Closed Stumbling Words

[Joshua Toubia]

Joshua sat on a stone bench with his journal cracked open and a muggel pencil racing across the pages. He was in the middle of writing something for the Hogwarts Monthly, the headliner to be exact. For the most part, some of it had been easy to summarize. Thanks to Sophie's help he was able to gather the information he needed for the headliner. She provided the facts and details, it was up to Joshua to write it accurately and make it flow right. Joshua wrote different ways how to approach this, so far he had about three drafts and was working on a fourth one. Two would've been enough to others, Joshua wanted to be sure he got it right and make Sophie proud for giving him headliner in the first place. He didn't know why she trust him with such a task, Joshua felt it was too soon for him. Too late though, there was no way to back out of it now. Oddly enough, Joshua didn't mind writing for the Hogwarts Monthly. For the quiet observer that he was, he favored writing when it comes to communicating. He wasn't stumbling over his words when he wrote and that is why he preferred it more.

 

[Alexis Kramer]

With her composition notebook in hand, Alexis made her way to the courtyard for a change of scenery. She was working on a new song that she could show to Xavier for some melody. Sure, she had some ideas on how it would go but she was thinking of asking her boyfriend for his own input. She arrived at the courtyard and looked around for somewhere to situate herself. There were few people, some she knew by face when one caught her eyes. Blue eyes twinkled for she knew the person, not only by face. They shared the same house, year and classes. They also had the same love for Quidditch, both of them had Alternate positions. Alexis had not rejoined the team but Joshua was still in the team. Aside from these, the girl thought that might be where their similarities ended. Joshua wrote for Hogwarts Monthly while she read them. She must say that for someone as quiet as Joshua, he wrote amazing articles. Deciding to join him, she directed herself to the stone bench where her classmate was sitting and seemed to be working on some drafts - news articles, most likely. Gently clearing her throat to catch his attention, she smiled at the boy. "Hey Joshua. Do you mind if I join you?", she asked with a bright smile.​

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[Joshua Toubia]

Joshua moved his hand to cover his writing from other's prying eyes. Meeting her gaze, Joshua offered a somewhat smile to his friend, Alexis. "H-hey, Alexis. S-sure you can," the introverted boy move over to make space for his brunette friend. Joshua shut his journal, he could use a break from writing and from obsessively over writing this headliner. He wanted the headliner to be perfect, but not stress over every detail. Clearing his throat, he sat up straighter, tapping the edge of his journal. "So, how you've b-been, huh? I notice you and Xavier are al-always hanging out. Are you guys together?" Joshua be the first to initiate a conversation between them. It's nerve wrecking for him, even if they were friends. There was something different about Alexis, she grew and looked more womanly. Is that an accurate term? Joshua will look that up later and confirm it's legitimacy.

 

[Alexis Kramer]

Alexis shifted her weight while she gave Joshua a bright, friendly smile. She knew that her classmate was shy and liked to keep to himself but she had known a side of him that made her consider Joshua as one of her friends. Once he agreed that she could join him, Alexis sat gently on the stone bench, setting her music notebook on her lap. She slightly noticed Joshua covering his notebook but she did not pay any attention to it. She leaned against the bench when she was asked about how she was as well as her relationship with Xavier. Glancing sideways, she replied, "I've been doing great.", she felt her cheeks warm up a bit at the mention of Xavier. "Well, yeah. He's fun to be with. Do you know that he also plays guitar?", she added. "Yeah, we're together.", she finally said, laughing at this. She was cool telling her friends about them but to tell this to a male friend was a different story. Four years had passed swiftly and despite Joshua's shy personality, he had learned to reach out to the world somehow. Playing for their house on Quidditch and writing for Hogwarts Monthly. "How about you, Josh? How are things? Will you still play for Quidditch next year?", she turned her interest to her friend.​

 

[Joshua Toubia]

Joshua noted the warming glow on his friend as just the pure mention of the other boy. It's nice to see the positive affect he had over Alexis, she looked quite content to Joshua. "O-oh no, I didn't. I d-don't know that much about him actually. You m-must be really special to him if you know he plays guitar. I c-can guess that he played you a song?" Joshua asked, a little more interested in the pair now that he wasn't thinking about writing in his journal at the moment. The stress of writing that headliner was vanishing slowly from his mind. "M-me? Things are alright, I guess," Joshua tapped on his journal. "I m-might, I might not. It's up in the air for me. No pun in-intended," Joshua allowed himself to laugh at that corny pun, it came to him with him thinking about the game he did play in and how bad he probably performed at the game. It was hellish from Joshua's perspective. "I w-wanted to try something new and it was intense. And you, are you going to play again?" He couldn't remember if she did play, his memory was failing him. Only way to find out was to ask.

 

[Alexis Kramer]

Alexis grasped her cheeks when Joshua noticed how she looked. She had never lost composure like this but somehow she was at ease that it was Joshua who witnessed it. "You should meet him. I'm sure you two will be good friends.", she gently suggested it. In ways more than one, the Ravenclaw knew that her boyfriend would get along well with her friend. "Well, it actually came out when we planned to hang out one day at the lake and both of us brought our guitars by coincidence.", she narrated with a small laugh. She remembered that special meeting. "Although, Xav heard me sing before I heard him.", she added with a laugh. Joshua always had the tendency to stutter although she actually found it endearing and cute. She listened as her classmate told her about what he planned so far with regards to Quidditch. She even laughed along with him at the unintended Quidditch-related joke. Yet, the talk on sport coupled with Joshua's question about her plan to play made Alexis think as well. "I might play for the team again on our last two years. But, maybe not next year.", she replied with serious thought.​

 

[Joshua Toubia]

Joshua lips stretched to a sincere smile. He really could see that Alexis is really enamored by Xavier, at least from the outside and the way she spoke about him. Joshua ponders in silence if that will ever happen to him, all that Alexis is feeling and displaying, if he will find someone special of his own. "I m-may have already, I'll keep that in mind," Joshua nodded. Joshua don't mind making new friends, but he kept them at minimum. He should change that and think of it as another challenge or fear to conquer. "R-really? That is a weird coincidence," Joshua join in the laugh. He imagine their faces when they both showed up with their guitars, it was probably insanely funny when it happened. "N-now as you tell me this, I've never heard you sing," Joshua pointed that out to his brunette friend. "W-what kind of music do you like to play?" Joshua asked a little more intrigue. He can picture her playing ballads and soft songs about love, and something along that genre of music. If he knew anything about music, those two just happen to be his Tia's favorite to listen to on her favorite witch radio station. "If y-you enjoy it and p-play well, why not?" Joshua questioned. He enjoyed Hogwarts Monthly, that was one of his reason to continue writing for them.