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The plane landed, and the rain fucking poured down outside the small, round window. Josh wasn’t happy at all, about that he had to spend this Halloween with his cousins in a whole damn different continent than his peers.They had planned such great things together, but no, you see, Josh's parents thought it would be a great idea to visit their relatives right now. In fucking Sweden. This particular time, when Josh was in his prime years of partying. Could you believe all the amazing Halloween parties he would miss? And how they would talk about these said parties for the rest of the term, and how excluded he would feel? Being stuck about half across the world, goddamnit. Fucking perfect.
He sighed as the happy flight attendant beamed out how it was a little rainy outside, but otherwise a wonderful country they’ve arrived in. Yeah, sure. What could you do in Sweden, that Ohio didn’t offer? And they weren’t even in the capital of Sweden! Of course did his fucking uncle decide to live in a “smaller, charming town by the sea”, with only about half a million people. And to Josh's despair, he found out that this was the next biggest town in Sweden. How did they survive in such tiny cities? Weak Scandinavians, he bet that they’ve never been in a real town like his hometown.
“Come on now kids! Let’s get our bags, and meet up your uncle and cousins!” Laura, Josh mother, did her best at cheering up her oldest, negative son, and collecting and calming down his excited younger siblings. “I bet you’ll love this town! I haven’t been here since you were a baby, Josh!” She continued, wearing a big, bright smile.
“Yeah, alright, it’s awesome here”, muttered Josh back under his breath, dripping of sarcasm.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, Joshua, let’s go kids!”
They safely collected their bags, and went out to the entrance hall, were several people, many holding signs, waited. None of them, except their mother, knew exactly who they were looking for, because even though they had seen pictures of their cousins before, had they never actually met any of them. Ashley, Josh's younger sister, squinted and looked at a sign, before happily exclaiming:
“It must be them! Look, it says welcome to Sweden, dear family Dun! It’s them!”
And sure enough, there they was, his Swedish relatives. His mother shined up like a sun, and rushed towards them.
”Brother! Oh, how I’ve missed you! And look at you, all grown up!” She was wildly hugging the three kids standing next to the man Josh remembered as his uncle. The rest of the American duns stepped forward as well, and greeted the Swedish ones. Josh realized that the oldest kid probably were around his age, and she actually looked nice. And exactly how he pictured a Swedish girl would look. Tall, blonde and blue eyed.
“Hi, I’m Jenna! And you’re Josh, right?” She smiled widely, and shook his hand politely.
“Sure am, how are you?”
”I’m great, thanks! It’s exciting to have you foreign people here! Hope Sweden won't disappoint your expectations.”
“Nah, it’s cool. It’s cool here, I guess.”
“Great! Let’s get going then, it looks like our families are ready to leave! I think we two will get along well together!”
“Well, if you say so…” Josh trailed off, and followed after the group of people. This Jenna was actually really sweet. It may be alright after all.
***
“And then I said, you know what? My American cousins are coming over for the fall break, I’ll ask them if it’s true that every American actually believes that they’re the best country in the world! So, what do ya’ say? Are you the best?” Jenna explained cheerily to Josh as everyone sat and chatted during dinner.
“Well, I wouldn’t say that we’re the worst anyways, we’ve got our freedom and all that, but you know what actually makes us the best? We actually eat real food, in relation to you guys who eat this disgusting shit-“
“Whoa, that’s not fair dude! I hate herring! It’s just that mom apparently thought it would be a great idea to show you ‘what real Swedes eat’, but that’s bullshit. We don’t actually eat this. Not our generation anyways, it’s only the older ones who appreciate this. Anyways, speaking about my friends prejudices about Americans, I’m going to a party tonight at my friends’ house. Would you like to come? I’m sure mom would appreciate it if I brought you there and ‘showed you the real Swedish life’ or whatever it is that she says. And besides, it will be fun! She always throws the best parties! And it’s Halloween themed!”
Josh thought about it for a quick second. If he now weren’t able to party with his friends at home, might he as well party with her friends here instead. “Yeah, I’ll be glad to come with you. But I’ve got to fix a costume then! What are you going to be?”
“Yay, you’re coming with me! And I’m going to be Jules from euphoria, you know that tv serie? And Debby, the girl hosting the party, are going to be Rue! We’re matching!”
“No way, you like euphoria? Wow, you’re going to be an amazing Jules! And all that glitter and stuff then?”
“Ah yeah baby, I’m gonna bath myself in that purple glitter! And you could maybe be Fez? Just borrow a striped shirt from my dad, and paint on a red beard! It’s perfect!”
“It sounds pretty decent, I’ll go with that! When are we leaving?”
“Um, about right now actually, we’re heading to her place and fixing our makeup and stuff there together! It’s girls only, but you’ll be excused if you’re with me. Let’s go! Thanks mom for the lovely food, Josh and i are going to Debby’s now!”
“Okay, stay safe kids! Take care of him, Jenna!”
“Yeah sure mom, bye!” She turned away from her mother, rolled her eyes and smiled at Josh before she ran upstairs and collected their stuff.
“And remember Josh, no mischief now! Be cautious, you’re not used to this place!” His dad looked at him sternly.
“No dad, I promise, I will behave good. Bye, have a nice night!”
***
The night went on, and Jenna's friends were surprisingly nice to him. A girl named Hayley or something did his makeup and beard perfect, and they laughed together as they silly danced to Swedish pop music. Josh, not understanding a single word of what they sang, guessed wildly what he thought it meant, and the girls cried with laughter.
”För det var sjutton år, sjutton år i staden där jag växte upp och så, märker du hur fort det går”
“Um, maybe… she sings about a boy or something? How would I know?!” Josh exclaimed confused.
Jenna wiped away a tear, and explained laughingly: “She sings about her teenage years! And it fits us perfectly, cause she sings about being seventeen, and we’re all seventeen now! It’s one of the last months for some of us to relate to this song, so let’s sing!”
They continued singing, dancing and chatting together, until the doorbell rang. The first group of their peers arrived, dressed as the whole breakfast club group. In what felt like only a few seconds were the house packed with people in costumes, dancing, talking and drinking. The overall mood were perfect. Relaxed, but still hyped and warm. Josh was happy. He had talked to several people, and they all were very nice to him. They also quickly switched over to English whenever he joined a conversation, and Josh had to admit that he were surprised over how well everyone spoke English. In general, things were nice.
“Hi Josh!” Jenna slid up next to him and smiled, holding in a guy’s arm. Josh hadn’t seen him before.
“This is Tyler! Tyler, this is Josh, my American cousin!” She grinned at them both. Josh noticed how handsome the boy was, and how his brown, deep eyes seemed to trustworthy.
“Hi Josh! Nice to meet you!” Tyler spoke quiet but clearly, and smiled at Josh. “Are you Fez? I saw Debby being Rue, and here’s Jenna being Jules, so you must be Fez then?”
“I am! And you are..?”
“Oh, I’m a lumberjack, and I know, I’m not that creative. But it’s comfortable?” Tyler explained, and Josh studied his brown flannel shirt and color coded, matching pants and hat.
“But I see it now! Cool, dude! You look pretty! And how do you know Jenna, anyways?”
Jenna jumped in and took over. “Oh, Tyler’s my ex. We were together for like, a year? We broke up this summer though, but we’re still best friends!”
Tyler continued, with a slight Swedish accent in his tone. “Yeah, Jenna and I are still very close, just, not in love anymore. Och Jenna, han är så jävla gullig! Jag dör! Borde jag försöka?.”
Josh was very taken aback and confused by that Swedish comment, but couldn’t answer it cause Jenna shot in before, winked at Tyler and said; “okay, I’m taking that as my clue to leave you guys alone! Well, have fun! Josh, just come to me if it is something, I’ll be here somewhere! Bye!” And suddenly had she disappeared into the big crowd of people dancing.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t really understand what you just said? Was it about me?”
“No, or like, yeah, but like. Ah. Goddamnit, just, you’re so cute!” Tyler blushed and looked away.
“Um… I think you’re very cute as well, but please don’t do this to me if you’re straight.” Josh trembled, but spoke his words with certainty.
“Straight? Who said I was straight? Nah man, I’m not feeling that hetero vibe at all. But I’m not gay either cause I loved Jenna a lot, so I guess that makes me bi or pan or something, I don’t know and don’t really care. You’re cute, and that’s that.”
“Wow, I… yeah. Yeah. So, how do you say that in Swedish?”
“Huh? Say what?”
“You’re cute!”
“Oh alright, so like ‘du är gullig’, I guess.” Josh took it in, and thought carefully as he tried to say what Tyler just had said. It sounded something like:
“Do ar goollig.”
Tyler laughed, and smiled at him. “Yeah, that’s almost about right, dude! Come on, let’s find a quieter place where we actually can talk in peace.”
“Sounds great, I’ll follow your lead.” Josh grinned and took Tyler’s outstretched hand.
***
They talked. For what felt like an eternity. The hours melted together, as everything just smoothly went on. Josh hadn’t laughed this much since forever, or felt at such peace with another human. It was like he and Tyler spoke a separate, beautiful language, only they knew. It was pure happiness, being so completely comfortable with Tyler. As he finished his story about saying lesbian instead of Lebanese, did Josh slowly lean towards Tyler. He met his eyes and locked them together, and Josh could spend all the remaining time in the whole world, just like this. Exploring Tyler’s rich, brown eyes. Nothing had ever felt so much as home as him. Slowly, did their faces meet and welcome each other into the gentlest, loveliest kiss there ever has existed. Feeling Tyler’s lips against his, did Josh understand that this was pure euphoria.