward the stairs.

"What is it for? The final exam is just around the corner." asked Josh.

"Extra credits. And certificates, maybe?" she shouted from the stairs.

"Nerddd." Josh shouted out. Then he set up the TV and enjoyed the movie. He should give himself a break from reality more often from now.