sue me | joshler ✓

FOURTEEN

tyler wiped the sweat off his brow and took out his water bottle to take a drink. tyler and his team were currently warming up for their basketball tournament. it was at their school so they had a home court advantage.

tyler was off his game. he has been for the past week. he didn't know why he was playing so bad. tyler never played bad. to make things worse, college scouts we're coming to watch and if he didn't do good, he had no chance of getting a full ride scholarship and he needed to play basketball in college.

there were 30 minutes until the first game and the team was warming up. tyler was about to grab a basketball when he saw his dad walk through the doors. uneasiness started to settle and his stomach started to turn.

chris walked up to him and immediately scolded him. "your form is terrible, tyler. you need to bend your knees when you are shooting"

tyler nodded, panic appearing on his face. he went to the free throw line and dribbled before shooting it, the ball going into the net. he smiled at himself but that went away when his dad opened his mouth.

"no tyler you didn't do it right" his dad said angrily.

tyler frowned at his dad. "but I made it?" he said confusingly.

"It doesn't matter if you made it or not, if your form is bad the coaches aren't going to want you on their team!" chris shouted loudly which brought the attention to the other teammates.

this was all too much for tyler and he felt his breaths getting shorter and his throat was burning. he needed to get out of there.

tyler quickly excused himself and jogged out of the gym and leaned against the wall, letting out pants. the pressure to be this perfect person was too much. it was too loud. he couldn't breathe.

josh walked out of the testing room with a smile on his face. he knew he did well on the ACT. his goal was at least a 28.

pushing his glasses further on his nose, he walked down the hallway. his mom preferred he wear his glasses for big tests like that. as he was walking near the gym to go to his parents car that he took, he saw tyler leaning against the wall. his eyebrows furrowed and he walked up to him.

"tyler?" he asked curiously.

tyler's head snapped up and he looked at josh. "what the fuck are you doing here?"

josh taken back by his sudden outburst. not in the mood to start an argument he ignored it.

"I just took the ACT. why aren't you in the gym? perfect basketball star out of shape? maybe you should stop juuling and smoking weed" josh joked.

"I can't b-breathe you idiot" he replied. josh immediately sobered up. he knew what was happening.

"let's go in the lockeroom. you're having a panic attack" josh said quietly as he pulled him into the lockeroom. he sat tyler down on the benches.

"what's the matter?" he asked tyler. tyler went to open his mouth but nothing came out. his breaths increased rapidly and his eyes started to water. he felt pathetic.

"okay no talking, that's okay. I know no one likes to hear this but take huge deep breaths, in and out" he told tyler.

"c-can you talk to me? anything please distract me" tyler said quietly. josh nodded and grabbed tyler's hand and gave it a squeeze. he didn't know if tyler liked to be touched during things like this but he smiled when tyler made no effort to pull away.

"yesterday I got home from school and abbie was in jim's cage and they were sleeping" josh laughed at that memory. tyler gave a disgusted look at the thought of being in a dirty dogs cage.

"I was at tacobell with darren and there was this really cute guy working and—" josh spoke before tyler cut him off, feeling a twinge of jealousy.

"I don't give a shit about what guys you fucking like, stop talking about it" tyler snapped.

josh released his hand. "okay dude, I know you aren't feeling too good right now but you don't have to be mean. all I was trying to do was help. you seem a little better now, so I'm gonna go. whatever triggered you into panicking, when you get out on the court it'll be forgotten. you are one of the best players this school has ever seen. goodluck tyler" he said sadly before walking out of the lockeroom.

tyler groaned. "i'm literally the biggest asshole for no reason" he said to himself. he collected himself before walking out of the lockeroom.

"where have you been?" coach Ike yelled when he walked in.

"sorry coach I had to use the bathroom" he lied. he nodded and the team huddled up for a talk before the game. once they were done the buzzer rang and they were about to go to their positions.

"make me and the scouts proud tyler" he heard his dad call out to him. tyler smiled nervously and turned his attention back to the game.

make dad proud make dad proud.

later that evening, the joseph's sat in the living room with a box of pizza on the coffee table, a reality tv on the tv that no one was watching because they were all on their phones.

"so—" kelly started. "—did any coaches talk to you today?" she said excitedly. tyler was about to open his mouth but his dad beat him to it.

"no they didn't. he didn't play well" his dad said rolling his eyes. tyler thought he played fine. he practically won all 3 games for his team.

"it's okay dad, they were oklahoma coaches. I don't want to go to oklahoma" he said.

chris scoffed. "it doesn't matter as long as you get that scholarship"

tyler frowned but covered it up with a smile. "you're right dad. i'll try harder next time"

chris grinned and patted him on the back. "that's my boy"