Chapter Text
Tyler's p.o.v
"Yes mom, I promise I'll call you everyday." I had to practically rip myself away from her arms. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom. But, I've been waiting to get out of Columbus for years now. And here she was, crying and trying to convince me to stay. If there is one thing I am 100% sure of, it is that I am not staying in Columbus anymore. "I love you, I'm only going to be gone for a few months before I come back for the Christmas. I'll be back in no time I promise."
"Please be safe Tyler. You know I worry about you." She isn't kidding, this is the woman that called me 15 times because I went for a night walk without telling her. I had left my phone in my room. When I got back home I found her in tears, sobbing to my father about how I might have gotten kidnapped. I was seventeen and we live in the safest town for miles. "Please don't get hurt. And you can always come back home." She reminded me, again.
"I know mom, I'll be fine I promise. Like, I've already got an apartment ready to move into and it's not in a bad part of the city. I'm going to be okay, I'll call you when I get there." With that I gave my father a manly hug, a goodbye, and got in my truck. As I drove away, I tried to not look back. Seeing my mom all torn up almost made me feel guilty about leaving. Almost. Zack was pretty psyched, because he got my old room. I didn't blame him, it was a basement room and it was fucking great. I drove for a while before I finally got onto the freeway. I put in a Death Cab For Cutie CD, which stayed on repeat until I made it to a shitty motel, finally. I grabbed by backpack, which had some clothes, my macbook, and a can of red bull in it, and made my way to the front desk. There was a girl standing there, she couldn't have been more than seventeen. Her blonde hair curled under her chin and her piercing blue eyes met mine. "I-can I check in?" Why was I getting all flustered? Dammit Tyler, get it together.
"Of course" she smiled at me, she had a beautiful smile. Her eyes broke away from mine and she stared typing something into a computer. "Credit card, please?" I was caught of guard when she started talking.
"Uh, yeah." I started digging around in my pockets to find my wallet, dropping it on the floor in the process. Smooth, Ty. I handed it to her, avoiding her eyes, probably blushing.
"Thank you!" She seemed very happy, especially for someone standing behind a desk at one in the morning. But hey, to each their own. She took the rest of my information and gave me a room key. I smiled and slowly made my way to my room. The carpet was a gross gray color, and covered in stains. I sat on the bed and was greeting by some lovely squeaking and creaking from the frame. I knew that I wouldn't be sleeping a whole lot, so I got out my laptop, and my red bull, and scrolled through Tumblr until I finally fell asleep at around 5am.
I woke up to an overwhelmingly obnoxious alarm on my phone at 8:30am. I managed to drag myself out of the uncomfortable motel bed, which felt like I was sleeping on a bed of fucking rocks. I walked up to the desk to check out, to find some older man there. He was very unfriendly and didn't make even an attempt at returning my hello. Nice. I threw my backpack into the passenger seat of the car and threw in From Under The Cork Tree because I'm an emo piece of shit.
After a miserable three days of constant travel from Columbus to Los Angeles, I finally arrive to what I'm pretty sure is my apartment building. When I told my mom I wasn't going to live in a bad part of the city I lied. This is what I can afford. It could be a lot worse, but it could be a lot better. I started to take some of my stuff upstairs, and I got most of it up except for the big stuff. Like my furniture, which I can't get up to my apartment on my own. I sat down in the trailer that I had attached to the back of my truck with my head resting on my knees. I am fucking tired, and I can't get my bed or couch up to my apartment alone. So, in short, I am fucked. I sat there and almost fell asleep. Some guy came up to me, his fingers curled around the top of a Taco Bell bag. "Hey.. Dude,you might not want to sleep there.. It's gonna get dark soon and you probably don't want to be out here sleeping when that happens." My mind didn't quite comprehend what taco boy was saying, I was far too busy looking at his beautiful blue hair.
"I-I love your hair" was all I managed to blurt out. Smooth again, Ty, you fucking dumbass.
"Thanks.. Uh-" I could see a blush creep onto his face. "Did you just move into here?" He pointed at my apartment building.
"Yeah, um, I can't get some of this stuff up there by myself.." I felt like an idiot, and I'm sure I looked an idiot.
"You know, I can help you.. Uh, I live here too."
"That would actually be awesome because, like, I'm not very strong and I don't think I can lift this stuff alone.." Wow, way to make me sound like a big baby. But, to be honest, I am skinny and not very strong and this guy looks pretty built and I bet he could definitely help me move my shit.
He gave me a warm smile and helped me up from my spot "my name is josh dun."
What a beautiful name.