[ THAT AIN'T A FUNNY JOKE, TY ]

AUGUST WAS QUIET AS COULD BE AS SHE SPOKE ON THE PHONE. Tyler and Boone were fast asleep, all of them exhausted from their previous activities.

It had been perfect, August thought. So perfect.

Both boys had been so slow and gentle with her, and it was Boone who took her for the first time. Tyler had held her hand and kissed all over her face distractingly as she got used to the uncomfortable stretching sensation at first from how thick he was. But after that, it was heavenly the way their bodies moved in sync. And being with Tyler was just the same, him so much longer brushing something so deep inside of her that had her seeing stars and calling out his name like a pleading prayer.

But it was over now, and rather than fall asleep with only hazy thoughts of them while wrapped in their strong arms, she was now in the kitchen, whispering on the phone with her mother, who she'd called to let know she wasn't coming home. It wasn't an unusual occurrence — her calling to let her parents know she was sleeping over.

"How'd they take it?" Leslie Montgomery asked her daughter.

August looked down at her sock-clad feet anxiously. "I - I didn't tell them," she mumbled, making her mother sigh in disapproval. "I - I couldn't."

"You've got to eventually, August. They're your best friends."

But they were so much more than that even if her mother didn't know, which made it even harder. Especially after what they'd all done together.

Tears welled in August's eyes. "Maybe... maybe we don't have to move to Nashville."

"Honey, you know what Dennis said," Leslie said, mentioning her manager who'd made her an offer to make a real album with the record label, not just another demo CD. And once it was done, there was going to be a small tour around the south.

"But I can make the album from Arkansas, can't I?" she asked weakly.

"This is all—"

"I know this is all I've ever wanted," she cut her off, shutting her eyes tightly, so upset with herself. "But I can't just - I can't just leave them behind. Not now."

Leslie frowned, hearing the pain in her daughter's voice. "Has something happened between you and one of them, honey?"

"N - no," she lied pathetically. "Mama, I just don't know if I want this any more. Not if I have to choose between music and my life here."

Choose between a music career and Boone and Tyler.

Her mother was silent for a moment. "Why don't we talk about this tomorrow with your father? Just sleep on it, okay? It's a big decision to make by yourself."

"Okay," she murmured sadly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I love you. Hope this don't keep you from sleeping."

"Love you too, Mama," she sighed before hanging up. Rather than head back to Tyler's bedroom, she just leaned her head against the wall, her eyes clenched shut, which did nothing to stop the tears from falling.

And it was because she didn't turn around that she didn't see Tyler, who had been listening in with a crushed expression on his face.

☁︎

"Moving?" Boone asked with a deep frown on his face. "You're sure?"

"To Nashville," Tyler muttered halfheartedly.

It was the next morning, and as soon as August went to the shower, Tyler woke up Boone to tell him what he'd overheard.

"Or at least she's supposed to," he continued.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Boone asked, not fully understanding.

"Her manager wants her there to record an album. Go on tour," he sighed. "But it sounds like... sounds like she wants to stay. Because of us."

"Well, good. Don't need her moving to no different state," Boone said, rubbing his tired eyes.

But Tyler just shook his head sadly. "It ain't good. She - she's a star, Boone. She needs to go or she's gone miss out on the career she's been dreaming of."

"Well, it don't sound like she's gone go anyway since she's with us," he said. "And I ain't complaining about that one bit."

"That's the problem, Boone. She won't go as long as she's got us," Tyler said, looking at his clenched fist. "We're just holding her back. We're always gone hold her back."

Boone fell silent, knowing that Tyler was right in some ways. And neither boy was where they could just pack up and move to Nashville to be with her, not with Tyler having been accepted into the meteorology program at the University of Arkansas.

They'd had a plan, goddamn it. Tyler was going to make the thirty minute commute every day and then come back home to Boone and August every day as she furthered her career from Arkansas. Moving to Nashville permanently instead of going every few weeks hadn't even crossed any of their minds, unable to fathom living in different states.

"What do we do, man?" Boone asked quietly, looking at the closed bathroom door where August was still showering. "I don't - I don't wanna be the reason she don't get this. Get what she's always wanted just because she's convinced herself we're better than a music career."

"I don't know, B," Tyler sighed as the water shut off. He put his head in his hands, already miserable and August hadn't even started packing yet. "But we gotta do something. I ain't gone let her throw her life away for us."

☁︎

Tyler and Boone had been distant over the next few days — August didn't have to be a genius to know that. They stopped holding her hand when they went on walks and quit sneaking kisses every time someone turned their backs to her. They seemed so out of it when they were kissing on the rare occasion or cuddling on the couch, just talking about their days.

And it hurt, because she didn't have to guess why.

It all started the day after they'd had sex with her. Whether it wasn't good or that was all they wanted her for and were tired of her now, they didn't want her anymore. It was so incredibly clear.

It kept her up at night crying, convinced that they must not have loved her anymore — if they ever did. And as the days passed, she was running out of time to tell them that she was meant to be moving.

She was running out of time to tell them that she was willing to stay in Arkansas for them if they'd only asked.

When the move was only a week away, August knew she had to sit the boys down and talk to them. So, she planned to ask them to meet her at the diner they liked to go to after football games on Friday nights, but her phone rang before she could even begin to dial their numbers.

It was Tyler who called, and he was already with Boone, he told her. He'd asked in a solemn tone if they could come over to talk to her. And she said yes, anxiety eating away at her as she waited on the swing set in her back yard.

August sat in silence, staring down at her cowboy boots as she swayed back and forth in the seat. Then she forced a smile, laughing at herself a bit.

Of course, Boone and Tyler would ask her to stay. Just because they'd been a little distant didn't mean anything. It didn't mean they didn't love her. They just had other things on their mind.

They'd never use her for sex and then toss her to the side like she'd been fearing.

She was just being silly, she knew. And everything was going to be fine.

They'd ask her to stay, and then they'd all go to her parents together and explain why they weren't going to Tennessee. That if August couldn't make an album from home, then she didn't want to.

That was how Tyler and Boone found her, sitting on the swings and humming a song to herself that she'd written about them with a barely-there smile on her face.

"Hey, Auggie," Tyler greeted as Boone silently followed him toward the swings.

Boone had already cried twice that morning, before and after Tyler made the phone call. So, it was agreed that Tyler would handle this — Boone wasn't strong enough for it. And maybe Tyler didn't want to be strong enough either, but he had to do what was best for August.

August who looked at them with a nervous smile on her face as they came closer. "Hey, baby," she greeted, and Tyler hated how his heart clenched at the term of endearment. "What'd y'all wanna talk about?"

It was silent. So silent for a long while as she watched them.

Boone bit his tongue hard and stared at the grass, knowing if he took one look at August, he'd cave and fall at her feet, begging her to stay. And if he caved, so would Tyler.

"This..." Tyler paused and swallowed thickly, hating that his eyes began to water. He forced them back and sucked in a sharp breath. "This ain't working between us, August. The three of us."

Instantly, August's weak smile dropped as she looked between the two of them. Boone wouldn't look at her, and she could tell that Tyler was staring just above her head instead of at her as well.

"What?" she asked with an uneasy laugh. "You - that ain't a funny joke, Ty."

"It ain't a joke, August," he said stiffly, his jaw tight. "I'm serious. So is Boone. We talked about it and - and we don't see this going nowhere serious. Figured it'd be best to end things now before..."

"Before what?" she whispered, tears beginning to fall as she gripped the metal chain on the swing. "Before we said we loved each other? Before you slept with me?"

And god, the way her voice cracked with pain made their hearts hurt. But they couldn't back down, not if they wanted August to have the life she deserved. A life without them.

"We're just better off being just friends," Tyler told her.

"Friends?" she asked, beginning to tremble. Because how could she ever see them as friends again? Confusion and frustration and hurt washed over her. "You - you wanna be just friends?"

"Yeah," he nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets so that she wouldn't see how he was balling his fist up. "We didn't have no business foolin' around with you to begin with."

"That's a - all it was? Fooling around?" she asked, finding it hard to breathe all of a sudden. "Oh."

Then Tyler sighed and took a step closer. "I'm sorry. We feel real bad."

August tried to scoff only to choke on it. "You feel - you feel bad?" she asked while crying even more as she looked away from him. Then she took in a deep breath. "J - just leave."

"Auggie—"

"Leave!" she choked out, clenching her eyes shut as she cut Boone off. Her shoulders shook as she cried, tears falling onto her lap. And god, all either man wanted to do was rush to her and comfort her.

But they couldn't do that. Because then they'd have broken her heart for nothing.

So, Tyler nudged Boone's shoulder to get him to move in the opposite direction, the two boys leaving August sobbing on her own in the back yard, her wishing that they'd never come up to her that day in the park ten years ago.

It sure would've saved her a lot of heartache.

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

Boone and Tyler were as miserable as ever as they watched TV in the basement of Boone's house. Neither had been truly happy since that night with August when they'd shown her how much they truly loved her.

But she was gone now, living it up in Nashville. She had an album put out just two months after moving, but neither man had the heart to listen to any of the songs. And when a radio host said her name, they'd change the channel before they could hear her voice.

"You ready for your finals?" Boone asked Tyler halfheartedly as they stared at the TV, Tyler aimlessly flipping through channels.

"Don't really care about 'em," he sighed. "I'll pass. It's easy enough stuff."

Tyler didn't really care about his studies all that much. But he'd given up bull riding to focus on school. At least, that's what he told himself. But really, he just had too many memories of running into August's arms after he won a competition. Besides, maybe he'd get less concussions if he pursued meteorology.

"Honestly, won't even get into the interesting classes until next—"

"Ty!" Boone shouted, suddenly sitting forward. "Go back! Go back!"

"What?" Tyler asked with a frown.

"The channel!" Boone snapped. "I - I saw her."

Boone didn't need to specify who he saw. So, reluctantly, Tyler went back a few channels until he landed on the broadcasting of the Country Music Awards. And there she was.

Their August in a sparkling dress and singing on stage for the whole world to see. And the scrolling headline underneath her performance told them she'd won the award for Best New Artist just moments ago before taking the stage to perform.

And though she was singing a song so painfully and blatantly about them — the song had been playing for months on the radio, the whole breakup album taking the country music genre by storm — Tyler and Boone thought she looked perfect. She looked at home as she twirled around the stage, her dress fanning out as she played her blue guitar.

And when the song ended, she just grinning brightly for the cameras, looking so impossibly happy.

Except she wasn't.

Maybe the thousands of people watching couldn't tell, but Boone and Tyler could see how the blinding smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Did we make the right choice?" Boone asked sadly, leaning his head against Tyler's shoulder.

"Look at her, Boone," he mumbled sadly. "She was meant to be up on that stage. Seven months without us in the way, and she's winning awards and going on tours. We did what was best for her."

"Don't feel like it," he sighed as Tyler turned the TV off. "Just feels wrong. Wrong to not have her here."

"I know," Tyler whispered, his chest aching. "But it's the way things gotta be."

"Well, I hate it."

"Me too."

[ oof genuinely don't know how I'm gonna have them reunite so it might be a few days before a new chapter as I think it over. I have like one idea but gotta flesh it out ]