Tyler found himself waiting at the window, watching for Josh. He didn't come for another few days, but the second Tyler caught sight of him, he made up some excuse to go outside and ran out the door. He was eager to spend more time with him, so that maybe he could figure out if he was real or not.

Josh flashed a smile and waved a little when he saw Tyler, and that eased some of the anxiety in Tyler's chest. He was worried that Josh didn't want to hang out with him anymore after being so awkward the last two times.

"You look desperate," Nico said.

"He is desperate," Clancy said.

Tyler glanced over his shoulder, noticing how they stayed far away from Josh, but then tried to ignore them as he approached him. "Hey," he said as cheerfully as he could, even though he still felt that flutter of anxiety in his stomach, not quite like butterflies. More like cockroaches. "How are you?"

Josh shrugged. "Fine."

"Ditching again?"

He gave him a guilty smile. "Yeah..."

"Could we hang out again?"

This time, Josh laughed. "Well, that's why I came over. You're the only person I can talk to without someone yelling at me. At least out here, anyway."

"Did you hear that? He only came back because you're the only one," Nico hissed.

I'm sure that's not true, Tyler thought, but he didn't say anything.

"Maybe he's desperate, too," Clancy suggested, his voice slightly muffled as he chewed on his thumbnail, a habit Tyler had thought he'd broken long ago. Seeing it come back made him more nervous.

"What if we went to the park today?" Josh said softly, and Tyler's heart jumped. If he wasn't real, people would see him sitting there by himself. But if he was, he countered, people would see him with a friend, and might even think he wasn't so weird after all.

"No," Nico said. "You can't be seen out there, with or without him. What would they think if they saw you alone, wandering the park in the middle of the day when everyone else your age is at school? And what would they think if they saw you with a delinquent?"

"Sure," Tyler said. "I just have to check with my mom."

Josh's expression quickly changed to panic. "Don't tell her about me," he pleaded. "Not yet."

Tyler blinked in surprise at the sudden shift. "Okay," he said slowly. "I'll be right back."

Josh gave him a relieved smile. "Thanks."

"Oh my gosh, he's going to kidnap you!" Clancy shrieked.

"He is not going to kidnap me," Tyler grumbled as soon as Josh was out of earshot.

"How do you know? He never told you how old he is, where he goes to school, why he's always ditching or why he doesn't want your mom to know about him, where he lives even generally - He never even told you his last name!"

"People don't go around sharing that kind of stuff with people they just met," Tyler said, but as usual, Clancy's words had made him slightly nervous.

"And people don't go to the park with people they just met either!"

He marched into the kitchen more frustrated than he would have liked. "I'm going on a walk," he said.

"You have to finish your math, first," his mother said without looking at him.

Tyler sighed through his nose. He couldn't leave Josh out there for that long. "I'll do it when I get back. Promise."

"Fine, but be back before noon." She waved her hand at him as if to brush him off, more focused on her computer than him. He strained to see what she was doing - paying bills, it looked like - and tried not to take it personally.

"I'm taking Clancy and Nico with me," he said slowly, testing to see if she was really listening to him at all.

"Have fun," she said, and his heart sank. Just as he'd thought. She wasn't giving him any attention at all. It felt like she either watched him like a hawk or forgot he existed. He could tell her all about Josh and she wouldn't listen to a word. But he didn't say anything else. He just nodded and went back outside.

Josh was sitting on the curb when Tyler returned, but he quickly stood up as he approached him. "You good?" he asked.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Josh must have seen something in his expression, because when they began walking he asked, "Everything go okay in there?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Tyler said quickly, and Nico snorted behind him. "She just...only pays attention to me when she's giving a lesson or when I'm doing something horribly wrong. Every other time it's like I don't exist."

Josh let out a laugh, not a mocking laugh, but a laugh that suggested he knew exactly what he was talking about. "Yeah, I know how that feels. Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yeah."

"They only times my parents ever talk to me is when I'm in trouble, and then they're just yelling at me. Most of the time I can get away, though. They don't care when I come back."

"That sucks, I'm sorry."

Josh shrugged. "Yeah, but I can't change it, so let's talk about something else."

"Like what?" Tyler glanced at Nico as if for some sort of reassurance, but he was too busy shoving Clancy off of the sidewalk to notice.

"I don't know. Um...what else do you do, besides basketball?"

Tyler shrugged. "Not much. I'm trying to learn the piano, but that's about it." He didn't mention that he often spent hours of the night scribbling down useless phrases and lyrics he knew he'd never use. Often times, that's when Nico was the worst, always pestering and mocking him. If he should get rid of anyone, he thought, it should be Nico.

"Cool," Josh said, keeping his eyes straight ahead. They were almost to the park, and Tyler noticed that he hadn't looking at him once during the whole walk. He didn't actually mind it. He didn't like looking people in the eye, either.

He was about to ask Josh what he liked to do, but they'd reached the park and he paused. It was completely empty, which felt strange. There was almost always a few toddlers and their parents here. Maybe it was the weather. The dark grey clouds didn't look promising, and it was getting a little chilly as the wind picked up.

Josh had gone quiet, too, and Tyler realized he had to say something. "Race you to the swings," he said.

Josh laughed again, but it was lighter and more friendly. "What will the neighbors think if they see two teenage boys on the swings?"

"They already think I'm weird," Tyler said, shrugging. "Besides, what else are we going to do here?"

"Touché. One, two, three, go!" Josh took off without a second's hesitation, catching Tyler off guard. He hadn't expected him to be so eager.

"Hey! That wasn't fair!" Tyler yelled, running after him, but he had a smile on his face and was beginning to feel better about all of this.

Even without the head start, Josh was fast, and made it to the swings long before Tyler did. He was laughing by the time Tyler caught up, and already pretty high on the swing. "Dude, I feel like I'm seven again," he said, leaning back as gravity pulled him back to Earth.

Tyler laughed, too, and then laughed harder as Clancy tripped and fell flat on his face in the wood chips. "Isn't it great? We didn't have to worry about anything as kids."

"The only thing I worried about was being the first in the lunch line," Josh said, tipping back even further until Tyler was sure he was going to slip and fall off. "Or if the girl with cooties was going to chase me during recess."

"Sometimes I wish I was a kid again." Tyler set himself swinging, feeling much more carefree in the air than trapped on the ground.

"Yeah, but at the same time, being older is great. I can drive myself places. When I'm actually allowed to use the truck. Can you drive?"

"Yeah, but I don't like to. It's kind of terrifying." Tyler didn't mention that it was mostly scary because Clancy was always screaming at him from the back seat.

Speaking of, he could see Clancy and Nico now, sitting in the wood chips and talking to each other. He couldn't hear them over the wind in his ears, but they didn't look like they were fighting, so he didn't pay much attention. Even if he did, there was no way to talk to them without seeming totally crazy.

"Looks like it might rain," he said as the wind picked up even faster.

"Yep." The next time Josh leaned back, his beanie slipped off, revealing a curly mess of cotton candy pink hair. He immediately slowed down and retrieved it, shaking the wood chips off and pulling it back down hastily, as if he was embarrassed.

"I like your hair," Tyler said, hoping to ease some of the tension.

Sure enough, Josh visibly relaxed as he started swinging again. "Thanks. I..." His face flushed slightly, though it might have just been the cold. "I was worried you'd think that's weird. Especially since pink isn't the most popular color for guys."

"I like it." Like bubble gum on a carnival day.

"Thanks." Josh smiled again. He had the biggest and brightest smile Tyler had ever seen. It made the world seem a little lighter, and he hardly noticed as it started to rain.

Lightning suddenly split the sky open, and both Tyler and Clancy yelped. Nico made some snide remark, but Tyler could barely hear him as the clouds emptied. They were soaked in only a few seconds, and then thunder shook the Earth around them.

"That was fast," Josh shouted over the rain.

"I want to go home," Clancy whimpered as another crack of thunder rattled Tyler to the bones.

"Crybaby," Nico taunted.

"I'm not crying," he protested.

"You're going to."

"I should go," Tyler told Josh, getting off of the swing and glancing at the two imaginary boys beside him. He knew if he didn't, they'd either get in a fight, or Nico would said something and Clancy would cry - either way, they'd make a scene, and even if no one else could see them, it was still embarrassing.

"Come on, you just got here. And it's finally getting exciting!" The bit of pink hair that stuck out from under Josh's beanie stuck to his forehead in funny-looking curls, and Tyler snorted a laugh.

"But I'm cold," he said, even though he was smiling. "What do we even do in the rain?"

"Swing and sing at the top of our lungs," Josh suggested, and Tyler laughed again. He hadn't laughed this much in a long time.

"Alright, but I have to be back soon." He climbed back on the swing, adjusting his grip on the slippery chains.

"But I want to go home," Clancy whined. He was shivering violently in the cold, and his button-up clung uncomfortably to his skinny frame.

"Shut up, you're not even real," Tyler whispered.

"What?" Josh asked.

"Nothing, sorry."

"You going to sing?"

"Not unless you do first."

Josh grinned, then tipped his head back and let out some sort of shrieking woop that startled Tyler so bad that he almost fell off of the swing. Josh laughed hard enough to almost fall off himself, and his swing twisted and became off-centered. Tyler yelped again as their swings collided and he nearly smashed his fingers, but he was laughing, too, surprised that Josh could make a sound like that.

"I don't know what that was, but that was definitely not singing," Tyler said.

"You try," he said, still grinning as they collided again.

"I want to go home," Clancy whined again.

"Knock it off, you're being annoying," Nico grumbled, hitting his arm.

Tyler took a deep breath, but felt a tug of anxiety in his gut. He'd never opened himself up this quickly before. He already felt comfortable with this stranger, and it made him wonder if he really was just a figment of his imagination.

He tried to ignore his thoughts by belting a few lines of Singin' in the Rain, but his voice cracked and his face turned tomato as Josh burst out laughing.

"Dude, that was awesome," he said.

"It was pretty awful if you ask me," Nico said.

"Nobody asked you," Clancy grumbled.

Tyler wasn't sure how long they stayed out there, but before he knew it, his fingers were completely numb, and his throat was raw from yelling random bits of lyrics with Josh. Both of them were laughing uncontrollably, barely able to speak at all. Clancy and Nico were nowhere to be found.

"I really need to go," Tyler said as his giggles finally died down.

"Alright, see you later."

He waved and started across the park back toward his house, feeling better than he had in a long time.

"Oh, and Tyler?" Josh called, and he paused and turned back.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. I've never met someone I can get along with so fast." Josh gave him that same bright smile. "And I don't think you're weird at all."

Tyler walked home with his hands in his pockets and a bounce in his step, his heart soaring and his smile lighting the way.