fatten you up // joshler

nineteen

The following morning, Tyler was incredibly quiet. The whole crew had found out about the incident and decided to let Josh and Tyler have a bus to themselves while they drove to the next city.

However, it was torture for Josh. As soon as they left the hotel room, Tyler started ignoring him. Josh kept trying to get his attention and talk, but Tyler was treating him as if he wasn't even there. If Tyler was sitting in the front of the bus and Josh joined him, he would immediately get up and head to the back lounge area. Later when Josh decided to head back there and play a video game, Tyler left immediately and crawled into his bunk. And they still had nine hours left to go.

Josh really didn't understand it. Didn't Tyler want comfort? He surely did yesterday, and it must be eating away at him keeping those thoughts to himself. Josh sighed to himself. Maybe it would do him some good if he tried to take a nap. After all, he was pretty restless himself last night.

After climbing into his own bunk and throwing a blanket over himself, he was about to close the curtain, but caught himself staring at Tyler's bunk, directly opposite to his own. His curtain was closed and there weren't any sounds heard to be coming from the small space.

Josh really hoped he was sleeping. He really needed it.

The older boy sighed quietly to himself again before pulling his own curtain shut.

•••••

Josh groaned when he was woken up by soft knocks outside of his bunk. "What?" He asked, muffled from being facedown in his pillow.

"We're at the next hotel," came Tyler's quiet voice, obviously not wanting to speak to his boyfriend at all, but he definitely had to right then.

Josh furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. They were already there? He checked his phone to look at the time, and sure enough, it was much later than he had planned to wake up when he decided on his nap.

Man, must've been more tired than I thought.

He got up slowly, opening the curtain and swinging his legs over the side of the bunk. After slipping on his shoes and grabbing his things, he realized Tyler had already left the bus.

Once he reached the lobby, he froze in his tracks. The entire crew was already there, passing out their room keys and talking about the next day's schedule. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for who was standing next to Tyler.

"Hey, Josh!" Jenna called once she realized he was there.

Josh gave her a tight smile, walking  stiffly towards her. "Hey. I didn't know you were joining us!" He hoped he didn't sound angry or sarcastic. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tyler bow his head, obviously becoming uncomfortable.

Jenna just gave Josh a smile. "Tyler texted me last night and wanted me to come out, so here I am!"

Josh was hurt. Tyler had really asked Jenna to come out last night? When he was comforting him? He opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Mark.

"Okay - Ty, Jen, here are your keys." He handed them the plastic cards, "we're leaving for the venue at 11 tomorrow morning so please be at the buses by then." Mark then turned to Josh and handed him a key, "and here's your key Josh."

Josh took it slowly, his face twisting with confusion. "I don't have the same key as Tyler?"

Tyler still stared at the floor, now starting to bite at his bottom lip. Jenna looked around awkwardly. "Um, yeah! He actually wanted to room with me tonight, if that's okay with you."

Josh opened his mouth, wanting to scream, yell, anything, but thought against it and shut it. Mark sensed the tension and quickly walked away, not wanting to get involved - at least just yet.

Josh continued to think of what to say, Jenna and Tyler clearly growing more uncomfortable as time passed.

Josh breathed slowly through his nose, putting on his best fake smile. "Of course it's fine! Why wouldn't it be?"

Jenna's face lit up. "Oh, awesome! We'll see you in the morning then." She then grabbed her suitcase, as well as Tyler's, and headed for the elevator, Tyler following closely behind.

Josh waited until the elevator doors closed before he pressed the button, requesting an elevator for himself. When it dinged, he stepped on and pressed his floor number. Luckily nobody else boarded the elevator after him. He really didn't want to be around anybody right now.

Once in the safety of his room, Josh fell flat on the single bed and buried his head in the pillow. He sniffled, tears brimming his eyes.

Why was Jenna here? It was quite obvious to Josh that he wasn't enough for Tyler. Jenna was clearly the better option, and it just took him a while to fully realize that. Josh broke into sobs then, muffled by the pillow and tears running repeatedly down his cheeks. He had thought things had been going better than ever lately, but he knew he was wrong now.

How could I be so stupid? He thought.

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