eyelashes ~joshler~

three~ joyride

With a clang of metal and a knock of wooden desks being slammed against each other, Tyler was out of the room and sprinting down the empty hall. He let out a few more echoic sobs, covering his mouth with his hand while he ran, before making it outside of the school building.

Tyler collapsed on the cold, dirty sidewalk. He could barely breathe and all he was doing about the situation was crying into his knees about how overwhelmed he felt. Tyler scratched up and down his arms and sobbed even louder. He couldn't take it anymore. Why did he hate himself like this?

A car beeping its horn in the distance led Tyler's mind away for a moment. Tyler looked down at his skirt. It used to be one of his favorites. He hated it now. Tyler would throw it away when he got home. Empty the pockets; it'll make for easier disposal when you get home.

Tyler mindlessly slipped down his cheeks, his nimble fingers finding a secret slip of fabric in the skirt that held a zipper, where he stored items of slight importance. Unzipping it, Tyler pulled out a tube of chapstick, a few old Polaroids, and his cellphone.

Barely even thinking, Tyler unlocked his phone and looked through his few contacts. Parents. Like they would ever consider helping him. They almost never spoke as is. Jenna. She had a huge make-or-break test today. Tyler couldn't interrupt her, jeopardizing her grades, just to walk him home. That left Josh.

He shouldn't call him. Josh was nice to him, and a potential friend, so seeing Tyler in this state would ruin any chance of a friendship or any kind of relationship at all. But Tyler wasn't thinking correctly, his vulnerable and overemotional state was never very reliable, so before he realized it, he had already dialed Josh's number.

Tyler held up the phone to his ear, pressing it to his wet cheek weakly. He was sure that Joshua wouldn't answer, he was in the middle of class and barely knew him anyway. Josh had no obligation to stop everything he was doing to answer Tyler's call. So when the automated voice told him to leave a message, Tyler wasn't surprised. He ended the call and bit his trembling lip, silently crying. He would have to walk alone.

Tyler stood up from the pavement, and even though he told himself he hated his skirt, he still took the time to brush off the dirt that had found its way onto the cream fabric. The tired boy wiped his eyes with his arm, not caring about all the effort he put into his appearance today, and started to walk through the parking lot.

Buzz.

Tyler stopped and looked down at the phone in his hand. Josh was calling him back. Tyler quickly tapped 'Answer' and held his phone up to his ear.

"Tyler?"

Josh's voice, even through the distortion of the cell phone, made Tyler's heart warm. "Joshua?" His voice was even higher and more pitchy because of his crying. The brunet just wanted to stop his meaningless sobbing, but Tyler never felt the tears stop rolling down his dry face.

"What's wrong? Why're you crying, Ty?"

Frick. How could Josh tell from one word that Tyler was crying? Was it that easy for people to tell when Tyler was upset? Was it really that noticeable?

"N-Nothing Joshua. D-Don't worry a-about it." Tyler made the mistake of sniffling into the receiver, giving more evidence to Josh that he was indeed, not okay. "Tyler, where are you?" Josh's voice was firm and calm, which made the crying boy on the other end of the phone call gain some ease, his heart softening at the tone. "I-I'm outs-side.  The, the s-school." Josh replied with an "I'll be there" before ending the phone call.

Tyler stood there, speechless. He'll be there?

Tyler looked over at the entrance of the school, where he had just ran out minutes ago. The glass door was being pushed open, and a tuft of purple hair was seen walking towards him. Tyler just stood there on the sidewalk, watching Josh walk to him. Why was he here? Why did he come out of his way?