teeth ↣ joshler ✓

10. Conflicted

Turns out, Brendon did decide to ask Jenna to homecoming.

He did it after the homecoming game and Tyler watched in disgust as Brendon's hand wrapped around her waist, trailing towards her ass.

Jenna let it happen though.

Josh questioned Tyler and asked him why she was letting Brendon do that.

He just told Josh that Jenna could handle herself.

And Tyler knew she could.

It was now Saturday— the day of the homecoming dance.

The plan was for Josh to meet at Tyler's while the latter ordered pizza and then they'd meet Jenna at the dance.

Tyler assumed Brendon wouldn't be there.

After all, Jenna did want to grab dinner before the dance.

Although that was the plan, Tyler had woken up in a relatively shitty mood. He assumed it was because he hadn't fed since Sunday night. He hadn't time. Well, Jenna hadn't had time. He refused to go without her. He was too scared.

The two usually fed off of animals. Because they did so, they ended up killing the animals. It wasn't something Tyler wanted to do obviously but he really had no choice.

However, that usually wasn't enough for them. Once a month, they fed on something a little more filling...

And Tyler hated that it was people.

He was glad that he only had to do it about once a month. He was glad he only had to take enough for sustenance. He never had to kill someone. He didn't require that much. But animals weren't enough for their kind. And Tyler hated it.

And although Tyler's control has gotten better, he still didn't trust himself to feed without Jenna. Especially off of a person.

So there Tyler was, laying on his bed, starving, and wanting to cease to exist.

His parents had just left to go see a movie and Josh was supposed to be there in an hour. Tyler knew he should start getting ready but he really could not bring himself to.

Things with Josh were... weird.

Tyler knew he shouldn't get attached to Josh. Couldn't. But... it was getting harder and harder. He wasn't like in love with the kid but he enjoyed having Josh around more than he thought he would. Seeing Josh was like the highlight of his day.

He would never admit that to anybody.

But he was also mad at Jenna for bringing Josh into his life when. It would be harder when shit inevitably went down.

He was conflicted.

And finding out Josh was gay didn't help either. Once again, Tyler wasn't in love with him, but like it added extra layer to things. Especially when Tyler offered Josh his jacket— oh god he offered Josh his jacket that's a sign of flirting Josh probably thinks he likes him.

Tyler groaned and covered his face with his hands. "Fuck!" He yelled.

He grabbed his phone off the charger and called Jenna, holding it to his ear and pouting.

She answered a few moments later. "Hey, Ty," she chirped.

"I like being around Josh but I think it's just in a friendly way and he makes life suck a little less but I could also potentially murder him in a heartbeat because I don't have one of those— a heartbeat —but I don't want him to think I have a big crush on him or anything because as of now I think I just like being friends with him but also I wouldn't mind dating him because he's cool but like I'm not out to seduce him or anything—"

"Tyler, breathe," Jenna told him softly. "I'm putting you on speaker while I curl my hair but we're gonna talk through this."

"Okay," Tyler whispered.

"What are you scared about?" She asked.

"Hurting Josh. I know I wasn't super psyched to be his friend when I met him but he caught me on a bad day. Plus, I really like him— y'know, as a person. I want to still be his friend."

"Okay... so why are you worried about dating him if you just want to be friends?"

Tyler sighed. "I don't know. I don't know how my emotions work, Jenna. You know this," he paused. "It's like this, okay? If he asked my out, I wouldn't say no to a date. I'm not going to sit there and actively have a crush on him. I just feel like us finding out each other are gay made things weird kinda? Not like weird in a bad way but it like... opened doors. I'm not going to develop a crush on a straight guy but knowing he's gay scares me because if I do end up liking him I could really hurt him."

Jenna let out a quiet hum. "So is this going to be weird for you?"

"Is what?"

"Going to homecoming with him. As friends."

"I don't know," Tyler replied truthfully. "I really don't know. Maybe I'm just in a mood right now because I'm hungry and tired and I get whiny and grumpy when I'm hungry and tired. I don't know."

"I'll talk to Josh. I'll assess the situation. Find out how he's feeling."

"Thanks," Tyler breathed out.

"Of course, babe. Even if he doesn't like you and it gets you some closure."

"Jenna?"

"Yeah?"

"I gave him my jacket. At the game last night."

"That's not gonna help!"

"Well he was freezing! He didn't think it was going to be as cold as it was and I don't have to regulate a body temperature anymore because I'm not alive," he said in an obvious tone. "I was just being nice."

"That's what I call fueling the fire."

Tyler let out a whine. "Jenna!"

"Not my fault!" She defended.

It was silent for a moment. "Jenna?" He repeated.

"Yeah?"

"What did I do if I do end up liking him?" He asked fearfully. "You know how I am with my emotions I don't know how to control them anymore. They're mainly negative but what happens if I like him?"

Jenna let out a small sigh. "I guess we cross that bridge when we get there. Don't think ahead or you will like him and that won't do us any good. If he doesn't like you then we have one less thing to worry about."

"Okay..."

"I gotta go. Brendon will be here soon," Tyler could hear the smirk in her voice. "I'll see you at the dance."

"Okay," Tyler repeated. "I love you."

"I love you too. Always and forever," Jenna replied before ending the call.

Tyler let out a huff and set his phone down. Another groan left his mouth.

He wished liking a boy was the biggest thing he had to worry about.

Now it was just him worrying about killing the boy he would maybe develop a future crush on.

Tyler just hoped it didn't lead to anything. He hoped it was just a false alarm.