Closed Eyes [Jyler]

one

"tyler, there's a boy behind you crying."

tyler opened his eyes. the front pews in the church were almost full of people, but everyone sat quietly with folded hands and closed eyes. everyone except josh. his bright blue hair were standing out in the warm, old church like a forget-me-not in a garden full of weeds.

tyler turned around to see a kid sitting in the back rows. his face was almost as red as his hair, and even from several meters away could tyler see how tense his muscles were. tears were quietly making their way down his cheeks, while his blurred eyes were directed rigidly towards the ground.

"do you think we should -"

"i'll get it josh." tyler hadn't seen the boy before, but he felt like he should try to help. or at least ask if he was okay. he stood up and sprained his way out of the pew. he tried to not make any sound as he walked down the aisle, luckily the red carpet muted his footsteps.

"hey buddy," tyler said when he got to the row where the kid was sitting. "you okay?"

the boy met his eyes with his own, damp ones. he looked around fifteen. his hands were trembling as he lifted them to rub his eyes. "i - i don't know."

"hey," tyler said again, his voice friendly and low. "the air in here is so trapped. wanna come outside? there's not much time left of the service anyways."

the boy nodded, and stood up. tyler gave him an uplifting smile, and he recompensed it awkwardly as he tried to stop crying. as they started to walk towards the door, tyler turned around for a moment and met josh's chocolate brown eyes, still sitting in the front pews. tyler gave him a quick thumbs up to tell him he had it under control.

when they got outside the church, the warm air hit them in a soft and fresh way. tyler let his lungs fill up by the summer breeze, and watched the boys breaths become more even and controlled. tyler waited for him to become more calm before he asked him, "i'm tyler. what's your name?"

"alfie." he said without meeting tylers eyes, his voice cracking a little bit.

"so alfie," tyler tried to keep his voice as friendly as he could. "do you want to talk or something?" he meant if he wanted to tell tyler why he was crying.

alfie understood. "err - i'm not really from ohio," he told him awkwardly, and lifted a hand to rub his eyes one more time. "i'm only visiting my cousin but i live in california, and - i kinda miss my family." when he said the last part of the sentence, his voice went lower, as he was a little bit ashamed as well. like as he thought he was too old for that kind of stuff.

"okay. there's nothing wrong with -"

tyler was interrupted by the sound of big and heavy church doors being pushed open. he turned around, to see the back head of a thin, blonde girl. she looked in the opposite direction of tyler and alfie, obviously looking for someone, before she turned around, and looked in their direction. she even met tylers gaze. tyler shouldn't have stopped talking, but his throat suddenly felt swelling and uncomfortable. there wasn't even an especially good reason why, it was just that she was

really really pretty.

tyler had never been that amazing around girls, and especially not the pretty ones. so the swollen feeling wasn't new to him in any way. the girl was maybe a few years younger than him, wearing an everyday floral dress. she had very very blue eyes. sparkly. sparkling sparkly sparks of blue in blue - tylers brain went creamy.

"alfie?" the girl asked, her voice light and slightly worried. "why did you leave? and who's -" her questionable eyes glided over to tylers, but only for a second. "are you okay?"