"june third," jenna states after looking down at her phone for clarification of the date. "that's the wedding date."
"that's like..four months away," mia says, wondering how jenna and tyler are gonna put a wedding together in that amount of time when tyler won't even be there for most of it.
jenna shrugs. "yeah, it'll be fine. the planning part is almost done, anyways."
"so what do i have to do?" asks tyler with a raised eyebrow while taking a bite out of his slice of pizza.
the blonde grins at him. "meet me at the alter."
mia dramatically cooes. "you guys are so cute it kills me," she teases.
a smirk plays at the corners of tyler's lips and he lets out a soft exhale of a laugh. "shut up," he murmurs with blushing cheeks.
"oh! i just remembered something," jenna swipes her finger down the screen of her phone. she begins talking to tyler about the place settings, and while they go back and forth on that mia glances at josh.
"why are you so quiet?" she inquires, gently nudging his foot under the table.
he shakes his head. "i dunno, just listening to you guys talk, i guess," he goes back to drinking orange soda out of a tall glass.
mia knows that josh isn't being dismissive or avoidant. if he was, he would tell her, which is something that she appreciates about him. "okay," she says back with a small smile.
josh tugs at the tuff of red hair peeking out from his grey beanie. "we'll probably have to dye it again soon."
"we?" she repeats incredulously. "what makes you think i'm gonna help you with it again? last time it was a mess."
"yeah but a super fun mess," grins josh.
tyler glares at him. "the red paint still hasn't come out of the cabinets."
"okay, it's like one tiny little dot of red."
"that's not even remotely close, but okay," says the brunette boy while staring at josh with a bored expression at his lame attempt to make it seem like him and mia didn't trash the bathroom when dying josh's hair red.
"i think we should do pink," josh suggests, changing the subject of his questionable hair dye mess.
jenna gasps excitedly. "yes!"
"no," both mia and tyler say at the same time.
this makes josh pout pleadingly. "why not? i think it'll look sick."
"it would," agrees tyler. "but you're not gonna make our bathroom look like someone vomited pepto-bismol."
jenna waves her hand dismissively at her fiancé. she looks at josh, "you can do it at our place."
"so are you planning on paying the damage fee for the bathroom, or?" mia asks expectantly to her blonde best friend.
"it won't make a mess," insists josh.
tyler scoffs.
"it won't!" he says again. "i'll be super duper careful. besides, you're moving out soon so you won't be responsible if any dye gets anywhere."
mia gets the same realization feeling in the pit of her stomach that she did when she found out tyler was gonna propose to jenna. oh, that's right, she thinks to herself. they'll be getting their own place.
writing for alternative press has definitely been giving her a good chunk of change, but that's considering the fact that she only has to pay for half the rent. when jenna moves out, mia will probably have to find a different apartment.
"let's see how your hair looks after tour, then maybe i'll consider helping you dye it pink," mia says, glancing at josh's red hair. it's still pretty vibrant but starting to fade.
even though it's not a total yes, josh still grins excitedly.
"i could go back to blue, too."
tyler looks at him like he's insane, which most of the time he feels like he is. "no. no more blue."
"what was wrong with blue?" asks jenna with a small frown.
josh has a guilty look on his face. he doesn't say anything.
"explain," tyler prompts him with a wave of his hand before pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes.
"there may have been an incident that included hair dye and tyler's room," he says, voice slow and light, like he's obviously tip-toeing around the truth.
the other boy sighs heavily. "josh got bleach and hair dye everywhere. i spent two weeks on the internet searching how to get the dye out of white clothes and the ceiling."
"oh," jenna drawls out, slowly nodding her head. she distinctly remembers tyler calling her saying he was gonna kill josh. "yeah, i remember."
"how did you get it on the ceiling?" asks mia.
"um," josh glances down at his lap and idly plays with his fingers. his cheeks turn the same color as his hair. "well i was drinking, and-"
"josh thought he was a cat trapped inside a man's body," tyler finishes. the memory is obviously still fresh in his mind. "he climbed on everything."
he cringes. "okay, in my defense, it was my first time drinking tequila."
tyler shoots him a sideways glance. they look like siblings sometimes, either because of the way they can laugh about the same thing for hours or how josh will do something that makes tyler look at him like he's planning on killing him. either way they're friendship goals.
"so maybe we don't do blue," giggles mia. she has one of the napkins from the dispenser between her hands and is making shreds of it on her plate.
josh notices this, and not a second after a broad grin spreads on his lips. "the napkin thing!" he cheers happily.
mia's fidgety hands stop moving and she quickly puts them into her lap with a shy smile. "stop," she drawls out.
"it's so cute," josh laughs, shaking his head. his girlfriend's things are quite possibly his favorite thing about her. especially because she always gives him shit for bringing them up.
tyler raises an eyebrow at the small pile of torn napkin and then over at the brunette. "fidgety hands?"
she nods.
"c'mon, dude, be a good boyfriend and hold her hands," he tsks, teasing josh and nudging his shoulder.
josh clears his throat as he stops laughing, and then he makes a dramatic effort of sitting up straight and looking across at mia. "it would be an honor to hold your hands so that you don't feel the need to rip up napkins."
mia's cheeks are scarlet, and even though she gets flustered when josh brings up her subconscious habits she realizes that he's one of the only people that have ever picked up on them. that he notices those things about her.
"i hate you," she tells him, voice even as she drops her hands into his open palms.
he grins cheekily. before he even speaks mia knows what he's about to say. "i love you too, darling."
she kicks him under the table.