The New Normal

Chapter Twenty Five

 I awoke to the smell of tobacco and Pop-Tarts. Groaning as I rolled over slowly, knowing that if I moved to fast it would send my head reeling and I would most likely vomit, I looked at Tyler. He leaning out his window, taking a long drag from his smoke from one hand and holding a glass of water in the other. His hair was messy and he still wore the sweatpants he threw on the night before and nothing else. When he noticed I was awake, he pressed the cigarette into the ashtray on the nightstand. "You're awake."

The sound of his voice sent pain to my head, causing me to wince. "And you're loud."

He chuckled and handed me the glass of water that was in his hand. "Drink, there's Advil in the drawer of my nightstand."

"Thanks," I rasped out and began to dig through his nightstand. My throat was burning and I wanted nothing more but to chug the water but I couldn't, not until I found the Advil. Finally, under a leather notebook of Tyler's, I found the Advil and popped two in my mouth and quickly chugged the water. Sitting up, I inspected the room for hints of anything we did last night that I may not remember. But when I saw that everything was the way it was before I passed out watching Jurassic World, I sighed.

Tyler watched me intently, as I stood from the bed. I searched the floor and closet for my dress, but couldn't find it anywhere. I turned to him with a puzzled look. "Where's my dress?"

"I sent it to the dry cleaners," he answered. When I shot him a look to continued, he rolled his eyes. "I may have dropped some pizza on it last night after you fell asleep."

My eyes widened. "You dropped pizza on my dress?"

He waved me off and sighed. "Well, you were looking all peaceful and shit so I didn't want to wake you up by climbing over you to put the pizza on my desk but there was no other way and I ended up tripping and the pizza flew out of the box and landed on your dress..."

He trailed off and I let out a laugh. "That's probably the funniest thing I've ever heard. But you do realize that means I have to walk home in nothing but your hoodie and my heels, right?"

"I'll drive you," Tyler answered quickly, looking terrified of the thought of me walking home in just his hoodie.

I rolled my eyes. "It's four house down, it's not a big deal."

His eyes darkened. "You're not walking home in my hoodie. Give me your house keys and I'll get you something to wear."

I laughed at this. He really was bothered by me wearing his hoodie home. Most likely because I never returned the last hoodie he lent me. I opened my mouth to answer, but I already saw Tyler going through my clutch and pulled out my keys. He pointed at me. "Stay here and eat your Pop-Tarts."

Twenty minutes later, Tyler returned to his room with not only some of my clothes, but my school bag. I arched a brow as he laid the outfit out on his bed. Black leggings and my favourite pink knitted long sleeve. I pointed at the outfit. "How did you know that was my favourite shirt?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, you wear it a lot."

I gestured for him to turn around and he did with his hands up in surrender. I quickly pulled up my leggings and threw on my knitted shirt. "Alright, I'm good."

He turned around and smirked. "I noticed my hoodie was in your bed."

A blush came to my cheeks but I quickly shut down whatever thoughts he was having. "It's warm and comfy, I wear it to bed sometimes."

"Right," He drawled out and he picked out something to wear himself. Unlike me, he didn't gesture for me to turn around as he pulled down his sweats and revealed a different pair of plaid boxers and pulled up his dark washed jeans. He caught me staring and I quickly looked away. He chuckled loudly. "See something you like?"

"More like something I want to smack," I muttered, crossing my arms. "Can you just hurry up? We're going to be late."

Tyler pulled down his gray tee and shrugged on his signature leather jacket. "Who cares? Technically, it's the school's fault for having Homecoming on a Thursday."

I rolled my eyes as I strapped on my black heels from the night before. Of course Tyler remembers to grab my school bag, but not comfortable shoes. When I was done, I walked out into the hall and into the bathroom where I had planned on washing my day old makeup off but I gasped when I noticed the long bruise forming on my neck. It was a deep red with hints of purple, when I touched it, I gasped from the pain it brought me and I yelled. "Fucking hell!"

Tyler ran into the bathroom and his eyes landed on the bruise. His eyes widened, surprised that it was so evident. He must've not seen it when I had his hoodie on, or he must've not noticed last night from not clearly being sober. Tyler walked over to me and his eyes were dark with anger. "I'm going to kill him."

I shook my head and walked around him and going back to his room to dig through my bag in hopes I had a scarf in there. Luckily, I did and I wrapped it around my neck. I turned to Tyler with a grim smile. "Let's go."

We got to school and our usual group of friend were surrounding Seth's car. When Kimberly saw Tyler and I approaching, she rushed to me and gave me a big hug. "Are you okay?"

I nodded my head against her and she let go but still kept an arm around me. Stella gave me a sympathetic look and Ryan's stare shared the same sentiment. Seth noticed Tyler behind me and jerked his head. "Did you get him good?"

"Damn straight," he growled. "If he touches her again, I will kill him."

"Well, you don't need to worry about that," Stella piped up and everyone turned to her. She looked at us, dumbfounded we didn't know what she was referring to. "The principal caught wind of what happened and looked at the school's security cameras. Brody got expelled."

"Good," Tyler, Colson, and Seth said in unison, each with equal amount of venom.

I found myself really wanting to change the subject, not wanting to think about what could've happened had Tyler not come and helped me. Brushing my hair out of my face, I said, "I'm going to head to class. See you guys later."

I didn't wait for anyone's response as I went into the school.

I instantly regretted my decision of the leaving the group when I noticed Chad and Ariel sitting closely together, whispering about something. Whatever it was, Ariel did not look too happy at what her brother was saying. When they noticed my presence, they broke apart and Chad smiled hesitantly. "Hey, J, how are you doing?"

My stomach sunk at his tone. He knew. Everyone probably knew and I had no idea how the news of what had happened spread so quickly. Trying to make it seem like a big deal, I flashed a big smile. "I'm perfect."

Ariel scoffed and I knew she was pissed that I was lying, she always knew when I was lying.

Ignoring her, I went to my seat and started scrolling through Instagram, hoping this awkwardness would pass. As I scrolled through, I noticed that the photo that random student took of Tyler and I landed on the school's Instagram page. It was strange, I had a big grin on my face, as if I was the happiest person in the whole wide world. Tyler was looking down at me, mid chuckle. He looked happy and carefree, not at all the cold person he was towards me merely a month ago. I felt ensure looking at it, seeing us drunk and goofy made me feel happy, but knowing that it was probably the alcohol that influenced ninety percent of what happened last night made me feel sad. But I screenshot the picture anyway.