Falling Too (Tyler Joseph)

Chapter 22

Just when it seemed that things were calming back down, they became chaotic once more. Several weeks after Tyler's concert, Josh, Tyler, and I had been hanging out in Tyler's room. We were all being relatively quiet, all three of us lying on Tyler's bed listening to some of Twenty One Pilots' music. I had been humming along to 'Slow Town' while I mindlessly played with Tyler's hair. Tyler glanced from me to Josh, probably trying to see if we liked the song as his head rested on my stomach. Josh was sprawled out over the top of both us as he drummed the air.

"Well don't you all look comfy," Madison remarked as she stepped in the room. She turned down the stereo a bit before handing the phone in her hand to her brother. "It's Nick and Chris."

"Sup guys?" Tyler asked into the receiver. After a minute or so of quiet, I heard him let out a tiny, "What?"

He quickly sat up after that, jarring both Josh and I. We gave Tyler concerned looks as his expression twisted into confusion as he questioned, "Why are you guys doing this?"

Josh turned off the music with the remote next to him as Tyler paused to listen to whatever his bandmates were telling him. His only response was, "Oh, okay. I understand. Yeah, talk to you later."

Tyler let the phone drop from his hand once he had ended the call. The look on his face worried me, what had they said to him?

I was thankful that Josh was the one to ask the question, "What was that about?"

"They said that they couldn't stay in the band, that they didn't have enough time for it." Tyler explains, his voice sounding hollowed out.  

"What?" Josh and I both asked in disbelief.

Tyler shook his head muttering, "I knew I shouldn't have kidded myself that I could make this band thing happen."

"Hey, don't say that. Why don't you and Josh make music together instead?" I suggest doing my best to not let him get too upset.

"Since when has a band just had two people?" He questions turning his solemn gaze in my direction.

"We could make it work." Josh pipes up.

Tyler only shrugs and before Josh can say anything else, his phone rings. Unfortunately, Josh had to leave since his sister needed him to come to pick her up from a friend's. Before he left he gave Tyler a tight hug goodbye and then waved at me as he stepped out of the room. Now that Tyler and I were alone I was worried that I would have no way to help him. I moved so I could gently take his hand into mine. He surprised me slightly as he leaned against me and rested his head on my shoulder.    

"What do I do now Ashley?" He asks barely above a whisper. 

I tilted my head down onto his murmuring, "I don't know, but we'll figure something out."

"You know, at times like this, I just want to run away from all of this. I just want to get in my car and drive south."

For some reason, I found the idea interesting, because I've had those thoughts plenty of times myself. "And where would you go?"

"I don't know, but I would bring you with me."

I felt my heart stutter at his words, but I did my best to play it cool. "Well, I would be more than happy to tag along then."

Tyler let out a soft laugh, "Thanks."

An idea popped up in my head and before I gave myself any time to consider backing out, I suggested, "Do you want to get out of here for a bit?"

"Sure." He says sitting up, "Where are we going?"

I stood up and grabbed my keys, "Where ever the road takes us."

I was so glad to see a smile on his face as he got to his feet saying, "Let's go."

On our way downstairs Tyler held a finger up to his lips as he grabbed my hand and snuck me to the front door as quietly as he could. His parents were in the kitchen talking to each other and as I peered at the clock on the wall I saw why he wanted to be quiet, it was nearly midnight. We hurried out to my car and I didn't waste any time getting out of the driveway. Once we were out of his neighborhood  Tyler let out a cheer.

I laughed questioning, "Are you alright?"

He twitched slightly before saying, "Of course I am."

I frowned slightly as I stopped at a red light, reaching to place my hand on his knee murmuring, "Tyler, you know you're allowed to not be okay, right? You don't have to put on an act for my sake."

His smile faltered as he asked me, "What do you want me to do?"

"Tell me the truth, how do you feel right now?"

He lowered his eyes to his lap. "I really don't know how I feel, I'm sad about the other guys leaving, but after you suggested Josh I was excited. I felt so guilty for that and then I was so afraid because we'd only be a two-person band. Think about it, how often do you hear about bands that small making it?"

The light turned green and I began driving again as I answered, "It's perfectly fine to have mixed emotions about your band changing, but you never know what it could mean. It might end up being the best thing for Twenty One Pilots. Both you and Josh are fantastic musicians. So if you two do decide to work together, I'll be the first to say that I can't wait to hear the outcome." 

His smile had a much softer edge to it, showing that me that he was still a bit sad. We were quiet for a few minutes before Tyler uttered, "I'm so glad that I have you around."

I couldn't resist grinning at his statement agreeing, "So am I."

As the streetlights became few and far between I turned on the radio and Tyler was quick to move to find some music. When there was a pause between the songs he turned down the radio and cleared his throat, making me glance at him. He was rubbing his hand against the back of his neck, his eyes staring out into the darkness as he seemed to be thinking about something intently. 

"So, there's something that I've been wanting to tell you and I think that now is a good time to." He tells me, speaking in a measured voice like he was thinking his words carefully through.

"And what is that?"

He turned slightly in his seat towards me and swallowed thickly before saying, "I really like you, Ashley."