Colors // Joshler

// 41. So Out Of Place //

Tyler didn't text his mother to come pick him up, or ask for a ride from one of his friends in the clique. Once he started running, he felt like he couldn't stop. He ran out of the classroom, out of the school, all the way home. Running from the purple wave that threatened to crash down on him.

When he got home, all the lights were off in the house, and the door was locked, so he had to use his key. Apparently, nobody seemed to have remembered or cared that he wasn't home, because there was no parent in the kitchen waiting for him to return. No note on the fridge. No 'be home by 11' text.

It didn't matter, anyway. He didn't want to have to lie about the details.

Tyler just stood there in the kitchen at first, panting and sweating from the run. He felt so out of place, like a splash of orange in a gray painting. He waited until his heart had stopped racing, then he went upstairs and to his room.

Tyler took off his clothes from the dance and threw them on the floor, not at all in the mood to put them away. He put on a t-shirt and some pajama pants and crawled into bed, shutting out the light and closing his eyes tightly.

After about fifteen minutes of trying to sleep, he gave up. How could he ever sleep at all, after what had happened?

It almost didn't feel real, but Tyler knew that while he did fantasize about a lot of different things, he'd never daydreamed of kissing Josh before. So it had to have happened.

Yes, it must have. When Tyler closed his eyes, he was right back there, in that empty classroom.

With a sigh, Tyler grabbed his extra pillow and put it over his head. None of it was supposed to have happened, and he shouldn't have let it go that way. But now he had, because the pink feeling had overcome him.

But it wasn't just 'the pink feeling' anymore, really. Because now, Tyler knew its name.

It was affection. And despite his wishes, Tyler would fantasize about it for the rest of the night.