Warnings: Angst
Word Count: 1963
Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)
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The movie on the TV started to roll through the credits, but I was no longer paying attention; I had lost interest halfway through. It seemed my mind would much rather run through all the possibilities of what Y/N and Josh were doing on their date right now.
The sun was quickly getting lower in the sky, painting it all different shades of pink and orange. Y/N would probably be sitting on her deck and watching it right now, if she was even home. Josh had said that he didn't know how long he was going to be gone when he was leaving and I hadn't gotten a single text from him since then. That was probably a bad sign.
Well, a bad sign for me.
The credits were already halfway over by the time I finally got out of my own head and decided to attend to the TV. I had put on some bad movie that Josh and I had in our collection in hopes that I would find some humor in the terrible acting - something that usually cheered me up - but that hadn't been the case today. With a sigh, I grabbed the remote and shut the movie off.
A car honked outside as I got off the couch and shuffled towards the kitchen to grab a drink. My dishes from dinner were still sitting unwashed in the sink, so I decided to clean those up before Josh came home. He was always getting after me about leaving dishes around the apartment. Not to mention that I wasn't so sure I would be able to stop myself from escalating an argument if he started one.
Keys jingled outside the door just as I grabbed a drink from the fridge. Shortly after, Josh walked inside. He was smiling to himself as he kicked off his shoes and hung up his keys by the door. I stopped my walk back to the living room and instead turned to face him, leaning one hip against the kitchen counter.
"Hey, how are you?" he asked.
"I'm ok. How was your date?"
His smile grew even more, putting that familiar discomfort into the pit of my stomach.
"It was really fun," he nodded. "Y/N is super cool and that was honestly the best first date I've been on in a while."
Of course it was, it was a date with Y/N.
"What did you guys do?"
"Um, I picked her up, then I took her to that milkshake place that I really like and we spent almost ten minutes debating what kind of milkshake we should get," Josh laughed. "And then we just walked along the river for a couple hours talking and stuff. I took her home kinda early because I didn't want to give her parents the wrong impression or anything, you know, since it was a first date."
"Sounds like you nailed it, dude," I said, forcing a smile. It wasn't a lie, Josh had somehow managed to take Y/N on essentially what was her dream first date. It was impressive, considering they hadn't known each other for very long. "Is there going to be a second date anytime soon?"
"I hope so. Y/N said that she might want to go on another date too, but I'm going to give it a couple days before I go asking her out again. You know, see how much we talk and all that."
"That sounds like a good plan."
That also gave me time to talk to Y/N and figure out how she was feeling about all of this.
"Yeah. How was everything here?"
"Great. I just had some pizza and watched a movie, nothing too special."
"Did you write at all?"
I shook my head, "Not tonight."
"That's alright."
"Yeah."
"Anyway, I'm exhausted so I'm going to head to bed and watch a movie or something."
"Goodnight."
"Night."
I watched as Josh walked down the hallway and disappeared into his room. My chest felt hollow as I stood in the middle of the kitchen, unable to tear my eyes away from where Josh's door had just closed. The thought of Y/N and Josh together made my jaw clench. Tears started to form in my eyes as I slammed my drink down on the counter and pushed my palms deep into my eyes.
You lost her, Tyler. You brought this on yourself. You had your chance and you didn't take it.
"Are you ok, Tyler?" Josh called through his bedroom door. He must have heard the commotion.
"Yeah! Just dropped the remote," I lied. My voice didn't sound right
"Ok."
I swiped my drink from the counter and shuffled towards my room. At least Josh wouldn't be able to see how much of a mess I was over this whole situation when I was behind a locked door.
Why hadn't I just told her that I was uncomfortable with them going on a date?
My phone buzzed next to me as I was reaching for my drink. With my free hand, I flipped it over so that I could read the notification. It was a text.
From Y/N.
Confused, I picked my phone up and opened the message, only to realize that she was responding to one I had sent nearly half an hour ago. I didn't even remember messaging her in the first place.
Y/N: Hey! Sorry, you texted me right as I got home and then a million things came up all at once. I just got into comfy clothes and now I'm finally sitting on the back porch.
I smiled at the thought as I typed out my response.
Tyler: No worries, I didn't mean to interrupt your date or anything. I just got bored and you were the first person my mind went to
It was partially true.
Y/N: Did you want me to call?
I thought about saying yes, but I knew we would inevitably end up talking about her date and I wasn't so sure that I would be able to keep my voice steady.
Tyler: Not tonight. I'm in the middle of watching a movie
Y/N: Ok, texting it is then :)
Tyler: How was your date, by the way?
The text was sent before I even gave myself a chance to think about if I wanted to hear the answer or not. Deep down, I knew that I shouldn't have asked, but curiosity always seemed to get the best of me.
Y/N: It was really good! :)
Tyler: That's it? Just really good?
Y/N: I thought you would have gotten all the nitty-gritty details from Josh by now
Tyler: He just gave me the basic rundown and went to bed
Y/N: Lame :P but, um, it was really good, yeah! He asked me a lot of questions and I asked him a lot of questions and we just had really nice conversation. I also almost got milkshake all over him at one point... so uh, yeah
Y/N's message made me chuckle, but it wasn't enough to get rid of the hollowness that was still residing in my chest.
Tyler: And how did you manage to do that?
She didn't start typing immediately like she had been, so I set my phone down and walked towards my dresser to grab my laptop and headphones. Maybe another movie would help me, now that my mind wasn't running wild with all the possibilities of what was happening on their date.
My phone vibrated again as I was scrolling through Netflix, looking for something good to watch.
Y/N: Well, he was doing the cliche movie thing where we drink from straws at the same time and he was so close and his face was just right there and my mind started to wander so I got overwhelmed... but he was still drinking when I pulled away so it got all over his face
A chill ran down my spine. What had she been thinking about?
Tyler: Was everything ok?
Y/N: With the milkshake? Yeah, we just laughed about it :P
Tyler: No, I mean with you
She took a moment to start typing again. I continued to scroll through movies, looking for something that caught my interest.
Y/N: Yeah, it's just something dumb, I guess. But you know me, letting dumb things have an effect on me, even when I know they're dumb
I closed my laptop and rolled onto my back, determined to give Y/N my full attention if she needed it. For the time being, all my own worries were forgotten.
Tyler: Do you want to talk about it?
Y/N: It's ok, I'm texting Carter about it right now
I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Y/N didn't want to confide in me. There were very few things that she didn't tell me - having to admit her feelings for me during truth or dare pretty much threw all other boundaries out the window - meaning that whatever she was worried about was serious.
Tyler: I'll be here if you change your mind
Y/N: Thanks, Ty :)
Tyler: Of course :)
Y/N: So what did you spend your night doing?
I thought about telling her what my night was like: staring out the window while my mind ran wild with possibilities of what they were doing, the stomachache that wouldn't go away no matter what I did, and the way that my hands started to shake as I thought of Josh wrapping an arm around her waist and holding her close. My fingers started to fly across the screen, but I ultimately decided it wasn't worth potentially ruining her night over. Instead, I settled for a simple answer.
Tyler: Watched a movie. Ate pizza. Typical Tuesday night for me.
I set my phone down on my chest and stared up at the ceiling. There was still a bit of sunlight streaming in, casting long shadows. I wondered what the sunset looked like on Y/N's back porch.
Y/N: Sounds like fun :)
Tyler: Yeah, but it isn't my preferred way to spend time
I stared at the message for a few seconds before I hit send, knowing exactly where this conversation was going to lead. And if I told her what I really wanted to say... well, that was a dangerous game I was playing.
Y/N: And what is your preferred way to spend time, Ty?
My fingers tapped nervously against the edge of my phone. What did I have to lose?
Tyler: With you :)
I immediately locked my phone and tossed it onto the floor, out of arm's reach. What did I think I was doing? Y/N had moved on, yet here I was still shamelessly flirting with her the same night that she had been on a date with my best friend. Did I think that was going to somehow win her back?
My phone vibrated on the floor, just barely audible through the headphones I was wearing. My stomach lurched as a variety of potential messages - mostly negative - played out in my mind. Even though I was hesitant to see what she said, reading the actual message was better than endlessly worrying about its contents.
Y/N: Thanks, Ty. I like spending time with you too, you know
My mouth curled up into a smile. Sure, it wasn't the declaration of love that I had been hoping for, but it was certainly better than her getting angry with me. I reread the message a few times, using it as a reminder that one date with Josh wasn't enough to erase all the history between us.
Maybe things weren't over for me, after all.