It was 8am on a Saturday. I wasn't supposed to get ready until little before 6:30pm. So why the hell was I up?
Because my sister's bachelorette party was today; and quite frankly, I would've done anything possible to avoid it.
It wasn't necessarily the fact that it had something to do with my engaged sister that I was annoyed, but more along the lines that I had to interact with people I barely knew. All I knew was that her friends were a bit more boisterous than I was, which hopefully would be proven to be a false accusation after the night was over. The only person I knew that was associated with my sister was her fiancée- someone that definitely wouldn't be attending tonight.
I pleaded and begged Tyler to hang around the house during the day, but he adamantly refused. On my last try, I asked him what would be the harm of actually staying around and monitoring 20-something year old women partying in his house.
"I might see something I don't wanna see."
"Like what Tyler?"
"I don't know," he sipped from his water bottle. "The possibility of seeing your sister unwrap a vibrator for a present."
He had a point.
What made it worse was that the next day he would be on a plane to Arizona for an away game against the Coyotes, and I couldn't even spend his last day with him. He promised that he would make time between the both of us before he headed out, but God only knows what he actually meant by that.
I was out of bed by 8:30 and down and baking for the party by 9. I told my sister that I make her some desserts and we can order a shit ton of food for dinner. It was a pretty good compromise in my book. I wasn't going to make anything too crazy, so I stuck to brownies and cookies. 10 minutes after the sweets went in, Tyler came shuffling down the steps.
"Hey," I called out from the kitchen island. He waved in response, a sign showing that he was still tired and only came down because he smelt food.
"What are you making?" Tyler slid into the stool across from me, examining an empty water bottle I had finished drinking.
"Brownies and cookies."
Tyler raised an eyebrow. "It's pretty early for that. You're not making breakfast?"
I shook my head. "It's for tonight, so I'd thought I get it out of the way first."
"Did you eat breakfast?"
I didn't answer him as I forced my attention to the TV behind him. My answer would probably send him over the edge and cause him to cook a 5-course breakfast so he could throw it down my throat. I haven't been hungry recently, and it's been bothering him for some reason.
"Sav."
"Hmm?" I looked back at him.
"You didn't eat did you?"
I shook my head again, flashing him a cheeky smile. He sighed as he ran a hand over his face. "Sav, you seriously haven't been eating a lot lately. And coming from you- someone who likes to eat- it's worrying. The last time I've seen you eat was yesterday morning. And you almost skipped out on that meal. I may sound-"
"I've only been up for like an hour Tyler, calm down, I'm going to eat. I just haven't been hungry lately and I haven't been having an appetite either." I said, turning around to check on the brownies. "It's nothing serious, so stop making it seem like it is."
"It kinda is serious, because this is how you were when you first got your concussion. You barely ate. I'm just asking because I'm concerned." Tyler watched me as I pulled the cookies and brownies out of the oven and tested to see if they were done. They were.
"I'm fine Tyler, I promise." I cut a brownie and handed it to him. "Try this."
He didn't bother to take it out of my hand. "I'm not eating that this early in the morning."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Tyler, stop. Eat it." I extended the brownie to him more.
He pushed it away.
"Eat it, Tyler." He rolled his eyes and took a small piece, munching on it softly.
"Yummy. You eat it." Tyler shoved the brownie back to me. "You're the one who hasn't been eating."
"I'm not eating this." I said laughing.
"What? So how are you gonna make me eat it?" He cried out.
I laughed again, cutting the brownies into squares. "I wanted to see how they tasted."
Tyler got up sighing, and pulled out a bowl and a box of cereal. He poured a bowl of Crunch Berries and slurped his first bite. "So are you excited for tonight?" He asked, mouthful of milk and crushed cereal.
I cringed at him as I finished cutting the brownies. "Very. Can't you tell?"
He crunched down again while snickering. "Of course. Do you need help getting anything before I head out?"
I put the brownies and cookies on separate plates before shoving them in the fridge. "Yeah, probably. I need to get decorations still."
His eyes widened. "You didn't get those yet?"
The sound of panic in his voice put me on edge. "No. Was I supposed to?"
He nodded, taking another loud bite of his cereal. "You usually get those days in advance. Not hours."
"Why are you just telling me this?" I checked the time on my phone. 9:45. "You think Party City is open?"
"I think they open at 10." Tyler rubbed his chin. "Is there anything else you need to do that we're going to have to cram in before they get here?"
I shrugged. "I don't have a gift for her."
"Jesus Savannah, go get ready." Tyler rinsed his finished bowl of cereal out in the sink. "And I thought I was last minute."
~
We were on Dallas' Autumn road by 10:30. I threw on a pair of tights and a PINK Varsity tee, an outfit I've become too used to wearing out. Our first stop was Party City, a place that he was hellbent on going first for some unknown reason. We got a ton of mischievous looking decors that gave me a weird sense of uneasiness at the pit of my stomach.
From Party City, we went to Victoria's Secret for a gift. I decided on getting Julia a nice set of lingerie. When I got out the car, Tyler followed, catching me by surprise.
"You're coming in?" I asked. He gave me a shrug.
"Why not?"
"I don't know," I said surprised. "Usually guys don't come into these type of stores."
Tyler opened the door for me and laughed. "It's better than just sitting in the car."
The store was a bit busy, but I expected it would be since it was a Saturday. The PINK section greeted us as soon as we walked in and I had to suddenly repress myself from buying more than what I needed to.
"So I see this is where half of your wardrobe comes from." Tyler said behind me.
"Yeah," I said laughing. "I guess you can say that."
We entered the lingerie section and I immediately looked for sales. There weren't many promotional posters around much to my dismay.
"$79.50?" Tyler cried out, lifting a lace covered bra. He looked at me from across the dresser with a bewildered face. "This is how much you pay for this stuff?" A couple of girls eyed him before turning around and giggling.
"Yeah, sadly." I sighed. "Looks like I'm going to have to spend more than I expected."
He walked towards me and searched through the section I was looking at. "This is nice." He stated quietly, pointing at another lace bra.
I raised my eyebrow at him. "What's with you and lace?" I asked, looking at the bra myself. It definitely wasn't ugly; a rich maroon color covered the bra as black lace hung from underneath.
"I don't know, it just looks- hot." He shrugged quickly.
"I hope you're not imagining it on anyone." I said seriously. I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes and saw his goofy grin.
"Listen, I don't know any other girl but you."
It was obvious that Tyler was having too much fun in the store, so I grabbed the set and headed towards the register. The line was pretty long, but that was every time I came to Victoria's Secret. When we paid and left, a sudden wave of fatigue crashed over me.
"Tyler, I feel weird." I said as I put the delicate bag in the back. A decoration for the party met my gaze and brought the sense of dread back to my stomach.
He gave me a worried look as he put the car in reverse. "Weird how?"
"I don't know, it's like-" As Tyler pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road, my stomach went numb. "It's nothing. Never mind."
"What?" He stole a glance at me. "Sav, what's wrong? You're pale."
I rubbed my head trying to make the weird feeling go away. It felt as if I wasn't really there with Tyler, like I was trapped in my head. "I don't know, I just feel weird, like my head. Not physically but mentally, I feel like I'm not really engaging with you."
Tyler's face was full of worry and I instantly felt bad. "What?"
"Nothing, never mind. I just feel weird. I'll be fine." I said, waving it away.
Tyler shook his head. "I'm gonna stop by Dunkin, okay? You still haven't eaten and it's almost 1. I'll get you-"
"For the tenth time today, I'm not fucking hungry Tyler. I'll be fine, just like I said." I snapped out.
Tyler paused. "Okay."
I banged my head against the seat, rubbing a hand through my hair. What the hell is wrong with me? I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "Sorry Tyler, I didn't mean that."
He kept his eyes on the road. "It's okay."
I screwed up this time. "Tyler seriously, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it. I've been feeling weird mentally lately."
He pulled into the Dunkin parking lot before looking at me. "I'm going to tell you this right now, Sav," He paused as he pulled into the Drive-thru. "I'm gonna schedule you for a doctors appointment."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why?"
He whipped his head towards me. "Isn't it obvious? You've been flipping out lately, and you're like, emotionally imbalanced. You've barely been eating but I've said that like ten times today, rig-"
"Hi, can I take your order?" The intercom barked.
"Yes hi," Tyler turned back around to the window. "Can I have a Bacon egg and cheese sandwich, with a large caramel iced coffee extra extra, and two rainbow sprinkles donuts?"
"Yes, your total is $10.36."
"Okay, thank you." He rolled his window up before pulling around the lot. "That's what you usually get right?"
I nodded in amazement. Have I gotten Dunkin with him that much that he memorized my order?
Tyler handed them a twenty, and gave me the food when it came out. "Have a nice day." He called before pulling off. "Do you have everything?"
"Yeah, I do. Thanks Tyler."
He made a right out of the parking lot before shoving his huge hands into one of the bags. "You're welcome, princess." He pulled a donut out and scarfed it down, licking his fingers afterwards. "Are you happy now, you big baby?"
The heat from the sandwich inside of my mouth detoxed my stomach- suddenly, every missed meal from yesterday to now came back to kick my ass. The first swallow of the food felt as if it didn't even go to my stomach.
Like Tyler, I scarfed it down, eyes watering from pleasure. He occasionally looked at me with a smile of success from finally being able to watch me eat.
"It's like, I have to eat in order to realize I'm hungry." I said with a mouthful of food.
"You really need a trip to the doctors." He said with a grin that turned cynical. You're starting to creep me out a bit."