Damaged » h. styles au

Chapter 76 - Scarlett

“Okay. Tell me. I’m ready,” I said, closing my eyes then and pursing my lips together, crossing my fingers just for effect.

I heard Tyler giggling before he finally said: “Second place.”

I smiled at him, apologetically. My hand went straight to his thigh, patting it as if to comfort him. “Sorry you didn’t win, Ty. You still have the best boxers, though.”

“Nah, s’fine. We made it to the podium, I’m okay with it. Plus, we’re going to travel a lot more now. Not only my winner boy, but all of my best boxers. Training for bigger competitions and everything,” he winked, the tone of his voice happy like I’d never seen before. “And this time, I’ll be taking you with me.”

At that, I made my best to smile, turning to face the snow blanketing the streets, hoping this way he wouldn’t notice it was fake. Thankfully, he didn’t. And if he did, he said nothing.

As if in cue to the uncomfortable silence, the car came to a stop, and just then I realized we were in front of Zach’s house. The thought of his dad coming out the door and staring at both me and Tyler in disapproval made me shiver, and so I shifted on the seat.

“Bye, Kirs. See you, Ty,” Zach said before opening the door and clambering out, smiling once more just before his smile was directed to the old man watching the scene from the window.

I couldn’t see what happened, then, because Tyler was driving away, turning on the radio, focusing on driving. I thanked God the rest of the ride home was silent, just the sound of some old song playing between us, the sight of snow and more snow blurring our visions.

Ten minutes later, I was helping him with his bags, opening the unlocked door to our living room, and throwing everything on the floor. I didn’t want to be alone with him now, didn’t want him to close that door and put the things he was carrying on the floor as well, because that would mean I would have to do it.

He did it, though. He closed the door, shook the snow out of his clothes and shrugged off his coat, throwing it on the couch and looking at me in confusion for a few seconds.

I needed more time.

“I’ll go get the hot chocolate in the kitchen. Put the bags in the room and I’ll be right back.”

Tyler nodded, watched as I left, and I slowly made my way to the said room, tiptoeing through the carpet and shrugging off my own jacket on the way. The two mugs I’d separated half an hour before were still sitting on the sink, and so I put them on the table and opened the thermos, pouring the liquid into them.

When I came back to the living room, Ty was lying on the couch, eyes closed, head turned to the ceiling and hands clasped above his stomach. He looked so peaceful, so happy and sated with himself, sated with life. And I hated I was going to do it, ruin his moment of most happiness since the day we met.

“Hm, Ty?” I called apprehensively, handing him the mug once he stretched his arms to me. “Here it is.”

“Thanks, K. Missed having you to take care of me.”

I half smiled at him, watching as he sat on the couch, patting the empty space next to his. Ugh, no. Please, please, stop it. Don’t do this Ty, stop it.

I shook my head instead.

“Tyler,” I breathed out, closing my eyes, squeezing my mug between my hands “Tyler,” I repeated, then “we need to talk.”

He had the rim of his mug pressed to his lips when he raised his brows, dispensing words. When I said nothing else, though, he muttered an ‘everything’s alright?’ and put his mug aside, standing up and reaching for my hand. The way I took a step back was automatic, closing my eyes and pursing my lips together.