In Love with a Lunatic (joshler)

14. Routine

Friday
February 14
Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is Tyler's least favorite holiday, right up there with Thanksgiving. He always tries to distract himself so he won't think about it. Currently, Tyler and Jenna are planning a scene for finals. They made it in after their competition the week after New Years and have three months to prepare alongside several smaller events. Tyler's head is filled with confidence, but also none. They made it to the finals, but just barely. The two are determined to be one of the top three, and in order to do that, they need to get the routine down.

So far, all is well, but the voice in Tyler's mind is telling him to not even try. They just barely made it. What makes them think they'll even take top three, let alone first place? He's not listening, of course. Jenna on the other hand, is full of joy and nothing but confidence.

The other thing on Tyler's mind is his date with Josh on Friday. It will be their first official date as a couple so they're both pretty excited about it.

Lifting Jenna onto his legs, the brunette hooks his arm around her thigh and glides effortlessly across the ice before carefully setting her back down and drifting away from each other.

They smile as they stop. "That was good!" Tyler claps happily. "What's our next move?"

"It goes into the last verse and I have an idea for it that I thought would be interesting. We can end it with a spin and then come closer like we're about to kiss and then a dip."

"Show me."

"Okay so," Jenna starts, skating closer to her partner. "After we drift away, you fall on a knee and I'll swoop in, grab your hand and lift you back up."

Tyler lowers to a knee before Jenna grabs his hand and helps him up as she guides him through her idea.

"Then you'll spin me," the blonde says, spinning underneath Tyler's arm. "We'll come together—obviously don't actually kiss me—and then lower back down to a knee and dip me back, like, over your knee."

Tyler pulls her closer, their faces centimeters from one another before he carefully lowers to a knee and tips her back.

"Then that should be the end," Jenna smiles, lifting her head back up. "Wanna try it in full?"

"Yeah, check the timing."

"Chloe! Can you press replay on my phone?"

Their coach nods and presses play as the two get into their starting positions, the music blaring from Jenna's bluetooth speaker.

-

Josh sits down at the table next to Tyler and Jenna who are in deep conversation. He gently squeezes Tyler's thigh like usual as a silent hello. He pouts lightly as the boy doesn't so much as look at him. Shrugging it off as Dallon and Cody sit down, he takes a drink of his Gatorade and picks up his sandwich.

Throughout their break, he talks back and forth with his two teammates, glancing over at Tyler every few minutes. He's noticed Tyler and Jenna have been talking a lot more lately, and he knows it's about their choreography or at least something skating related. With them having to get ready for finals, he's afraid to break them from anything that could be important. But, man, does wish he could talk to his boyfriend.

He's been observing the brunette more since Christmas. It's sort of impressive how well Tyler carries himself around other people. Having seen him in such a vulnerable state, he didn't know what to expect when they got back to the ice. It makes him wonder how many times he's been in that position and Josh had no idea.

Glancing at the brunette as he stands up from the table, Josh frowns. Grabbing the hem of his sweater, he stops Tyler from walking off, still deep in conversation with the blonde girl, "Hey."