more than friends//joshler

chapter 11

he woke to an absolute silence. he shifted uncomfortably, not sure what he was waiting for. after a while he sat up on his elbows, facing the wall at the top of his bed. he sighed gently, turning to the right. there was a note stuck to the hardwood next to his head. he grabbed it, recognizing josh's messy handwriting immediately. 

went out. be back at 12. we need to talk. 

tyler ran his hand through his hair again, breathing out heavily. 

"that'll be fun," he grumbled lowly, pulling his phone out from underneath the mattress. 10:33. man, he'd been sleeping for quite a while. 

grumbling still, he walked slowly to the kitchen. slowly made coffee. slowly browsed twitter. after his third cup of coffee he decided he was awake enough, trudging to his room and throwing on whatever he could find first. which happened to be one of josh's shirts that he had borrowed. sighing, he walked back over to the couch and waited nervously. 11:55. any minute now. 

-

the first thing he heard was the jingle of keys being jammed in the lock. second, josh's loud footsteps. the boy locked the door behind him, finally flipping to face tyler. 

"hey," he said in a small voice, scratching the back of his neck. when tyler didn't reply, he decided to continue. 

"so today i went on a date. with the neighbor. the blonde one," he chewed his lip as he shamefully looked up from the floor. "any thoughts?" he carefully treaded. tyler shrugged hostilely, a sinking feeling entering his stomach. 

"good for you. what's her name?" he tried to come across not quite as sad as he was. he wasn't 100% positive it was working. josh smiled lightly, not seeming to hear the underlying disappointment in his friend's voice. 

"it's debby," he made eye contact with tyler. "she's got this blonde hair and brown eyes this sick nose ring." tyler nodded slightly, trying to picture her again, even though that was really the last thing he wanted to do. 

"yeah, good for you dude, i'm glad you found a girl," tyler forced himself to smile as he stood up. 

"anyway, i'm gonna go write," he said, back facing josh. he walked down the hall, gulping to keep his tears in their place. just a few steps, then you can let it out. 

he threw himself into his desk chair, grabbing the moleskin notebook in the top right corner. he frantically flipped to an unused page, hovering his pen over the perfectly unmarked surface. 

the

wow great start, tyler he thought sarcastically.

the demon 

he laughed to himself slightly. 

the demon sat on her porch

somehow tyler had messed up josh's pronouns in his frenzy. he did a small shrug. oh well. 

the demon sat there on her porch,

he refined the line. 

it was a bit dark

it was a little dark

he struggled writing the next part. 

it was a little dark so he turned on a flashlight, duh

it was a little dark so he used a torch. crazy brits. 

it was a little dark so he held a fake torch

it was a little dark so he held a makeshift torch

perfect. surprised, he noticed a spot of slight discoloration. another one. he reached up to his face, water covering his fingers. how had he not noticed this? leaning away from his work, he let the tears fall. they formed a puddle on the floor, a tap resonating through the room with every drop of life. a short while passed. he sniffled quietly, shuffling forward in his chair to shut his journal. he'd finish another time, for now he was tired. tiptoeing to his room so as not to get josh's attention, he snuck through the door, gently shutting it and lying down. within seconds he was out, his normal insomnia all but forgotten for the night.