Enamored //joshler

6. being vulnerable

5750 words

"i can't do this."

tyler stands in front of his mirror, smoothing his hands across the outfit ashley helped him pick out.

"yes you can. it's not a date, remember? just two friends hanging out," ashley encourages.

"but what are you gonna do?"

it's friday night. brendon has a party and ryan is with him at the frat house. that's not unusual, and tyler and ashley usually just hang out with each other. more specifically, tyler usually spends most of his weekend in little space and ashley doesn't mind staying in with him. he feels bad at the thought of abandoning her.

"i'm going out to bars with debby, actually," she says, rolling her eyes when tyler grins at her. ashley and debby have had an on-and-off weird situationship kind of fling going on since sophomore year.

"is that why you're dressed like that?" he asks, eyeing her through the mirror.

"what? you don't like it?"

"no. but i'm sure debby will."

ashley gasps. "what don't you like about it? do i look bad?"

tyler shakes his head. "no, you look pretty. just... not like ashley, is all."

the girl is wearing a tight, black leather mini-dress that hardly covers her chest and backside. tyler only ever sees her dress so provocative when debby is involved, and he doesn't like it. he can understand wanting to impress someone, sure, but ashley is his best friend and he doesn't like that she feels she has to dress differently to get attention from a girl that so clearly doesn't care about her. he hates having to put on a facade and wishes she didn't feel like she had to either.

"whatever," she mumbles, applying a thick coat of mascara. tyler asks if it would be weird for him to wear some too, to which ashley says of course not and applies some to his lashes as well.

he blinks at himself in the mirror afterward, already sweating as his nerves get the best of him. josh had texted him earlier that they would play games and watch movies and just hang out and enjoy each other's company. it sounded a lot like a date to tyler, but he was too afraid to confirm with the boy himself so he asked ashley's opinion. she told him it wasn't a date if neither of them said it was.

josh invited him to come around eight, and it's 7:40 now. tyler has never felt as scared to be alone with someone as he does now. not in a bad way, of course, he just doesn't know what to expect and it scares him. what games would they play? what movie would they watch? what was tyler supposed to do if he started regressing? he wouldn't have his friends there to save him this time.

"ashley?"

"hm?"

"i'm scared."

"it'll be okay. i'm sure you'll have a great time. i'll have my phone on me the whole night. brendon and ryan said they'd keep their phones on them, too. we'll check in with you throughout the night. if you start regressing and you can't age yourself back up, you can call one of us."

"well... what if josh expects me to sleep with him?"

"why would he think that?" ashley asks. "you're his friend, tyler. i seriously doubt that was the reasoning behind him inviting you over. you met him before the rest of us. he probably just wants to get to be better friends with you."

tyler groans, checking the time on his watch. "but he's so cute," he whines, "and i get so nervous around him. i don't know how to not be nervous. i'm worried he'll catch on that i like him."