Warnings: None

Word Count: 1796

Author's Note: As always, I wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has been showing support for this series! It means the world to me :) Also, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

*     *     *

I dumped my mug into the sink and rinsed it out, but left it to sit until I decided to do dishes later that night. There were other, more pressing, matters on my mind.

Like the beach trip with Y/N yesterday.

Everything had felt so natural, from her taking dorky pictures of us at sunset to carrying her around when her shoe broke. For the first time in a long time, I hadn't been thinking about how she deserved someone better than me. Or how I would never be good enough.

All that mattered was us.

And yet, I was still too scared to tell her how I felt.

I grabbed a clean t-shirt from my closet and pulled it on over my sweatpants. There was still a couple hours until I had to meet Josh for practice, but I didn't really want to spend the entire morning shirtless. My apartment was too cold for that, even after drinking a steaming cup of coffee.

My phone started to ring as I was in the middle of brushing my teeth. Normally, I would have made whoever it was wait until I was done, but this was Y/N.

"Hello?" I answered. My voice sounded weird, considering my mouth was full of toothpaste.

"Tyler!" she huffed. "I need your help settling a debate... again."

"Is it Mario Kart related?"

"Always."

"What's the debate?"

"Ok, so this morning Carter and I were having a tournament using characters that we don't normally use. I won't tell you who chose who for sake of avoiding a biased answer, but the debate is about if Princess Peach or Baby Bowser is a better character."

"Better for what?"

"Just in general."

I spit out my toothpaste and rinsed my mouth before answering, taking the time to really contemplate my answer.

"Ok, I have an answer."

"And?"

"Peach is better."

"No, Tyler! Wrong answer!" she groaned.

"What do you mean wrong answer?" I laughed. "You asked for my opinion, so that's what I gave you."

"Yes, but you were supposed to read my mind, determine that Baby Bowser was the correct answer, and then tell me that so that I could beat Carter in this stupid debate."

"He said Peach was better?" Carter asked from the background.

"Yes!" Y/N answered. "Because he's dumb."

"Hey! You've said yourself that I'm the Mario Kart expert."

"Yeah, well maybe that only applies in some areas."

"Sorry, Y/N. I'm sure I'll be on your side next time."

"Yeah, right," she laughed.

"Is that all you needed?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Ty."

"No problem."

"Wait!" she said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"The weather tomorrow is supposed to be really nice, and I was wondering if you wanted to go stargazing at our favorite spot? There shouldn't be that many clouds and you know there's no light pollution up there, so I think we'll be able to see a lot of stuff."

"Yeah, that would be super fun."

"Awesome. I think we can borrow my brother's truck too. Right, Car?"

I couldn't hear Carter's answer over the phone, but based on Y/N's response, it seemed like he had confirmed what she said.

"Make sure to bring blankets!"

"Will do."

"Ok, I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too."

"Bye."

"Bye, Y/N."

I hung up the call and set my phone on the counter so that I could finish getting ready, unable to keep the smile off my face.

*      *      *

"Good afternoon," Josh announced as he walked into the practice space.

"Hey," I answered from my spot behind the piano. "How have you been?"

"I've been ok. It feels like forever since we were last practicing."

"Yeah, I know. I've been busy."

"And by busy do you mean hanging out with Y/N every day?"

"We have big stuff coming up soon! I want to spend time with her before we end up getting super busy."

"Nothing is set in stone yet, Tyler."

"You're right. We need to get more work done on this album before that happens."

"Exactly."

Josh finally set his bag down against the wall and got himself adjusted behind his drums. There was a ton of work to be done today and not much time to do it.

"Have you come up with anything new since last practice?" he asked.

"A few things here and there, but nothing solid. We can take a look at it today and see if you have any suggestions about what to add. I'm open to anything, at this point."

"Are we getting close to filling an entire album?"

"I think so, if we end up reworking the older songs."

"Awesome."

"Yeah."

"So, start from the top?" Josh asked, giving his drums a light tap.

"Let's do it."

*      *      *

"Alright, I need a break," Josh said, grabbing a nearby towel and wiping his forehead down with it.

"Agreed."

I got up and grabbed my water bottle from my backpack, chugging about half the bottle in one go. My throat was dry from singing and I could tell that my vocal cords were starting to get tired, so a break would be good for the both of us.

"So, you and Y/N went to the beach yesterday, right?"

I smiled, "Yeah, it was super fun."

"What did you do?"

"We walked around town for awhile once we got there, until Y/N decided that she wanted to go in the water. I just hung out on the beach while she did that, but then she convinced me to join her so I did. Um, and then we got pizza and ate it on the beach next to a fire that I built and I played some of the new songs for her. Oh, and I had to carry her around for a bit because her shoe broke."

Josh's eyebrows were raised, "Sounds like a pretty nice date."

"It wasn't a date," I snapped back, probably too quickly.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, we were just hanging out."

"Tyler, man, you carried her around."

"Her shoe broke!" I huffed. "She's just my best friend, ok? I didn't want to make her walk around the pavement because there could have been broken glass or something and we're comfortable enough with one another to do things like that."

"Yeah?"

I cast my eyes down towards the floor as I continued to speak, "She's just like - I don't know how to describe it. I never have to worry about anything when I'm with her, you know? She knows how to make me laugh even at the dumbest things. I don't think I could ever get tired of being around her. She's just-"

Too good for you.

"Sorry, I'm rambling. I'll shut up," I mumbled.

"And you're sure that you don't have feelings for her?"

"Yes."

Stop lying, Tyler.

"Well. Um, actually no."

"So you do like her?"

I rubbed my nose, "Yes."

"Why are you blushing, man?" Josh laughed. "That's awesome!"

"Sorry, it's just - that's the first time that I've ever said that out loud."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"Not yet."

"Why not? Doesn't she have feelings for you?"

"Um, yeah. But it's complicated," I said, reaching up to rub at the back of my neck.

Josh nodded, "That's cool. You have to do what's right for you."

"Yeah."

I took another long drink of water, tossed it down next to my stuff, and sat back down behind my piano. Josh remained where he was sitting against the wall, eating some crackers that he had brought with him.

"What about you, Josh? What's been going on with you?" I asked, hoping to get the conversation off of me for awhile.

He shrugged, "Not much, really."

"There has to be something."

"Not really. Still single. The band is my primary focus. I see my family every now and again. Things are pretty straightforward."

I nodded, "That's cool."

"I guess. I'm hoping the band stuff starts to pick up soon, that way we can actually start traveling and playing outside of Ohio."

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to being able to do that. It won't be long now, with all the music we have in the works."

"For sure. Speaking of which, have you come up with a title for that song yet?" Josh asked.

"Which one?"

"You know-" Josh paused upon realizing that he didn't have anything to call said unnamed song. Instead, he decided to make his best attempt at singing one of the verses, "The sun will rise and we will try again."

"Oh, right," I said, playing the correct melody on the piano. "No, not yet. I was going to ask Y/N since she was the one that made me keep that lyric in the first place, but I forgot."

"Well, I - um - had a few ideas."

"Sure, let's hear them."

"Sunrise."

I shook my head, "It doesn't feel right."

"That's ok, that's not my best suggestion."

"What else you got?"

"White Flag."

"What?"

"You know, like you're kinda giving in for now. A surrender. A white flag."

"Still not right," I shook my head again.

"Ok, this is my last suggestion."

"Ok."

"But I think it's my best one."

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Truce."

"Truce," I repeated, then slowly began to nod. "Yeah, I think that's it."

"You like it?"

"Definitely. It fits the song, but it isn't obvious."

"And I think it should be the last song on the album."

"Agreed."

"Speaking of Truce," Josh smiled. "We should get through the second half of the songs."

"Let's do it."

Y/N was on my mind as we played the rest of the songs. It felt weird to finally have my feelings out in the open after so many years of keeping it to myself. I had expected it to feel bad when I finally told someone, but instead I felt good. Really good.

Hopeful, even.

*      *      *

"Hey, hey, hold the music," Josh said, holding a hand out towards me.

"What? Why?"

Josh didn't answer. He was busy frantically pulling his phone out of his pocket and reading over the number.

"I have to take this."

Oh. Oh.

"Hello?" was all I heard before the door closed behind him and the conversation became muffled. My hands were already shaking from nerves, despite the fact that I wasn't even the one on the phone. To distract myself, I began to play some notes on the piano.

Josh walked back into the room a few minutes later, his phone still in hand. His lips were pursed as he turned to look at me. I simply raised an eyebrow at him, and his mouth curled up into the biggest smile I had ever seen. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"We got it."