Just Another Teenage Outcast

Chapter 25

Chapter 25~

*RECAP*

“Hey, princess?” he said. “Yeah dad?” I replied, licking my chocolate dip icecream cone.

     “Isn’t that the boy-Tyler- who was at the door last night with you?” he asked curoiously. My heart stopped for a second as I looked over to where he was pointing.

     And there sure enough was Tyler, sitting in a dark corner, rocking back and forth. He seemed to be…crying. His clothes were tattered and worn through, and his face was all grimy and looked like shit. What the fuck happened to him?!

    “Tyler?” I asked, alarmed.

     Tyler looked up, surprise evident on his tear stained face. He got up shakily and took a tiny step towards us. What the absolute fuck? He looked horrible. As soon as he saw me, relief flooded his face, and then as if suddenly realizing I saw him crying in a corner, his face grew bright under the filth in humiliation.

     “Tyler….what the fuc- I mean- heck happened to you?” I said, receiving a glare from my dad. Tyler stood there awkwardly, staring at his muddy shoes. Why was he so embarrassed?

     “I….I only realized I had no money after I reached the bus stop,” he muttered, still staring down at his feet. At first I didn’t hear properly, but then as soon as I deciphered his sentence, realization dawned. Trying to hold back my laughter at how much of a loser he was, I gave a sidelong glance to my dad, who also had his lips clamped shut from trying to not laugh.

     But I couldn’t take it anymore. Relieving myself, I roared in laughter, ignoring the flat look Tyler gave me. “Oh my…Oh my God,” I breathed out, wiping away a stray tear from my eye. “Are you…are you okay?” I asked him, trying to keep a straight face back on.

     “Oh, sure. I’m perfectly fine and dandy thanks,” he snapped back, although you could tell he was trying not to smile. I smiled at him and he returned it, and for a while we just stood there smiling at each other.

    And that’s when I remembered- he doesn’t love me anymore. He called me a freak. He told me to forget about him. As if remembering the exact same thing, I watched as his smile slowly slid off his face too, replaced by a blank face.

     I wanted to walk away right this instant. I wanted to walk away from him like how he did to me when he left me alone in the cold. I wanted to walk away and never look back. But somehow, something was preventing my feet from walking. Instead, I turned to my dad.

     He was looking at us with mild interest, as if he were seeing some sort of television show of some sort. “Dad?” I asked, surprised at how calm I sounded though my heart was beating way too fast. “Hm?” he replied, tearing his eyes away from Tyler to look at me.

     “Can…um…can Tyler stay with us for a while?” I asked him. He glanced at Tyler, and I did too, and he expectedly had a surprised look on his face. “Wha-“Tyler started, but my father cut him off with a nod. Smiling faintly, I motioned Tyler to walk with us to the car.

     Reluctantly, he started moving his feet, and we both walked side by side letting my dad lead the way to the car. “Did you…um…did you eat anything?” I asked him, trying to break the awkwardness.

     He gave a curt nod- almost a little too cold. Fine, if that’s the way he wants to be, I thought angrily. The silence was almost unbearable in the car, even with the radio music on. Apart from a few random questions for my dad asking if we wanted the music up or windows down, there was absolutely no conversation between any of us.