Dementophobia • tyler joseph •

twenty-three // they're gonna leave me here on my own

--Tyler's P.O.V--

Dinner ended up going better than I expected, but the night was the worst part. I couldn't sleep no matter how hard I tried. My thoughts wouldn't stop racing, especially with Courtney right across from me.

After the dinner, she automatically came into the bus and climbed into her bunk without saying a word to anybody. However, I heard her muttering quietly, so I was sure that she was either talking to Tanner or one of her brothers on the phone. The call didn't seem to last long, but I knew that the subject was probably me.

That's when my mind began to run wild.

What if she wanted to leave the tour just because Paramore and Simple Plan joined us? If so, that would be all of my fault. I blew up on her over something that she really had no power over. If only I heard her out instead of getting angry over nothing.

I was angry. I thought Tanner and her had something going and every time I thought of the possibility, my heart began to hurt. That was something that wasn't supposed to happen. Jenna and I were getting married for pete's sake and I was still slightly hung up over a girl that I left over two years ago.

I somehow managed to fall asleep around three or four in the morning, leaving me very tired the next morning when I woke up.

Today was day two in Columbus and the festival sound check didn't begin until five or six, so it was Josh's idea to go out and do something fun. I wasn't really sure what he had in mind, but it would be better if I didn't ask.

"Okay," Josh began, gesturing towards every one of us, including Paramore, Simple Plan, Walk the Moon, and PVRIS. "Make sure you pack something that you aren't afraid to get wet."

David raised his hand. "Um, where exactly are we going?"

Josh grinned. "That's for me to know and for you guys to find out. Now, let's go!"

My best friend herded us all out of the tour bus and we followed him down the sidewalk. A lot of us had confused looks plastered across our faces aside from Courtney, who was just scrutinizing the ground as she walked, and Seb, who seemed bored out of his mind. Josh insisted on all of us walking to the place he wanted to take us instead of the bus dropping us off. He thought it would be more surprising that way.

You would think that I would know where we were going since I was from Columbus, but I honestly never left my house unless I absolutely needed to, which was not very often. Jenna usually did all the mundane stuff while I just binged TV shows and played Mario Kart or Happy Wheels with Josh. I was shocked that she actually wanted to marry someone with that lifestyle.

"So where do you think he's taking us?" Jenna wondered from beside me, her backpack slung over her shoulder.

I shrugged. "I have no clue. Columbus is a huge city and knowing Josh, the possibilities are endless."

Jenna nodded in agreement. "He's probably taking us to some huge real life Mario Cart course."

"That would be utterly amazing," I marveled.

"How much farther do we have to walk?" Nick called out.

"Yeah," Lynn added, "I'm wearing heels."

We had walked quite farther than I thought because when I turned around, the bus looked very small in the distance.

"The place we are going to is right around the corner," Josh responded, excitement filling his voice. "You all are going to love it!"