By Your Side (Twenty One Pilots)

What Is Love? Baby, Don't Hurt Me

"Hey, Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me a story?"

The two had set up camp in a forest again. They found they really liked doing that. They were near another big city and wanted to enjoy more outside time before they got an apartment.

"Sure. What kind?"

Tyler though for a little bit. "Tell me about love. What is it?"

Josh sighed, a smile settling on his face.

"Love is poem. Sometimes is rhymes and some times it doesn't. Sometimes it only makes sense to the authors. Love is confusing and hard and stupid and silly and altogether gorgeous. It's a hug from your mom when you haven't seen her in a while. It's coming home to the smell of cookies in the over. Love is your favorite song on repeat for years and not getting sick of it. Love is also a storm though. It's destruction and violence and lonely thiughts and broken hearts. Love hurts. Love isn't fair. It's your best friend and your enemy. It wants you to live forever but can stab you in the back at any moment. Love is trust, and trust is a beautifully terrifying blessing we have in our lives."

Tyler nodded. He thought of that girl. Lily. The angel, his happiness, a nightmare and disaster. She broke him. He forgave her. He never healed.

"Josh, you were in love right?"

"Oh yeah, head over heels. I was going to marry Debby. But the universe thought differently. I'm glad it told me when it did. I had really great times with Debby. She was my partner in crime. We did everything together."

"Do you still love her?"

"Totally. But a different kind of love. I mean, I spent years with her. I can't just stop caring about her. She changed me and left marks on me that I really don't want to fade away. She made me a better person."

"Okay."

"Why?"

"Just wondering," Tyler replied. "How do you forget about someone?"

"Oh if I knew how to do that I would."

"Okay."

Josh drifted off to sleep only minutes later. Tyler, however, stayed up with his thoughts.

Lilly, oh Lily. Why did you have to go?

Tyler met her at the library. They both needed the same book for a research project, but there was only one copy. They ended up working together and going for coffee the next day. Tyler didn't drink coffee, but he wanted to see her again, so he toughened up and downed something with caramel in it. He wasn't sure of the exact drink. All he knew was that it was her favorite.

They were just friends at first. Best friends. They did everything together. Tyler didn't even have a crush on her in the beginning.

And then suddenly he did. He had just finished his work and looked up. Lily had been sitting in the window seat. A book open on her lap and a cup of tea next to her. Her long brown hair was twisted perfectly into a bun and the fly aways were tucked behind her ears. Her freckled nose was scrunched up. Tyler could tell she was focused on something.

"Lily," he had said. "Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

She looked up and smiled. "Tyler, I would love to."

That's when the fairytale began. They kissed the next day. They were always holding hands. They went every where and did everything together, but in a much brighter and happier way than before.

But Lily changed. She moved out of the apartment next to Tyler and moved in with him. She grew distant. She was still kind and loving and always smiling and kissing Tyler, but she found more and more reasons to leave the aprtment, even when she wasn't in classes.

Tyler was confused, but he never said anything.

One night she didn't come home.