keep it up ↠ joshler ✔

2

:::

tyler walked into the smoothie shop. the bell rang, making the small amount of people in the store look up at him with curiosity.

he probably looked like the stock photo of an emo teenager, if he was honest. he was wearing black jeans and a black hoodie, and his cigarette was hanging loosely between his lips.

as he walked to the counter, he noticed a pale, blue-haired boy staring at him. tyler smiled and winked as he walked by. the boy seemed taken aback, and tyler laughed lightly at his apparent discombobulation.

"coconut smoothie. green straw. thanks." tyler rudely greeted the cashier, still trying to keep up his badass rep.

the person working at the counter stared at him for a second, probably wondering how a human being could possibly be so disrespectful.

"i'm sorry, but we're out of coconuts. the blue-haired guy over there used the last of them. would you like something else?"

tyler sighed. "can i have a strawberry smoothie or are you out of those, too?"

"we have those. that would be $3.50."

tyler forked over a five and waited for his smoothie.

when it finally arrived, he picked it up, smiled dryly at the lady, and headed out, cigarette still between his teeth.

right before he pushed open the door, he heard a voice.

"those things'll kill you, you know."

tyler turned to see it was none other than the blue-haired boy.

"and dye'll make your hair fall out, but you don't seem to care."

"what are you trying to say?"

tyler chuckled and walked over to the boy's table.

"i'm saying that i can't wait until the day this thing kills me."

the boy glared at him. "don't joke about things like that. it's serious. cancer kills people."

"who says i was joking?" tyler winked.

"i do. you made it fairly obvious."

tyler shrugged and walked away. subconsciously, he lifted up his hoodie sleeve to scratch his arm. that's when josh just saw the edge of a red line imprinting the surface of the tyler's wrist. he stood up.

"wait."

tyler turned around, raising an eyebrow.

"you were being serious."

"i know i was being serious. what made you catch on?"

"your arm." he said.

tyler frowned for a second before covering it up with a smile. "oh, okay. 'seeing is believing' and all of that shit."

the boy slowly sat back down, motioning for tyler to come over. he did, and slid into the booth across from him.

"you from around here?" tyler asked.

"yeah. lived here my whole life."

"how old are you?"

"what is this, an interrogation?" he asked. "i'm 18."

tyler frowned. "why haven't i seen you around school?"

the boy's eyed widened, and he cleared his throat before answering. "g-guess we didn't have any classes t-together."

"no need to panic, dude, it was just a question." tyler said, feeling a bit concerned.

only a bit.

"anyway, i heard you got the last of the coconut." tyler brought up, motioning to his smoothie.

"oh really? i'm sorry. it's my favorite flavor."

tyler smiled sincerely. "mine too. what's your name, coconut boy?"

the boy laughed a bit in spite of himself. "josh."

"well, hello josh. name's tyler. tyler joseph. call me what you want. ty, ty-guy, whatever."

"what about daddy?"

tyler nearly choked on his smoothie.

"didn't expect that from you, josh. i guess that's the only thing you can't call me. not yet, anyway. can i have your number?"

josh nodded slowly, and they exchanged phone numbers.

"nice." tyler said, sliding out of the booth. "see you soon, josh."