clementine // joshler

69

josh's point of view

i'm sitting with hayley at tyler's job, eating and watching him work.

she pushes her food around with her fork and clears her throat, "so, you're about four months in or something, right? things still going good?"

"it's great, h. i'm really happy. it feels like it's been so much longer than that honestly," i shake my head a little at the idea and take a bite of my food.

"i mean, you guys were like... complicated even before december though. it's been eight months-ish since you met."

"yeah, i guess that's true."

"do you ever think that you moved too fast? i don't mean for that to sound bad, you know i love tyler, and i love you guys," she asks, setting her fork down but still staring down at her plate. she seems nervous, but i'm not sure why.

"i mean, i think our pacing has been just right for us. i've let tyler make most of the decisions as far as that goes. every relationship is different though, and ours is nothing if not unconventional," i answer hesitantly, trying to read her face.

she nods, "yeah. no, you're right."

"hayley, are you okay?" i decide to finally ask, assuming she would have left it at that if i didn't.

"yeah, i just... i wanna propose to taylor now, you know? i love her so much, and i don't wanna wait anymore, but i don't wanna do it at the wrong time or rush it. i'm getting antsy is all," she explains.

"you should just do it whenever you feel like the time is right. you've been together for years and she loves you. i know she'll say yes no matter how you do it," i try to reassure her.

"when do you think i should do it? i need you to help me think of something. it has to be perfect."

"well... i don't know. shouldn't that be something you decide?"

she runs a hand through her hair and sighs, "i know, i know. i just want it to be incredible."

tyler walks up to sit next to me. he smiles over at hayley, "what's gonna be incredible?"

"hayley wants to propose to taylor soon," i tell him.

"hayley! you decided not to wait? i'm so happy for you! i'm sure it'll be amazing no matter what," he says.

"will you help me plan something? josh is being dumb and won't help me."

"oh, come on. i didn't say that," i kick her gently underneath the table.

"of course! we can get brunch and come up with something."

"and then we can talk about how josh sucks," hayley adds, her bright smile returning.

"well-"

"nope," tyler slaps a hand over my mouth to interrupt me, "hush," he says. i lick his hand and he immediately pulls it back, "ewww, josh," he wipes his hand on my arm and nudges me with his elbow, but laughs anyway.

"yeah, okay, okay," i hold my hands up in surrender and hayley shakes her head.

"poor wording on my part, i'll admit," she laughs.

"it's okay. i should probably get back to work anyway. i just came to check on you guys. do you need anything else?"

"ah, my lovely tyler, is there any way i could get a cookie with extra ice cream and chocolate syrup, please?"

"of course you can. when i get off, i'll look at my calendar and we can schedule brunch soon. we don't hang out enough."

"have you guys ever hung out alone?" i ask, looking back and forth between them.