Hope.

• Chapter 36 •

• Luca •

"¡Puta madre!" I hissed, accidentally having slammed the car door on my hand.

Tyler let out a snort. "You idiot," he said, with a laugh. "Did you slam your own hand shut?"

"You were rushing me," I huffed, pouting.

"I literally was doing nothing," he said, rolling his eyes. "You are the one who is panicking about me meeting your friends when I literally have already met them,"

"It's just, they're very um...it's different now because you know, they know we're a thing or whatever," I said, sheepishly rubbing the back of my neck.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," he sighed, running a hand through his pretty blond hair. "Come on let's go,"

"Just don't be too weirded out by them," I said, starting the car.

I heard Tyler groan beside me. "You've said that to me like five times today, Luca. I'm sure they're not as weird about this as you think," he pressed, and I bit my lip nervously. This was going to be so awkward.

The rumours we're still all over the place and the bullying had gotten worse. However, Tyler and his friends constantly surrounded me making sure nobody would hurt me. It felt like I had a personal set of bodyguards. I wasn't complaining though, I didn't want to be beaten up. It felt really good to have Tyler to back me up. It felt like this huge weight had been lifted.

I pulled out of the parking lot my hands clenching the steering wheel. I really hoped they'd get along, I didn't want another bad thing to happen. I saw Tyler shift beside me before I felt his lips against my cheek placing a gentle kiss on my skin. "Stop stressing, Luca," he said, and a small smile covered my lips.

"I'm trying," I mumbled, biting my lip.

We reached Dickson's place and I was at the verge of tears. I knew it wasn't going to be that bad. I don't even know why I was freaking out. Freaking out over this didn't make sense logically but it did in my head. That's just how it works sometimes.

We didn't even need to reach the front door before it was thrown open. Lily rushed outside a massive grin covering their face with Dickson trailing behind them. "Welcome, my dears!" Lily said, obnoxiously loud as they pulled Tyler and me into a hug.

Tyler laughed as we pulled away. "Lily," he said, smiling warmly at them.

"So Luca has told you about me," Lily said with a triumphant grin as they turned towards Dickson. "I told you!"

Dickson simply rolled his eyes before turning his gaze back to Tyler. "Lily, he already met you that's why he remembers your preppy little voice,"

"Dick," they hissed smacking his arm. Tyler seemed to be amused and I wanted to melt into a puddle. This was so weird.

"Come in you two," Dickson said, after some slight bickering with Lily. I let out a sigh before we both stepped into the house. Immediately I felt everyone staring at us. Jacob was the first one to walk up to us. "Hello, Tyler," he said, smiling brightly at him. "I'm Jacob,"

"Hi," Tyler said, now also getting a little awkward.

"I'm Steve," Steve called out from the back after a while in an uninterested tone. I knew Steve wasn't a big fan of Tyler's old friends and I definitely knew he would give him a little bit of a hard time. But he didn't mean it, he never did.

Fatima was still staring, though she had a small smile on her face. "Come sit down," she said finally, gesturing towards the couch. The awkwardness was tense I'm pretty sure I was going to die.

I held Tyler's hand as we both made our way to the couch and immediately I heard Jacob and Dickson cooing in the background. "Would y'all shut up?" I asked, rolling my eyes and Tyler let out a small chuckle.

"Hello, Tyler," Fatima said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. I knew she wasn't used to all this but at least she was trying and that's all that mattered to me.

"Hi, Fatima..?" Tyler questioned.

"Fatima," she confirmed with a grin.

"It's nice to meet you, properly," Tyler said, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on my hand. I saw Fatima's eyes slowly flick towards our entwined hands, her expression unreadable to me. "Luca always talks about you,"

"I am great after all," she said, with a grin her accent entangling with her words.

"Your accent is very pretty," Tyler said, smiling at her and I could have sworn I saw Fatima flush. I smiled to myself, I always knew he was good with people something I always failed to do.

"Thank you, Tyler," she said, now facing me with a pleased grin. "Your boyfriend is very pretty," Heat rose to my cheeks as I let out an awkward chuckle whereas Tyler was openly snickering.

"So, who asked out whom?" Steve asked, narrowing his eyes at us.

"I guess it was Luca who made it official," Tyler said, now he was turning pink too.

"My boy Luca asked you out," Steve said, laughing to himself. "Didn't know he had the guts,"

"Shut up, Steve," I hissed, giving him the finger causing Jason to start snickering in the corner.

"Your friends are cool," Tyler whispered, and unconsciously a smile took over my face.

"What did he whisper, Luca?" Jason teased, smirking at us. "You're turning red,"

"Am not!" I protested, only to be followed by the rest of the room bursting out in fits of laughter.

"You know you look like a whiny toddler when you're mad. Why do you even try?" Dickson said, and I wanted to jump out of the nearest window. Tyler didn't know that and he definitely didn't need to. Sometimes I wondered if the only reason he like me was because he couldn't see me. I wasn't good-looking, I was the opposite. I was short, I had acne, my features were nothing compared to other people the only thing that ever sparked interest were my eyes. Why'd did he even like me? My personality was pretty shit as well. It didn't make sense.

"Don't talk about my boyfriend like that," Tyler said, and it was clear he was trying to stop himself from laughing.

"Whoa there big guy, don't get too pressed," Steve said still laughing.

Tyler laughed along with the rest of them. Even though they were all laughing at me at least they were laughing together.

I squeezed Tyler's hand.

This was perfect.

• • •

The smallest filler chapter ever. Ew.

-Anya