Ruby -joshler-

chapter five

Josh's P.O.V:

     Tyler's eyes widened. I knew I'd get some sort of reaction from him. I didn't even think about it before I suggested it, but there was no going back now. 

     "I don't think I should do that... It's really not my style..." I wasn't gonna give up there, though.

     "Okay, well, do you wanna help me dye mine?" Tyler raised his eyebrows. His shock was completely obvious. "It'd be a lot of fun!" I added on.

     "Fine." He folded his arms and his neutral expression was replaced with a troublesome smile. "Let's go get the dye."

     We walked to a hair specialty store. We walked around for a while till we were able to find the hair dye among the conditioner, shampoo, strengthener. We took forever to browse around and find a color for my hair. At first I thought green would look cool, but I didn't really want to look like the Joker. After several minutes, we found this stuff that was a nice royal blue that we figured would look good on me.

     After paying for it, Tyler stuffed it into his pocket. We walked back to his house. We managed to sneak it past his mom, and when his mom asked about why we were back so early, Tyler just said we got too cold. Which wasn't really a lie. It was freezing out in the December air. We went back down to his room no walked into the bathroom. There wasn't really enough space for the two of us, but we managed. Tyler put in some elastic rubber gloves and started rubbing the dye in my hair. Soon the hair that was left over from my last haircut was spiky and drenched with the blue dye. The instructions on the box said to wait forty-five minutes after we scrubbed the dye in. So we just hung out in the bathroom for forty-five minutes, making small talk about school and whatnot.

     After that, Tyler left the bathroom so that I could take a shower. I dried my hair with a blow dryer I found in the cabinet under the bathroom sink. When I walked out of the room, Tyler's face was a mix between absolute surprise and shock. He smiled widely, but his eyes were wide. 

     "Is this real?" He asked me. I nodded, and I felt a smile melt across my face. I had thought that the dye would be a darker blue, but it was more of a peacock blue. I was fine by that, it still looked good. 

     "You like it?" I asked his opinion on the newly styled hair. He nodded excitedly.

     "What'll your parents have to say?" He asked. I shrugged. To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it until that point. They couldn't be too mad. It's not like I got a piercing or a tattoo or anything. Plus, it was only semi-permanent. It'd fade away in a few months.

     "I dunno. They probably won't be too happy, but I can't see them being that mad about it..." He nodded and smiled. A thought crossed my mind. "Hey Tyler," I got him to look in my eyes,"You wanna go to the mall?"

     "Sure." He grinned. "Should we go now?" I nodded. 

     "I'll stop by my house and get myself some money. Maybe I'll wear a hood or something so my parents don't see my hair..."

     "Why wait, y'know? They're gonna see it at some point. Like you said, they probably won't be too pissed about it."

     I shook my head. "If they do get upset about it, they might ground me. If that does happen, it may as well happen after we go to the mall." I pointed out. He nodded understandingly. "Cool. So I'll head over to my house real fast. Can we take your car?" Once again he just nodded.

     I pulled on my Blink-182 sweatshirt and put the hood over my head. "Are you able to see any of my hair?" He nodded and stepped forward to fix it. I almost stepped back, but I stopped myself. Ever since my fight with Mason, it'd been hard for me to allow people to get close to me. He swiped some of my hair off my forehead and smiled.

     "There." He gave me an awkward smile and turned around, presumably to get shoes or keys. It might've just been me, but I could've sworn a I saw a rosy tinge to his cheeks. I shook the feeling off. Nah, it was probably just the lighting or something.

     We headed up his stairs that led almost right to the entryway. "Mom, is it cool if me and Josh head to the mall?" He asked his mom, who was sitting in the living room by Madison and Jay and Zack.

     "Sure, honey. But please be back before 4:00. I don't want Josh to be late."

     "Of course, Mom. I love you." Tyler nodded and we headed out the front door. He started his silver car and I directed him to my house. I was about to get out of the car when Tyler grabbed my arm and pulled me back into my seat. I sat down, oblivious as to why he had grabbed me. He leaned forward a bit, and brushed some hair from my forehead. When he was certain my parents wouldn't be able to see my hair, he moved back over and smiled. "Good luck." And at that, I left.

Tyler's P.O.V:

     The wait for Josh to get back wasn't long at all. He jogged back to the car and opened the door. He sat down with a triumphant look in his eyes. He flashed me a little Pokémon wallet and then put it in the pocket of his Blink-182 sweatshirt. I grinned and we drove off toward the mall.

     "So where should we go first?" I asked him. He shrugged.

     "I dunno. Do wanna go looking for clothes or music or video games or what?" It was my turn to shrug now. "Well, we can just browse around, then." I nodded and we then made our way to the entrance. The cold was bitter and relentless. We walked close together, and my heart skipped a beat when his shoulder brushed mine.

     The rush of warmth when we walked into the building was uncalled for, but it still felt nice. I was almost tempted to take my hoodie off, but I only just unzipped it. I wasn't ready to take it off yet. 

     We went to plenty of different stores until we were satisfied with what we'd gotten. I checked my phone and looked at the time. 3:47. I showed it to Josh.

    "We should get going." I nodded and followed closely after him as he headed outside. I felt tired after an almost sleepless night, so Josh offered to drive. He stayed up even longer than me, but I accepted. I dozed off in the passengers seat as he drove quietly home.

     When we got to my house, we made sure my mom knew we were back and headed down to my room. We sorted out what we'd picked. In all, I'd gotten a white beanie, a few CD's, and the latest version of Mario Kart. Josh got a new pair of drumsticks and a dark galaxy colored hoodie.

     I gave him a bag to put his stuff in and we walked up the stairs again. He thanked my mom for having him over and we ambled out to my car. 

     "I'll drive." Josh suggested. "I probably know my way home better." I nodded and went along with it. He sat down in the drivers seat and I sat beside him as he shifted the car out of the driveway and we began the short drive home. Honestly, it was probably within walking distance, but it was below freezing outside. 

     "Hey," I stopped him before he stepped out of the car. He tilted his head quizzically. "You gonna take off your hood?" He smiled and pulled down his galaxy hood, revealing his bold blue hair. I smiled back at him and got out of the car so I could transition into the drivers seat.

     We both walked in front of the car, and we almost ran into each other, just like the first time we met. "Bye, Tyler." He smiled and reached out his arms. Before I knew it, we were hugging again. I smiled and accepted his embrace, wrapping my arms around his back. He gave me one last look before he opened the door to his house. "Stay strong."

||A/N: Aw well ain't that cute. I promise you guys, there'll be some real drama soon, not just this boring stuff.||