Holding On To You (A Twenty One Pilots Fanfiction)

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

I unlocked and locked my phone a thousand times out of boredom. It was almost six o'clock, and I was starting to get hungry for dinner. I pondered whether or not I should wake Tyler. He'd been sleeping since we got home at around noon. After a few minutes and a few stomach growls, I headed upstairs. I knocked softly on the door, but there was no response. I quietly opened it and tiptoed over to him. He was snoring quietly, his eyelashes flickering slightly. I felt bad waking him up.

I walked over to the window and stared out at the empty street and the setting sun. I heard something behind me. I glanced over to see Tyler rubbing his eyes.

"Where, what time..?" he said, confused for a moment.

"Shhh... it's okay," I sad and gently brushed my fingers across his hairline.

"How long have I been out?" he asked.

"Ehh.. six hours."

"Wow. Thank you again. I seriously don't know what I would do without you. You're the only person I can actually trust anymore... besides Josh, of course."

"Oh yeah, where is he?" I asked, suddenly remembering him.

"I don't know actually... I kind of just left. I should probably call him, and let him know I'm here."

We sat in silence for awhile.

"Are you hungry?" I questioned.

"Yeah, very hungry actually. Is your mom cooking?"

"Umm... I don't know actually. We aren't exactly on speaking terms," I muttered.

"What happened?"

"Oh, it's nothing.... wanna grab pizza downtown?"

"Sure. Just give me a minute to get ready," he replied, getting up and walking towards the bathroom.

I glanced in the mirror, touching up my makeup. It was evident that Tyler didn't know anything about my mom's involvement with his dad. I was unsure of how I was going to tell him. I knew it would make him hurt a thousand times more.

"Alrighty, let's go," he said, coming out of the bathroom in fresh clothes.

****

We walked hand-in-hand into the little Italian restaurant, and were seated at a booth in the corner.

I couldn't think of anything to say. We both ordered slices of Sicilian pizza and lemonade.

"So..." he sighed.

"Have you talked to your dad at all?" I asked.

"Not besides when he told me what had happened."

"And what exactly did he tell you?"

"He just told me there was a house fire and that my mom..." his voice broke off.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up. Let's talk about... the band."

"No honestly, I really need to talk about it. It's all I can think about, and I just need to get it off my chest."

"Of course... I'm here for you," I said and held his hand across the small table.

"I talked to my mom a couple of days ago. She knew he was cheating. They fought about it, and she was planning on moving out this week... if only she'd moved out sooner, she might be alive."

So she did know. I wonder if she knew it was my mom. I felt bad asking Tyler questions, but I had to figure out who knew what.

"Did she know who it was?"

"No... or she didn't say at least, but she was sad beyond compare. I'd never heard her like that before."

"I'm so sorry Tyler."

Just then, the waitress interrupted, setting down the pizza. She stared at Tyler intently.

"Are you Tyler Joseph, of Twenty One Pilots?" she asked, intrigued.

He nodded.

"Oh my gosh. I'm a super huge fan," she said, and rudely sat on my side of the booth, squishing me into the wall.

Tyler smiled, "Well I'm glad you like our music," he said unhappily.

"What's the matter? You're no fun," she teased.

"Back off. He just lost a loved one!" I shouted, and in my attempt to push her off the seat, I spilled my lemonade.

"Ugh!" she squealed, and ran away.

I cleaned up the remaining liquid with my napkin. Once I was settled back into the booth, Tyler and I exchanged glances and laughed. He laughed hysterically, which just made me laugh even harder. It was so great to see him happy, to see his smile. We laughed until our pizza was cold. Eventually, the laughing died down, and then it was awkwardly sad again.

He cleared his throat.

"So what were you and your mom fighting about?" he asked changing the subject.

"It's really not a big deal," I said avoiding the topic.

"Well, at least you have a mom," he said bluntly.

I nodded, not knowing what to say.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," he said.

"Listen..." I hesitated. "I'm the one who should be sorry Tyler."

"For what?" he said confused.

"I haven't told you, because I don't want you to be any more upset than you already are, but I think you deserve to know," I paused and took a deep breath.

"You're kind of scaring me. What is it?" he said seriously.

"The... the woman that your um dad was with..."

"What do you know?" he said, almost demanding.

"It was my mom," I spat out quickly.

Tyler's face went through a short serious of emotions. First, was utter shock. Next, was confusion, and third, was anger.

"Your mom?" he said in rage, "YOUR MOM?"

I shyly nodded my head. He swiped his hand across the table, shattering his plate and spilling more lemonade.

"Tyler..." I begged, but he threw his napkin on the table and stormed out of the restaurant.

"I'm sorry," I yelled to the waitress, and threw a twenty down on the table.

By the time I got outside, Tyler was no where in sight.