Mr. Misty-Eyed | Josh Dun

reality | ten

"I will keep the light on in this place,
'Cause I don't want to fall, fall away."

. . . . .

"You have got to be kidding me," Tyler mumbled quietly from his spot next to me on the couch.

A smirk tugged at my lips as my thumbs pressed down onto the buttons of the play station controller. I glanced at my best friend momentarily as he shifted his position, leaning forward, completely engrossed with the video game we were playing.

"Come on!" Tyler threw his hands up in annoyance as my player KO'ed his.

Tyler then turned to me with a serious expression as he let the controller he held drop into his lap. "I lost on purpose."

The corners of my eyes crinkled as a triumphant grin spread across my face. "Don't be a sore loser, Tyler."

He sighed heavily before he stood from the couch, grabbing both of our empty coffee mugs as he did so. I could hear him grumble about wanting a rematch as he disappeared into the kitchen.

I set my controller down on the coffee table before I leaned back against the couch cushions, running my sweaty palms over my pants. The room grew quiet and I closed my eyes for a brief second as an eerie feeling crept up through me much like it had in my dream the night before. I just sat there and waited for that stranger to cry out. I practically jumped out of my skin when Tyler set my refilled mug down on the glass table next to my controller.

"Woah, dude." He eyes squinted in thought as he took in my reaction. "Get out of your head."

I cleared my throat as a reflex, feeling embarrassed over nothing. My hands wrapped around the mug as I glanced away from my friend. "Do you want a rematch or what?"

Tyler grunted in response to my desperate attempt in changing the subject, but picked up the controller he had left on the couch nonetheless.

It didn't take long for Tyler to beat me this time, but it was only because my thoughts were elsewhere. My concentration on the real world had lessened dramatically these past few weeks because of my worsening dreams and now after the moment I had with Bryce on my front porch a few nights ago, it had only diminished that much more.

"What could you possibly be thinking about right now?" Tyler questioned as he stared at me from the other side of the couch.

My cheeks reddened as I shook the thoughts of the sarcastic brown haired girl from my brain. "None of your business."

The smirk on Tyler's face had me rolling my eyes as I turned back to the television to restart the game. As much as I liked to believe Tyler didn't dwell on troubling things, I knew that he still stored everything away in his brain for a later date. It wouldn't surprise me if he had grown the ability to read my mind after all these years.

"Guess what I've been working on." It was Tyler's turn to change the subject.

My eyebrows raised with interest as I turned to give him my full attention. Without a word he began to dig around his jeans pockets in search of something and after a moment he pulled what looked to be a crumpled up piece of lined paper from one of his back pockets. As Tyler unfolded it, I came to see that it was actually a few sheets stacked on top of each other. He ran his fingers ever the edges to flatten them out as he set them down on the table in front of us.

"New song," Tyler mumbled more to himself.

"Let me see." I felt excitement bubbling up inside me as I reached for the sheets of paper.