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It took Tyler a short while to actually call his mom, even though he said he’d do it in the morning. He didn’t even have a logical explanation as to why he was delaying. It came to be about eleven before he picked up his phone and dialed. Not even three rings came before his mom eagerly answered.
“Hello?” She greeted. Jennifer had been losing hope in reaching out to Tyler. It always seemed like he was “busy” with something but, in reality, he was just nervous.
“Hey, mom. Good morning.” Tyler answered in a casual tone.
“Well, late morning but, yeah. Good morning, Tyler.” She chuckled.
“Yeah, true…” Tyler drifted and let the call fall into a kind of uncomfortable silence.
“So, uh,” Jennifer cleared her throat and collected herself. “Is there a specific reason you called or did you just want to enjoy the white-noise?”
“Oh yeah!” Tyler snapped. “Yeah, I wanted to ask if you wanted to just hang out today. Maybe we could go to the mall or something?” Jennifer brightened and smiled wide.
“Yes, yes, of course. That sounds great!” She squealed.
“You okay over there?” Tyler laughed. It was just the mall; there wasn’t anything too special about it.
“Yeah. We just haven’t really spent proper time together, is all. I’m a bit excited.” She smiled over the phone. Tyler nodded.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I don’t really have a good excuse for why we haven’t. I guess I just wasn’t ready but I think I am now.” He said with hope in his voice.
“That’s fine. I’ll come for you around 1?”
“Sounds good. See you then.”
“See you then.” Jennifer said, hanging up the phone and getting ready almost immediately. Tyler was the opposite though. He decided that sitting in bed until 12:45 was a better option for him, leaving him a panicking mess when the time came for Jennifer to pick him up.
He made it downstairs in the nick of time though, as Jennifer had just gotten there and was talking to Josh at the door.
“Took you long enough.” Josh teased, knowing Tyler wasn’t that late.
“Shush.” He hit Josh then turned his attention to his mom. “You ready?” She nodded and he walked out the door with her, sliding into the passenger seat.
The ride over there was pretty silent but still comfortable. The two were pretty bad at small talk but it was fine because once a topic was put out there, they made pretty great socializers.
It didn’t take long for them to actually reach the mall. Now they were just walking in and wandering the halls.
“So, why did you choose to go to the mall any-who?” Jennifer asked.
“I don’t know. I had to get a gift for Josh anyways so, why not?” Tyler shrugged, looking at a near by Hot Topic. He knew his mom didn’t favor the store so he just decided to go in later on, on their way out.
“Wanna go in here?” Tyler asked instead, pointing at Journeys.
“Sure.” Jennifer said, walking towards the store.
“Okay. Just be ready for them to ask you a butt ton of questions and just talk about nothing in particular to you.” Jennifer looked confused as she walked in, instantly understanding what her son meant by that warning.
“Hey there! Welcome to Journeys. Can I help you with anything today?” A tall, skinny boy asked her. He looked to be about 18 or 19 years old.
“Oh, no. I’m just looking, thank you though.”
“That’s fine. Hey, kid! I live your shirt! You going to see them at Warped this year?” He asked quickly to Tyler, pointing out his Crown The Empire tank top.
“Yeah, if they’re on the line up. Probably not though, you know?” He giggled. His mom stood there in awe. This place was weird to her.
“Yeah true. What about you? Can I help you with anything this afternoon?” He winked.
“Yeah, can I have these skate highs in a size 9 mens?” He asked, picking up a pair of maroon Vans. They seemed perfect for Josh to Tyler and he couldn’t wait until he gave them to him Wednesday.
“Sure thing. As long as I can get your phone number at the end?” The boy smirked, looking Tyler up and down. Jennifer was at his side, laughing her head off. Who knew her son would get hit on this blatantly?
Tyler awkwardly laughed and shifted on his feet. “Yeah, see, I don’t know. These shoes are actually for my boyfriend, sorry dude.” He blushed. Getting hit on was not something he was used to.
“Must be a lucky guy. Let me get you those shoes then.” He said, shrugging his shoulders and disappearing into the back room.
“Wow.” Jennifer finally managed to say. She was still cracking up from the display.
“Oh my gosh. That was horrible.” Tyler said, putting his head in his hands.
“Oh, hush. It was fine. I’m telling Josh as soon as I drop you off though.” Jennifer chuckled. Tyler’s eyes went wide but before he could get anything out the boy came back, handing Tyler the shoes.
“Here you go. I’ll ring you up over here.” He directed. Tyler followed, getting out his wallet. “That’s gonna be a total of $45.00” Tyler handed him the money and grabbed his, now bagged, shoes from the counter. He then quickly got his change and made a beeline for the exit, grabbing his mom on the way.
A couple of hours passed and the two were all shopped out. Tyler ended up buying Josh three shirts, a pair of shoes and an additional two hats from four different stores while Jennifer only had bags from Macy’s, JCPenny and Bath & Body Works.
“Can we get some food before leaving?” She asked, putting down her bags and sitting down at a food court table. Tyler nodded and did the same before getting up to go order some Chinese for the both of them. It didn’t take long for him to come back and Jennifer was already chowing down into her meal.
“Thanks for coming with me today.” Tyler said, wiping his mouth and taking a sip of his drink.
“Oh, no problem. I had fun. Thanks for inviting me.” Jennifer smiled. Tyler gave a warm smile back.
“I did too. Josh told me you missed me. I’m really sorry I haven’t reached out to you.” He apologized.
“Tyler, don’t worry about that. I’ll take anytime with you I can get.”
“Same here. Why don’t we just make this a regular thing? Like we could hang out every week or two.” Tyler hopefully suggested.
“That sounds good. I just have to check my work days but I think it’s do-able.” She nodded. Tyler smiled and stood up.
“Ready to go?”
“Yep.” Jennifer replied, throwing away her trash and grabbing her bags. Tyler lead by her example and walked with her out the store.
—
Jennifer brought Tyler home and ended up staying for a short while, just to socialize with Joan and Josh. She actually forgot about the little Journeys incident and only remembered when Tyler brought it up.
“Oh yeah! I was laughing the whole time.” She exclaimed. “He just had so much confidence and it didn’t even faultier when he got shot down! I felt bad for laughing but I feel like he’ll be all right.” She told he group. Josh was laughing and so was Joan while Tyler stood there, embarrassed.
“Sounds like that kid has good taste.” Josh said in between fits of laughter. Tyler blushed and frowned at him. He didn’t think it was funny but he liked the gesture. “Babe, relax. You are adorable though.” Josh said, pulling Tyler’s body closer so he was standing in between his legs and kissed him on the lips.
“Wow. Our sons are so gay.” Joan whispered to Jennifer. Jennifer nodded and laughed harder than she was before. Josh’s mouth gaped open and he got up, storming out of the kitchen. Tyler giggled and followed after him.
“Joshy! Don’t be a wuss! Being gay is fun! Especially when you’re dating me!!” Tyler said, jokingly. He found Josh in his room, fake pouting on the bed.
“Aww. The poor baby.” Tyler cooed, wrapping his arms around Josh’s neck and straddling him before bringing his own face closer to Josh’s.
“Bye, boys!” Tyler heard Jennifer call out. He would say something back but his lips were occupied at the moment. Tyler brought his cupped hands to Josh’s face and Josh smiled, sliding his hand under Tyler’s shirt so he could hold Tyler’s back.
Tyler shifted on Josh, accidentally grinding down on him, making Josh moan. Tyler pulled back and smiled down at Josh. Josh smiled in return and gave his boyfriend’s butt a light squeeze.
“I love you, Josh.” Tyler chuckled, taking Josh’s hands and moving them away from his bottom.
“I love you too, beautiful.” Josh said, reaching up to kiss Tyler’s neck but he was stopped. “What?”
“I… No.” Tyler choked, looking down.
“You’re not ready, are you?” Josh said, rubbing Tyler’s hands. Tyler slowly nodded and Josh smiled a little.
“I’m sorry…” He whispered.
“Don’t be sorry, Ty. I never want to pressure you into anything. You just tell me when you’re ready, okay?” Josh offered, lifting Tyler’s head with his finger.
“Okay. I love you.” Tyler expressed, throwing his hands around Josh and hugging him, making him fall back in the process. Josh laughed and hugged him back.
“I love you too, baby. Let’s get to bed though. It’s really late.” Tyler nodded and pulled Josh over to where the pillows were, quickly getting under the covers.
“Goodnight!” Tyler squealed, holding Josh’s hand and kissing his cheek.
“Goodnight, cutie.” He smiled and turned off the overhead light. He pulled Tyler closer to his chest and held him, falling asleep soon after, Though he didn’t do much that day, he had a good day and so did Tyler. They couldn’t be happier with each other.
***
This is almost over. I think they’ll be one more chapter left and then maybe an epilogue where they’re graduating and stuff. (so a year and a half later, probably.)
have a fun time surfing the web, dude *
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