Enamored //joshler

6. being vulnerable

"so what if he does?" ashley asks, lips parting slightly as she applies a coat of lip gloss.

"i don't want him to! i... i don't want a relationship."

"bullshit," she chuckles.

"it's complicated."

"you can talk to me, tyler."

he sighs. "i just... you know how it goes. i like a guy. i try to be open and honest with them. they just want to use me. i don't want to even give josh the opportunity to be like that."

"but you're also not giving him the opportunity to be the opposite of that," ashley points out.

well, she does have a point, but nobody's been like that in the past. why should tyler assume josh is any different?

"i don't know... i'm too afraid. we're just friends."

"for now," ashley smirks, laughing when tyler playfully shoves her. "you should probably get going soon."

tyler looks at his watch again. 7:50. he gulps.

"do i have to?"

"i mean, you don't have to..."

"no, say i have to," he begs.

"you have to go, tyler. you'll be perfectly fine. i'm only a call or text away."

"fine..."

"love you!"

"love you too."

with that, tyler sets on his journey for josh's residence hall. it's only about a five-ish minute walk away, so he gets there a few minutes early. tyler could use his fob to unlock the door, but he feels weird doing that considering he doesn't live in this building. not only that, but he doesn't even know josh's room number. he pulls out his phone.

i'm here

josh's reply is almost instant.

josh 🧸:
be right there!

oh gosh. tyler's heart is racing. he anxiously wipes his sweaty palms against his shorts, rocking back and forth on his heels as he waits for josh. about half a minute later, the front door of the building is opened and a smiling josh peeks outside.

"hey!"

"hey."

"come on."

with his hands in his pockets, tyler follows josh inside the building. it's one of the older buildings on campus, so josh informs him that they unfortunately have to climb three flights of stairs. the stairwell doesn't have air conditioning, so tyler is sweating even more profusely by the time they reach josh's floor. thankfully, the hallway is cooler and josh says he has an ac unit in his room as well.

tyler has to admit he's a bit excited to see what josh's room looks like. it's only fair since josh has seen his.

"this one's mine," josh announces, stopping outside a door. he takes a key out of his pocket and unlocks it. "pete's at whatever party they had tonight, so it's just us."

josh flicks on the light and they enter. tyler takes in his surroundings. there's a clear distinction between josh's side of the room and pete's. josh has black bedding, pete has blue. josh has band posters hanging up, pete has flags and funny banners. josh's side is a lot more organized and cleanly than pete's. led strip lights run across the entire room but are currently turned off.

"woah," tyler says, eyeing the vinyls hanging above josh's desk. "those are sick."

"thanks. i thrifted them, actually," josh says proudly. "i have a record player at home with the rest of the vinyls that i actually listen to. these are just random ones i thought would be cool for decoration."