theres probably typos let me live thanks
At home he plans in his notebook, a pencil tight in his grip. He sketches out the shape of his backyard, it scares him but he needs to plant flowers so everything will be okay.
He'll do patches of each, and around the yellow carnation he'll plant more and more of them so the single one is no longer lonesome.
He'll plant them tonight.
*
He's distracted at work but not by flowers, he's distracted by Josh, Josh makes him forget. He's distracted by how Josh keeps touching him, a hand on his shoulders, fingers touching his arm, a hand ruffling his hair. He's hyper focused on everything Josh does, his smile, his movements, his words. At work, he can focus on things that aren't flowers and scary gardens, he can focus on Josh.
And focus he does.
He offers to drive Josh home once their shift ends and Josh falls asleep within the first few minutes of them being the car. When they were still in the parking lot, he'd said. "I'm just going to shut my eyes for a little bit." And then proceeded to pass out.
Tyler forgot Josh was in the car until he was parked in his driveway
Tyler touches Josh's shoulder. "Dude." He whispers, a gentle shake.
Josh groans, clearly he doesn't want to wake up but Tyler watches as he slowly cracks open his eyes. "Shit," He yawns, looking around as he sits up properly and arches his back. "Sorry, I fell asleep. Today was a long day."
"Nah it's fine, I um-brought you to mine." As thought it's not obvious. "I can still drive you back home though, I kind of blanked and drove here out of habit." Tyler shrugs like it won't bother him if Josh says no.
Josh actually smiles at him, ruffling his pink hair. "Yeah sure, it'll be fun."
Tyler nervously nods and leads him inside. Josh stays close to him, eyes narrowing on the old paneling and older porch that wraps around the house. The wood creaks under them as they stand on the porch and the door freaks even louder when Tyler pushes it open.
*
He tells Josh about his mom after Tyler changes out of his work uniform. He doesn't know why he does it, but he tells him. The words feel right in the moment.
"So you live alone?" Josh asks quietly, his eyes are full of wonder and curiosity as Tyler leads them to the living room. He must have questions, it's inevitable. He's made it this far. He'll tell him.
"Yeah, I live alone." Tyler wants to explain and he doesn't know why, he doesn't understand. He leans against the wall. "Do you want to know about my mom?" He asks, everyone wants to know about her, Josh may be new but he's no different, he wants to know why Tylers alone. "It's okay if you do."
Josh frowns, he's either confused or intrigued. Tyler can't tell. "Did something happen to her?"
"She's gone." Is Tyler's answer, he picks at his nails and then his cuticles. His movements are careful and slow. "The town likes to make conspiracies about where she went, cops never got involved." Like Nicole and her family, everyone here makes assumptions.
"Why?" Josh is staring at him.
"She was an escort," Tyler says, the words hurt to say, his throat burns. "She jumped off a bridge three years ago." It's the story Tyler tells, the safe one, the one he cherishes.
Josh pales, mouth opening and closing. Nobody knows what to say. "Shit, I-i'm sorry for your loss."
Josh is nice, Tyler hopes he cares. Tyler slumps over to the couch. "I'm over it. I just thought I should tell you I guess, before someone else did." He sits beside Josh, close, so close.
