Warnings: Angst, infidelity
Word Count: 1493
"Y/N," Tyler announced as he walked into the living room.
You sat up from the lounged position that you had been in on the couch and looked at Tyler. He was holding his phone in his hand and looking intently at something on it.
"Yes, babe?" you said.
He looked up at you, "So we've been dating for a few months now, and I was wondering if you think it's a good idea to announce our relationship?"
You felt your heart stop for a second. If Tyler announced your relationship, it would ruin everything that you had so carefully crafted over the last few months. You had somehow managed to pull off being involved with both Tyler and Josh without the other one knowing about it.
You bit down on your lip, "Don't you think we should wait a little bit longer? I mean, we've only been together for two months."
"Can we at least tell Josh?" Tyler asked, sitting down next to you on the couch. "It's hard not being able to talk to anyone else about us."
You waited a moment to answer so that you didn't seem too scared about the idea.
"I just don't want to make him feel uncomfortable when the three of us are together, you know?" It was the same exact line you used with Josh all the time.
"I guess that's fair," Tyler said, putting his arm around your shoulder. "Waiting another month or so won't hurt, I guess. I'm just running out of date ideas that don't involve leaving the house."
"It will be worth it eventually," you smiled, although you weren't so sure.
You left Tyler's shortly after discussing going public with your relationship. Josh would be waiting for you and you had already left Tyler's much later than you intended to. He answered the door a few seconds after you had knocked, much to your surprise.
"Hey. Sorry if I scared you," he said after noticing the shock on your face.
"I just didn't expect you to open the door that fast," you smiled, stepping into his entryway.
"I happened to be walking past the door when you knocked."
He closed the door while you took off your coat. Once that was done, he pulled you into a kiss. You were quick to wrap your arms around his neck.
"So what would you like to do today?" Josh asked, his arms still resting on your hips.
"I think I have an idea," you smirked.
"A movie?" he said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," you beamed, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards his bedroom.
Josh grabbed snacks from the kitchen while you sat on his bed and searched through Netflix for a movie that the two of you hadn't seen yet. Most of your "dates" consisted of watching movies and cuddling.
"I've got popcorn!" Josh smiled as he walked into the room.
"My hero!"
He set the bowl next to you on the bed and you immediately grabbed a large handful of it while continuing to scroll through Netflix with the other hand.
"What about this one?" you asked.
"Yeah, it looks good."
"Perfect," you said, tossing the remote aside and snuggling up to Josh.
The movie was about halfway over when you got up to use the bathroom. You had only left the room for a couple minutes, but you soon learned that this was enough time to completely ruin the lie that you had so carefully upheld for months.
Josh was holding your phone as you walked back into the room. You stopped dead in your tracks and began to assess the situation. He didn't look happy and whatever seemed to be upsetting him was almost definitely your fault.
"What is this?" Josh asked, pointing to your screen.
There were two texts on your screen, although he was too far away for you to be able to read them. It didn't take a genius to guess who they were from, though.
"What is what?"
Josh clenched his jaw for a moment before turning the phone back to himself so that he could read the messages to you.
"A text from Tyler: 'Loved seeing you today, babe' with a heart emoji. Then another one: 'Sorry if you felt pressured to go public with our relationship. Take as much time as you need'. What's going on, Y/N?"
"I, um..."
"Are you seeing Tyler too?"
"Well, I-"
"You know what? I'll just call him."
"Josh, you don't need to do that."
But Josh wasn't listening. He already had the phone held up to his ear as he paced around the other side of his bedroom.
"Hey, Tyler. I just had a quick question for you."
A short pause.
"Are you and Y/N seeing each other?"
You couldn't hear Tyler's answer, but judging by the expression on Josh's face he hadn't upheld the lie like you had told him to. Your heart was pounding in your chest as you watched Josh walk around the room, but you remained frozen in place.
"I think you're going to want to come over here."
A pause.
"I'll tell you when you get here. See you soon."
Josh ended the call and turned to look at you. He didn't say anything, just glared as he walked past you and out into the hallway. You stayed in his room and took a seat on the edge of his bed. This was the most nervous that you had ever been, and there was still ten more minutes until Tyler showed up.
You practically jumped when you heard the front door open. Knowing that you couldn't hide in Josh's bedroom forever, you took a deep breath and headed for the living room.
"What did you need to talk to me about?" you heard Tyler ask.
This was when you made yourself visible. Tyler's face lit up when he first saw you, but quickly changed to confusion as he turned to look at Josh.
"Y/N? I thought you had work. Wait, are you two...?" Tyler asked, waving his hand between the two of you.
Josh nodded to you, "You can tell him."
Your breath shook as you inhaled and you turned to look towards your feet, "I've been seeing both of you in secret."
"You've what?" Tyler said.
You met his eyes now, "I've been lying to both of you. Most of the time when I have to leave 'for work' it's just me coming over here to see Josh and vice versa."
"Is that why you didn't want to announce our relationship?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't know about this either, Josh?"
"Nope," he shook his head slowly.
"How did you find out?"
"Y/N was in the bathroom when her phone buzzed and I just glanced at it to see what it was. I saw the heart emoji and then read the whole thing. It was pretty obvious from there, but I called you just to check."
"You've really been lying to both of us, Y/N?"
"I'm sorry, Ty, I-"
"Save it," Tyler cut you off. "You're not sorry or you wouldn't have lied in the first place."
You wanted to defend yourself, but there was nothing to defend. What you had done was wrong, and you couldn't really justify it.
"I was just trying to protect both of you from getting hurt," you said. It was the only semi-reasonable argument that you could think of. Apparently, it had been the wrong one.
"Protect us?" Josh scoffed. "Did you really think that lying and sneaking around behind our backs was going to protect us from getting hurt?"
"What was my other option? Openly telling both of you that I was cheating?"
"How about just picking one of us? Or neither if it was that hard of a decision?" Tyler said.
"Well it was obvious that you both had interest in me! Was I supposed to just break one of your hearts while dating your best friend?"
"Yes!" they said in unison.
"It would be way better than what's going on now," Josh added.
"So what happens now?" you asked.
"We're over," Tyler said.
"As are we," Josh chimed in.
"That's it?"
"That's it," Tyler smiled sarcastically.
"I also wouldn't bother coming to next week's show. Or any future show, for that matter."
It felt like every emotion was making its way through your mind right now. You wanted to scream and cry and throw something, but instead you calmly made your way towards the door. Those things could wait until later.
"Well it was nice knowing you two," you said sarcastically before grabbing your coat and making your way out the door.
The reality of the situation didn't hit you until you were halfway home. You began to cry as you made your way down the freeway. Two of your closest friends were now gone, completely out of your life because you had been selfish and cruel.