𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 ; ᴮʳᵘᶜᵉ ʸᵃᵐᵃᵈᵃ

ii

Tyler sat alone in the music room during lunch, plucking the strings of his guitar, humming with the beat as he plays. Seeing the door creak open, he quickly stops playing, staring over at the door as Bruce walks into the room with a small smile and a wave. The raven haired boy closes the door behind him, leaning against it as the curly haired boy stares at him.

"Hi" Tyler finally speaks, setting his guitar down, leaning it against the wall just behind him, still sitting on the wooden barstool that sat in the middle of the room.

"Hey. Nice Powerage shirt" Bruce compliments, seeing the colorful graphic on the Woodhill boy's shirt.

Tyler looks down at his shirt for a second, then back up at Bruce, "Oh, thanks. I got it the other day at the video store." The brunette smiles, rocking the stool and tapping his red shoes against it.

"Oh, you wanna come to practice after school with me? I need someone to help me pitch and it's just gonna be me on the field. Need two or more to practice, you know?" Bruce asks

"Uh, yeah, sure" Tyler answers, glancing down at the floor, anxious. "I apologize in advance if I suck and I don't help you practice at all"

"No, no, you're fine" Bruce speaks, opening the door behind him, "I'll see you later"

"See ya" Tyler waves as Bruce walks out the door, turning left towards the main doors of the music center.

Tyler's face begins to paint itself with a grin as he reaches back for his guitar, standing up and putting it in the large, black case with the strap, leaning it against the wall for later. The curly haired boy grabs his belongings, slinging his backpack across his shoulder and turning left as he left the room. He sprint-walks past the auditorium, running across the school to the cafeteria to find Robin and Finney.

Tyler was slowly falling out with the two boys in his own sadness, sometimes talking was to hard for the boy, but today was one of the few days this year that he was happy enough to spend time with them. Finney and Robin completely understood how Tyler felt, both losing one of their parents themselves. What they didn't understand was the way Tyler coped, with music, something that sometimes only made it worse. They never asked, though, just shrugging it off as Tyler didn't want to bother them and make them feel annoyed with him, so they left it, not wanting the curly haired boy to feel overwhelmed.

Tyler rushes into the cafeteria, finding Finney and Robin sat in the back corner, running across the large room to them. Robin, face turned towards Tyler, smiled and waves as he rushes over, Finney looking back and smiling as he greets the boy, letting him sit down next to him.

"Guys. I made a new friend" Tyler smiles as he pants from running across the whole school

"Who?" Robin asks, taking a bite of his sandwhich.

Finney, quickly inputting his opinion, tells Tyler he's proud of him, also asking who this new mystery friend was.

"Bruce Yamada. The baseball player"

"Cool, cool" Robin answers, "Heard he's really good"

"I haven't seen him in action but he's really cool"

Finney lightly smiles, glancing over at Robin.

"Hm?" Tyler asks, sensing something was wrong.

Finney opens his mouth to speak, but looks over at Robin for him to talk. Robin sighs, setting his food down.

"I... I might be moving over the summer. My abuela can't stand being here anymore because of my dad and everything seems to remind her of him."

"Oh" Tyler says, his smile fading as he looks back and forth from Finney and Robin. "Where to?"

"I dunno yet, it's not even confirmed yet, but I've been trying to convince her and my mother to not make us leave. I don't wanna leave you tontos alone here" Robin answers

The lunch bell rings, dismissing the large amount of students as they rush out the door towards their next classes, Tyler quickly rushing off to his last period class, trying to process this new information. The second he made a new friend, he was about to lose one.

He wanted to go home and cry, but he didn't want to ditch Bruce, and he definitely didn't want to talk about this to Aunt Cherry. The redheaded sister of his father was nice, of course, but she wanted to know everything about Tyler after every day and always tried relating his problems to his parents deaths. She only knew a miniscule number of problems that went on behind closed doors, and even if their deaths were near seven years ago, she didn't act like it. She acted like he would always be upset and distraught like it'd happened yesterday.

He watched his home go up in flames, he watched his parents melted, scorned corpses be dragged out of the house as he stood in the front yard, crying in the redheaded woman's arms. Tyler didn't want to talk about it to Aunt Cherry, he wanted to keep it inside so one day he'd implode and finally die, and get a ticket out of his bullshit life. He wanted to go home, lay in bed and sob. He didn't want to talk about Robin most likely moving away and leaving him only with Finney, their trio just becoming a duo that probably wouldn't hold up without their glue.

Once at home, after school and after ditching Bruce as he patiently waited on the field for the Woodhill boy, the red guitar and it's case lay against the closet door. Tyler throws himself onto the black sheeted bed, a large bat plushie sitting by his side as he covered himself with the blankets, sobbing into his pillow. He didn't want Robin to leave, he couldn't cope with losing someone so close to him like that. The whole summer suddenly felt like sand flowing through his fingers, all their plans possibly down the drain.

Tyler, Finney and Robin normally came up with summer ideas during the school year, then during summer break, would do whatever activities they'd written down. Like the skate park, the movies, the pool, that would now be empty without Robin's unique personality around.  Nothing would be normal without all three being together, something was always off or empty without one of them, the remaining two never knew what to talk about and just stay relatively quiet.

Tyler continues to sob and weep, the blankets covering him as the sun hides behind some clouds, the room dimming as the window was the only light illuminating the room. The boy's curls pop up from the covers a bit, uncovering his hiding spot in the bed. The boy had sprinted home, forgetting about the bus and the fact he left his bike at school a third day in a row.

Aunt Cherry opens the slammed door, slowly walking in and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Go away" Tyler sobs

"I know you're upset, just please talk to me" Cherry speaks kindly

"No"

Cherry sighs, standing up and walking to the door. "I'm making dinner at six"

Tyler stays silent, covering his curls with the blanket as Cherry leaves, closing the door behind her.

AN - fjwjrbne were getting to the good part 🤩