american beauty // joshler

12

josh's point of view

i slip my jacket on, running my hand through my hair one more time before grabbing my overnight bag and leaving, locking the door behind me.

tyler is leaning against a car, a wide smile painting itself on his face when he sees me. "hey! you look great. you ready to go?"

"thanks, yeah. so do you," i nod and watch as he opens the door for me. "oh, thanks," i say again.

i get in and move to other side so he can climb in after me, clad in designer clothes that i couldn't pull off even if i wanted to. i'm pretty sure i got these jeans from kohls.

"hello, mr. dun," steven greets me from the driver's seat. "are we ready to go?"

"please, call me josh. i'm ready if tyler is."

"i'm good to go." he reaches up to pat steven's shoulder lightly. "thanks for driving us."

"that's my job," he just smiles back from the rearview mirror.

tyler sits back again once we're moving, looking over to me with a more serious expression. "now, before we get to the fun stuff, just to get it out of the way, i'm sorry i was weird yesterday. i can't promise it won't happen again, but we'll have a good time tonight, yeah?"

"a good, sober time?" i raise one brow at him, deciding to leave our encounter yesterday closed.

he laughs a little. "for the show. i make no promises for the afterparty. but you don't have to partake in anything you don't want and if anyone makes you uncomfortable, i'll have them kicked out." a small smile still plays on his face, but i know he's being serious.

"i appreciate that, tyler. thank you."

he seems pleased with my response and after that, we make small talk until we arrive at the venue. i leave my bag in the car per tyler's instruction and we go in through the back. a woman hands us backstage passes and directs us down a hallway.

the opening act is already playing, but we see brendon standing in a separate area talking to a member of the venue staff.

"bren!" tyler calls out to him when we're close enough and brendon looks over with a huge grin.

"ty-guy! hey!" he wraps his arms around tyler as soon as he's in reach, then holds his hand out to me, "josh! glad you guys could make it!"

"yeah, thanks for having me here," i smile back, trying to contain my excitement so i don't look too crazy. "i've never been backstage anywhere, this is pretty sick."

"yeah, lili's almost done out there. i'll have like thirty minutes before it's my turn to go out after her. i was about to go get dressed. do you guys need anything? drinks? snacks?"

"a bottle of water maybe?" tyler asks, then looks to me, "do you need anything?"

"i'll take a water too, thank you."

"no problem. i'll have someone run them over to you. i'm running kinda late though so i gotta go. i'll see you later though! you should catch the end of lili's set, she's really cool." brendon gives us a thumbs up and then jogs off in another direction.

"do you wanna watch or stay here?" tyler looks to me, fiddling with the lanyard his pass hangs from.

"i dunno, i've never heard of her band. do you like her?" i ask, my hands shoved in the pockets of my jacket.

it's not as awkward as i thought it would be, but that might be because i'm still taking in my surroundings. i never thought i'd be backstage at any concert, much less one of my favorite bands.