Beaches

sixteen

(song for chapter: HEAVEN - Troye Sivan)

~Tyler~

It's four am. The house is dead silent. I creep out of my room and knock softly on Tyler's door.

"Josh?" I whisper. "It's me."

He slowly unlocks his door and opens it. There are tears streaming down his face. He stares at me for a moment and then hugs me tightly. I hold him and he cries softly into my shoulder.

"Do you want to go?" I whisper.

He nods his head when we pull away. He holds my hand and we tip toe downstairs. We're so careful not to make the slightest noise. We hear a door open down the hall where everyone else stays. Josh quickly unlocks the door and we get out before anyone catches us. My heart races with every step we take to the driveway.

"Where do we go?" He asks.

"No clue." I say.

He pauses before talking again.

"Do you want to go to the beach?" He asks.

"At four in the morning?" I smile.

"It's nice there." He says.

"I'll go anywhere with you." I smile.

We get into our cars when we see a light go on inside our house. We drive off. I follow him down to the shore which isn't that far from the house. My phone lights up with texts in the passenger seat but I don't dare check them. We park in the lot and walk out together. We sit in front of the water together and stare out. He looks so beautiful right now. Nothing in the world matters here. I look over at him and put my head on his shoulder.

"I love you." I say.

"I love you too." He says.

~Josh~

After while, the horizon begins to brighten, Tyler fell asleep on the ground beside me. I had put my sweater under his head as a pillow. I tried to fall asleep earlier but I couldn't. Part of me wants to go back to the house. I hear the sand under Tyler move around as he sits up. This isn't the first time he's woken up beside me. We've never done anything of course, we've just slept in the same bed before.

"Good morning." I smile at him.

He rubs his eyes.

"What time is it?" He asks.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and check. I ignore the several text messages and read off the time.

"Six." I say. "Do you wanna check on the guys?"

"Maybe." He sighs.

I stand and shake the sand off of my jeans. Tyler does the same and shakes out my sweater too. He hands it over to me but I tell him he can keep it. We get back into our cars and drive back home. I'm shaking and my heart beats out of my chest. We pull up and get out. Before we go into the house we take a deep breath. I slowly open the door and we walk in. Nathan, Bianca, and Skylar sit on the couch together. Kate is no where to be seen. They turn around and look at us as soon as they hear the door open. Kate's face turns dark red. My hands sweat. I've never been more nervous in my life. Bianca gets up from the couch and walks over to us. She looks back and fourth between us and then hugs me. She then gives Tyler a hug too.

"I'm so glad you guys are alright." She smiles. "I was worried when I saw you guys weren't in your rooms."

Nathan and Skylar hug us too. Tyler seems a lot better now, and that makes me feel better.