"How do you take your tea?" Dallon asks from the kitchen. They were at Dallon's house because it was closer and no one was home.

Tyler sat curled up on the end of the gray couch in the living room. "Just black, thanks." He replied loud enough for him to hear in the adjacent kitchen. A few moments later Dallon entered the room with two cups of tea. He passed Tyler a mug which he accepted with a quiet thanks.

"I'm not going to pressure you to talk about it or anything but if you want to talk about what's been making you all anxious lately I'd be happy to listen." Dallon says with a casual tone to his voice as he sips his tea. Tyler genuinely felt safe telling Dallon anything. He knew that he wouldn't be judged and that Dallon would help him in any way he could. He was a great friend and Tyler felt lucky to have someone like that in his life. He used to think of Josh like that but now...

There was a pause before Tyler said anything. "So you know Josh? The guy I've been dating for like five months." Dallon nodded as a silent way of saying continue. "Well I don't know what's been up with him lately. He texted me saying that he didn't need a ride to school for a while and that he wanted some space. So I tried to call him and talk about everything but it went to voicemail and so have the rest of my calls to him. He hasn't been at school all week and the last time I heard from him was Friday after the game. I just don't know what to do, I can't talk to him and I don't know what's going on with him."

"Have you thought about going to his house and checking on him. Just to make sure he's okay and maybe talk some stuff over." Dallon asked, keeping his casual tone in an attempt to keep Tyler's anxiety at bay.

"Well yeah, of course I have. But he said he wanted space and I feel like I need to respect that. If I don't then I just seem like a pushy asshole." He paused before adding "And I mean, Brendon said that he's okay so maybe I should trust that and respect what Josh wants and not worry."

Dallon's casual tone disappears slightly as he speaks. "Wait, how does Brendon know he's okay? If he's talking to the rest of your friends and not you that's kind of fucked up."

"I'm not sure why they know. They just told me not to worry about it but I got all mad and stormed off to the parking lot where you ran into me. But I feel like my anger's kind of valid towards them, y'know? They know why Josh is doing this and what's going on with him and they won't tell me even though they know how much he means to me." Tyler said, still just as confused as to why they wouldn't tell him.

"Well maybe Josh just asked them not to tell you. So even if they want to they're not going to disrespect Josh like that." Dallons explanation made everything a lot clearer to Tyler and he believed it a lot more than anything he'd thought of before.

Something still want clear about all this to Tyler. "But why would he do that?"

"You'd have to ask him that, I think you should just go to his house and talk to him about it. If he really doesn't want you there then at least you tried. It's a lot better than sitting around here wondering why." Dallon said, setting his empty mug on the coffee table.

"Okay, I can do that. I'll go talk to him." Butterflies started to flutter in his stomach as he felt a rush of anxiety. He pushed all those feelings down as he stood up. "Thank you for everything. You really helped, I'm glad to have a friend like you."

Dallon stood too, taking Tyler's empty mug and setting it near his own. "Of course, anytime. You can always come to me, okay? Now let's go drive you back to your car so you can go talk to Josh."

"Okay, thank you, again." Tyler said as they exited Dallon's house.

~~~~~~~~~~

Oh man this next chapter is going to be real good. Well, at least my idea for the next chapter is good, I don't know how well I'll execute it.

Thanks for reading! Comment, vote and all that Jazz if you liked it.