puppet strings ♡ joshler

two

the two of them sit in an awkward silence for a moment.

"so, i'm lauren," she breaks the silence. "i'm just gonna half ass this because this assignment is stupid as fuck."

and tyler nods awkwardly, hating every moment of this interaction.

"you can write that my name is lauren," she starts, watching as tyler grabs a pen and begins writing. "i'm a senior, my favorite color is rose gold, my favorite show is american horror story, my favorite singer is billie eilish, and that should be good because the teacher didn't give us a rubric or nothing, if she doesn't like it then too bad."

tyler isn't complaining at all—he goes about his work in the same way, if he even does it at all.

lauren waits for him to finish writing before speaking again, "okay, so now you tell me these but about yourself."

"u-um," tyler takes in a shaky breath and wills himself to stay calm. "my name is—is, um—"

"i'm sorry to cut you off but i can't really hear you," she says, and tyler flushes again. she gives him her sheet of paper, "you can just write it on my paper since you look uncomfortable to talk."

tyler offers a small grateful smile as he takes the paper.

my name is tyler, i'm a senior, my favorite color is purple, my favorite show is the umbrella academy, and my favorite singer is family reunion.

he hands the paper back to lauren, who actually seems interested as she reads it.

"my boyfriend loves umbrella academy," she reveals. "and i've never heard of family reunion."

"she's good," tyler manages to say as she sets her paper on her desk. she seems a bit surprised as he speaks, probably not expecting him to.

"what kind of music does she do?"

"um, like," tyler scratches the back of his head as he tries to come up with a way to describe it, since most people he's talked to hasn't heard of her genre. he gives up, "it's, uh, bedroom pop."

"bedroom pop?"

tyler's face heats up, "y-yeah."

"i'll look her up," she tells him, and he only nods in reply. neither of them say anything else, leaving them in a semi-awkward silence.

it's up to lauren to break the silence again, "wanna see a picture of my boyfriend?"

tyler blinks at her. "u-um, okie."

she grabs her phone off her desk and shows the boy her lockscreen, and wowie, what a cutie. he has a really nice smile, and tyler finds himself smiling a little.

"his name is josh," she tells him as the screen fades to black again. "we've been together since freshman year."

tyler offers her a smile in response, which she returns briefly before unlocking her phone to show him her home screen. it's of lauren and josh together. "this is us at ring dance."

tyler isn't really sure what ring dance is, but he nods anyways and smiles again.

"he's in english right now," she says as she brings the phone to herself again. tyler realizes that alex is in english too and can't help but wonder if they're in the same class. he can't wait to get to art today so he can see alex again.

"do you have a girlfriend?"

the question catches tyler off guard and he stares at her with wide eyes, but she isn't even looking at him—her eyes are set on her phone.

"n-no."

"i could put you on with someone," she tells him, not waiting for a response from the boy before she shows him another picture, this time of a girl. "this is my friend jenna."

the girl's beautiful and he blushes a little at the idea of having a girlfriend as pretty as her. but he doesn't like being "put on with someone," as lauren put it. he likes meeting someone and becoming close rather than meeting someone with the intention of maybe dating later.

"not really, um, looking right now," tyler uses as an excuse, and lauren shrugs a little before bringing her phone back.

"she says she isn't either. she needs a man though," lauren says, and tyler isn't sure what she means by that. "i should put you guys on anyways."

please don't do that, he wants to tell her so badly. he opts to remain silent.

she retrieves her earbuds and puts them in, and tyler wonders if their teacher would even allow earbuds. he's just grateful for the silence that envelopes the two as she listens to whatever she's listening to so he can put his head down and maybe sleep.

✧

an: btw ms proenza's supposed to be adriana proenza, i love her music