Right, she typed eagerly, not missing a beat of excitement. Finally a tumblr update that's actually useful!
She bit the inside of her cheeks and exited the chat box, absent-mindedly checking her activity page and sighing, because truthfully, all she was waiting for was the notification that he had responded.
Of course, lately her thoughts had all revolved around him. She had admired him from afar – his photography was absolutely breathtaking, the most gorgeous, simplistic, but at the same time complex views of nature. A goddamn picture of a leaf he took almost brought her to tears.
She couldn't quite remember how her half-assed music blog with lame, minimalist quotes (yes, she was that kind of person) had stumbled across his complete and utter prowess – but she had been star-struck instantly, and awkwardly followed him, hoping in shame that she would stay a shadow forever.
Unfortunately for her, the person who ran the blog had a thing for awkward blogs with awkward tags and awkward everything, because it only took him a few minutes to follow back.
So anyways, that was a short record of the day she died. Moving on from then, she somehow braved replying to a post he made in early October of the vapor spewing out of a person's mouth like smoke, and she was so mesmerized she typed something rather legible like hgfdfghjk and hit reply.
Apparently he found that pretty hilarious, so he replied right back with similar keyboard-smash speak.
Finding that inherently adorable, she sprouted courage and actually sent him a one-on-one message, guiltily admitting how much she admired his work and wished she could see a lot more of it more often.
That was probably what sparked their friendship – randomness, and it's exactly what kept it alive, from her obsession with everything caramel flavored to his complete and utter hatred for the word 'moist', they bonded over the stupidest and randomest facts she'd ever imagined.
And she was really, really dumb for it.
She should've known that internet crushes would be twice as painful as ones in real life.
Hell – she didn't even know what he looked like – and yet, she didn't care.
The response popped up and she felt herself grin.
She eagerly clicked the icon and was about to read what he had messaged her when she heard a loud door slam from outside. Damn neighbors, always yelling over the most trivial of things.
She rolled her eyes and began to read.
It is a first – that's for damn sure. Forgot to tell you that I'm working on something 4 you. ;)
Her heart nearly climbed out of her throat and announced its retirement at the winking smiley face. Now that was just too cruel. And he was working on something…for her?
She typed slowly and shakily, unsure of her words.
Really? But I'm so lame :,)
There. Just self-deprecating enough to sound sincere. Or at least, that was how her twisted logic worked.
His answer came sooner than she would've thought.
Nah, if you were lame, I wouldn't associate myself with you :p. just kidding, but I gotta run if I wanna get this op done by tonight. Hope you'll like it.
Her heart pounded and she tried her best to type a reply.
Aaaaahhh! You're killing me you know. Bye bye!
Her fingers shook as she hit send. He was so artistic, it was almost shameful that she was close friends with him now. She shut her laptop to kick her legs around like an excited infant and squeal. Talking to him always made her feel that way, elated and excited at every moment.
A second door slam interrupted her thoughts and she lazily cast her glance to the neighbors backyard, which she had a perfect view of from her bedroom window. The neighbor boy, Gray Fullthruster or something stupid, some passive aggressive jock who only cared about satisfying his inherent lust for attention. Boys like him made her sick, he only bothered to spare her a withering look in the school hallways, the same pained, I'm-too-good-for-this-world look he gave every other girl who could see straight through his shallow façade.
Enough about that – what was weird was how he was walking.
Slouched low, with a drawstring bag on his back, he wandered back into the back of his fence and nimbly leapt over it, not missing a beat and pulling off a move that would've no doubt killed Juvia if she would've tried it. He then wandered off into the woods that were familiarly seated in the back of their neighborhood, and disappeared.
Probably going to jerk off to some Nike Elites.
She laughed at her own joke and wrote it down into her notebook, got she was disgustingly shady.
Her eyes continuously wandered back to her computer, begging her to check and see if her favorite blogger had responded yet. She even had several arguments with herself about obsessively checking her tumblr for replies, starting with the main fact that it was creepy and she was in no way a stalker. She was just…enthusiastic. Yup. That was the word.
Right. Just….stall.
She began reading pages from the newest novel she had picked up from the bookstore, but her thoughts still strayed from the important.
The next thing to distract her, god knows how long, her sense of time had been warped since the start of school, was the sound of crunching leaves outside. Damn. She'd forgotten to close the window all the way again.
Just as she was about to seal it shut, her eyes snagged her neighbor hopping over the fence, wielding an interesting looking black colored box…almost like…a camera?
Weird/ Her nose wrinked in suspicion. She never pegged him as the photographer type – scratch that, she hadn't pegged him as anything but a self-absorbed douchebag. Maybe he was just out there to take artistic nudes.
She giggled again and reached to retrieve her notebook after she shut the window completely. She didn't have to worry about her neighbor anymore, she had better things to do.
Speaking of better things…
Her eyes flicked to the computer and she bit her lip.
One check couldn't hurt, right?
.
.
.
I'm almost finished with your gift.
Her heart hammered in her chest and she began giggling hysterically.
Is that so? You're the worst, you're killing me with anticipation xD
She twirled a lock of her hair to distract herself while waiting for an answer.
Haha, if I'm the worst, then you're a masochist :) anyways, I'll post it right now, hope you're ready~
She typed back right away.
Can't wait, G.
Right. Because he insisted that she call him G, so in turn, instead of telling him that her name was Juvia, she decided to go by Jay. Ha-ha. Get it? J? Cute.
Besides that fact – she was so ready. She hit the home button and began refreshing like a crazy woman.
Then, it appeared.
It was a photo of a dry, old tree, bare of its leaves in the fall, surrounded by dull orange and brown colors that mingled with the fall colorscheme well, all topped off with the fading orange sunset behind the tree.
And then, as if her heart could take any more beauty abuse from G, there was a word etched into the tree, sloppily, like it had been done ages beforehand.
Jay.
"Holy shit," she said aloud. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit-"
She almost threw her computer on the ground in surprise. Her breath was taken away, it was so simple, so elegant, like it told a story of two friends carving each others name into the tree, a sacred keepsake that told a thousand words, even though just three letters were etched into the surface.
For my friend Jay - watersoblivion – you never fail to make me smile, so I hope this can do the same for you.
Juvia began wheezing, fanning herself from the newfound heat erupting from her cheeks.
"Oh my god. oh my god. I can't believe this. I can't believe-"
She accidentally let out a loud shriek before covering her lips hastily. It was dark out already, it tended to go that way up north in the fall, but she suspected that someone must have heard her.
Like the earth was reading her thoughts, her tool neighbor opened his window with a slam. She walked over to hers and cracked it open just a tiny smidge, just to make shure he wasn't about to cuss her out.
"Keep it down you psycho!"
Pleasant, Gray. Really pleasant.
"Only if you put on some pants, toolbox!" She shouted back by accident. Why the hell wasn't he wearing a shirt anyways? Not to mention the only clothing he was actually donning was a pair of boxers. She shut the window and watched him jump like he had been electrocuted at the sight of his own skin. Served him right, weirdo.
She went straight back to her instant messenger and slammed her fingers against the keyboard, hitting caps lock and not caring at all. Her endless spew of letters should serve to show him how much she appreciated his small affectionate gesture.
I take it you liked it then? I'm glad, haha. I was worried it was a little too weird.
HOW, she typed back, fingers hitting a few spare letters so it turned out a bit more like HJOOWE.
Well, that's good. Anyways, I have to go because my brother is shaming me for notdoing chores, talk to you tomorrow, Jay.
She inhaled and exhaled erratically. This wasn't ok. Yes. Wait, it was! No….it wasn't….this boy was breaking her heart.
I'll see you tomorrow…if I'm not dead, you sadist :c
She clicked off her computer and screamed into her pillow.
Ok…so maybe there were a few benefits to crushing on an internet boy…
.
.
.
"Shitshitshit…" Juvia mumbled, half a sandwich in her mouth as she dashed outside, ten minutes later than she should've left.
Considering her car had broke down and her parents were AWOL, she had to walk – no, run – to school, with the hopes that she wouldn't get the final tardy which would result in detention, which she really didn't have the patience for.
Making a split-second decision, she turned and attempted to hop her backyard fence like she had watched Gray do two nights before. It didn't go so well, and her pant leg became entangled with the metallic chain fence she so despised.
After a solid minute of tugging and pain, she began her way through the woods, ignoring slashes of branches against her cheeks and bare arms, a stupid decision on her part.
She gave one last glance to her house before running full speed ahead – and that was when she saw it.
"What the-" she stopped short and studied the abrasion. A single tree had caught her attention – standing still and completely leafless, nothing special, nothing special at all.
Save for the three, jagged letters harshly cut into the bark.
Jay
"No fucking way," she spoke, touching the engraved word and inhaling sharply. "It can't…It's gotta be fake…"
G had followers, maybe someone tried to copy him?
She took a small step back to examine the work of art. Sure enough, the angle, sky, and leaves all matched the picture.
G lived in Magnolia.
They'd never spoken about where they lived before, it could be possible….
"No way," she gasped, eyes trained on the telltale word with only one phrase repeating over and over again in her frazzled mind.
"I'm so screwed."
two-shot, maybe? anyways, for those of u still wondering if im alive, im currently 2k words into chap 3 of dusk to dawn, and 1k words into the new chapter of act my age. bare with me guys, im having some outside issues preventing me from updating, just trust me on this one, ok ^_^?