No Matter What (Twenty One Pilots)

Chapter 24

A few hours later, Josh found himself in his own room with Tyler draped across his middle and his phone clutched tightly in his hand. After his mom had called while he and Debby were still sitting out on the porch swing, Debby had suggested that Josh go back to his own home to get some rest. Josh had only left once Debby promised that she would call him if she needed him, so naturally he hadn’t lost sight of his phone for more than a few seconds ever since he got home. Sure, he might be taking this all too seriously, but Debby was his first friend in a while, and if there was anything he could do to stop the sadness or at least help her out a little, he was going to be there for her as soon as he could.

“I didn’t like it, Ty,” Josh mumbled as his eyes traced patterns into his ceiling. Tyler scooted closer to Josh’s face and laid his head on his chest. “I didn’t like seeing her so sad. It hurt. Like, I don’t even know, Ty. I just didn’t like it.”

Tyler sighed and curled into Josh’s side, accepting the fact that they would probably be in there for the remainder of the day. It didn’t really bother him, mostly because he was with Josh and that’s all he really wanted, but also because all of the crying last night had tired him out. He had used all of his energy to try and cheer Debby up in the morning. He had chased bugs around and barked at falling leaves, doing everything that usually made Josh laugh, but he had barely gotten a smile out of Debby.

“Hey, sweetie,” Josh’s mom said from the door way. “How are you doing?”

“I’m okay,” Josh sighed as he sat up to face his mom.

“Yeah? And what about Debby?”

“Well, she said she was okay, but I don’t really believe her. She was just so sad last night, Mom, and I didn’t know what to do.” Josh covered his face in his hands.

“I don’t think there really was anything you could have done besides sit with her and let her cry. We all need that every now and then,” his mother said as she sat down next to her son. Josh leaned into her side. “You really like her don’t you? More than that Chelsea girl, right?”

Josh let his hands drop from his face and smiled at the name. Chelsea Carls. His first “love”. They had been a thing all throughout middle school. They didn’t really know exactly what dating was, but that didn’t matter to them. They were more like super close best friends than boyfriend and girlfriend, as Josh now saw as he looked back on the memories, but they were like 12, what did they know?

“Yeah. A lot more than Chelsea.”

“You should do something about it.”

“Mom, are you crazy? That’s not how it works,” Josh’s eyes were practically bulging out of his head. Tell Debby how he felt? That’s just setting himself up for disaster.

“Why not? I’ve seen the way she looks at you. It’s almost completely similar to the way you look at her. She likes you.”

Josh sat frozen in his spot. Debby liked him? Debby liked him? That couldn’t be. That was impossible.

“Just think about it, okay? I’m going to go help you dad with dinner.”

And with that she left the room, leaving behind a slightly confused Tyler and a very stunned Josh.