hooked ↣ joshler ✓

12. Ryan

As Tyler pulled into a parking spot a few buildings down from Red Velvet Cafe, Josh's anxiety spiked and he began to worry. This was different from Tyler or even Hayley since the blonde was with Tyler the whole time. Josh began to drum his fingers on his leg.

He saw Tyler look over. The brunette furrowed his eyebrows and shut the car off. "Are you okay?" he asked softly. Josh simply nodded and ran a hand through his hair, trying to take deep breaths. This happened the day he was delivering to Tyler, and that turned out okay.

Tyler gave him an unconvinced look, but opened his car door nonetheless. "Let's just get this done and over with."

Josh copied his movements and got out of the car, walking over to where Tyler was standing, cupping his hand over his mouth. Josh realized he was lighting a cigarette and his heart started racing even more.

"Ready?" Tyler asked, sucking in the nicotine.

"Yep," Josh replied. He shouldn't be surprised that he smokes, but it still upset him, reminding him of his parents.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Tyler blew out smoke. "I can go do it for you if you need me to."

"I'm fine," Josh lied, running his hand through his hair once again. Tyler mumbled something under his breath before taking another inhale of his cigarette. "What?"

"Nothing," Tyler responded.

"Okay," he replied, not wanting to pry.

The two kept walking in silence until they reached the tiny alleyway between the cafe and a music shop. There was a half-shadowed figure standing by the dumpster wedged in the back, on his phone.

The two approached him, stepping on shards of glass and alerting the boy. "Hey, Ry," Tyler said.

"Why the fuck are you here?" the mentioned boy asked.

"He's here with me," Josh informed him. "Wait, that sounded weird. He's here cause I needed a ride and-"

"Look, I couldn't care less," Ryan interrupted, "Just give me the shit," he pulled out his wallet and began to shuffle through it for money.

"Dude, don't gotta be rude about it. Josh's jus' nervous," Tyler defended him as he got the pot from his backpack.

"Bite me, Tyler," Ryan replied, putting his wallet back.

"Why? Cause Brendon won't anymore?"

"Joseph, you better watch-"

"Stop!" Josh shouted. It instantly became quiet. You could hear a pin drop. "Leave Tyler alone. It's not his fault Brendon doesn't like you anymore. Here–" Josh thrusted the bag of weed at him and snatched the money out of his hand as he stood there, surprised. "C'mon, Tyler, I just wanna go."

Tyler, just as stunned with Josh's outburst, walked off back towards his car. Once the two were back and Tyler was pulling out of the parking lot, Josh looked at him and smiled nervously.

"Thanks for the ride," he said sincerely.

"Yeah..." Tyler cleared his throat, unfocused.