Chereads / The friend only I see / Chapter 14 - Going to the lion exhibit

Chapter 14 - Going to the lion exhibit

When Josh reached the sink he stopped briefly just as he was about to turn on the tap, but instead he turned around to face Tom. Josh then lifted his hands up right under his own nose and took a sniff of his hands as he looked at his parents.

"Augh," He said with an exaggerated look of disgust plastered on his face, "They were right, we do need to wash our hands." He continued as he proceeded to shove his hands in right up to Tom's face, almost close enough to be touching him.

Due to the surprisingly sudden close proximity of the hand in his face, Tom quickly took a step back to avoid being smacked in the face. However, he was still close enough to be able to smell Josh's hands even after taking a step away, the smell was enough to make Tom immediately turn his face to the side, aswell as have him put his hand on his nose, to block off the smell.

"Josh, stop~." Tom whined, his voice slightly different due to him holding his nose, "It smells damp and gamey…" he continued whilst still holding his nose tightly with his hands.

Josh let out a small laugh and proceeded to turn back around to face the sink so that he could clean his hands. He didn't spare a glance to see if Tom had stayed beside him or not after teasing him because he never really minded Josh's eccentric jokes, and when Josh heard someone making a noise behind him, he turned around and smiled softly at Tom.

"I didn't even end up touching you, Tom, come here and wash your hands too" He said warmly as he looked down at Tom from the stool he was stood on to reach the tap.

"No but you were close, you were about to. If I hadn't moved you probably would have…" Tom replied back with a pout on his lips, as he joined Josh on the stool.

"Don't be mad," Josh said with a smile, "I won't do it again I promise! Besides, aren't your hands dirty too? Camt you smell yours too? Them it's not so much of a big deal right…?" He said with a smile that had a hint of guilt and concern in it.

Tom looked at Josh then let out a sigh before he nodded and he then turned on the faucet to wash his hands, but he did it too quickly and the pressure of the water was high causing the water to splash everywhere. The water got all over Tom and the slightly oversized shirt he was wearing.

Tom stood completely still for a moment as Josh quickly turned off the faucet. Tom took in a deep breath as his eyebrows furrowed and his lips formed a frown, his head tilted downwards as his breath caught in his throat momentarily before he then let out a long and audible sigh.

To his side Tom could hear Josh air pressing his laughter, muffled snorts and giggles were so loud that it was hard to not notice, Tom looked over at Hosh for a brief second before quickly averting his gaze, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I-It's not funny-!" He mumbled out in a harsh tone as he was too embarrassed to control it.

Josh let go of his mouth with his hands and tried to rely between his giggles and snorts, "But I-, snort, I think it is, giggle, though-!" He forced out as he clutched his sides and let himself drop into a squat.

Tom tried to force an angry expression on to his face in an attempt to stop Josh from making fun of him and teasing him all the time by giving him a piece of his mind, but in the end he couldn't help but smile at the sight Josh's laughter and happy expression as he couldn't help but join in with the laughter.

After they'd both managed to finish laughing Josh stoof back up properly and noticed that he had yet to wash his hands and that he'd touched his face with his unwashed and dirty hands.

"Augh… that's not very healthy… or good…" he mumbled to himself with furrowed eyebrows and a pouty expression on his face as he reached his hand out over towards the faucet to finally wash his hands.

"Hm, what's wrong?" Asked Tom quietly as he leaned slightly closer to Josh.

"I can smell the gamey smell~." He whined with closed eyes and a pout on his lips.

"Well, yeah… I can smell it too, we haven't washed out hands yet." Tom replied as he raised his eyebrows and adopted a quizzical expression as of asking Josh whether he'd used up all of his common sense or not, yet.

"No… I mean, I haven't washed my hands either, but I touched my nose and mouth with my hand without washing it and now the smells really close to my nose. Well it's on it, but… you know? It's gross~" He complained as he waved his hands around and he whined about the smell and the unpleasantness.

"Then just hurry and wash your face." Tom replied nonchalantly as he turned on the faucet, this time much more gently, making it so that the amount of water flowing from the tap was nowhere near the amount from before.

Josh pouted and let out a hmph as he turned away from Tom to face the sink, he then washed his hands and quickly bent over the sink to wash his face too.

"Come on boys, if you're finished with washing your hands we can go look at lions, doesn't that sound fun?" Called out Josh's mother from behind them.

Both of the boys instantly turned around to look at Josh's mom and in sync yelled, "Really?", with impatient looks on their faces and stars in their eyes.

Josh jumped up and down in excitement whilst Tom stood rooted on the spot with his face lit up.

Josh then rubbed his hands on his trousers to dry them off and jumped off the stool to run to his parents, whilst Tom quickly turned back around as he reached for a tissue to wipe his hands dry, once his hands were dry he bummed the tissue and also ran to his parents.

"Can we go now?" Exclaimed Josh with a tone of excitement, his eyes sparkling and his face full of anticipation.

"Of course, honey." His mother replied as she ran her fingers through and ruffled his hair gently.

Tom then grasped onto his fathers trouser leg and looked up at him, his face still lit up and a look of excitement on his face.

"Excited, buddy?" He asked as he looked down at his son with a warm smile on his face.

Tom nodded in response with a shy look on his face as his father gently grasped the back of his head and rubbed his head gently and affectionately.

"Let's go then." Josh's mother said with a smile as she then led the boys in the direction of the lion enclosure as Josh's father quickly ran up to them with a couple ice creams in his hands.