head in the clouds

eighteen; tyler

"Um, th-thanks for letting me sleep over last night." I say.

He parks his car and nods. "Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you were safe and stuff."

I look out to see dad in the yard staring at us. "Could um, could we go back to normal?"

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"Like, could we just act like last night didn't happen? Go back to shitting on each other?"

I look back and him and he slightly shakes his head. "Yeah, whatever."

"It's nothing against you Josh..."

"I get it. You have the reputation and shit you gotta keep up with."

He's trying to hide his annoyance but I can see right past it.

"I'm sorry..." I trail off.

"Well your dad is giving me a death glare so you better get out."

I quickly look over at him, he's raking the yard with Maddy. I give a slight nod and place my hand on the door handle.

"I uh, I appreciate what you did for me."

"Yeah."

I don't look back at him as I exit the car and walk inside my house. Closing the door behind me, I sigh and let my head fall back.

"Who was that?" Mom asks, making me jump.

"What?"

"That boy who brought you home. I haven't seen him before."

"That's the new kid, Josh."

"Why'd he bring you home and not Jenna?"

"Jen's car broke down this morning and he lives close to her." I lie.

"Oh." She pauses. "Your father is upset you ditched helping around the house for the dance."

I roll my eyes and walk into the kitchen with her. "I figured."

"Did you have a good time?" She asks smiling.

I nod and smile, thinking about the whole night. "Yeah, I had a really good time."

***

"No, I'm not upset anymore." I lie.

"Okay... b'cause I feel like you are..." She says.

"I'm not. It's whatever."

"Well how did you get home?" She asks.

I roll my eyes and lean against the brick building. "Josh brought me home."

Her eyes widen as she smacks my arm. "Dude!"

"Ow, what the fuck don't hit me!"

"Josh brought you home!"

I roll my eyes again and sigh. "Yeah. He was a dick the whole time." I lie again.

"Shit, really?"

"Um yeah. He wouldn't stop pestering me about fucking him. I'm not even gay, I told him."

"That's harassment Tyler! You can get him expelled! Lets go-"

My face drops and I shake my head. "No, that's pointless. I just told him my dad will beat the shit out of him if he comes near me again."

"Okay..."

God, I hate everything.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him. His red hair sticking out, making it impossible to miss him. He's laughing at something Brendon said, which probably wasn't even funny. I sigh and look over at Jenna.

"He didn't harass me." I confess.

"What?"

"Josh... last night. He didn't harass me. I lied."

She chuckles, letting an airy laugh out of her nose. "That's a fucked up thing to lie about."

"I just, I told him I have to act like it never happened."

"Like what never happened? Oh my God, did you two fuck?!"

"No! Oh my God, no, I'm not gay Jen!"

"Then act like what never happened?!"

"I just spent the night at his house. He let me sleep in his room and he took the couch."

"Oh... why do you have to act like that didn't happen?"

"Because I can't have people knowing I slept over the new, grunge-y kids house. They'll like, treat me differently and my dad would probably kill me."

She nods and looks beyond me at him. "Did he try anything?"

"No, he's not like that."

She nods and looks in front of us. "He seems nice."

"He is. He's not at all what people expect of him."

--

"Move faggot." I hear someone say.

I whip my head around to see the red head being pushed around. A small smile makes a way on his mouth as he looks at me.

"Did you not fucking hear me?" The guy asks.

Josh looks at him and steps to the side. "There you go asshole."

The guy scoffs and walks next to him, shoulder checking him on his way. Josh walks my way, gives me a wink as he passes me. I swallow thickly and keep my head down.

"Did he just fuckin' wink at you?" Mark asks in disbelief.

"Don't pay attention to him. He grows stronger the more you do." Ethan laughs.

Jen and I chuckle. "Yeah, you should've seen him at Dallon's party last night." Jen says.

What is she doing.

"He was there?" Mark asks.

"Mhm!" She nods. "Dude was a wreck, I've never seen anyone that wasted before." She lies.

"Man I wish I went! I totally would've beat the shit out of him." Ethan says.

You already got your ass beat by him dude.

"He's making friends with Brendon's group so he'll probably be at the next one." Jen says.

"Shit, hell yeah. I'll even ask him to throw another one soon!" Ethan laughs, high fiving Mark.

I roll my eyes and get up, then exit the cafeteria, ignoring them calling me name. Why the fuck would Jen say that?! That was fucking ridiculous, she knows I lik- that was fucked up.

I swing the bathroom door open and walk into the biggest stall, slamming it shut behind me. I sit on the floor and let my head fall on the wall behind me. The outside door opens again and three guys make their way inside.

"So now he's just acting-" One guy says but was cut off.

"Like, I get it. I do, we barely know each other and we haven't spent all that much time around each other but it's just stupid." Another says.

"That is stupid! You fucking let him spend the night at your house, you didn't have to do that!" The first boy says.

"I get why you're upset, but he doesn't owe you kindness, J. If you want a friendship with him, then ask him. Don't do favors for him when he doesn't ask you to, then get upset when he doesn't want to be you friend."

Holy shit. It's them.

Josh groans and out of the space from under the stall door, I see him jump and sit on the counter. "Yeah, you're right Dall. I dunno why I expected him to even be friends with me. Like he said, our personalities are completely different and we wouldn't be great friends."

"Also he isn't gay, which leads me to expect he's just homophobic and doesn't want to catch the gay or whatever."

They all laugh. Homophobic? Just because I'm not gay doesn't mean I'm homophobic! I love the homos'! I encourage the homo acts! I'm a ho-

"At least I have you two." Josh says.

"Yeah, and we're pretty great." Bren laughs.