Ty felt weirdly shy as he rounded the corner into the mall food court. It was dumb, he'd been friends with Pete and Jake forever, they knew tons of dumb stuff about each other and they could tell each other anything!
Still. Maybe it was because Ty felt different? Yesterday he was just regular old him; their short, funny, super handsome and cool (ha!) friend with crappy parents and a bully foster brother. Ty still remembered how they'd acted when he'd wished himself seventeen; when they weren't friends anymore and he was some scary big upperclassman. And now, he was a tall, gangly fifteen year old; back to their age but a way different shape. He felt awkward and clumsy with his big feet and wide bony shoulders, and a voice that sounded as deep as it did yesterday but cracked like he was thirteen again.
What if they liked him better the way he used to be?
"Heeeeey!" Ty shook his head and looked up, easily looking over most of the crowd (being a bit over six feet tall was still so weird!) and spotting Pete standing on a chair and waving at him like a crazy person. Jake was sitting across from him, hiding his face in the table with enough embarrassment for them both.
Ty snorted, and felt his mouth twitch up. Maybe he was worried over nothing. As he tried to hurry over, he accidentally bumped someone with a stray elbow, and skidded a bit as he tried to slow down. Pete cackled behind him as Ty flailed his arms to get his balance and stammered apologies to the glaring shopper.
"Smooth," Jake drawled, grinning up at Ty as he leaned over the table. "Very smooth."
"ShUT up," Ty muttered, flopping into a free chair and wincing as his voice cracked.
Pete snickered. "Oh this is hilarious," his friend cooed, standing up and patting Ty on the head. "When did that start, huh? Hey, remember when we were thirteen and you teased us for weeks about that shit?"
"Pete, go get the pizza." Jake rolled his eyes as Pete gave a sloppy salute and marched off toward the counters.
"Seriously though," Jake raised an eyebrow at Ty, "I know you never really had... cracks, but I figured your voice just kinda settled easy? You don't sound like a little kid or anything."
Ty cleared his throat. "Dunno," he said carefully and shrugged. "I thought so too, bUT... shit," he cleared his throat again.
"BEHOLD," Pete called out, dropping an extra large meat lovers onto the table, "THE MEAT."
"You're an embarrassment." Jake stated flatly.
RRRRRRRRUUUUUUUMMMMMMBBBBBLLLLEEEEE
Ty felt his whole face burn as he realized that sound had come from him. Both of his friends shot him some wary, but impressed, looks and quickly teamed up to pass him a plate with three slices on it. Breaking eye contact, Ty looked down and snagged the top slice and crammed it in his mouth.
"That was figgen loud, dude." Jake finally said as Ty started on slice three.
"Yeah," Pete nodded, eyes wide, and passed Ty another plate. "I think I felt that in my bones, man. And did you have to buy all new clothes? Like, everything?"
Ty nodded, and lifted up one of the clothing bags. He didn't buy a TON, but he'd needed new everything so even two or three of each added up. Pete looked down at the bags and whistled. A second later he was crouched down and tugging on Ty's foot; Ty felt his sandal pop off as his foot slapped onto the tile floor.
"Holy shit," Pete said, holding up Ty's new (size twenty) sandal. Ty looked over and watched Pete fiddle with it until he had it balanced along the tops of his hands. Heel to toe, the sandal was a bit longer than both his hands end to end.
"That's a big shoe." Jake blinked, and slowly passed over his own plate of pizza when Ty's hand came up empty. "Like, NBA big. You're not that tall."
"Not yet maybe," Pete muttered, tossing the shoe back down. "Ty, um, you do know you're almost through a fully loaded extra large meat pizza, by yourself, right?"
"Huh?" Ty blinked, and looked at the table. He hadn't noticed, but it looked like his friends had been passing him their plates and there were only two slices left.
"How about you just... finish that." Pete offered. "I mean... I'm not super hungry right now?"
Jake grimaced, and Ty couldn't help feeling a kind of guilty.
"Sorry guys," he winced, but still totally grabbed the slices. "Uh, can I maybe buy you sAndwiches?"
"Yeah, that's cool," Jake shrugged and got up, Pete and Ty joining him a moment later.
It was different, being the tall friend. Before, Ty had been a bit shorter than Pete and they'd both been a lot shorter than Jake. Now Ty had an inch or two on his taller friend, and he was pretty sure he could rest his chin on Pete's head. But, because of his wishes, it was like he'd always been on the taller side, at least for the last few years. It was weird how his friends didn't find it weird.
At least they were still friends though. Ty grinned as each of them hefted half of his shopping bags and let him lead the way to the panini stand. They really were the best.