Sincerely, Tyler ▸ (Sequel to Dear, Rosemary)

1

My jaw clenched, clenched, and then relaxed. It repeated its pattern.

I shouldn't be doing this, I scolded myself.

But my ears were perked to the sound of Rose's crisp, fragile voice, and then Ryan's aggressive tone.

"You cannot possibly think this is normal, Rose," She'd said. I could only imagine the blonde shaking her head disappointingly towards Rosemary.

"Ryan, you're always bring this up. It is not a big deal, whatsoever. Nothing is wrong with him!"

"It scares me that you don't think this is something to talk about!"

"Guys...stop it, now." Josh's voice. He was there, too.

My body shifted behind the wall, and I couldn't help but feel embarrassed. I'm supposed to be showering at this moment, but instead, I'm listening to an argument currently taking place, over me.

"No, Josh, you know that Tyler depends way too much on that journal of his. It needs to stop sooner or later," Ryan spoke up again.

Rose sighed, "I don't want to talk about this. There is nothing wrong with caring about something. Just like how you care about hockey, and Josh cares about his drumming, Ty cares about his journal. Now enough, he'll be back from his shower soon and I don't want him to hear us talking about him like this."

Their voices faded off as I entered the bathroom, stepping into the already running shower. I'd kept it running for so long, the water was scolding.

Once again, my mind wandered, and I thought to myself the countless ways I could prove to them that they were wrong.

I didn't depend on my journal.

My fingers began to hurt from scrubbing my scalp of shampoo, I wasn't paying attention.

A sigh escaped my lips, and my attention was grabbed by the door opening.

I pulled the curtain open slightly to peak, even though I'd already known who was there.

Rose seated herself on the closed toilet lid, looking blankly at the ceiling above her.

"Hey, Ty. Everything okay? You've been in there a while, love."

Her eyes met mine, and she smiled, approaching me.

She came close by the curtain and wiped the running soap away from my face with her delicate fingers.

My hand led to her chin and I pulled her face closer, placing a kiss on her lips, "You should come join me and help me finish."

A giggle left her throat, and she began to redden, "Hmm," she hummed, "Okay."

And I'd made room for her to enter inside.

***

"Guys!" I exclaimed, grabbing their attention as Rose and I entered into the living room.

"Let's go to Robert's house party tonight," I suggested, remembering his invitation and meaning to carry out my plan from earlier today. I made a mental note, my journal was tucked away under in my sock drawer.

Josh looked to Ryan, who oozed with building excitement, and she nodded.

"I don't see why not, it's a Saturday night, we don't have any plans. Ryan and I are down," Josh agreed, taking Ryan's hand.

Rose looked to the clock hanging above the tv, "We should get ready, it's already ten."

And as they left to their rooms, my anxiety was slowly reaching its maximum level.

I could do this. C'mon, Tyler, it's one night.

"Ty?"

"Hey, Rose," I answered quickly, my feet only a few inches away from hers.

"Don't leave your journal anywhere when we get to Robert's, okay?" She glanced over, changing into her ripped jeans.

Overly confident, I stated, "I'm not bringing it," and I prepared myself for her shocked reaction.

"What?" Her hair slightly whipped onto her face as she'd turned so quickly to face me.

"I don't feel the need to. Why bring it to a house party anyway, right?" I shrugged it off, deeply feeling regretful already.

Her eyes remained wide, "Um, are you sure Tyler? You know - never mind, I trust you."

"Good, that's all I ask of you," her arms wrapped themselves around my torso before she began looking through her makeup bag.

There's no going back now.