hooked ↣ joshler ✓

11. Hangover

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Groaning, Tyler squinted his eyes and slowly sat up. He listened for a moment, trying to identify the sound that woke him.

Tap. Tap.

It was then he realized the noise was coming from his window. He slowly got out of bed, instantly grabbing he head as he felt pain shoot through it. He mumbled cuss words under his breath and approached the window. Hayley was standing there, a scowl on her face and in sunglasses despite it being cloudy.

So she was hungover too.

Once Hayley saw Tyler through the window, she flipped him off. He slightly smiled and shielded his eyes. Pointing to the window, he tried mouthing that it was stuck, but to no avail Hayley didn't understand. He opted for grabbing his phone instead, seeing that he had four missed calls and seven texts from her.

"One, we're gonna be late and if I didn't have art first period, I wouldn't care. Two, my head is pounding and I wanna choke you out for every pebble I threw and every call you missed so I would walk a little father away from me today," she sneered quietly into the phone, careful not to be loud for both her and Tyler.

"'M sorry," he whispered back insincerely. "I passed out as soon as I got home and my mom put this dumbass lock on my window."

"Isn't that a fire hazard?"

"Probably," he answered, tugging on his jeans with his phone in between his shoulder and ear. "Now I can only sneak in and out while she's at work, explaining why I was so late getting to your house."

"Just hurry up we have twenty minutes before class starts," she ordered, dodging the rest of the conversation about Kelly.

"Sorry, you highness," Tyler smirked, grabbing his jacket and mostly empty backpack before hanging up his phone. Eyeing his room, he made sure he got everything before he saw the almost empty bag of weed on his dresser. He hasn't smoked any in about two days and he was itching for it, plus his hangover was killing him. He snatched the bag up, hoping Hayley had paper, and quickly but quietly shut his door and ran down the stairs.

As soon as Tyler was about to grasp the doorknob, it twisted and the door pushed towards him, revealing Kelly yawning and rubbing her eyes with her somewhat free hand.

She gave him a tired smile. "Have a good day at school, Tyler."

"Whatever," he replied, refraining from rolling his eyes and making his headache worse. He walked out the door and spotted Hayley waiting on the sidewalk. He heard his mom sadly sigh before she shut the door, leaving him outside with his best friend.

"Hurry up," Hayley snapped and began walking.

"Love you too!" Tyler called back quietly, laughing to himself at her behavior.

---

The two were sitting at lunch with Hayley resting her head down and Tyler picking at his pizza when Josh walked up and sat down next to Tyler.

"Yes?" The brunette asked, wanting to know what Josh wanted.

"I need your help," Josh told him. Tyler just raised an eyebrow, motioning for him to go on. "I have to take stuff to some kid after school and I don't have a way to get there."

"Are you asking me if I can give you a ride?"

"Yeah," Josh nodded. "It's okay if you can't but it's like a half hour walk and-"

Tyler cut the rambling boy off. "Chill. Yes I can give you a ride. We'll just have to walk to my house to get my car."

"Really?"

"He said yes, didn't he?" Hayley mumbled rudely, her head still on the table.

"Hayley!" Tyler scolded, feeling protective over the boy now sitting quietly and looking down at the ground.

"I'm going to the bathroom, I'll see you later, Ty," she picked up her bag and walked out of the cafeteria.

Tyler noticed Josh still looking down and frowned. "It's okay, she's a bit hungover and she snaps when she's grumpy," Tyler nervously laughed. Josh lifted his head and gave Tyler an unconvinced look. He ignored it. "But yes, I'll give you a ride after school," he repeated. Trying to change the subject he asked Josh something. "Who're you delivering to?"

"Some kid named Ryan Ross, we're meeting him by the coffee shop on 131st," Josh informed him.

"You're delivering to Ryan?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah...?" Josh confirmed. "Wait is this the Ryan that Hayley said Brendon hooks up with when he pretends to be studying?"

Tyler nodded. "And things didn't go too well between the two the last time they hung out. He still won't tell us what happened, but it might mean he's not gonna be too friendly towards me being friends with Brendon and all..." he trailed off.

"Well," Josh sucked in a breath. "Let's hope he's not upset with you. You're not Brendon so he doesn't have a valid reason to. I can just give him the weed, he'll give me the money, and we won't have to cross paths again."

"Unless he buys more from you," Tyler pointed out.

"I don't sell it, I just deliver it," Josh replied.

"Same thing."

Tyler knew Josh was about to respond when he opened his mouth, but he was quickly cut off when two girls walked over, giggling.

"Hey, Tyler," one of them purred, dragging her manicured finger down the brunette's arm.

"Hey, ladies," Tyler responded, knowing he never paid enough attention to remember their names.

"I'm gonna take this as my cue to leave," Josh said uncomfortably, getting up. "Dallon's probably wondering why I'm still over here, I told him I was asking you a question about a non-existent project we're doing together in history."

"Sounds good," Tyler hummed distractedly. He then remembered why Josh was even over by him in the first place. "I'll see you after school, meet me by my car!" he called after him. Josh held up a thumbs up, letting Tyler know he was heard.

He looked back over to the girls sitting across from him. "Now, where were we?" He grinned.