next door » joshler [book #1]

twenty five » you tried

he's awoken at seven by a worried, upset tyler who's nearly frantic in his attempts to wake josh.

"i'm sorry," he's gasping out, tears rolling down his cheeks. "j-josh, i'm so sorry."

"whhuhh?" josh props himself up and rubs sleep out of his eyes. "tyler?"

tyler collapses onto him. "i did something r-really bad," he whimpers.

"what happened?"

"it's about yesterday."

josh pauses. oh. then yes, it most likely is something very bad, and he feels something burn in his stomach. he barely managed a 'what?', his throat going dry.

"my ex-girlfriend... i..." tyler curls up and his words are muffled and rushed. "ifuckedher."

"what?"

before tyler can repeat himself, josh realizes what he said. and he freezes.

no.

no, he didn't.

"josh?" tyler asks nervously. "i'm sorry."

to his surprise, josh's answer is a nearly monotonous: "okay." after a pause, he adds, still in that same tone: "i forgive you."

"y-you do?"

"yes."

josh regards him with blank eyes. no disappointment, no anger, no sadness. he's... he's become a shell. he slowly pushes tyler off of him and rolls to the other side of the bed.

"i'm going back to bed."

tyler starts. "what?"

"can i fucking get some sleep?" josh snaps. "fuck off, tyler."

"o-okay."

and quietly, he leaves the room.

-

when josh wakes up, he's showing no emotion. he's monotonous, robotic, responding blandly and even forgoing his usual coffee to leave the house. he says he's going to starbucks.

tyler stays behind and cries.

he should have known something like this would happen, but the severity of josh's reaction terrifies him.

josh comes back with two starbucks coffees. he hands one to tyler silently and says, "the landlord isn't here right now."

"what?" asks tyler, choking on a vanilla bean frappucino.

"i'm going to ask him if i can move back into my apartment," josh answers steadily. "and you can bring your exgirlfriend here."

"josh, i don't want you to move out," tyler gasps, horrified.

there's a dry tone to his boyfriend's voice. "did you think that while you fucked her?"

"josh..."

"save your breath, tyler. this isn't the first time i've had someone cheat on me, and believe me, i know exactly how it ends. they say they'll stop and a week later, they just 'happen' to be at their friends house, and oops, they're drunk." there's a sick smile on josh's face. he's never opened up about his past before, and the shock on tyler's face is entertaining.

"are you breaking up with me?" tyler breathes.

josh raises an eyebrow. "dude, how fucking dense are you...?"

and tyler starts crying.

fuck that. he's sobbing. he stutters out a stupid, stupid apology and stumbles off, the tears flowing down his cheeks.

josh watches him go.

and doesn't feel a shred of remorse about acting so mean.

//lmao u better be happy abt all these updates.. idk what im doing?? read my fuckin jalex fic it's rly gay and it's sick as frick//