The New Normal

Chapter Thirty

The next few days were nerve wracking when I was around Tyler. After our conversation we had that night of my run, he had been a whole lot nicer and did not show an obvious affection towards any girl. Whenever they approached him in the cafeteria, he'd simply ignore them and when they didn't get the hint, he'd flat out told them to get lost. I'd feel bad for them if it didn't make me happy knowing he wasn't spending time with other girls. Not that I owned him or anything, but it was a good feeling to have when the guy you like, doesn't spare a glance at anyone else.

We were at the cafe, our usual group of friends were out in the lounging area, meanwhile, Tyler and I were in the back, making more cookies for upfront. Now that it was holiday season, everyone had an appetite for gingerbread cookies and we were selling out of them incredibly quick.

I thought back to my conversation with Ariel and the Valentines Day dance. I nearly had forgotten about that, at least probably would have had she not mentioned it. It was one of those dances where the girls asks the guy, I had no intentions on going, but Tristan insisted I pucker up the courage and ask someone. Little did he know, that someone I wanted to ask was Tyler. A week before the dance was announced, Tyler gave me money for tater-tots because I forgot my lunch at home and from that moment on, I had a crush on him. When it came close to the dance, I made him a cheesy Valentine with money in it to pay him back for the tots. When I went to go ask him, I noticed him with another girl. I didn't know it at the time, but she wasn't asking him out, he didn't even go to the dance. I got over the crush in about two weeks. I let out a laugh, God, that was childish.

"What are you laughing about over there, Sweetness?" Tyler questioned as he applied icing to the gingerbread man in front of him.

"The eighth grade," I responded. When he looked at me with confusion, I sighed, regretting my decision on giving him an honest answer. Although, I quickly realized this may be the perfect way to test whether Ariel's beliefs on Tyler liking me were true. "Do you remember the Valentines Day dance, the one where the girl had to ask the guy?"

He put down the icing bag and his green eyes stared me down as he said, "What about it?"

"Well, you're probably going to laugh, or cringe, I don't know," I started rambling and I took a breath before I continued. "But, I actually was going to ask you to that dance because you gave me money for tater-tots."

"So why didn't you?" He placed his hands on the table, leaning forward and looking intrigued.

I shrugged. "Because, I saw you talking to some girl so I thought you were going with her. When I didn't see you at the dance, I felt like a complete moron for not asking when I had the chance."

Tyler chuckled, a deep and utterly attractive chuckle. "Oh, my Sweetness. Even when we were kids you were jealous of other girls with me. Now that's fucking adorable."

A blush rose to my cheeks and now I felt stupid. How could he somehow change the narrative so that I was the one embarrassed? I shook my head and wiped the flour off of my hands and onto my apron. "I'm not adorable."

"I think you are," Tyler countered.

I moved to the sink to wash my hands, time for a break. A break would be good. When I finished, I turned to dry my hands, but Tyler was right behind me. He put his hands either side of me and I had to lean back to look him properly in the face. "Where are you going?"

I arched a brow and pointed towards the swinging doors. "My break. I'm hungry and you—"

"I what?" He asked, leaning closer. I could smell his cologne and his cheeks gently touched mine as he whispered in my ear. "What did I do, Juliet?"

My heart started beating fiercely. He was so close, it didn't know what to do, I couldn't think straight. "I-I can't remember."

He slowly pulled back and he looked at me intensely. "It's too bad."

"What is?" I asked, casually putting my hand on my heart in attempts to slow it down.

Tyler started untying my apron for me and then his. "I would have liked to go to that dance with you."

I tried to suppress my smile but it was no use. I couldn't pretend that comment didn't have me wanting to call Ariel and squeal into the phone for fifteen minutes as I recount to her our conversation.

I stepped around him and as I went to go out the doors, I gave him a sly smile. "There are always more dances to come."

After my break, Tyler and I got back to work but this time not in silence. It made time go by quicker and honestly made work more fun. I never bothered to ask him why he continued to come in even though his mom made it perfectly clear he didn't have to, but I didn't mind. It was nice to have someone to talk to, especially if Crystal decided to take a day off.

When we were finished our shift, we hung up our aprons and walked out of the cafe together. It was starting to snow heavily and flakes got caught in my hair and eyelashes as we walked to his car.

"Hey, Juliet?" Tyler asked, looking at me as I looked up at the snow falling in small flurries.

I wiped the snow that landed on my face off and looked back at Tyler. "What's up?"

"Do you..." he started but took a moment. He ran his hand through his hair. "Do you want to go back to my place for some hot chocolate? I know you're dad is out of town for another meeting and I know you don't like being alone so I thought—"

"Tyler," I said, beaming up at him. "I would love to."

Before we got to Tyler's place, I made him stop at mine because I refused to spend another minute in my work clothes. With it being late, I settled on plaid pajama pants, a tank top to match, and a large knitted cardigan. I didn't care that I was in pajamas because at this point, all I wanted was to be warm and comfy.

I settled onto Tyler's bed with a big mug of hot chocolate and a grin. "You know, you should really try it with cinnamon. I'm telling you, it's good."

Tyler stretched out beside me in nothing but sweats as he held his hot chocolate mug that was filled to the brim with marshmallows. "Nah, the only thing that belongs in hot chocolate is an crap ton of marshmallows."

I rolled my eyes as I took a sip of mine and set it down on the nightstand. "Just out of curiosity, won't your parents be kind of pissed that a girl is in your room at this time on a school night?"

Tyler waved me off as he scrolled through the movies on Netflix. "Nah. Mom already wanted to ask you if you wanted to stay over and Dad doesn't really care as long as we don't wake him up."

"So I'm staying over?" I questioned, my brow arched.

Tyler stopped scrolling and I could see he was struggling to form words. "I-If you want to, no pressure. I was going to sleep on the floor if you did, but I didn't want you to be alone. I know how nervous you get staying home alone."

"You don't have to sleep on the floor," I said. He looked shocked but I let out a small laugh. "We slept in the same bed the night of Homecoming, nothing awful happened, so what's the big deal?"

He shrugged and then a smile broke out onto his face. "Well, I did ruin your dress because I tripped over you."

"True, but you did send it to the dry cleaners," I mused.

We shared a look and I felt myself blush. At this point, keeping it cool was out the window.

Tyler began looking through the movies on Netflix, it was hard to find something to agree on because he was in the mood for a horror film and I was terrified of them and I kept protesting every single one he suggested. Finally, when he tried to convince me to watch a horror show rather than movie, I caved in.

When a jump scare happened, I let out a little yelp and basically glued myself to Tyler's side. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and murmured against my temple. "It's okay, Sweetness, I got you."

I blushed in response and continued watching the show, but after awhile, my eyes felt heavy and too tired to keep watching. While being in Tyler's arms, I fell into a deep, happy sleep.