Deal With It

thirty nine

My mouth dropped open. "How? What did he say?"

"We were outside and he must have seen us from his car. He wasn't happy about it at all," she frowned. I was pretty sure she was putting it lightly. Unhappy would have been far from what Tyler felt when he saw them. No wonder he had been so quiet and strange all day.

"I'll talk to him, I'm sure he'll understand," I placed my hand above hers and smiled, trying to reassure her. Honestly, I wasn't sure that me talking to him would help the matter at all. I had a bad feeling that this was something Tyler was just unable to accept for some reason.

"I'm sure he won't," she muttered.

"Don't worry!" I exclaimed. In an attempt to lighten the mood and cheer her up, I asked about her date. "So.. how was the date? I wonder why you weren't home all night," I lightly nudged her waist with my elbow, laughing. She cracked a smile and blushed.

"It was great.. but nothing like that happened! We're taking it slow," she smiled happily. We talked some more about her date and then I decided to tackle the whole matter with Tyler.

He had the tv switched on, lying on his back with his arm bent beneath his head and when I walked into the room he turned the volume down, scooting over to make space for me. "How is she?" he asked, clearly concerned about her.

"She's okay, what about you?"

"Me? I told you before, I'm fine."

"Why didn't you tell me that you saw Heidi with Alec last night?" I furrowed my brow, displeased. He seemed surprised by this, as if he wasn't expecting her to tell me about it.

He rubbed the back of his neck with his palm. "I don't know?" he said. "I really don't want to talk about it."

"I do though, so we will." I cupped his face,  "come on Tyler, you know Alec is a good guy. Heidi deserves someone who can really make her happy and that person is none other than your best friend."

"He's a good guy, yes, but he can't be my sister's boyfriend. He isn't a serious relationship kind of person and—"

"Just like you weren't?" I cut him short. "You're feeling protective of her, don't you think that's how Drew felt with me? Possibly even worse since he didn't know you at all and had only heard rumours. Very bad rumours," I added on and he lowered his gaze from my face. "He's given you a chance though and I'm so glad he did. Doesn't Alec deserve one too? Maybe you should talk to him... and I mean talk."

"No," he answered. "Talking to him won't change anything, it's still a no from me. I'm not discussing this anymore."

"But—"

"I'm serious," he said and I automatically went quiet. I would have to try again some other time. Whatever happened, I was determined to succeed.

-

Tyler's POV

9:47pm.

That was the time when I dropped Arissa home and left to go the party. Finally, the hour was arriving and I could be free of all the bullshit from my past and focus on my future. I had promised her that I would be back well before midnight, and it was a promise I was sure to keep.

The familiar smell of alcohol and perspiration travelled through my nose when I reached the destination and I couldn't recall why I ever attented these kind of events.

I looked around me at the drunk, shameless teenagers and regretted ever mingling with their kind. I wished I could halt every single one of them and lecture them the way I was lectured, stop them from wasting their lives on these parties because there was a whole world out there to explore. A world I would soon begin to explore, little by little, with Arissa right by my side throughout the entire fun-filled journey.