Break In My Heart

9. Tug of War

My heart was beating uncharacteristically loud as I walked into the collaboration lab. My script felt heavy in my hands and it felt like the sweat from my hands was dripping like a faucet. I prayed that my fingertips wouldn't leave those gross sweat indentions on the paper. I didn't even know why I was so nervous.

My eyes scanned the large room that was various beanbags, high chairs, and TV monitors situated throughout it. Most people had found their groups already as evidenced by the deafening roar that filled the air, but since the subway had a little delay this morning, I was about five minutes late. Or maybe ten. Fifteen at the latest.

After a few moments, my eyes found the two people I was looking for. Kyra and Tyler were situated at a table near the back corner of the room. Tyler had his laptop open and some headphones hanging around his neck showing Kyra something that made her melodic laughter fill the air. Today Kyra's hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, a rare but appreciated occurrence because I could annoy her by lightly tugging on it every now and then, which would cause her to adorable scrunch her nose in annoyance and whine my name. She had a pencil balanced behind her ear, most likely for the storyboards that were stacked under her closed laptop. My mind wondered how many laughs they'd shared while waiting for me. If Tyler had grown an appreciation for how Kyra shows all her teeth when she really really laughs, or if Kyra had noticed the adorable dimples that push to the surface of Tyler's cheeks when he smiled or the amused glint he got in his eye.

"Hey," I announced as I gently grabbed Kyra's ponytail and lightly yanked so her head was looking straight up at me.

"Addy-" she whined but was cut off by me planting a quick kiss on her lips.

Her eyebrows scrunched together as she tried to remain mad at me, but we both knew she couldn't. I winked down at her before I sat between them in the empty chair they'd saved for me. "Hey man," Tyler brightly greeted as I dapped him up, his skin feeling warm against mine.

"Hey," I said as he patted my back before the embrace broke. "Sorry, I'm late, the subway was delayed."

"Yeah, Kyra told me," Tyler said as the corners of his lips twitched likely due to an amused grin egging on as shown by the way he raised his brow.

I rolled my eyes in faux annoyance as I slung my arm over Kyra. "Yeah, yeah, well, I have the script. I toiled over it for millennia, sacrificed a goat, and fought a demon."

"So, it's decent?" Tyler said as he peeled open the cover page and looked at the story that was meticulously typed in Courier 12-point font.

I scoffed. "It's beyond decent. It better be, I sacrificed my favorite goat."

Kyra laughed as she leaned in closer to Tyler to see the script.

"There," I said as I removed the paperclip that held the pages together, revealing a second copy. I didn't know if it was the jealousy in me or something else, but I didn't like them so close together physically, even if there was an inch of space between their shoulders.

"Why, thank you," she dramatically said as she plucked the papers from my grip.

The thing that gives any creative the most anxiety is watching someone react to your work right in front of your face. It was one thing for someone to tell you they hated your work over text or on a social media post, but to see their facial expressions contort and change right in front of you, then see them quickly try to cover it up was nerve-wracking.

I watched as the furrowed between Tyler's brows became deeper and deeper as his eyes took in the words, and Kyra's tongue poked out between her lips and slowly moistened her soft pink lips in a way that made my heart beat out of my chest.