"Okay, so, scrap that idea. How about this?" Josh tapped another beat on his drums. It fit perfectly. It gave our music life.
"Okay, you do that, but then, when I get to "depressing thoughts", I was thinking you could pause, and I could extend the "s" for three more beats." Josh smiled and nodded as we tried it out.
"Success at last!" Josh shouted.
"You're such a dork. I love you." I smiled and walked over to Josh, placing a small kiss on his forehead.
"I love you too, sweetheart." He laughed.
I loved making music. It was a distraction from everything. You could do so much with it. Spill your feelings out onto paper. You could easily bend a happy, upbeat song into the saddest song you'll ever hear. In my case, the songs were upbeat. If you weren't actually listening, you'd think my songs were about being happy and having a perfect life. It's like a metaphor for depression. You seem happy, but if someone digs deep enough, they'll find the truth.
"And we're calling this one Migraine, right?" Josh asked.
"Indeed." I smiled.
"You know, we should come up with a band name." My eyes lit up at the thought of starting a band.
"I feel like it should be based on our lives, or something we relate to. You know, I saw a play one time. Twenty one pilots died because of a selfish decision where a man sent out bad airplane parts. Maybe we should name it Twenty One Pilots?" I suggested.
"Yes," Josh said. "that's it! And just for the fun of it, let's be edgy and put a slash through the "O"." I nodded. Thus, Twenty Øne Piløts was born.
"There's a school talent show next week. Some of you guys should consider auditioning!" The chorus teacher said.
I raised my hand. "Can other people perform with us?"
"Yes, as long as they go to this school. Who were you planning on performing with, Tyler?"
"Josh Dun, he's in band." The teacher nodded. We could choose whether we wanted to take band, chorus, orchestra, or if you didn't want to take any of those classes, you took general music. I chose chorus, and Josh was in band.
I took a flyer from the piano after class and ran to find Josh in the flooded hallway.
"Josh, look at this! There's a talent show next week and we could perform as a band! It'd be a great start!" Josh smiled at me.
"I got one too, babe. I was thinking the same thing."
"Which song should we perform?" We only had a couple songs so far. Car Radio, Ode to Sleep, and Screen.
"I think we should do Ode to Sleep, mainly because it has a mix of different genres to gather the interest of more people."
"Tyler, you're a genius." Josh slapped me on the back and I leaned into him as we walked to the student parking lot. I loved having chorus last period because it was my favorite class, and then we got to go home right after that.
I slid into the passenger seat as Josh drove us home. I noticed he took a wrong turn.
"Josh, you're going the wrong way." He didn't seem to hear me.
"Josh. Josh you're going the wrong way." He finally snapped out of it, and his face turned completely red.
"Oh um, what did you say? I wasn't listening. Sorry." I rolled my eyes.
"You took a wrong turn back there."
"Oh, you'll find out why in a couple minutes." Maybe he was taking me somewhere. I decided not to say anything, as I might ruin the "surprise".
I little while later, we were on a back road with train tracks and a paved path next to it. Josh pulled two penny boards from the back of the car and handed me one.
"Josh, is this for me?" I gasped, and Josh nodded.
"You really didn't have to do this."
"I didn't have to, but I wanted to. So I did!" We laughed. I noticed Josh was carrying a big bag.
"What's in there?" Josh shrugged at me.
"Patience, child. You will find out soon." We skated down the path and got to a wall with some graffiti.
"I bought some spray paint, I thought that we should mark our territory. Twenty Øne Piløts will rule the world!" We laughed as Josh handed me a can of spray paint. We sprayed the logo that we came up with, which was |-/, and sprayed our band name under it.
"Let's just write our names under it for fun."
|-/
Twenty Øne Piløts
Jøsh and Tyler
I was smiling ear to ear, and so was Josh. He leaned over and kissed me, and pulled some food from Taco Bell out of the bag.
"Fuck you, Josh. You know I love Taco Bell, and now I'm going to want more!" I punched his abs. Damn, he has some nice ass abs.
"I just wanted to torture you, babe."
"Well, it's working!" I smiled. I was so happy right now.
After we finished eating, Josh pulled yet another object from the bag.
"Josh, is that the bag from Mary Poppins or something? You have everything in there." I froze when I saw him pull out a small dark blue velvet box.
"Tyler. You are the love of my life. I used to question if anyone would ever love me, but you proved that the answer was yes. And I love you so much for that. I can't imagine being without you. If I'd never met you, well. Damn. I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wouldn't be in a band, I wouldn't be happy." Josh got down on one knee.
"I don't really know how these things work, but I figured I'd give it a shot and prove to you that I really do love you. The voices in your head don't have to take over anymore. They'd be wrong to tell you that I don't love you after this. Tyler Robert Joseph will you make me the happiest person alive, and accept this promise ring?" Promise rings didn't seem like a big deal to most people, but to me, it was as if Joshua William Dun had just asked me to marry him.
I covered my mouth in shock and nodded. He slid the beautiful ring onto my finger when I saw that he had one too. It was a simple black band, with a thin silver line on either side of it. I loved it. And I loved Josh.
"Josh, if I hadn't met you, I probably wouldn't even be alive right now. I was so sad before I met you, and when we shook hands in the principals office, the tunnel vision went away. I suddenly didn't feel like I was chasing after the happiness I'd never reach, I saw my world open up. No one has ever accepted me for who I was, and when I met you after getting lectured that day, it made me feel so much better. I love you, Joshy." I threw my arms around Josh and hugged him. I love this man.
