Our Wrong Choice - Joshler

Chapter 6: High Speed Chase

They had done a leg of the tour in Australia and New Zealand that lasted a week or so. After that, they'd taken about a month off, but now, back on the road, Tyler was beginning to be really tired of travelling. It'd been almost a year of shows, all over the world and he loved it. He loved it so much, but he was reaching a point where he was ready to let 'Blurryface' go. He was ready and entirely not ready for the Emotional Roadshow to end. He and Josh both knew their time was running out and their month apart, after all these months side by side, had still been painful to endure. Things were tense at home between Jenna and he and while he understood why a rift had formed, she seemed to be trying desperately to bridge the gap between them. For that month, his guilt ravaged his soul. He'd barely slept, partially because of the weight of his actions hanging like a lead blanket on his shoulders but mostly because after sleeping beside his yellow-haired best friend for nearly a year, anything else paled in comparison. He'd missed the smell of his shampoo on his pillow. He'd even missed the smell of Josh's morning breath, when he kissed him awake each day.

They were heading to the comically named George, Washington. It was their second to last show of the official tour. They had a few more dates planned in exclusive clubs around the Columbus area but after that, it was back to the hiatus. Tyler had devious plans for the coming year but until then, he knew he'd have to go dark. He was looking forward to getting back into the creative flow, rather than playing things he loved but knew like the back of his hand.

He sat on the edge of Josh's bunk strumming his ukulele, while Josh sat in the kitchen eating a bowl of Cap'n Crunch. He was singing quietly under his breath when he was thrown into the wall of Josh's bunk and heard Josh's bowl crash to the floor as the bus's brakes squealed. They slammed to a halt and Josh was already on his feet, lifting Tyler by his elbow.

"You alright?" the yellow-haired man asked, his face puzzled and worried. Tyler nodded, and they moved to leave the bus and investigate. At the front of the bus, the driver was leaning from the window cursing.

"What's going on, man?" Tyler asked, praying it wasn't some sort of a mechanical difficulty. They were supposed to arrive in George by six in the morning and they were already a bit behind schedule.

"There's a dog in the road," the driver complained, "I think it's hurt or something." Tyler turned to look at Josh, but he was already walking ahead, toward a shadow in the headlights. Tyler followed him reluctantly. As they neared, the dog whimpered and tried to crawl away. He was a medium sized, curly haired mutt with floppy ears and a cropped tail. His back, right leg ended in a bloody stump.

"He's missing a leg," Tyler told Josh dully, grabbing his shoulder to keep him from approaching too quickly.

"Poor guy," Josh said, brushing off Tyler's hand. He crouched down and slowly made his way forward. The dog continued to whimper but showed no real signs of aggression.

Josh looked quickly over his shoulder at Tyler, his brown eyes blazing in the glare of the headlights, "I need something to feed him."

Tyler rolled his eyes but ran back into the bus and grabbed the first thing he could think of: a pack of slim jims. He ran back to the front of the bus and thrust the box into Josh's hand. The drummer ripped open one of the meat sticks and renewed his crawling toward the dog, who was staring at Josh with large, frightened eyes. When he was about a foot away, Josh slowly held the meat stick toward the dog. The dog sniffed it for a moment before leaning out to gently take it. Josh smiled triumphantly back at Tyler and took his chances to pet the dog.

"You're a good doggo," Josh cooed at the curly haired animal, scratching him behind the ears. The dog licked the fingers that had held the slim jim.