Melanie awkwardly walked up to me.
"Hey Tyler, uh. You guys were good, I guess." I nodded, not wanting to talk.
"Tyler, just to take a weight off your shoulders, I'm not pregnant." Josh shot me a look.
"That's great. Is that all you wanted to talk about? Because if so, I'd like to go now." Melanie grabbed my shoulder as I tried to speed walk past her.
"Look, I know losing you're virginity to a girl when your gay is pretty embarrassing, so I wanted to say I'm sorry." Melanie had no idea.
"Um, he didn't lose his virginity to you, now let's go, Ty." I held his hand as he guided me through the sea of nervous kids about to perform, leaving Melanie staring at us as we left.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that Tyler." Josh looked down at his hands.
"At least you don't remember it." I nodded and started to scratch my arms, ignoring the pain from the cuts I had made not to long ago.
"Shit, you're arms are still bleeding. Are you sure you don't want to get them stitched up? I'll take you right now if you want."
I tried to ease the tension between us. "No, you said drums aren't the only things you wanted to bang tonight, and if I went to the hospital right now, that won't happen." Josh broke down in laughter, leaning over to give me a kiss.
"Well, let's just hope my family doesn't come home from the talent show for a while. If they are, we can either go to your place or we can wait until a time when nobody's at my house. Sound good?" Josh asked.
"Yeah, but I'm not going to my house. I can't go back there." I said nervously, Josh giving me a look of understanding.
"You know," Josh started. "I was talking to my parents earlier. They noticed that you're pretty much always at my place. They were thinking about letting you move in if your parents are okay with that." I froze.
"You'd let me do that? Really?" I started to cry tears of joy.
"Anything for you, Tyler. You're not just Tyler Robert Joseph. You are way more than that. You're Tyler Robert Joseph, the ukulele playing, singing, basketball playing pianist. You're graduating this year, and you're dating me. If that's not enough to prove that you deserve a better home, I don't know what is." Josh loved me so much, and I loved him back. "And while we're on the topic, please don't ever kill yourself. Please, stay alive. Today, tomorrow, the day after that, and every day after that. And although it's not the best thing to do, if you hurt yourself over attempting suicide, then do it. I know it sounds horrible, but I wouldn't be able to stay without you." He leaned over to kiss my tear stained cheeks.
"Josh," I couldn't think of anything to say. I was in shock. I couldn't speak, much less think of any words that would be able to pass my lips.
"You know what? We shouldn't have sex tonight. We should cuddle, lots of cuddling. And we can play Mario Kart, and eat ice cream. We can watch movies and fall asleep in each others arms. Sound good?" I asked.
"If this means that you'll actually eat, then it's a perfect plan." Josh answered.
Back at Josh's house, we cuddled on the couch. Jordan gave me looks sometimes, but soon found out that he meant nothing bad by it.
"You guys are cute together." He said. I nuzzled my face into Josh's shoulder and laughed.
"I made spaghetti, if you guys are hungry." Josh's mom said as she walked into the living room. Josh gave me a concerned look.
"Well, Tyler. Are you going to eat tonight?" Josh asked.
"Anything to make you happy. Besides, being with you makes me want to take better care of myself." We smiled and walked to the dining room hand in hand.
"Tyler, I just want to know that our family really cares about you, probably more than you think. We'd be delighted if you moved in with us. We worry about you sometimes, we don't want you to feel bad about yourself." I got up from the table and hugged Josh's mother.
"Thank you so much." I started to cry, so I buried my face in Josh's chest as he stood up to hug me.
"So um, have you come out to your parents yet?" Josh asked.
"Well, they know I'm gay, but they don't know we're dating." I looked down and felt bad for not telling my mom about us yet.
"It's okay Ty. Take your time."
"Actually, can I invite my mom over right now? I can tell her that we're dating, and we can talk about me moving in." I asked.
"Josh, are you okay with that?" He nodded. "Okay, go ahead and call her, Tyler." I excused myself from the table and stepped outside.
I hesitated before speed dialing my mom, knowing that she might not even be home. Soon enough, she picked up the phone.
"Hello? Tyler?"
"Uh, hi mom, can you come over to Josh's place? I'll text you the address."
"Sure, is this where you've been all week?"
"Yes," I sighed. "Mrs. Martinez invited me to her place the other night, but yes."
"Alright, text me the address and I'll be over."
I texted her the address, and I heard a knock on the door within half an hour. Josh wanted to make a good first impression, so he answered the door for me.
"Oh hello. You must be Mrs. Joseph. I'm Joshua, but you can call me Josh." They shook hands. They seemed to be getting along, because my mom actually shook his hand and smiled. "Please, come inside." Josh flashed a smile and looked at me. I gave him a thumbs up.
"Hello, I'm assuming you're Tyler's mother? I'm Josh's mother, nice to meet you. I made spaghetti, would you like some?" Josh's mom offered, and my mom declined, saying she just ate.
Josh, Mrs. Dun, my mom and I sat in the living room. Josh's dad was at work, and well, so was mine. He was never home.
"So, mom. I see you've noticed I've been staying at Josh's place, and I wanted to explain to you why I haven't come home except for one night. I also feel like I should explain some other things." My mom had a nervous look on her face as I talked.
"So first of all, Josh and I are dating." Josh laced his fingers through mine.
"And he makes me feel so much happier when I'm around him. One night, I couldn't stay here, and I thought he had left me, so I- I relapsed." Josh put his arm around me and looked down at his shoes. I could tell how bad he and his mom felt.
"And, since I don't really feel happy and don't trust myself when I'm at home, I was thinking I should move in here." My mom looked surprised.
"Wait, you relapsed and I didn't know? Oh, Tyler baby, come here." She stood up and wrapped her arms around me as I sobbed into her shoulder. She was finally starting to care.
"If moving in here makes you happier, then I'm all for it. I'm assuming Josh's mom has talked to you about this?" I nodded.
"Alright, when your father comes home, I'll talk to him about it. Until then, you can stay here and I'll pack your stuff for you."
"Thanks mom." I whispered.
"And I hope you and Josh are happy together. I'm so sorry, I don't pay enough attention to you, Tyler." She finally understood what I've wanted for eighteen years. A mother that cared.
