teeth ↣ joshler ✓

22. Talk

Josh held it together long enough to drive home but by the time he was walking up to his front door, his hands were shaking so bad he could barely get the door open.

Once he was inside, he shut the door and began making his way to his room.

"Hey, honey. How was the game?"

Josh heard his mom ask him the question from where she sat on the couch but he couldn't bring his body to respond. He was too in shock.

He just went to his room and shut the door before laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

"What the fuck?" He whispered to himself.

He was done crying, well over Tyler being a dick to him anyway. Now, he was just more stunned and was trying to process it.

There was a quiet knock on his door. "Josh? Honey? Do you want to talk?"

Josh recognized his mom's voice and knew that if he didn't say anything she'd continue to worry about him.

"Yeah," he forced himself to speak. "I'm just tired. Can I be alone right now?"

"Of course," his mom paused. "I love you."

"I love you too."

He waited to hear her footsteps walk away before letting out a breath, trying to calm himself.

As Josh laid there, he tried analyzing everything. He felt lied to and betrayed by both Tyler and Jenna but he tried not to focus on that.

Everything slowly dawned on Josh and if he had been actively looking for the signs they would have all been there. Well, with Tyler anyway.

Josh wasn't stupid. He figured Tyler was a vampire based off of his Halloween "costume" but he didn't think vampires existed. That was impossible. Well, apparently not.

But he felt stupid. He felt like he got used and played. Is that why befriended him? Because he's weak and friendless and they just wanted to manipulate him for their own personal gain?

Josh has been putting himself in danger since day one without even knowing it and that terrified him.

He apparently wasn't done crying because tears sprung to his eyes when he thought about the possibility of Tyler using him to get whatever it was that he wanted. Tyler didn't actually like him. Josh had let himself get played.

The more he thought about it, the more things made sense. Halloween wasn't a costume. Last Monday was the blood drive. Dinner at Jenna's house was... oh god.

Josh's stomach twisted and he felt like he was going to throw up. His boyfriend. That's who he's dating.

Josh spotted the glass of water on his nightstand from the night before and although it tasted stale, it kept his stomach calm.

Josh kicked his shoes off and changed into sweats. He grabbed his laptop and went to Netflix. He didn't need to think about this anymore. He was going to make himself sick.

So he put on a movie and watched multiple until he exhausted himself. He finally fell asleep at around one in the morning but he didn't feel well as he fell asleep. Not at all.

---

Josh woke up the next morning to knocking on his door.

He figured there were three other people in his house that could get it so he tried to fall back asleep the best he could. He was exhausted.

The knocking began again and Josh let out a groan. "Jordan! Get the door!"

There was no response so Josh let out a groan and got out of bed. The events of last night were forgotten as he was half asleep so he grabbed his phone and stumbled out of bed.