to all the glowing eyes ✎ joshler

december 20

jenna wakes up right when her alarm goes off. she's stuck with the morning shift, it's not that bad, but it sucks to wake up early. she goes to the kitchen and makes herself a bowl of oatmeal, sprinkling some banana slices and blueberries on top for more flavor. she makes sure to be quiet to not wake up the two strangers sleeping on the living room right next to her.

she puts her headphones on to listen to music while checking her notifications for any texts or calls. the only texts she has are from her friend debby, nothing that important that she couldn't reply to with a few emojis. while she quietly finishes her bowl of oatmeal, tyler's door opens. he's rubbing his eyes, his hair a mess, his pajamas looking as cozy as ever.

"hey," she whispers, pausing the music and taking off her headphones.

tyler waves hello and smiles, "you made oatmeal?" he sits in front of her on the table. he scrunches up his face when jenna nods. "do we have any lucky charms left?"

"i don't think so. you can have healthy foods every once in a while, babe. i can put strawberries in your bowl, it doesn't need to have bananas." as she gets up from her seat, tyler groans and gets up first. he goes to the small pantry and searches for an alternative. he hopes for some pop-tarts or even some oreos. unluckily, he finds neither of those.

"we should go grocery shopping. there's nothing for me to eat," he mutters, closing the pantry doors. out of the corner of his eyes, he sees jenna preparing a second oatmeal.

he sulks and goes back to the chair. he looks over to the pullout bed. the guests seem to be sleeping deeply, cuddling to push away the cold. tyler exhales rather harshly, something within him hates this sight. he feels like he should be the one sleeping next to josh, being wrapped around by his arms. he realizes his thoughts and shakes his head, as if that'll make them go away. for the past few days, his heart has been so conflicted; awsten and josh are in constant battle for the dominance of his mind. all he can do is sit down and watch.

jenna notices how he's staring longingly at the newfound love interest. she passes him his breakfast, freshly cut strawberries decor the top of the meal. she's aware of more information than she should know, this being brendon's unrequited feelings for josh. the odd love triangle is very intriguing, something she would watch in a movie. this is real life though. "what are you looking at? does josh have something on his teeth?" she jokes to catch his attention.

"i wish," tyler sighs, already picking at his food with the spoon, "he was really helpful at the bakery yesterday. mrs. smith offered him a job after spence leaves for college." his eyes don't make contact with hers, they're focused on his food only.

"oh? did he say yes?"

he takes a bite out of the food, shaking his head with a sad expression on his face. "no, or at least that's what mrs. smith told me." as much as it makes him ache, he knows he shouldn't be feeling this way. josh has his own life, a family that loves him, a place to call home.. he shouldn't be tied down. if he even considers staying in town, tyler knows he'll feel guilty for the rest of his life. he can't take josh out of his comfortable life.

"have you talked to awsten?" jenna changes the subject. she hates being in the middle of the argument, her gut keeps telling her to fill tyler in about brendon's situation, although she knows it'll crush josh to see tyler drift away. it's a messy subject. "his mom sent me her gingerbread cookie recipe so we can bake those later."

all the young boy does is shrug. "i haven't really talked to him. i don't know if i wanna go on another date with him."

"why not? he's sweet, he clearly likes you..."

"i just don't know if i really like him. he's very cute but i don't feel the same way about him anymore."

jenna nods along, she can already tell tyler's true intentions with this conversation. "there's somebody else?" she starts to wash her dirty bowl and spoon, hoping the running water sounds doesn't wake up the guests and ruins the moment. she truly adores tyler, she really does, but she's praying to whatever forces exist that he doesn't say the words she knows he'll say.