The New Normal

Chapter Twenty Nine

"You're telling me that Mr. Bad Boy calls you Sweetness?" Ariel questioned.

After Chad interrupted our tearful reunion, we ordered a pizza and started catching up on everything that was going on in our lives since our big fight.

"Mhm," I swallowed my bite of pizza. "Oh, also, we got super drunk at Homecoming and I slept in his bed with nothing but his hoodie on. In the morning, he made me Pop-Tarts."

Ariel's eyes widened and then a sly smile played on her lips. "So, he likes you, that much is obvious."

"Please," I snorted and waved her off. "If he like me, he'd tell me. Tyler always is straightforward with his women."

My best friend shook her head. "No, no, no. He wouldn't flat out tell you. I mean, he spent years hating you. What if that was all pretend and now he has no idea how to convey his emotions so he's keeping it in?"

I laughed off the idea but part of me thought maybe, just maybe, there was a hint of truth in that observation. Leave it to Ariel to crack the code I've been trying to solve for years in under two hours. "Even if he did theoretically like me, what do I do? It's not like I feel the same."

This time Ari snorted and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Please, you like him. It's obvious to the trained eye."

"I do no—" I stopped mid-sentence as every memory of Tyler and I throughout the past few months played out in my head. The intense stares, the nickname, the occasional deep conversations at work, Homecoming, last weekend — everything came at me in one fell swoop. I jumped off of the couch. "OhMyGod, I like him! I like him! Shit, oh my... Shit. Shit. Shit. Ariel what do I do?"

Ariel stood up and put both hands on either shoulder and stared at me carefully. "First of all, you're going to calm the hell down. Second of all, you're going to do nothing. Play it cool and wait for the right time to talk to him about it, if you even want to talk to him about it. Besides, it's not the first time you've had a crush on him. Remember the Valentines Day dance in eighth grade?"

I sat back down on the couch with her and nodded my head. "Yeah, but that was a silly crush. I only liked him because he gave me money so I could get tater-tots in the cafe. And I never even asked him to the dance because I chickened out."

"Tyler likes you, J, believe me." She gave me a look of comfort. "Just play it cool until you feel confident enough to talk to him about it."

I nodded my head and slumped back on the couch. Things were definitely going to get interesting.