Diary/Journal/Whatever is Manly

Chapter 39

"Hey!" Stacey decided to intervene when she saw they were not going to stop.

"What!?" They were on a roll with this whole unison thing.

"Calm down."

"Yeah, and maybe include us in this conversation." Pouting like children Misty and Tyler followed the instructions given to them, and gave the rest of the table their undivided attention.

"So, are you gonna tell us what's bothering you now?" Dennis asked, amused by his friend's antics. He was not surprised the two had not noticed his arrival, Tyler and Misty were too engrossed in their argument. The building could have burnt down without them noticing, once they got in a row. Thus, if anyone asks, Dennis was in this friend group purely for the banter.

"When did you get here?" Tyler asked, frazzled by his best friends sudden appearance.

"You know know how it is as the middle child; easily forgotten. And then you put mom and dad arguments in the middle, I honestly had no chance." Dennis exclaimed dramatically, one hand on over his heart, and the other over his eyes.

"What do you mean, mom and dad?" Tyler spluttered.

"That doesn't make sense. Stanley and Stacey are twins, how can you be our middle child?" Misty asked, as though that was the only wrong with Dennis' exclamation.

"First, middle or last, we have no child!" Tyler stressed.

"Don't you question the logistics of our family." Stacey and Stanley both fired back defensively.

"I'm just saying it doesn't make sense," Misty shrugged. Everyone fell quiet, processing Misty's point. Everyone except Tyler, who looking between his friends, as though they had completely lost their minds.

"What if we were triplets, and he came out second?" Stacey said seriously, as though her explanation made perfect sense. Everyone around the table nodded, agreeing with as though that were only logical explanation.

"We're not a family!" Why was his point not getting through?

"Ouch, dad why you gotta throw us to the curb like that?" Dennis asked, a hand on his heart once again. You would think he was the drama major.

"He doesn't want to deal with the responsibility of having triplets whilst at university."

"Well, I say it's a bit too late. We're here he might as well deal with it." Tyler banged his head against the table in frustration. He did not have the energy to deal with this in a casual manner. Tyler 2.0 had swooped it and removed the innocence out of any and all interactions. Now he was reading too much into things, and he did not think his heart and brain could take it.

"Well that was dramatic." Misty found herself, saying once again. It had become a coin phrase, whenever she was around Tyler.

"Shouldn't we be the one's throwing tantrums." Was Stanley's unhelpful input.

"Yes, please make us a public sceptical. That's exactly what we wanted; all eyes on us." Misty scolded, her unimpressed stare burning holes into Tyler's back. Feeling a bit embarrassed, Tyler was quite content with keeping his head down. He did not want to see how heads had turned in their direction, nor his friend's questioning glances. Misty decided to poke him to see if she would get a reaction, and just like that they were back to square one.

"Your drink orders."

"What do you think matters when it comes to artwork, the way the piece makes you feel, or how the artist's feelings?" Misty posed the question, once the waitress had left.

"What do you mean?" Tyler asked, voice muffled.

"Like with your artwork, would you want me to gush about how sad it makes me feel? Or, to ponder about how depressed you had to be to paint it in the first place?"

"Both, analysis in art is twofold." Tyler replied, as though the matter were black white.

"But, what would you like me to consider first?"

"I don't know?... How it makes you feel, I guess. I mean, the whole point of me creating something, is to make you feel a certain way right?" Tyler answered, lifting his head so his chin was resting on his forearms. 

"Huh?"

"What?" Tyler groaned.

"What do you mean, what?" Misty wondered, as she began to scribble in her book.

"You know what." Tyler whined.

"No I don't."

"You had tone. I gave you my answer, and you 'huhed'." 

"It's just that for once, you and Tyler 2.0 had the same answer." Misty explained.

"What do you mean?" 

"I've been asking you both the same questions, and you've always had different opinions until now. It's all a bit fascinating really. Well, you're fascinating."

Tyler found himself straightening up in his seat, as he observed Misty's writing figure. He never understood how she could hand out compliments so easily. Not just any compliments, Misty's compliments always had heavy connotations. Tyler knew that the only reason she had continued to hang out with him was out of pity. But, then his diagnosis came out, and suddenly she was the one seeking him out. He felt he could never take Misty's compliments to heart, considering she was only interested in the phenomenon that was mind. If he lost that, then it was back to pity.

"Tyler are you okay man?"

"Tyler! Hey, Tyler!"

"Oh my goodness!"