Ode to the Affectionate Outlier

Chapter 6: Birthday

It was November 28th and I had three days until Tyler turned 13.

I was already 13 and my birthday party was alright. It was held during the summer and I didn't really do anything special. Tyler did come over to my house and we played video games and ate a big chocolate cake that my mom had baked. I got a pretty sick new drum kit from my parents and Tyler had given me some cool alien and NASA t-shirts. I told him I had a secret obsession with stuff like that and these tees were the best. I wore them frequently under my hoodies which were also always a part of my outfit.

But now it was my job to get Tyler something for his birthday. I only had three days to come up with something. Anything. But not just anything. Something Tyler would absolutely fall in love with, at least I hoped so.

I sat in my room fiddling with my drumsticks. I was disappointed in myself that I literally couldn't come up with anything to give Tyler for his birthday. I groaned. Why did I always procrastinate until the last minute to do things?

I thought about things Tyler loved.

Writing, sunglasses, the month of October, Taco Bell, music, his Dad's piano...

"Ugh what the frick Josh." I told myself out loud. What's something Tyler absolutely loves to death and always fall in love with every time he sees it?

I stared at my drumsticks. I thought about my drums and I thought about the time when we were little and Tyler had said how we could form a band once we get better on our instruments. Me on the drums and Tyler would sing and play on his little ukulele.

Ukulele. Sing.

"That's it!" I yelled and got up in a flash. "I know what to get Tyler!" I smiled really big. But in order to obtain these items I needed, I would have to go into the city. Columbus, Ohio to be exact.

I told my mom that I wanted to get Tyler some things for his birthday and that we needed to go to Columbus to look for them. She agreed to take me up there and later that day I found myself getting in my mom's car and going north of U.S. 33 towards Columbus.

I was never really taken to the city a lot. My mom would go every two weeks and would leave me at home with either my brother or by myself alone. She never took me though. I don't know why. I also didn't know why she would HAVE to go every two weeks like it wasn't for shopping or anything like that. She said it was work stuff so I just sighed every time she said so. I loved my mom to pieces but sometimes she wouldn't open up to me as much as I wanted her to. She kept some stuff from me but I'm sure it was nothing bad. I trusted her a lot and she wouldn't keep anything big from me.

After about an hour on the highway, green signs with the words "COLUMBUS - 1 MILE" started to appear. We could see the city skyscrapers in the distance and I was getting excited. I was going to make Tyler the happiest boy in the world.

"Okay woah Joshua, don't say that. It almost sounds like you're dating him when you're not. Besides, you're still too young to date and you're still young to decide what your prefer. Take it slow for now dude."

I brushed off those thoughts and sighed. Tyler was my best friend and nothing more. I loved him dearly though and promised to protect him at all costs. I was doing good in keeping that promise. No one needed to mess with my best friend.

As we approached Downtown Columbus, I told my mom to take me to the place where she and dad bought my drums. She understood what I meant and made her way to the store.

It was a decent looking store in the center of the city. As we pulled up, we could hear music playing from speakers and other various instrumental sounds. I remembered to bring my wallet with my money and told my mom that I would pay with my own money for Tyler's gift. She said it was sweet of me and I agreed. I wanted to get Tyler with my own money, something special.