The New Normal

Chapter Twenty Four

A half hour later, Tyler and I ended up at his house. It took us forever to get there because neither of us were sober enough to drive as we shared the contents of Tyler's flask that he somehow managed to sneak into the dance and we had to wait for the local bus to come. His parents were at some charity dinner and we were the only ones here. It would have scared me, being alone with a boy, especially after what just happened. But I knew Tyler would never hurt me, even if he and Tristan had a falling out, he would never lay a hand on me that wasn't kind, not only out of respect for my brother, but out of respect for me too.

We went up to his room and I stumbled through the door, back to having giggle fits. "Oh, shit. Did I break the door?"

Tyler came into the room laughing, as well and inspected the door. "The only thing you broke was your toe most likely."

I waved him off and plopped on his bed, aggressively pulling my heels off. Once they were off, I wiggled my toes. "Oh, this feels much better."

Tyler kicked off his shoes and loosened his tie as he flopped beside me and stared at his popcorn ceiling. "Tonight was a blur."

"The alcohol probably didn't help," I started laughing as if it was the funniest thing I've ever said.

Tyler grinned as he watched me laugh like a moron. After a moment, I stopped and sat up, fidgeting with the zipper of my dress. It kept digging into my back and the place was making me itchy, like the heels, I wanted to take it off.

Tyler sat up as well. "Let me get you a shirt or something before you take that off."

"I don't want a shirt," I pouted. "Can I have another one of your hoodies? They're so comfy."

He shot me a look that said, I don't think so, but I remained pouting. Eventually, he sighed, throwing a big dark green hoodie in my direction. I hugged the hoodie close to my chest and let out a happy breath. "I love you."

"That's the alcohol talking, Sweetness," he replied.

I didn't argue as I was too busy now trying to unzip my dress but my hand wasn't long enough to reach it. I stood up and turned my back to Tyler. "Can you do it, please?"

He was hesitant at first, I think, because he didn't move from his spot for a minute or so. Moving my hair out of the way, he swept it to one side as gently as possible, careful not to get it caught on anything. His hand lingered on my shoulder and trailed down my back gently, so gentle, his touch felt like a feather. He got to my zipper and pulled it down slowly. Once he got to the bottom, I heard him turn around as he said quietly, "Okay, it's done."

Even though he couldn't see, I nodded my head and slid the dress off of me and threw the hoodie on. Like his last hoodie he had lent me, it nearly swallowed me whole. I laid back down on Tyler's bed and he laid beside me, but he quickly had changed while I did as well. Now, all he was wearing was a pair of sweats that hung low on his waist.

We stayed in silence until my stomach let out an awfully loud growl, which caused Tyler to bark out a laugh. "I could go for a pizza, how about you, Sweetness?"

"With extra cheese," I added as Tyler typed away on the Uber Eats app on his phone.

He placed the order and we went back to silence. I started humming to myself and wiggling my toes while I did so, thinking of something to do. Smiling to myself, I decided on the perfect activity to pass the time until the pizza got here. Taking a pillow that rested beside me, I whacked Tyler on the chest with it.

He flinched and then gave me a grin that was almost feral. "You picked a fight with the wrong man."

He got on top on me, straddling my waist as he started hitting me in the face repeatedly with his other pillow. I started laughing until my stomach hurt and I waited for him to calm down before I attacked again. After about five minutes, he finally stopped and I threw my pillow with all the force I could muster, causing him to fly backwards off of the bed. I squealed as he tried to grab me while I ran out of his room and down the stairs.

I hid in the closet that was beside his basement door and waited for him to approach so I could sneak attack again. I heard Tyler creep down the stairs. "You think you can hide in my own house, Sweetness?"

I tried my hardest to suppress my laugh, I didn't know why this was funny, but to me, starting a pillow fight and hiding in Tyler's house while being piss poor drunk was the most amusing thing in the world. After what felt like forever, but was probably only around ten or fifteen minutes, I heard Tyler round the corner and I jumped out. But as I went to smack him, he grabbed it before impact and threw it on the floor. Before I could even react, he scooped me up by the waist and threw me over his shoulder. "I got you now, Sweetness."

I tried to break from his grip, but it was useless. He had his wrapped around my waist tight and unless I wanted to fall, I couldn't fight his grip. He led me towards his living room and threw me onto his incredibly cushioned couch. He stood over me with a mischievous grin and I found myself cocking an eyebrow, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "What are you going to do, Ty? Tickle me to death?"

"You know me so well," he growled and then lunged onto of me, tickling my neck and my underarms. I laughed hysterically to the point tears streamed down my face.

But luckily for me, not even ten minutes into the tickle fest, the doorbell rang and I pushed Tyler off of me and darted to the door. "The pizza is here!"

Without thinking, I swung open the door, forgetting I only had a hoodie covering me and nothing else. When the scrawny pizza boy who looked about sixteen, noticed my lack of clothing, a blush formed on his cheeks and he started stuttering as he spoke. "M-Meat l-lovers with extra c-cheese?"

Tyler must've recuperated from me pushing him off of the couch because he opened the door wider and leaned on the frame, holding out a hand. "Can we have our food or are too busy staring at my girl?"

I arched a brow but said nothing in regards to Tyler's comment. The pizza boy gave the box to Tyler and darted back to his car. Good thing you pay for the food on the Uber Eats app, otherwise, that poor boy wouldn't have gotten a cent from him. Tyler smirked triumphantly and closed the door, meanwhile, I gaped at him. "You're girl?"

He shrugged, as if it were nothing. "It's not nice to stare."

"You stare at me all the time," I snorted, taking the pizza and darting back up the stairs to his room.

He shut the door behind him as he entered and pointed at me. "That's different."

I sat on his bed, patting the space beside me and he crawled towards me, his muscles flexing as he did so and I couldn't stop staring at them and his beautiful tattoo. Tyler caught me looking and flicked my nose. "Look who's staring now."

I rolled my eyes and took a bite from my slice of pizza. "That's because you're hot. Anyone who has eyes knows that."

Tyler chuckled and took a slice for himself from the box. "Glad to know you think so, Sweetness."

"That's why it doesn't make sense," I muttered to myself, taking another bite, even though the first one burnt my tongue badly.

He look at me, his green eyes piercing and eyebrows scrunched. "What doesn't make sense?"

"Well, you're like, as equally attractive as you are annoying, yet I catch you staring at me," I shrugged my shoulders, not in an upset way, but a casual way. I didn't care about my looks, well, I do, but not obsessively. "You know, ordinary. At least compared to Imogen."

Tyler froze and took a moment to think about what he was going to say. "Imogen... she's pretty but she's not you. You are beautiful and there's a big difference the two."

I stopped chewing my food and swallowed. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"Well, anyone with eyes knows that," Tyler chuckled as he quoted what I said only moments before.

I blushed at that but remained silent, returning to eating my slice of pizza. Tyler pulled his laptop from the side of his bed and turned it on. "Want to watch some Netflix?"

I swallowed my food. "Oh, hell yeah."