Tyler's POV
I fell asleep shortly after I got home from church and shockingly slept through the whole night until I had to get up for school. I tossed on my usual black skinnies, I swear my dresser has an infinite number of these things.. I threw on some cool looking blue shirt and my hoodie. Next thing I knew I was already at school with a dreaded feeling in my stomach. I hated school. Not knowing that today was going to be something different.
I sat in my chair in the back corner and for some reason I waited for Josh to come in. Not that his fiery red hair didn't make it obvious when he walked in. I had my earphones plugged in as usual, helping to distract me before he plopped down next to me in his chair.
"Feeling better damsel?" those were his first words this morning and it was too early for this.
"Better." I deadpanned pulling an earbud from my ear. "My knight." I added with the slightest hint of a smirk. We both chuckled some and I went back to my notebook and wrote something down. Lyrics of course.
"Hey.. Tyler, you gotta extra pencil or pen I can borrow?" he leaned over to whisper to me.
"Josh.. You have one in your hand." I retorted as I looked to the pencil in his hand then back up to meet his gaze.
"Yeah, but I need two." he stressed. I didn't even bother asking as I dug in my bag and pulled out an extra pencil.
"Here." I handed it to him.
"Thanks, man." he said taking it eagerly. I just shrugged it off and went back to writing.
Class had started and I could hear a tapping through my headphones. I pulled one earbud out again to find the source of it. It was Josh next to me, he had his headphones in as well and he tapped the two pencils against the wooded desk carefree of everyone around him. He got a few looks from others around us and in return their gazes were towards me as well, and that I didn't like, but Josh's drumming was amazing even if it was only two pencils.
I guess he caught me staring because he stopped drumming and looked over at me, you could hear the music blasting through his headphones and raised a brow towards me.
"What?" he basically yelled it due to the volume of his own music yelling into his ears. "Did I do something? This song is sick!!" he screamed again to me.
I just began laughing as I hid my face in my arms on the desk to keep from being loud, but to me this just made my morning.
"Mr. Dun and Mr. Joseph." our first hour teacher spoke and I kept my head down because now I didn't wanna face her. Josh, I'm guessing didn't hear her because he didn't speak as well. "Clearly you two have something more important going on back there. More important than learning what's in my class."
Finally, I peeked up over my arms at the teacher. Her face reddening with anger. All the other students eyes were on me and Josh. I was frozen, I've never been confronted by a teacher before so I had no idea how to react. Josh, I think, finally got the hint from all the stares of the students and he looked up at the teacher staring us down.
"What?!" he called out to her and he pulled a headphone out of his ear to listen to her. Just the fact that he did that made me laugh again and the teacher was storming to us. "Oh, shit.." I heard Josh mumble under his breath. "The answer is yes." he stated. I couldn't tell if it was sarcasm or not.
"You two, to the principal's office. Now." she said sternly. I pursed my lips together and tossed everything in my bag before me and Josh headed for the door. "And Mr. Joseph don't think this will go unnoticed by your coach." I just sighed and went outside into the now empty barren halls.
I was walking towards the office when Josh caught up to me and tugged on my shoulder.
"Dude! What happened in there?!" he looked utterly confused.
I scoffed a laugh. "You happened in there!"
"What..? What did I do, I was just drumming." he shrugged.
"Exactly.." I laughed. "Your music was too loud so when you spoke to me, you practically yelled.. Then we, I guess, ignored her and then you screamed at her.. And now we're here." I explained. "Though your drumming was sick as frick!"
He chuckled a bit running a hand at the base of his skull. "Oops.. Didn't mean to get you in trouble, dude, but thanks." I just shook my head.
"It's fine. It's something different than sitting in class caught up in my own head all day." I decided. Plus I was going to the principal's office with Josh. I would say it couldn't get any worse, but it's more like it couldn't get any better.
I was wrong, it got much worse. We got our after school detention, which I had found out my Dad managed to bribe the principal for me to run the whole practice so I wouldn't have to miss the game tomorrow. Yay for suicides.. Which by the end of this I might be thinking of. I joked to myself that dark humor which was oddly true.
I ran suicides on the sidelines as my teammates ran plays for the game tomorrow. I lost track of how many I ran at this point, good thing it didn't bother me, I was used to running all of practice. Now it was just boring. Line to Line. Baseline to baseline. It was repetitive and I had nothing to distract me from my mind. Just thoughts.
That was until a familiar red headed boy entered the gym. I almost stopped running, well, actually I did stop running.
"Josh..? What are you doing here?" I used the bottom of my tank top to wipe the sweat off my face.
"I felt bad that you had to run the whole time for practice because of me.. So I came to make it up to ya." he replied, his mouth curved into a small smirk his eyes squinting as he did. Oh God how I just wanted to kiss those slightly pink lips of his.
"Make it up to me..? And how's that?" I asked with a raised brow.
"I was gonna see if you wanted to come over after practice and just.. I don't know hang out?" he asked.
"Oh, uh yeah.. Sure. Maybe. After practice my Dad makes me shoot 500 free throws before I can leave, but I'll do it quickly." I stated.
"Okay cool.. Mind if I stick around?"
"Tyler!" I heard my dad yell. "Did I say to stop running?! Keep moving son!" I groaned and nodded to Josh who went to the bleachers next to the sideline I was on to watch the rest of practice.
Hell was finally over and now the only thing standing between me and Josh was these damn free throws. My Dad headed back to the office and I got a basketball from the cage and headed back out. Josh jumped off the bleachers.
"Can I rebound for you?" he asked.
"Yeah." I said with a small smirk.
"What..?" he asked with a raised brow.
"Nothing.. I was just shocked you knew the term." this earned a scoff out of him as I lined up for the first shot and took it.
"I may not play, but who says I'm not any good?" he said tossing the ball back to me.
"Well, I guess I can't say much, pretty boy, since I've never seen ya play." I laughed and took another shot.
"Yeah. Well let's go. Right now 1v1 me bro."
I laughed and dribbled the ball a bit. "You're on." I said and he jogged over to me and got in a defensive stance. I dribbled between my legs and faked going one way and went the other leaving him behind and going in for a layup. I got the rebound and tossed it to him. "I'll be fair, no keeps."
He rolled his eyes a bit and caught the basketball ball heading back to the 3 point line for checks.
"I just haven't gotten the chance to show my skills yet." He checked it to me and I did back instantly getting into a defensive position and watched the ball. He tried doing a move and I stopped the ball.
"You were saying?" I snickered as I stole it from him and dribbled back out to the 3 point line, but before I could turn around I felt strong arms wrapped around my torso forcing me to lose control of the ball. "H-hey!" I squeaked out, startled by the sudden grip. Josh was laughing as he spun me around to the other side letting go and taking the ball. "That's so unfair!" I yelled through a laugh my cheeks blushing. I ran towards him but he spun around and ran away with it. "You're not even dribbling. You are travelling so hard!" I laughed. He just shrugged before shooting at the 3 point and made it in.
"I rest my case." he said poshly and I just laughed.
Josh's POV
I honestly had no idea why I did what I did.. It just seemed right? Picking a dude up by his hips and spinning him around totally isn't gay. At all. He's just really good at basketball and there was no way I was getting the ball from him without cheating.. At least that's what I tell myself. The last couple days with Tyler has made me happier than I have been in a while. Being with him just feels right. He's my best friend. That's it. That's what I'm feeling, that strong connection.. Like best friends at first sight or something.. It's just.. How the light hits his eyes at times they seem to be the brightest thing I've ever seen.. Or when I can actually manage a smile from him, it's as if the world freezes in it's place. Like I'm the only one who can stand there and see Tyler smile. The way his voice kinda squeaks when he gets excited or he bows his head some when he laughs. Josh, stop it dude. I sighed as I thought and Tyler's dad came out at the right time to give me the time I needed to process what was going through my head, as he kicked me out of the gym for Tyler to finish his free throws. I jogged to my bag and left and waited in my car. Left alone in the silence.
Josh: Here's my address.. I'll see ya after practice.
I shot Tyler a text before leaving the school parking lot.
There was nothing between me and Tyler. Nothing.
A/n:
Yay a bit of cuteness!! Did you know that Tyler's Dad used to actually make him shoot 500 free throws a night?! My dad something similar, but it was never 500.. That's so many!