you and the others circled around behind the arcade in case things got messy between logan and barron. you and ben were sitting next to each other while the others were standing.

ben grinds his teeth so you slowly your head towards him. you sweat drop, 'wish we could've convinced him to stay at the arcade, if barron pisses off ben i'm gonna have to help barron.'

he was listening to music to keep himself calm. you cringe when you remember how you had basically forced him to give you the other end of his earbud when you two first met on your way to savannah.

you tap his arm, "is it okay if i listen with you..?" you ask cautiously while aoiding eye contact. he looks at you shocked with a small blush before giving you the left side of the earbud.

you put it in your ear and almost gasped at the song choice. "a perfect pair with beabadoobee are you kidding me?!" you look at him excitedly. he flinched at your loudness and slowly nodded, flustered.

your ethusiasm disappeared though when you heard logan yelling from behind the corner. ben snaps his head towards the brick wall and tries to stand up but you stopped him.

"stop, not now." you tell him. he looks at you and reluctantly sits back down, although you didn't miss the way he turned the volume up. not that you were complaining since he had good music taste.

you flinch when you hear the yelling get louder and you heard a thud. ben was slightly shaking by this point so you gently take his hand and rub circles on his palm.

his eyes widen and he looks at you but you were looking away, he noticed that your ears were red.

"hey, what are you doing?!" you hear a random guy yell. ashlyn looks around the corner and nods, "okay, it's time to step in-" "ben-!" you hold onto his earbuds for him as he walks over to the bullies.

he grabs a random guys face and smashes him down on the ground so you wince and run over to him with aiden. "logan-" you grunt when a random girl yanks you by your hair.

"who are you?!" she yells. you grab her wrist and twist it so she lets go off your hair, you then keep your grip on her wrist and propell her forwards so she'd fall down.

when she falls down with a grunt you twist her wrist behind her back and use your knee to push her own wrist into her back while also having to feel your knee dig into her back.

"...it's britney, bitch." you cringe, "ew. sorry, i was thinking of the song i just had to say it."

your eyes widen when you smell someone coming up from behind you so you get off her back and swing at the guy. you let out a silent scream when you realize who you just punched.

"i'm so sorry tyler!" "WHAT THE FUCK???"

your eyes widen and you quickly grab the front of his shirt and pull him towards you. his eyes widen and he grabs your hips while closing his eyes.

you hit the guy that was sneaking up on him and then look at tyler who had his eyes snapped shut while he was holding your hips. "you can let go now." you deadpan.

"CALM DOWN!!!" ashlyn yells out of nowhere so you freeze out of instinct, tyler did the same. everyone else did too, but not barron and the randoms because they yelled a quick "psychos!" and left.

you and tyler let go of each other and steady your breathing. you then look at ashlyn who was crouching on the ground, her headphones had fallen off, which was probably why she yelled.

taylor trembles and hugs herself, "just... what was that? i'm not usually that... violent." she looks down at the ground with a terrified look on her face, almost as if she didn't know who she just was.

tyler crosses arms (HE DOES THIS SO OFTEN???), "...yeah well, they attacked us first. maybe we did go overboard..." "but at the very least they deserved it." you finish his sentence.

"...i don't think that's the problem." ashlyn trembles, "taylor's right, this could be bad..." she says ominously while slowly standing up. you tilt your head, "what?"

"...you guys... were making the same sounds that the phantoms do."

⋆.˚✧────────✧˚.⋆

when you guys got back to the graveyard it was deadly silent, you seven were inside of the main bus. ben, tyler and taylor were sitting on the seats like normal people.

while logan was sat inside of a wheel, ashlyn was sitting on the cooler, aiden was sitting on top of the seats and you were sitting in the bean bag you brought from your house.

it was silent until tyler spoke up, "so.. you think the phantom dimension is influencing us?" he asks ashlyn. said girl rests her head in her hand, "not only that but... i think we're also impacting the real world as well."

you sweat drop and sink further into the bean bag. everyone became silent again after what she said, since it was a lot to take in.

you scratch your cheek, "so what do we do?" you ask her silently. she thinks about it before answering, "i think things started to get out of control after logan got upset.."

"...maybe negative emotions can set that kind of reaction off?" taylor suggests with slight worry in her tone since her two favorite people have a short fuse.

logan crosses his legs the best he could considering he was sitting in a tire. "so we should avoid getting angry?" he comments. you and tyler share a glance.

tyler leans back in his seat, "how are we going to do that when our entire situation is negative?" he groans. you let out a sigh and look at the roof of the bus, 'this is bullshit.'

ashlyn groans into her hands and starts slightly pulling her hair, "...i also don't think we can afford to be as careful as we have been. i was hoping we could take our time and figure things out as safely as possible but..."

"...we don't know how the dimension's influence over us will progress or how quickly. alongside the possibility of us damaging the real world because of that influence. we need to speed things up..."

"and find a way to savannah."

⋆.˚✧────────✧˚.⋆

later that day you realized that you had to go to that bbq at ashlyn's. so you had lazily gotten out of the bed and told your mom to come with you to the barbeque.

also it kinda sucked because you were late, so that's that.

and your mom brought the cat.

so that's that.

but when you arrived, the backyard was alive with energy, filled with the rich smell of bbq and the sounds of laughter, chatter, and lily's excited squeals. 

the (lowkey big) patch of green serves as the perfect space for the gathering. it's comfortable, homely, and buzzing with the kind of warmth that comes from close friendships and shared histories.

of course not during the night.

ashlyn's dad is still manning the grill, flipping the last of the hot dogs with a proud grin as he chats animatedly with logan's grandparents about their recipe for peach cobbler. 

logan, nearby but quiet, keeps an eye on his grandparents while still laughing at aiden's sarcastic comments about the "chaos" of the bbq.

on the grass, tyler's a bit more nervous than usual today, his eyes drifting over to where you were sat with ashlyn.

your fat cat resting lazily in your lap, flicks its tail as you absently stroke it, deep in conversation with ashlyn. every now and then, tyler sneaks a glance in your direction, but the poor boy can't help but blush and look away whenever you meet his gaze.

taylor, being the more outspoken twin, has already noticed her brother's little crush and is grinning slyly from across the yard, plotting something no doubt.

tyler hasn't "liked" anyone in years, not after... moving on, even though she was plotting on how you two would get together. she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy.

aiden and ben, still caught up with lily, who's now running through a small obstacle course ben set up with old cardboard boxes and lawn chairs, are helping keep the little girl entertained. 

she giggles nonstop, running between them with her paper crown askew, while aiden pretends to chase her in slow motion, causing her to scream with joy.

as everyone sits down to dig into the food, the parents and some of you kids start swapping stories, and of course, that's when the real fun begins.

"i have one about tyler." ty and tay's mom suddenly pipes up, her eyes sparkling with mischief even though her face stayed nautral. tyler, who's mid-bite of his burger, nearly chokes.

"m-mom, no. not now." he pleads, but it's too late.

"oh, don't worry, tyler. i'll make it quick." she says while glancing at you. tyler's cheeks turn pink, his nervous glance darting between you and his mom.

"so, when tyler was about eight, he decided he was going to impress the girl next door. he got it into his head that the best way to do that was to write her a poem and leave it in her mailbox. but instead of putting her name on it, he signed his own name with hearts around it."

the entire table bursts into laughter as tyler groans, burying his face in his hands. you look at tyler and let out a loud laugh.

"mom, please." tyler begs, looking mortified. but his mom isn't done.

"oh, it gets better. not only did he leave the poem, but he hid in the bushes to see her reaction. the problem was...he forgot to be quiet. so, when she found the letter, she also heard him sneezing from the bushes and came over to check on him, thinking he was hurt."

"poor tyler ran so fast back into the house, he tripped over the garden hose and landed face-first into the dirt."

at this, the whole table is in hysterics. tyler looks like he wants to disappear into the earth. his face is as red as the ketchup bottle sitting in front of him. 

you are laughing too, though it's more aggressive. tyler has noticed over time that you tend to laugh rather loudly compared to other girls he's heard laugh, is that because you don't fake laugh?

"you were a poet, huh?" you tease him while elbowing his side playfully. tyler stammers, trying to recover some shred of dignity. "i...i was eight! i don't write poems anymore..."

although his vunerable state disappeared when aiden laughed louder than anyone. "BWHAHAH! i never expected that tyler of all people to write poems!!" "I'LL KILL YOU."

tyler stands up and starts chasing aiden around while the entire table watched them, amused. "meow." you look at your cat that was on lily's lap and almosst scream.

lily had put makeup on your cat and decorated him.

──✧˚.⋆

the parents were still gossiping and it was already dark out. you (your cat), ben (lily) and logan were playing uno on the ground while tyler and taylor were sitting on the tires.

ashlyn was sitting on some weird cement block while fiddling with her phone, aiden was also on his phone but he was laying down on a broken-down car.

"do they not realize how late it is? it's almost midnight." tyler comments. "UNO!" you yell and slam down a 2+ card which made logan groan as he picks up two cards from the pile.

ashlyn nods at tyler's words and stands up, "alright, let's go." she intructs. you snap your head towards her with melodramatic tears in your eyes, "now?! i'm about to win this game!" "let's go." "bummer..."

you pout and put down your last card and gather logan and ben's cards. you wrap a hairtie around the cards and stand up, almost knocking your cat over to the ground but you quickly caught him.

ashlyn clears her throat and looks at her father, "hey, dad, were going to the bus to grab something real quick. we'll be back in a minute." "alright."

ben stands up and hands lily over to his mom who sat lily down in her lap. ashlyn's mom giggles, "haha, i'm surprised she's still awake. now that i think about it, it's getting pretty late." she comments.

ben's mom gives a small smile as she tucks lily's hair behind her ear, "well, it's actually been a little hard to get any sleep lately... it's kind of crazy. we keep seeing strange things recently."

──✧˚.⋆

meanwhile with you others. tyler handed ben his guitar with his signature frown on his face. "you still remember the chords right? do i need to go over them one more time?" ty questions.

you pet your cat while staring intently at tyler. since he felt you staring at him he looked back at you, "what?" he asks in a gentle tone which was unusual.. suspicious.

"you've become less of a jerk lately." you comment. he raises one of his eyebrows confused, "was that supposed to be a compliment?" "i guess. it was kind of you to teach ben how to play happy birthday since he couldn't sing it."

ashlyn nods in agreement, "you don't seem like the type to play the guitar." tyler was quiet for a moment. he thought about his words before answering, "i'm not, but i do know a few songs our dad taught us."

"happy birthday just happened to be one of them. anyway, how much time is left." he quickly changes the topic. logan groggily opens his eyes (he was dozing off) and checks his phone, "um... about two minutes."

you sigh and pet your cat, since he would have to witness his owner randomly passing out along with the others.

once it hits midnight, we automatically fall asleep when the shift happens. to our parents, it would probably look like we all passed out at the same time. hence why we decided to go somewhere out of sight instead.

aiden looks at ashlyn, "we're still going into town right?" "yeah, that's what logan suggested we do." she was quick to respond as she looks down and fiddles with her fingers.

you stretch and lay down, taking up three whole seats as your cat lays down on your chest comfortably. you close your eyes, "see you guys soon."

"don't be corny." "shut the fuck up tyler."

⋆.˚✧────────✧˚.⋆

a/n: sdkjsak sorry yall i might be writing a lil bit too much with tyler i'm gonna try to give the others some more screentime (tylers my fav if you can't tell already)

chapter published. december 16, 2024