Closer: Tyler, The Creator

23. Secrets

I shook my head.

"No. I told you I don't want any help." I sighed reaching for the journal. He let it go this time.

"Fine. I got this thing coming up though..." He crossed his arms as he leaned slightly on the glass counter in front of me.

"What thing?"

"It's this movie premiere after-party. I get invited to a lot of those but I don't go. It's people from the industry there."

My eyes widened at the thought. I couldn't though, my nerves would completely engulf me.

"No, it's okay—,"

"You're going."

My eyes darted up at him.

"You wanna go. You just nervous."

My lips parted surprised he could read me like a book.

"It's just that if I try to talk to them they'd probably be like, ugh, another film major," I rolled my eyes as I sat on the seat behind the register. "What's the point if I'm gonna get ignored."

"You wanna do this yourself right?"

I nodded.

"Then show them you deserve it. Be assertive. You're too fucking nice," he leaned over.

"When is it?"

"Tomorrow night."

"Good. So you'll be able to come over tonight and formally meet my mom."

His brows lifted as he grinned.

"You sure that's what you want?"

"That's exactly what I want," I smirked. "Just don't give too much away."

...

My heart beat faster as Tyler texted me.

should i come in now? i'm outside
-Tyler

"Ma, I have someone I want you to meet."

She looked up from her phone as she adjusted her reading glasses.

"Nadine this late at night?"

"It'll be quick."

She sighed.

Tyler knocked on the door as I walked over to open it.

I watched my mom as a smile came up on her face.

"Nadine I already met your coworker. Tyler right?"

Tyler and I looked at eachother before I began.

"Ma, he was never my coworker."

Her eyebrows furrowed as she set her phone down.

"Uh, we've been dating for a while. I wanted to introduce him again, like, formally this time. As my boyfriend."

My mom let out a small chuckle as she crossed her arms in front of her. Tyler and I looked at eachother confused by her reaction.

"And you didn't think I already knew?" she sat back on the chair. "You don't think I've heard both of you come in and out of the room? All suspicious? That I didn't see his expensive Mclaren outside the house more than once? You thought I was stupid?"

My eyes widened in shock.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew then?!" I raised my voice.

"I was waiting on you to tell me. The fact that all the bills have been paid for the past few weeks, too—,"

My eyes shot at Tyler again, a shocked expression written on my face.

"You were paying my bills?!"

"I might've wired your bills to my bank account...I didn't think it was a big deal."

"You didn't even tell me! I been telling you to not do shit like that anymore!"

My mom shushed me. I was angry. I sat down on the chair as I massaged my temples, trying to process everything.

It was silent before my mom spoke. Her voice was soft.

"Tyler, what do you do?"

Fuck, we didn't rehearse this.

I looked up at him as I watched him think on his feet.

"I uh, I work in the entertainment industry."

I looked over at my mom.

"Oh! doing what exactly?"

"Like, just behind the scenes stuff. It's nothing serious."

"Well it must be if you're doing this good. What else?" She kept pressing.

I could spot Tyler's jaw clench.

"I do a lot of investing. Um, stocks and investing into businesses. The profits are crazy." He lightly smiled.

My mom looked convinced.

"I can see that. That explains the money," her eyes shifted back to mine. "Nadine say you're sorry. You should be grateful he's helping out."

I rolled my eyes.

"I told him we're paying him back," I reacted.

"Of course we are. But for now," her eyes shifted back to T. "Thank you."

Tyler shook his head.

"Nah, I'm insisting. I'd rather help than let the money go to waste. It's why I payed Nadine's college tuition too. I want her to stay in school."

I saw my mom's eyes widen as Tyler smirked down at me. I knew he wanted to win her over so fucking bad.

"Nadine why didn't you tell me?!"

I shrugged.

My mom was completely overwhelmed. She stood up, walking over to give Tyler a hug. I smiled a little, her tiny stature incomparable to the way Tyler towered over her.

"You're too generous. You know I was thinking of picking up another job because the bills was too high—,"

"Don't worry about it. It's on me. If you ever need anything you let me know." He had a stern voice like how he did when he meant something.

My mom looked up at him with kind eyes.

"You're so sweet." My mom smiled. "You don't even deserve him." She looked over at me.

Tyler let out a laugh.

"Ma!"

"You come over whenever you'd like, okay?"

Tyler nodded.

He said his goodbyes to her as I walked him outside.

"That went...good?" He chuckled as he closed the door behind him.

I pushed him playfully.

"I can't believe you were paying our shit behind my back."

"Can you let it go? It's not a big deal to me. You know that."

"I just feel like I'm taking it from you. You know I can't even afford to pay you back that much—,"

He stopped me as his lips grazed mine, leaving a small kiss on them.

"Stop fucking stressing about it. I don't want you to pay me back. I wouldn't fucking do it if I didn't care."

I sighed, placing my head on his chest lightly.

"Why are you so good to me?"

I felt his chest contract as he chuckled.

"You know why."