Under The Covers {joshler}

junior year - part thirteen

Josh was sat in the music room, trying to fix his trumpet when Emma found him.

"Hey stranger." She smiled and Josh looked up to greet her.

"Hey." He laughed.

"So, I had a good time last night." She smiled as she pulled up a chair opposite him.

"Yeah, probably only one more study session and we should have it finished." Josh said still fiddling with his trumpet.

"Oh, yeah I guess." She sounded dejected and Josh gave up on his futile efforts to unstick his trumpet, putting it down. "Did you maybe want to go to iHop to celebrate when we finish? Or the cinema maybe I heard there's some good films on at the moment?" She seemed so hopeful so Josh nodded awkwardly.

"Okay!" She said excitedly, "It's a date." She grabbed her things standing up and Josh stood up too.

"A date?" He questioned but she didn't seem to hear him. Instead she leant forward and pressed her lips to Josh's.

Josh froze for a second before realising what was happening and pushing her off gently.

"Woah, hey, sorry but I-I don't like you like that Emma." Josh flushed bright red with embarrassment. Emma looked mortified.

"I'm sorry, I just thought that- I'm sorry." Emma covered her mouth before practically running out of the music room.

"Shit." Josh breathed out, not sure if he should go after her or not. He decided to give her some space, putting his trumpet away.

He bumped into Tyler on his way to his locker and Tyler refused to look at him.

"Hey?" Josh smiled but Tyler didn't look up.

"Hey." He mumbled.

"Is something wrong?" Josh asked concerned.

"Actually..." Tyler took a deep breath and looked up at him. "I just wanted to say that, I'm moving on so it's okay if-if you want to."

"Tyler, what?" Josh stared on baffled, he searched Tyler's face for an explanation but found nothing.

"It was stupid to hold onto my feelings for you, I'm sorry. You deserve to be happy." Tyler forced a smile before pushing past Josh and disappearing down the corridor.

Josh stared after him, his heart thumping loudly. He couldn't process what Tyler was saying, that he didn't like him anymore? That after everything that they'd gone through, Tyler had finally given up waiting for him. He had no one to blame but himself, he ran a shaking hand over his face, realising this is exactly how he must've made Tyler feel when he'd walked out on him. He was an idiot and this was nothing short of what he deserved.

Tyler and Josh seemed to avoid each other for the rest of the week, making everything awkward. But as Friday arrived Nick continued to talk about how his party that weekend was sure to be his best yet.

"Joshua Dun get your scrawny butt down here right this instant!" Ashley Dun shouted up the stairs. Hayley giggled as Josh's sister huffed angrily trying to put in a pair of hooped earrings.

Josh huffed and groaned before appearing on the top of the stairs.

"This is my first high school party. I'm not missing out because you're being a little bitch over a boy." Ashley said and Josh pouted.

"Stop sulking and have a good night Josh." Hayley whined, putting out grabby hands for him.

"Fine." He huffed, he put up a finger to wait before dashing into his room. Hayley and Ashley high-fived with a laugh.