Best Kept Promise (Best Kept #2)

Chapter 41: The Only Thing You'll Wear

Song: Flawless by The Neighbourhood (I listen to them a lot when I'm writing tbh and Halsey. Always a lot of Halsey.)

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I woke to the sound of the apartment door shutting.

My body jolts at the sound and I blink a few times so my eyes adjust to the apartment lighting. I'm still on the couch and Tyler is standing in the living room instead of laying beside me. Ella's beside him and they're both kind of staring at me. "Where have you guys been?" I question and push myself up. "And why didn't you wake me?"

Tyler jerks his thumb in Ella's directions. "I took her to take her permit test."

"And?"

Ella slowly smiles. "I passed with flying colors."

I breathe. "That's so great. You guys should've woke me up. I gotta get to class." When I stand, I press my palms to my cheeks. They still feel hot from crying last night, but I hope Ella doesn't notice.

"I didn't want to wake you," Ella tells me. "You've done enough for me already. I didn't know you guys were on a date last night—"

"Don't apologize," I interrupt and step up to her. "You're more important than a steak."

Tyler nods. "And the chocolate cake we ordered."

Ella glances at Tyler, a small smile on her lips. "Some birthday weekend."

"I'm sorry," I murmur. "I'll just stay home today."

Ella points to Tyler. "He offered to take me to the studio with the band so you didn't have to worry about me today."

"No, it's okay," I assure her. "I'll stay home until I have to go to work."

She smiles again. "Are you sure?"

I nod. "I wanna talk to you anyway. Are you hungry?"

"Tyler took me to breakfast," she says. "But I'd still like to talk, if that's okay?"

"I'm here," I say. "We'll talk when you want."

Ella looks to Tyler again before looking at me. "I'm, uh, gonna steal Bea's shower for a few minutes and then we'll talk. I'm still exhausted from yesterday and just wanna relax before diving into anything."

Before she walks away, she thanks Tyler and walks down the hall to Bea's bathroom.

Tyler follows me into my room and he sits on the edge of my bed while I make my way into the bathroom. I throw my hair into a pony-tail, wash my face, and proceed to brush my teeth. When I step out, Tyler stands again. "How was she this morning?" I ask him.

"She didn't say much," he replies and then shrugs. "She seemed okay for the most part, but I don't think it's me she wants to talk to."

I rub my palms together and step closer to him. "Thank you for doing that this morning. I think passing her test made it a little better. It's best to keep her distracted."

Tyler nods. "She mainly talked about her cat, which is adorable actually. She showed me pictures and videos. Distractions are nice."

"Yeah, they are," I agree.

As he steps closer, I tilt my head back so our gazes don't stray. "How are you doing?" He questions, lifting a hand to my jaw.

I take a deep breath and exhale. "I'm fine. Not okay, but fine for now. It's just...I don't know what to do. There's no way her dad is going to let her live with me and I don't want her to go back there."