One day after a rather long practice I went inside and saw dad wasn't home yet. Ari hadn't shown up today so I went in and fell asleep on the couch. What felt like five minutes after my body had finally warmed up into a sleeping coma ball, my doorbell rang. I opened the door and was surprised to see Tyler.
"What's up?"
"Yeah I was just wondering if you would want to talk about the Hamlet project? The final version is due in a few weeks and we still haven't finished."
"Um sure?"
He came and sat down on my couch and started pulling out his laptop.
"So I had some ideas since Dershem said we could do a video. I wanted you to approve them before I mentioned any of it to Max or Jake. If you say it is good, they will agree. If I do, they'll say it sucks."
"That's probably true."
"So I was thinking we could do like a thirty-second clip that tells the plot of the book, like a funny skit that just summarizes the plot."
"She said it had to be five minutes what would we do with the other four minutes and thirty seconds?"
"I thought we could do a video of us analyzing the main themes, tones, metaphors, and symbols."
"That sounds good actually. That way we won't have to talk in front of the class."
"So I found some examples. Want to watch?"
"Sure." For the next half hour we watched video reviews of books. I knew Dad would be home soon so I told him we could continue later. I walked him to the door and opened it just as Ari was about to knock. My stomach dropped. He smiled when he saw me. Tyler walked out from behind me and Ari looked confused.
"Tyler was here working on our project."
His nostrils flared slightly, "Then where are Jake and Max?"
Tyler scoffed, "Dude we were doing homework. I wasn't trying to lure her into my van with candy."
"I'm not worried about you kidnapping her, I am worried about you trying to fuck her."
That felt like a slap to the face.
He looked at me then, "I have been fine with you two working at school together, doing that interview for the paper together, hanging out at the party together, but Alex come on... Hanging out at your house alone all evening. I'm only human here."
Tyler beat me to responding. "I am not trying to fuck her. Fuck, I haven't been anything but respectful to her. You can fuck off with that bullshit Monroe."
I kept my eyes on Ari, "You know me better than that. I wouldn't fuck around with some other dude. It was just homework. We watched videos about book reviews for half an hour."
Ari looked from me to Tyler and back. "I need some space. I'll see you around, Alex."
He turned and left me standing speechless on the doorstep.
I stood there in silence for a minute. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and turned to face Tyler. He had a sympathetic look in his eye.
"Did he just break up with me?"
"If he has any brains, no. He probably just needs to cool off. Dude really needs to relax. I haven't so much as flirted with you since October. "
I rolled my eyes, "That was like three months ago."
"Exactly. Ancient history."
I laughed and let Tyler slide past me. "I am sure it will blow over."
"And if it doesn't?"
Tyler's smirk turned into a wider grin, "Then I will give it a few weeks and finally ask you out."
I laughed, "Tyler! Not helping."
He raised his hands up in defense, "I'm only human Little Harrison."
I shook my head and closed the door.
I was trying not to overreact.
Space. It was just space.
Ari wasn't breaking up with me. He just didn't want to blow up like he had before. I could respect that. Still... It made me want to call for a little backup. Elle was still grounded. So I called Laura. She showed up twenty minutes later in sweats and a messy bun. We really did look like twins sometimes.
I walked her through the last few weeks and tonight. We sat on my couch eating popcorn while a cheesy romcom played in the background. It felt like old times with Jordan and Elyse and I was took comfort in that.
"Lexi, are you even still into Ari?"
"Yes! Why wouldn't I be?"
She shrugged, "I mean, you have been doing your own thing, he looks like a whole new person lately, are y'all even clicking any more?"
She wasn't wrong. Ari had been sort of a robot since he got on his meds and I was so busy with cross country and the paper I barely noticed. I had felt disconnected, to an extent, from Ari for a while now, but wouldn't admit it even to myself.
"Maybe space is a good thing."
Laura spent the night and went home to get ready for school the next morning. My chest felt heavy. It felt like my world was shifting again. I had worked so hard to create a new normal here in Cabbagetown and now it just felt upended.
I got a ride to school from Dylan and walked straight to my first period. I sat there scrolling on my phone, trying to block out the world.
Miri and Danny came in early too. I was hoping that Tyler had kept his mouth shut about last night. I was not in the mood for prying questions.
They both smiled at me and I returned the gesture.
"What's up?"
Miri answered first, "Not much. Other than Tyler telling me I had to get here early to check in on you. Why am I checking in on you?"
There went Tyler not saying anything.
Danny followed up, "Are you okay?"
I shrugged, "I'm fine. Just drama with Ari and Tyler witnessed it."
They both were nice enough not to ask any more questions as class started. Biology was next. Elle was waiting for me outside the classroom.
"How are you holding up?"
"What did Ari say?"
I was curious to know the answer. It would let me know where Ari's head was.
There was a mixture of sadness and doubt in her eyes. "Aaron said Tyler was bitching about how Ari overreacted to you two doing homework together. I figured I would wait to hear it from you. but then Ari told me he went over to your place yesterday and that you were alone there with Tyler. Then he said y'all broke up and that he didn't want to talk about it. "
Broke up.
Those two words were ringing in my ears. Not, 'needed some space'. He thought we broke up. I wanted to throw up. I just nodded and said, "Tyler came over uninvited for about 30 minutes to show me some examples he wanted to use for Hamlet. That was it, for the record."
She nodded slowly and we took our seats.
I was thankful to be going to athletics instead of gym. It prolonged the inevitable encounter I would have with Ari fourth period.
I felt nauseous.
I started running to clear my thoughts. Jensen got in stride with me.
"You okay? You're quiet today."
"Apparently, Ari broke up with me."
She stopped short and held onto my arm to stop me too. "Wait what?"
The coach blew her whistle to signal us to keep going. We nodded and started back up.
"He said he wanted space but then old Elle we broke up. So, apparently he thinks we broke up."
"What the fuck? That's messed up."
"Tell me about it."
The class period ended and we changed out. We decided to walk over to Chew Chew's for lunch. There was a violent scene unfolding when we got there. Ari and Tyler were going at it. This time, Tyler seemed to have the upper hand. Dylan slid past me to go help Jake separate the two. Brenna was on the outskirts giving me dirty looks.
Laura was walking over to catch us up. "They started fighting the second they saw each other in the parking lot. Tyler called him a punk bitch for breaking up with you through Elle and Ari just pounced."
How did Tyler already know about that? I could only assume Elle told Aaron and Aaron told him. This living in a bubble was suffocating me.
I didn't know what to do when they finally separated. I wasn't about to start more drama by checking in on Tyler and it made me sick to think of talking to Ari right now. Instead I walked around the crowd with Jensen and Laura and went into the diner.
The manager was rushing past me out to the parking lot. I saw him yelling at Tyler and Ari to get off the lot. They started getting into separate vehicles. Elle was following Ari and Aaron was following Tyler. That had to be hard on those two; their siblings constantly fighting couldn't be easy.
I tried to focus on just eating my meal. I had Ari next in Digital Media and I was not looking forward to.
Apparently though, I didn't have to worry because Ari didn't show up.
Jake was gone from English too. I wondered if they both skipped or if their parents had called to get them out.
Tyler was in class, swollen lip and all. I took Jake's regular spot and leaned into whisper in his ear. "Does that hurt?"
He smiled, "You should see the other guy."
I laughed. I hated to admit it but it did make me happy to know Ari got his ass kicked after telling Elle he broke up with me when he hadn't. Class started and we broke into groups to work. Max liked the video idea that Tyler came up with. It meant we outvoted Jake even if he objected to it. We made plans to get together at my house that weekend to film. We would have to use our phones since borrowing from Ari obviously wasn't an option. The bell rang and I started packing up to go to practice.
Tyler lingered and I looked at him to see what he needed.
"What's up?"
"Do you want a ride home from practice?"
I looked at him suspiciously and he held up his hands in defense.
"We can hang out now, remember?"
That was true. Very true.