Lost In You

F I V E

"Ty!" My voice echoed through the empty house. Moments later, my door opened and Tyler walked in, his hair wet from the shower and the white long sleeve was wet in places, making it see-through. I tried hard to keep from staring, but it didn't work very well because he smirked when he followed my gaze. He glanced around my room and laughed out loud, taking in the pile of clothes on my bed, the array of shoes spread out across the floor, and me, standing in the centre of the room with my robe on and my hair in a messy bun, and not the cute kind.

"Need help?" He grinned and walked over to the bed and picked up a black playsuit. I shook my head, he shrugged and put it back down.

"Not that, it's too small for me."

"What about this?"

He was holding up a dark red t-shirt dress with white roses sewn into the chest. I walked over and took it from him, indicating for him to turn around while I put it on. When I turned back around, I looked at myself in the mirror and looked at the way the dress hung from my shoulders in a straight line it had no shape.

"Nope." Tyler stated and went back to the pile of clothes, "Try this."

He held out a black pencil skirt that I had bought for a costume party last year and a strapless lilac crop. I just shrugged and took it from him, indicating for him to turn around again.

"I like this one." I murmured while I turned this way and that in the mirror. The skirt accentuated my narrow waist and the strapless crop top showed off my slim arms and shoulders, and the lilac and black really matched with my skin tone. Tyler let out a low wolf whistle from behind me.

"Damn, girl." He admired from his newly assumed position, splayed out across the only empty space on my bed. I fought the blush rising in my cheeks and instead stuck my tongue out at him and pointed at the floor.

"Shoes."

He groaned and got up, scanning the floor before picking a pair of white sandal wedges and throwing them at me, I caught them and slipped them on, loving how they automatically made me feel taller and slimmer. I glanced at Tyler and got an appraising nod of the head.

"Are you ready?" He asked and checked his watch, "It's 8:30 and we're leaving at 8:45."

I scoffed, "Do I look ready?" I remarked, waving a hand around my face and hair, he waited for a moment before replying.

"Briar. You could go out in those ridiculous waffle pants of yours, no makeup on and your hair in a bun, and still have the attention of every boy in the room." He murmured, holding my eyes with his intense stare, his eyes weren't full of mischief for once, instead were sincere and soft. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and was speechless for a few seconds.

"Don't knock the waffle plants, they're great," I said, laughing half-heartedly as I tried to process what he'd just said to me.

"They're ridiculous," He shot back, that familiar glint back in his eye, and so we continued bantering back and forth while I did my makeup, both of us trying to forget that moment, but I couldn't get the way he looked out of my mind. He disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a sandwich and a glass of milk, setting it in front of me. I gave him a look and he just gave me a no nonsense stare, so I rolled my eyes and ate half the sandwich, already thinking about how I could work it off, along with the alcohol I'd be drinking tonight.

❦

The drive to the party was filled with laughter and pounding music, mostly Khalid, who was Tyler's favourite artist at the moment. Both of us singing at the top of our lungs to Young, Dumb and Broke with the windows down. I couldn't remember the last time I felt that unconditionally happy, maybe it was because of Tyler, or maybe it was the shots of vodka I had downed before leaving, but I knew that I never wanted to be any less happy than I was right then. Tyler was the sober driver, so he'd bought a bottle of water with him, while I was taking a swig from my flask.