WED 2/11/2004 1:04pm (Tyler)
They walked along the halls of the museum, listening as the tour guide talked about each exhibit. There was even a bicycle that had been salvaged from the wreckage of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb had exploded. It was twisted and a lot of it looked like the metal had started to melt from it. The tires were also gone completely. It was said that it had been about five hundred meters from the epicenter of the blast. Then, they came up on the pictures of the "shadows" and the effects of the radiation afterwards. It was a little creepy. People were burnt due to the light of the blast alone. Others had their clothes burned into their skin.
"Jeez, I thought this was supposed to be fun." Brendon remarked.
"Same here." Pete chimed in.
Ryan raised his eyebrows. "She said it was a field trip. She never said ALL of it would be fun." he pointed out.
"Yeah, but field trip implies fun." Brendon argued.
Ryan chuckled. "Whatever floats your boat, babe."
Tyler was really too zoned out to care that much about what was going on. He was thinking about what he planned to do tonight after today's activities, which hopefully involved Jenna. They had planned to go out on a date tonight at a romantic restaurant with a soothing atmosphere Jenna had found a blocks away from the hotel. He wondered how she managed to find it, but she said her, Stephanie, Hayden, and Debby were all carpooling together, looking through the city. Again, she sounded unsure and Hayden was with her, but he figured it was nothing since Stephanie and Debby were also there.
A few minutes of absent-mindedly following everyone else around passed when he finally came to with Josh snapping his fingers in front of Tyler's face. "Tyler? Hey, Tyler!" Josh said.
"Huh?" Tyler said. "What do you want?"
"You're staring into space and you're giving everything this bored ass look." Josh replied sternly.
Yeah, because I totally need your enlightening opinions. Tyler thought to himself. "Sure, yeah, whatever." he grumbled.
Josh sighed impatiently. "Shit's not all that boring, Tyler. You're just too absorbed in your little bubble to realize that." he pointed out rather bluntly.
Tyler rolled his eyes. "Okay." he simply responded before spotting Jenna and walking up to her with a new smile. "Hey, Jenna."
"Hey, Tyler." she smiled back, showing all of her pearly, white teeth. Tyler brushed a piece of hair out of her face.
He tucked her hair behind her ears and held her hand as they continued walking forward. She was so perfect and flawless in his eyes. Tyler couldn't find a single wrong in her. Her blonde hair was like a bright, golden-white waterfall flowing down her head and her eyes stared a cold blue back at him. He just wanted to be with her forever and he wanted her to be the one he started a family with. Jenna was just so perfect and beautiful.
However, his thoughts turned wistful. "We don't hang out that much anymore. We haven't had any time alone." Tyler sighed, looking at her.
"I know, I know," she replied apologetically. "I just have so much going on right now."
How are you always this busy? I'm on the basketball team and I'm not even this busy. Tyler thought to himself.
Jenna, Debby, and Marissa all used to hang out and sit with the guys last year. But Jenna started hanging around the cheerleaders, who were about as toxic and annoying as they come. She left Debby and Marissa at the table confused oftentimes, but they also followed her after a while because they had no other choice. Debby and Jenna fit in with the cheerleaders quite well, but Marissa was more nerdy and had an actual personality. The cheerleaders seemed to hate her for it, too.
Tyler and Marissa never really talked that often, but they still smiled at each other in the halls and exchanged a word or two about classes. Tyler looked over at Marissa who had her headphones plugged into an MP3 player, jamming out to some songs while she looked at the exhibits. She was a quite girl, but she definitely carried herself confidently. She seemed so out of place, yet blended in perfectly.
Meanwhile, Jenna, Debby, and Stephanie all looked like the epitome of cheerleaders and basic high school girls.
"Well," Tyler said, thinking allowed and looking at Jenna. "we have a lot of time on this trip. Maybe we can find some alone time."
"Yeah, we definitely can." she nodded with a smile.
Tyler shrugged. "Tonight? Maybe that restaurant you've been talking about?" he suggested hopefully.
"That's a great idea, babe." Jenna answered.
Tyler looked behind Stephanie and Debby and found Hayden looking at him with a cold, tense glare that sent shivers down Tyler's spine. He didn't know why the boy always looked so tense around him nor why he had become so cold towards Tyler in the past few months. It was all pretty odd and Tyler decided not to pay any attention to it. Lots of guys had held a grudge against him because he was dating Jenna.
They'll just have to move on, I guess.
WED 2/11/2004 6:17pm
"Ryan, I swear to fucking god, if you do not stop elbowing me on 'accident', I am going to destroy you when we get back to the hotel." Brendon said threateningly, slapping Ryan's arm.
"That a threat or a promise, big boy?" the boy simply joked, laughing.
Brendon clutched his chin and pulled him into a kiss. "Definitely a promise."
"Then, I would hate to see you break a promise." Ryan challenged.
Jenna raised her eyebrows at Tyler. "Guys, get a room if you're gonna be doing that shit." he scolded, holding Jenna's hand.
"He started it." Ryan said.
Tyler and Jenna were currently on a double date with Brendon and Ryan. She insisted on it weirdly enough, but he was fine with it because it meant spending time with his two childhood best friends and his girlfriend at the same time. It was a relatively calm evening in Hiroshima with a beautiful sunset over the mountains in the background. He couldn't have asked for a better scene to spend with his girlfriend and bet friends. Tyler continued to eat his food.
Suddenly, Brendon slammed the table twice with both hands. Tyler, Jenna, and Ryan all looked at him and he looked panicked for a second before laughing hysterically. Other people were looking around at him with confusion and mild annoyance at his disturbances. "Just messing around with you. Shoulda seen your face just now." he laughed.
Tyler could still catch a glimpse of nervousness in the boy's face. "Whatever you say, Beebo." Tyler chuckled.
"Why do you guys call him Beebo?" Jenna asked with a hint of judgment in her voice.
"Old nickname. Long backstory." Ryan simply said with a subtle eye roll. "You wouldn't understand."
Jenna shrugged. "You might be right."
Suddenly, Tyler watched Ryan's brows furrow and then grab Brendon's phone. He looked at it angrily. "Why do you have that guy's number?" he demanded.
"What do you mean?" Brendon asked, raising his eyebrows. "He's just a friend."
Brendon watched as his boyfriend scrolled through his phone. Jenna and Tyler looked at each other with concerned looks and they ate in awkward silence as Ryan and Brendon fought yet again. They couldn't even go an entire week without arguing over something else. Ryan continued aggressively scrolling and looking through Brendon's phone while the other boy just sat back in his chair with frustration. This was not going to be a peaceful night at all for the guys nor Tyler's date with Jenna.
"What should we do?" Jenna whispered. "I don't wanna like, get into their business."
Tyler sighed. "Just... try to ignore it. It'll blow over." he whispered back.
"This doesn't seem like it'll just blow over." his girlfriend pointed out.
She's right. "I'm sure it will." he said.
"If you say so."
Suddenly, they were all interrupted out of their thoughts by a loud, high-pitched voice from across the restaurant, earning more annoyed looks from the rest of the restaurant. "Ryan! Ryan, Ryan, hey! Ryan!" Nevaeh squealed, bounding up to the table.
"Hey, Nevaeh." Ryan said. "How's it going?"
"Pretty good. I was actually thinking about you when I saw this place." she giggled flirtatiously.
Ryan looked at Brendon and raised his eyebrows. "Really?" he asked curiously.
"How could I not? It's just so nice in here. Just like you." she said, playing with Ryan's hair.
Brendon's phone suddenly rang. He snatched it out of Ryan's hands and answered it. "Hey, Jacob. What's up?" he asked. "Oh, yeah, I'll be there shortly." "You bet. See ya later."
Brendon shoved his phone in his pocket, left his share of the bill on the table, and stormed out of the restaurant. Nevaeh promptly sat down in Brendon's spot, which not only pissed Tyler off, but it also suddenly gave a whole new light to why Ryan and Brendon had been fighting so much lately. Ryan had been getting way too close to Nevaeh because she was actively trying to replace Brendon, who got jealous due to previous experiences and decided to start talking to Jacob as a form of revenge on Ryan for betraying his trust and returning Nevaeh's advances.
This is gonna get bad. Tyler finally realized. Seriously, they couldn't have waited until after the trip?
WED 2/11/2004 9:32pm
Tyler and Jenna sat at the edge of the pool. "Sorry about that whole thing tonight." he apologized shyly.
Jenna laughed. "Trust me, I've seen worse fights, babe. I just hope they'll be fine."
"Me, too. I've known them both since Kindergarten. I hate seeing them like that." Tyler sighed with a depressed hint in his voice.
They sat with their feet in the water for a while. They were back at the hotel, which had a pool. Tyler looked over to where he could hear laughing, seeing Josh and Brendon hanging out and laughing. Josh was shirtless in only his swimming trunks. His gorgeous body gleamed in the tranquil lights of the hotel and the moonlight shining over Hiroshima. Tyler also caught a glimpse of something else in Josh's swimming trunks that he didn't dare put into words nor images. But there was something else that caught his attention more.
It was the way Brendon and Josh were laughing and having a great time with each other. He felt a sense of longing slowly washing over him. He looked down at the blue waters of the pool. There was also the sour taste of jealousy in his mouth, though that was probably from swimming in the pool nearly an hour ago and accidentally intaking some of the water, which had chlorine in it. Sipping on straight chlorine wasn't exactly appetizing.
He didn't know what it was. Maybe it was the fact that he wanted someone he could laugh and joke around like that with. Maybe it was the fact the Josh was with Tyler's best friend. Maybe it was the fact that all of them were happy with their lives. It could even be the fact that he'd rather be hanging around them, telling stupid jokes and embarrassing stories than have to soak in the fact that his date with Jenna was a complete disaster, be it the last one they have for a pretty long while.
Or maybe I just wanna be the one with Josh. Tyler's mind admitted briefly. No, no, no, NO, I did NOT just think that.
There was no way he could be happy with Josh. Tyler was never happy around Josh. He loved Jenna with his whole life, he enjoyed being with her.