Heat weighted down on the city like a breath from hell. The ground smouldered and sent up a disorientating haze. Even the birds were silent and the grass stood still as if too hot to move. A normal human would've stayed inside where the AC kept their toasty asses cool but not Tyler. Staying inside would've resulted in severe... everything damage. Their crappy apartment with twenty holes in one square inch was like a giant heater. It would make sense that the holes made the apartment air out but the only air that was coming in was the breath of Satan from the deepest pits of Hell.
Tyler was sitting on his skateboard, at the edge of the road, ice cream dripping down his bruised fingers. Eating ice cream outside in such heat was a foolish idea because the creamy delicious goodness turned into lukewarm soup in three minutes. The brunet glanced at his sister who was stuffing her face as fast as she could. Heat licked at their sunburned faces and coiled around their limbs like a great hot-blooded serpent. Even in the shade, Tyler felt the heat melting his sandals beneath his feet. That's how brutal the weather was.

"Why do we have to eat all the ice cream at once?" Madison chattered her teeth

"Because..." Tyler licked the syrup dripping down his hand "We don't have a normal, working freezer."

"Oh yeah..." Madison nodded lightly and bit into her ice cream

"What kind of heathen!" Tyler gasped dramatically

"You're just weak." Madison slowly chewed the ice cream, Tyler gulped and felt his teeth retract inside his skull like bears retreating to their caves for winter

They sat in the shade, watching the cars pass by slowly. Tyler squinted his eyes at every vehicle trying to find out if they had a normal AC or if they were cooked beans in a can. The boy sighed with jealousy, some of their cars were worth more than their apartment. Hell, some of those cars were worth more than the building and its residents combined.

Tyler sighed, he waited so long to finally be eighteen so he could get a normal job but apparently, people like Tyler, people who had a rough childhood because they were growing up with shitty parents weren't real people. Because in people's eyes, Tyler was just another renegade, a ticking bomb just waiting to explode into a masquerade of drug abuse and alcoholism. Well, Tyler wasn't like that at all. He had his fair share of alcohol, he couldn't afford drugs even if he wanted to do them and yet, he wasn't good enough to be a janitor at Wendy's.

Finish school, kid, go to college, that's what Tyler constantly heard from everyone but the truth was that even if he went to college the boy wouldn't be able to find a job because by the time Tyler finished studying he would've sold every organ and every limb just so he could pay the tuition fee. Life was unfair and cruel, it was like in the wild, but much worse, eat or be eaten only no one was actually eaten instead, they were trapped in an infinite limbo. Too strong to die but too weak to climb back on the top again. Life was a vicious circle, spinning at the seed of life and if you ever made a wrong move everything crumbled...

Tyler shook his head, mortified by his own thoughts. When did he get so emo? All that was lacking was a dark smudged eyeliner but Tyler doubted that the could afford that. The boy sighed and glanced at his sticky, melted ice cream covered hand and sighed. Melted ice cream was the worst. It was stickier than gorilla glue and even though it smelled like heaven it was a trap for the heedless.

Tyler unclenched his cramped-up fist and let the ice cream slowly slide out of his grasp and flop on the pavement. It melted into soup in seconds. Tyler sighed, he casually licked his palm while looking at the road empty-eyed. Madison stared at him disgusted even if it was normal for Tyler to do gross things.

"Why don't you lick the one that's on the ground as well?" Madison's face scrunched up like Tyler just offended her religion. The boy scoffed, he did gross stuff all the time, there was no reason for his little sister to stare at him like he just ate pizza with pineapple while dancing on her grandmother's grave.

"I left the best for you." Tyler gestured at the ground with his sticky hand

"I would rather snort sand." the little girl snorted and continued biting into her ice cream, oh well, at least her teeth were healthy and as long as she was healthy and happy Tyler didn't need anything else.

The boy sighed, his tongue casually lapped around his finger while he watched a fancy car pass by. It was a black Mercedes convertible but Tyler wasn't into cars so he didn't really pay attention to the brand. He followed the car with his eyes, still sucking on his thumb unconsciously. It wasn't Tyler's fault that the car was ugly as fuck and pulled Tyler's attention. The boy scoffed with his thumb still in his mouth, rich people and their cars. No matter how many zeros it cost, Tyler still thought that all convertibles were ugly as hell and belonged to NASA so that they could launch them all into space.

The boy had no intention of staring, he just wanted to find out who was the owner of the car. Tyler imagined a bald middle-aged man with a beer-belly fishing for some bimbos. The car slowed down and pulled up into one of the free spaces across the street. Tyler raised a brow, if the driver was planning to leave his car at this part of the town he better had a good insurance plan. Tyler imagined how the car was getting dissected piece by piece like a steaming thanksgiving turkey.

The car had black tinted windows which were making it really hard for the boy to see. The person had the roof down and was driving with the windows closed like a madman. What's the point of having a convertible if the roof was raised up, looking like a normal car? The car's engine stopped and Tyler waited for the magic moment when the roof comes down revealing the driver.

The roof finally started sliding down and Tyler almost choked on his whole arm when he saw the driver.

"I gotta go." Tyler sprung up so quickly that his head started spinning. Madison shot him a confused look. The boy looked around nervously, it was too late, he's been spotted. Tyler felt like peeing his pants but that would've been embarrassing for everyone involved so he kept his bladder well obeyed.

The driver was someone who Tyler didn't expect at all, someone he didn't want to see. Tyler's eyes met a familiar pair of warm brown ones, the corners of the man's eyes crinkled as he smiled. Tyler felt his fingertips froze, his legs lost all the circulation. The brunet reached for his wrist where his watch used to be. Well, shit. This was going to be awkward.

For a moment Tyler hoped that the man was just gonna walk past but it was obvious that Josh stopped here just to talk to Tyler. The brunet considered pulling off a Glenn and hiding under a dumpster. It was too late to run or to hide. It was too late for everything. Josh probably knows everything and now he's coming to whoop Tyler's ass for everything. The boy rubbed his wrists nervously, Josh spun his car keys playfully in his hands. His dark aviator style sunglasses slid up his nose hiding those gorgeous- those perfectly normal, regular, common brown eyes that didn't resemble anything related to stars at all.

Tyler cleared his throat quietly. He knew that his voice is gonna come out sqeaky no matter what. It was just the laws of the universe. Tyler eyed down Josh's chest, his white tank top was hugging all his muscles in all the right places. Tyler lowered his eyes down to look at his legs, there was nothing about legs that Tyler found distracting. Unless that certain distracting individual was wearing shorts. Tyler felt a heatwave wash over his body, damn that Californian weather. Yep, it was the weather.

Josh's muscular arm rose in the air for a light wave. Tyler hesitated for a second before waving back. Fuck, his tattoo...

Tyler took a deep breath and tried to appear as neutral as possible.