TYLER

it was saturday today, and i wanted to go on a date with josh.

i told him i loved him a few days ago, because i did.

i'm pretty sure 'love' is when you can't stand not being around that one person, or instantly feeling excited and happy when they see you from across the room. i think it's when you long to hold that one person close to you, or just to hear their voice. it's when you want to spend every minute with them, because you know they'll bring happiness and good vibes with them. it's like when you get an a+ on a test, you can't help but feel giddy all day.

except this time, josh was my test, and i was getting the best grades possible.

josh was love.

and i was so thankful i had him.

my thoughts were interrupted when my mom told me jenna was here to pick me up. she made me go on a date with her, not that i really minded considering jenna and i lounge around her house all day when her parents weren't home or stay at a cafe and eat food. anything we want to, really.

the only problem was that i was meeting her family today, and they didn't know about our situation.

you know, the one that we both love different people that we're not supposed to be hanging out with. my mom came into my open door, smiling at me and fixing my tie. i was uncomfortable in this suit, it could barely move my arms and i had like, three shirts on.

the tie was choking me, and not in the good way.

i walked downstairs, opening the door for jenna. she looked beautiful.

her silky, blonde hair was tied up in a bun, tresses caressing her lightly made-up face. there was black liner and soft browns and golds lining her stunning blue eyes, her lips the center of attention with a bright red lipstick showing them off. she wore silver jewelry that shone in the setting sunlight and silver heels, along with a greenish-blue gown that had a slit in it, showing her long legs off.

"you look gorgeous." i said, because she did.

"thanks, babe!" she said gratefully. she smelled really good. "you look handsome."

"thanks. shall we?" i bent my arm for her to take it, and she snaked her arm around mine, walking towards her car.

i opened the door for her, and got in on my side. i decided to drive, since i didn't want her feet to hurt in her heels. we were away from my house, jenna then leaning the seat back and resting her feet on the dashboard.

"ugh, these heels hurt so bad. if it were up to me, i would go to mcdonald's in my converse and flannel with a snapback on my head, but nope. i don't know why my mother insisted on me wearing this shit." she rolled her eyes, looking out the window.

"we should do something else."

"like what?"

"do you want to go to dinner, but instead of actually eating dinner, we should sample all of the desserts?"

"tyler, you're a genius."

"i know." i said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"there's a great restaurant that has really good cookies, but i've never tried anything else. we should go."

"okay, but first i have to meet your family."

"oh yeah." her face went blank and she looked out the window again.

|-/

"hello, jenna. ah, you must be mr. joseph. how are you today?" a tall, blonde lady greeted us at the door of jenna's house, dressed up almost exactly like jenna.

"hello, mrs. black. i'm alright, and yourself?" i said politely right on cue.

"pleasant, thank you. won't you come in?" she moved aside for us to come inside the house.

the blacks always had a nice house, three stories with a spiral staircase, about ten bedrooms. it was custom made, her parents knocked it down and built a new one, more modern and definitely bigger than the original.

i walked inside, jenna taking me to sit on the couch. i smelled something really good, maybe it was fish? i also noticed other things, but i couldn't exactly lay my finger down on the exact smell.

"mr. joseph, jenna, we've prepared dinner for you two. we're just waiting on jack to come downstairs."

(A.N. get it like jack black i'm hilarious i know)

a few moments later, jenna's dad came downstairs in a suit, smiling at us.

"hello, mr. joseph, jenna. let us eat?"

the dinner was really uncomfortable.

jenna's parents kept asking about us, the reasons why we think we would be good for one another and so on. i could tell she was just as uncomfortable as me by the way her eyes darted around the room when they spoke or when she poked at her food with her fork.

it ended quickly by her parents talking to me about how i should take care of their daughter and to make sure i had goals in life, to pick a good job and make lots of money, blah, blah, blah.

"i can't take this anymore." jenna whispered to me as her parents were in the kitchen. "we need to tell them. they would be fine with it, i'm one hundred percent sure. tell them with me?"

i looked at her, her eyes filled with hope. to be honest, i was sick of it, too. i wanted to be able to hang out with jenna and not have to act like a couple. she was literally my best friend, and we should be able to act like best friends. i nodded my head, it was time. her parents came back in with weird drinks in their hands, different colors with different fruit decorating the glass.

"mom, dad, tyler and i have something to tell you."

|-/

well, it went better than expected.

we outright told them the truth, about us, even about my mother. they nodded in understanding, saying that they just wanted the best for jenna and that she should do whatever she wants to make sure she was happy. as for me, they said i was still welcome in the house and that i should probably bring this up to my mom.

they gave us big hugs and sent us along our way, to the restaurant jenna told me about. driving to the restaurant, jenna and i couldn't stop smiling about the whole thing. it's like the screen on my chest disappeared, and they wouldn't find out about josh.

not yet.

i found a parking spot pretty close to the entrance of the restaurant, me leading jenna to it. i held her hand, her manicured fingers interlocked with mine.

"hi, welcome to the velvet rose." the lady said to me from behind the little counter, a couple of menus in her hand.

"hi, can we have a table, please?" i asked, smiling politely.

"sure. follow me." she gestured her head and began walking towards the back of the restaurant, sitting us down at a small table.

she gave us the menus and walked away, jenna and i flipping straight through to the dessert section. i pointed and gasped as i saw they had tiramisu here, my favorite. jenna looked at the different flavors of cream puffs they had.

"tyler, i can't choose. help."

"eh, let's just get all of it."

"hi, my name is seanna and i'll be serving you two today. what can i get you started off with?" a lady came over to our table, her dyed maroon hair in a ponytail. she reminded me of josh. i wonder what he's doing right now. probably playing video games or watching the nightmare before christmas.

again.

"tyler?" jenna snapped me out of my thoughts.

"huh?"

"what do you want to drink?"

then i remembered jenna and i were here for one thing only.

"let me get a giant glass of milk, please. like, the biggest glass you own."

"milk? alright. are you ready to order?" seanna jotted our orders on the notepad she was holding.

"yeah, can we just get everything on the dessert menu?" jenna asked, looking down at it.

"everything on the dessert menu?"

"yes, please."

seanna gave us a weird look, but wrote that down and left.

"we're going to have the biggest stomachaches on this planet." i said, already deciding that this was definitely not a good idea.

|-/

and i was correct.

we had a sugar rush, literally eating everything that we ordered. jenna tried all of her cream puffs and i ate the cheesecakes, but i didn't forget the other stuff either. we paid and left the restaurant, skipping down the sidewalk to my car. yes, jenna was still wearing her heels.

we started giggling for no reason when we got in the car, and then started full on laughing.

"what's so funny?" i asked between giggles.

"i don't know!" jenna started bursting out laughing again.

then i thought of an idea.

"jenna!"

"what?"

"you know what we should do now?!"

"what?!"

"we should go to the club!"

"wait, what?"

"yeah, the club."

she gave me a look, but shrugged. "okay, i'm down."

we drove into town and soon found a shady looking club with two bouncers by the entrance. i knew we didn't have a password or code like how you'd see in the movies, but we gave it a shot anyway.

"hey, man. are you on the list?" the burly bouncer's gruff voice asked me.

"of course, we both are. tyler and jenna."

the bouncer looked through the list of names and eyed us as he flipped through all of the pages on his clipboard. i shot him a smile as he kept looking through and giving me looks.

"you're not on here." he squinted at me.

"yes, we are. look harder, man."

"go away, kid. you're too young to be here."

"i'm offended! i will have you know that i am practically an adult."

"i didn't ask for your life story. get out of here, now!"

i didn't know what i was doing, but i really wanted to get in to this club. so i ran past the guards into the building, jenna following right behind me. i ran through the crowd of people after hearing a "hey!" from the bouncers, surfing my way through the waves of sweaty people and the smell of liquor.

i started giggling, this adrenaline rush was thrilling. it was fun being chased and going against the rules. i felt big, calloused hands on my waist, turning around when they touched me. i seemed to have lost jenna, but i came face to face with a really nice looking guy.

"hi, can i buy you a drink?" he asked.

"uh, sure." i said absentmindedly, looking around for any of the bouncers.

i didn't see any, so i went with this guy to the bar, sitting down and facing him while he ordered two beers. what the hell? if you're going to buy me a drink, get me like, a sex on the beach or tequila sour.

but i mean, beer was okay, i guess.

"so, what brings you here?" he asked, resting his arm on the counter.

"i just ran past the bouncers, and now i'm here." i shrugged.

"ah, i see. you're more on the wild side. i like that." he bit his lip, and smiled, looking up at my through his long, dark lashes.

gotta blast, quick. go, tyler! what are you doing! you have a boyfriend who wouldn't be happy knowing you're doing stupid shit.

i was right. but this guy was really attractive. he had dark hair, olive skin, and green eyes. sharp jawline and everything. he was wearing tight clothes, the black shirt he had on letting me see that he was in really good shape.

the bartender came back with two full mugs of frothy beer, me taking a small sip considering that i've never drank alcohol before. fuck, this shit was nasty. i set it down, not really making a big deal of it.

"what do you say we continue this at my place?"

oh, no.

"uh, i'm actually here with my girlfriend." i said referring to the jenna that was lost in the sea of people.

"bring her too." he winked.

i stuttered, my cheeks going red and my eyes scanning everything but him. oh god, i was embarrassed. just then, jenna came up to me.

"tyler! there you are!" her gown was torn and dirty, her bare feet walking along the floor of the club.

"what happened to you?" i asked.

"one of the bouncers caught me and ripped my dress when i tried to escape. my parents are going to be so mad." she looked down at her dress worriedly, then stopped. "eh, whatever." she shrugged. "i'm tired, can we leave, ty?"

"yes!" i said a little too eagerly, just glad i could get out of this musty club. "thanks for the drink." i smiled at the guy who bought me the beer, chugging a little bit down so i didn't completely waste his money. i grimaced, it tasted like butthole.

jenna and i were soon found by the bouncers and were slung across their shoulders, being carried out of the club. they literally threw us out, jenna's torn dress getting even more dirty and my suit ripping a little. we went back to the car, my heart still pounding from the encounters of tonight.

"whoa." jenna said.

"i know. that was so crazy!" i said, pulling out of the space we parked in and drove off.

"did you see the bouncer's face when he caught us?"

"he wanted to kill us, oh my god."

"and that really hot guy, who was he?"

"i don't know, he bought me a drink though."

"you should've gotten his number!"

i probably should tell her about josh now.

"actually, i wouldn't be able to do that. it's not right."

"what do you mean?"

and that's when i went on a rant about josh. i talked about how beautiful he was, how his personality always shone through and he brightened up my day.

josh sun.

how he was not afraid to try new things and always wanted to have a good time.

josh fun.

how he always likes making stupid jokes and making me laugh.

josh pun.

i had to stop myself from droning on and on about him, because i honestly could talk about him all day. i've only been dating him for a couple of months, but i really like josh.

"wow, tyler. you must really love him."

"i think i do."

jenna smiled at me, and looked back over to the window.

"how about you? how's ericc?" i asked.

"he's amazing. you know he plays the drums?"

"really?"

jenna then filled me in on how they met at a concert, him being one of the people who decided to crowd surf and land right on top of jenna. she sprained her wrist because of it, but they were happy together. and i was happy that she was happy.

i reached my house, remembering that this was jenna's expensive car i was in, and let myself out. she got out too, and i pulled her into a hug.

"thanks for a great night, tyler. i'm surprised we aren't dead." she said into my shoulder, giggling a bit.

"we're going to be when our parents see our clothes. we'll have a lot of explaining to do." i sighed, dreading that i was going to have to tell my mom that i went into a club with jenna after telling her parents that we weren't dating.

"bye, babe. love you." she smiled and went into her car, turning on the headlights and driving away.

i went to the door, seeing that all the lights were off, so my mom was probably sleeping. my heart pounded as i realized i didn't have my key, so i was ultimately locked out of my house. i sighed, trying to figure out what i would do, until i remembered that big ass tree by my window that i hate so much.

i started climbing it, sticking my feet in the little nooks and dips that were in the tree, holding onto branches and making my way up. i reached my window after much work, trying to open it. it was unlocked, thankfully, but i still wondered why i never locked my window. i should probably do that from now on.

i got inside my bedroom, stripping off my clothes down to my underwear and flopping on my bed, drifting off to sleep.