Next Semester

12. first heartbreak

"And then," Tyler emphasized, "she left with Hayley, and me and Jude had to walk back together in silence. When we got back he told me he didn't want to talk about it and told me to just got to sleep." He'd left out the part about Hayley suggesting that he pursue something with Jude out of curiosity. It felt weird to bring that kind of thing up with his professor.

Josh let out a long breath as he sat back in the armchair next to the couch Tyler was sitting on, "Man, that's a lot. How are you feeling about it now?" The freshly brewed cup of coffee that Josh had made for him was still steaming on the coffee table in front of the couch and Tyler felt bad for not drinking it, but he didn't think he could safely put anything into his stomach. He ran an anxious hand through his hair, "I've felt like I'm going to throw up every 5 minutes since I woke up."

"Okay, well," Josh laughed, "no more throwing up for you. You've met your quota for the week."

Tyler glared at him, "Ha. Ha. Very funny. I'm serious, Josh! I feel like I'm gonna have a heart attack and die from all of this. I'm not good with confrontation." The boy ran another hand through his hair and began twirling it anxiously. When he was little, his mother used to have to pull his hands away from his hair so that he didn't knot it up too badly, but the habit stuck the entire way up into adulthood.

"Ty," Josh leaned forward, placing a gentle hand on the boy's knee, "it's all going to work out. Don't go dying over it. This too shall pass."

"Did you just quote the bible at me?" Tyler let out a soft laugh. Josh always made him feel better. The man laughed and shrugged, "I thought it would help."

"You're a dork." Tyler repeated, liking the familiarity of this kind of interaction with him. Josh rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Are you gonna work or just sit there and complain all day?"

Tyler gasped, "Hey! You asked!"

Josh laughed and nodded, "I did," He stood up from his chair and sighed, "What do you wanna start with today?"

••

When lunch rolled around, Tyler nervously knocked on Josh's office door. He knew the man wouldn't mind, but he still felt a little guilty bothering him all the time. A muffled "come in" came from behind the door and the boy took a deep breath before opening it. Josh was sitting at his desk, a tupperware container with a salad sat next to him as he multitasked on his computer.

"Tyler," the man exclaimed as he swallowed his food, "what's up?"

Tyler shifted on his feet nervously as he held a brown paper bag of food from the dining hall, "Um...do you mind if I sit in here..? Obviously I don't have to! I was just-"

"Of course you can," Josh cut him off with a smile, "Come sit."

Tyler let out the breath he was holding and plopped down into the chair in front of Josh's desk, "Do you always eat lunch while you work?"

"Sometimes I don't even eat lunch," Josh laughed, "Today I got lucky."

Tyler frowned, "That's not very healthy."

The man shrugged, "Eh, I don't mind. I keep snacks and stuff behind my desk."

Tyler hummed in response as he pulled his own food out of the bag. He had a ham sandwich and french fries and a small apple sauce and Josh snickered, "It looks like you're eating a kindergartner's lunch."

Tyler frowned, "I'm picky."

Josh smiled at him, eyes wandering over the boy's face before he said, "I probably could've guessed that."

"What does that mean?" Tyler whined. Josh had grown quite fond of the boy's personality outside of the shy bubble that he kept himself in. One thing he noticed pretty quickly was that Tyler whined and groaned and sighed a lot. The boy was a bit of a drama queen.