Always (Boyxboy)

Chapter Twelve- Tyler

A/N This chapter has a lot of instances of James being a shit friend, but lets be honest, a lot of us are shit friends when we get out first boyfriends, and a lot of our friends are shit friends when they get their first boyfriends. It's a part of being a young high school student.

P.S I love this chapter, but it makes me very emotional for some reason, so be warned

Tyler- Forth grade

Ace- Sixth grade

Ace was laying across the couch, a bag of chips open on his chest, eyes on the television, and Tyler just kept looking at him, because he kept laughing at whatever show he was watching, and he didn't want to miss it. "Chips?" Ace offered, rolling onto his side to be able to stretch his arm out towards the chair Tyler was sitting in.

"Ahh... no. Thanks," Tyler grumbled, adverting his eyes quickly and fighting a blush. He could feel Ace's eyes on his face, lingering, and then the older boy sighed heavily.

"You're really upset at James, huh?" Ace inquired. He began to defend his brother then, as Tyler knew he would, and he just forced a smile and nodded along, pretending that his off mood was because of his best friends absence, and not the strange feeling in his chest.

***

Tyler- Eight grade

Ace- Sophomore year

"Just come with us man, it won't be weird," James said to him, under his breath so Taylor, who was watching them interact with narrow eyes a few feet back, couldn't hear. "Really, we're just going to swim. You don't need to just sit here by yourself. Come swim with us".

For half a second, Tyler considered accepting that proposal and following them to the pool. James would try to include him for the first twenty minutes or so, but Taylor would do something to distract his friend and lure him away, and then Tyler would be forced to get out of the water and come lay down by himself, and then he would just be cold. It seemed inevitable that he would end up alone.

"Uh, yeah, I'm going to pass," Tyler said with a grin, addressing James and then eyeing up the triumphant looking Taylor. He probably thought he had scared Tyler off with his glare, and the thought made Tyler reconsider his response, but he decided not to do something just to spite James's kind of boyfriend.

"You sure?"

"Oh yeah". Tyler took a seat on the pool chair they had put their stuff on, carelessly kicking Taylor's items to the bottom with his feet. "I'm positive".

"Let's just go, James," Taylor demanded, reaching out to grab James's hand.

Ty almost laughed at the way James blushed up to his ears and stuttered, "o-okay," as the shorter boy pulled him towards the pool. Idiot.

He couldn't really judge though, since he himself was an idiot for not seeing this coming. When Tyler had woken up that morning, on the futon in James's room– since that was where he stayed when he visited– his friend had already been up, hunched over his cell phone in bed. James's first words to him had been, "let's go to the pool with Taylor this afternoon".

It was clearly what James had wanted to do, so Tyler had agreed, even though he didn't care much for Taylor. He should have remembered that the boy didn't care much for him as well and would try to put as much distance between James and Tyler as possible, leaving him alone somewhere.

He should have brought a book. Now he was just going to be bored.

Tyler watched James and Taylor for a little while, trying to figure out if Taylor somehow acted differently around James than everyone else and thats how he had tricked him into liking him. From the way Taylor threw his head back to laugh dramatically every minute or so, Tyler was guessing not. It was probably one of those more common than not situations where a good guy didn't realize his worth and convinced himself he deserved just as little as he was getting. Tyler was starting to notice the trend more and more the older he got, as the people around him began to build romantic relationships.