Enamored //joshler

1. the cute boy

2971 words

the august heat is relentless as tyler heads to his first class of the semester, fingers gripped tight around the straps of his bag. he walks with his head down, as usual, desperate to avoid eye contact with anyone he might know. it's not that he doesn't like people, really, it's just that he hates when he makes eye contact with someone he knows from far away as they're walking towards each other. when is the appropriate time to smile? to say hi? tyler overthinks it, so he just keeps his eyes down. if anyone wants to talk to him, they'll have to get his attention.

the yellow sun blares overhead, causing a bead of sweat to roll down the brunette's temple. he quickly wipes it away, desperate to not look like a wreck on the first day of class. he's heading to one of his english classes—advanced creative writing. he took the intro course last year and loved the professor. thankfully, she also teaches this section.

it's 9:50am when tyler finds his classroom. ten minutes early, as he had planned for. he had developed a habit of making it ten minutes early to every class after he once arrived exactly on time and found his unassigned assigned seat had been stolen. plus, being early on the first day is crucial to picking a good seat. he chooses a seat in the second to last row of desks closest to the door. he's happy. this is the perfect spot.

tyler settles into his seat, pulling his phone out of his pocket. he opens the imessage groupchat he shares with his closest friends: brendon, ryan, and ashley. him, brendon, and ashley actually rent an off-campus house together, exactly one minute away from campus. ryan stays in a single in one of the dorms on campus. he got lucky with that—at their small liberal arts private school, most singles get delegated to seniors. they're only juniors.

made it to class !

ry 🍪:
save me a seat. be there soon :)

bren 🍭:
god kill me i'm so tired

ash 🍯:
it's literally 10am brendon

bren 🍭:
and maybe i went to bed at 4 ok??

tyler smiles to himself, secretly hoping nobody takes the seat next to him so ryan can sit there. he's an english major like tyler, so they end up having quite a few classes together. that's how they met, actually, in an english class freshman year. it was through ryan that tyler met ashley. he then met brendon at a frat party that the two friends forced him to go to. he very quickly introduced them to brendon and it was basically love at first sight between him and ryan.

speaking of, ryan enters the classroom now, offering tyler a big smile. they had just seen each other yesterday while everyone helped tyler unpack and decorate his room, but ryan was his best friend. they always missed each other when they were apart.

"hey ty!" he greets, sliding in the seat beside the boy.

tyler smiles at the nickname. "hi ry. how was your mornin'?"

"meh, it was alright. i actually woke up early enough to shower but i kinda regret it because i'm really tired. how was yours?"

"s'good," tyler says, shuffling in his seat. "ashley made me a blueberry waffle and watched cartoons with me before i had to leave."

ryan shoots him a knowing glance, to which tyler whispers, "no, i don't feel little right now."

whatever ryan is about to say gets cut off as the professor enters the room, greeting the class with a good morning.