Just Friends //joshler&bryler [✔]

six

the next day, tyler sat alone at lunch.

he watched josh walk in the cafeteria. he smiled at tyler, but went straight for debby. tyler felt his heart shatter all over again.

he sat silently, no food, eyes never leaving josh. josh seemed to be having a great time. him and debby were laughing, touching each other, smiling. debby had a beautiful smile. no wonder why josh loved her. tyler had a crooked smile with crooked teeth. he was nothing in comparison to her.

tyler couldn't take it anymore.

he left the cafeteria and locked himself in a bathroom stall. he clawed at his forearms, not comfortable in his own skin. why couldn't he be good enough for josh? did josh still love him?

tyler didn't notice the trails of blood spewed across his arms until they started stinging. he stared down at them, a blank expression on his face.

was josh going to ever talk to him again? was that it? not even a goodbye?

tyler hated this. he hated thinking about josh. it made his chest burn and stomach ache.

he quickly rinsed his arms, gently drying them with a paper towel. he rolled his sleeves back down, put his hood back up, and went to his next period.

thankfully, debby wasn't in their study hall last period.

"sorry i didn't sit with you at lunch, did you get any food?"

"do i ever?" tyler thought.

he shook his head.

"are you hungry?"

"no."

"are you sure?"

"yeah."

tyler couldn't bring himself to eat. he never really had an appetite, considering he was sad almost all the time.

"okay, well i had a great day. i got debby's number, and dude, oh my god, she's amazing!"

tyler nodded, more interested in drawing scribbles in his sketchbook.

"i think i'm going to hang out with her this weekend, but i dunno yet."

tyler's heart dropped into his stomach. what about him? what if he needed josh?

"cool," he spoke through gritted teeth.

"can you hang out after school?"

tyler quickly picked his head up, locking eyes with josh. can he? probably not. was he going to anyway? hell yes. he'd rather hang out with josh and take the beating for it than not.

"sure."

"sweet! want to go to taco bell?"

tyler nodded.

"cool, do you think you'll be hungry by then?"

"probably not."

"oh that reminds me of debby! she has a huge appetite. it's so cute!"

tyler went back to staring at his sketchbook. debby was cute for eating a lot? how could she eat a lot and still look gorgeous? tyler would just get fat. did josh think tyler was ugly?

"ty? are you okay?"

"am i ugly?" he blurted out.

"no, of course you're not. i wouldn't be best friends with someone ugly," josh joked, but it didn't help lighten tyler's mood.

"too skinny?" tyler asked.

"um... well... yeah but that doesn't make you ugly. like i said before, you just look unhealthy."

tyler nodded. he couldn't wait to eat at taco bell.