"Let's hear it for the South High Lions!!!" roars the guy in the box, and I watch as the football players from my school burst through the doors and run out to the field like a pack of wild animals.
I hear the screams of everyone around me. Guys are stomping on the bleachers and girls are acting like sluts throwing themselves at their boyfriends while popping out their boobs to shove in the guy's faces. I roll my eyes, but I'm not bothered for long when I see a certain number lead the way out to the field.
Number 43.
He brings a smile to my face immediately.
The game starts off with the visiting team winning. I only know that because my side is booing a lot, but then the best thing happens. Number 43 has the ball, and I'm positive it's a good thing because it seems to have every single person on their feet... including myself.
Come on, Tyler. Run.
He takes off down the field, and I feel the excitement boil inside of me as he dodges every single person that tries to attack him. All of them busting their ass on the turf.
He's so close to the end of the field. Come on Tyler!! Run!!
"Ladies and gentlemen we have number 43 going for the win!!" screams the guy in the box.
That's when he finally makes it. He freaking makes it to the end zone or whatever this football shit is, and I jump up and down like a mad woman. I can't help it, I am just so incredibly excited.
The whole teams rushes up to him and they pick him up. He sits upon the shoulders of all of his teammates. He just won the game for them.
I can't help but feel so happy for him. Then it happens. We lock eyes from across the field and he gives me a small smile before he hops off the shoulders of all of those guys and starts running towards me.
What the hell is he doing?
I stand at the edge of the bleachers that is up about 5 feet higher than the ground and watch as he now stands right there with a giant smile on his face.
"So, how'd I do?" he asks me like I'm the only one he sees. We've gained the attention of some others around me. I feel my heart rate pick up at all the eyes, but his eyes are telling me to look at him and only him, and I do.
"You did good." I say and smile at him only a little. He did do good. He did better than good.
But he surprises me when his hands are on the bar in front of me, hurling himself up and over on the bleachers. Our bodies clash together making me think I'm going to fall, but he holds my arms to keep me from doing so. He's so unbelievably close, and I feel my cheeks turning warm with all of the extra attention from others around us.
"Shouldn't you be down there with your teammates?" I ask him with my voice shaking.
"No, the games over. Now it's time for the after party." he says with a wicked grin.
"What after party?"
"The party at my house, and you're going to be there." he says finally letting go of me. I laugh a little and shake my head.
"I don't do parties."
"But you would do it for me, so you're coming." he says and I can't help but grin.
"Fine. I'll go, but that doesn't mean I'll have any fun."
"You will." he says to me and then he turns around and jumps off the bleachers. He even looks good while being a complete show off.
"How in the hell does he not like you?!" exclaims Lindsey. She needs to let it go.
"For the last time. We. are. just. friends." I tell her and her and Haley, both roll their eyes. They still don't buy it.
~*~
Haley, Lindsey, and Parker dropped me off at Tyler's house, and I hate them right now for not going with me. They insisted that I go have my alone time with Tyler. They obviously didn't think any of that through considering this is a party and he is the host. He doesn't even have the time.
It dawns on me now as they are driving away from me quickly that I have no ride home. Fantastic. Now I am forced to go into hell.
I walk into the house with all of these drunk people celebrating the big win. Most of them are girls dressed in crop tops and booty shorts. All of them grinding with guys in the living room to the raging music. Even if I wanted to dress like that, which I don't, I could never pull it off, and that is the kind of stuff that just breaks me.
I look a little closer to a guy on the dance floor, and I recognize him immediately. It's Tyler. My stomach ties in knots when I see what he's doing.
Some blonde girl, way skinnier than me, has her back pressed up against his front while his hands twine in her hair. I shouldn't be feeling like this but I do. I shouldn't be upset because we are just friends getting to know each other. It shouldn't feel like a punch in the gut. It shouldn't suck this bad.
I drop my gaze and search for somewhere quiet to go. Maybe I can wait until the party dies down and call someone to come pick me up.
I slowly make my way upstairs of the nice, big house and the short hallway is dimly lit. I want to open the doors and hide, but I know I shouldn't considering this is someone else's house.
"No one is allowed up here." someone says, and I nearly jump out of my skin as I turn around only to be faced with Tyler. He wears a small smirk on his face as he turns on the light to the hallway. All I can think about is how gross I probably look right now. Now that the light is shining on me.
"What are you doing up here? The party's downstairs." he says pointing his thumb to all the loud noise emanating from the bottom floor.
"I just wanted to find somewhere quiet." I admit as I tangle my fingers together.
He walks past me to the last door down the hallway, and I slowly follow him. He stops at the door and turns around to face me while he places a hand on the knob.
"This is my room." he says, and I feel like I'm watching one of those shows on HGTV where they are about to reveal a new house. The excitement is very similar at the moment. He opens the door revealing your typical high school guy room.
As soon as you step in you're faced with a window right at the back wall with the bed right beneath it, probably lighting up the entire room during the day. There's a desk next to his bed, and there's a bookshelf on the other side of his bed. The top shelf is full of books and the rest are full of trophies for a numerous amount of sports from little league baseball, to high school football. It smells faintly of his cologne making me automatically take in the smell. It's all so nice and organized. Nothing you'd expect from a guy with anger issues.
"This is a really nice room." I tell him still looking at it in awe. This is where the one and only Tyler Smith sleeps. You know, with many many other girls. That right there just killed it for me.
"Thanks." he says as he jumps on his bed, spreading out with his hands behind his head. The sight in front of me makes me feel all squirrelly. The way his jaw tightens when he smiles and the way his eyes sparkle in the most beautiful way all make me want to scream. His hair is so messily disheveled on top of his head, just like the guy look, and it looks so good on him. His muscles ripple through his jersey taking everything out of me not to stare.
"Shouldn't you go back downstairs to your party? You are the host." I say to him trying desperately to distract myself.
"Please. No one ever hosts a party. I already made my show down there. Let them all get drunk and get a ride home. It'll all be over by midnight."
"So I take it you've had more than one party." I say to him as I take a step into the room. If I keep talking it'll draw attention away from the fact that I am standing awkwardly right now refusing to sit down.
"I've had tons at this house." he says smiling, clearly proud of himself.
"So.." I say, but I'm already regretting the words about to fall out of my mouth, "is that your girlfriend you were dancing with?"
His eyes flicker over to me and he grins wildly. Almost as if he finds my discomfort hysterical.
"I've been seeing her for a month, but we've never really made anything official. She knows I sleep around." I cringe at his words. Knowing more than one girl has seen him naked and done things with and to him just makes me sick. I have to get these thoughts out of my head. They're taking my innocence away.
"Why are you just standing there? You know you can come in and close the door right?" he says to me with a laugh, and I feel the embarrassment sink in. I hesitantly close the door behind me and walk up to his bed, now standing awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
"Grace, I don't bite. Why don't you just sit down." he says still slightly laughing at me. With those words I slowly take a seat at the end of his bed. I probably look incredibly awkward right now with half of my butt not even daring to touch the bed. So, imagine how bad I jump when I feel two hands grab my waist and pull me flat on my back. I feel completely and utterly mortified because I'm positive my face could be fricken mauve right now.
Tyler supports his weight on his shoulder as he lays on his side to look at me. I can feel my face continue to keep its heat.
"So, did you like the game?" he asks and I nod my head to keep from talking. I feel my palms begin to sweat at all of the attention.
"What's up with you tonight? You weren't very quiet at the game, but now that cute little mouth of yours is shut tight." he says as his finger pokes my lips momentarily, but it only makes me cringe when I think about how they were in that girl's hair.
"Ok, what's going on with you?" he asks once he notices my obvious reaction towards his touch on my lips. I should've been more discreet.
"Nothing, I'm just weird at night, I guess." I say, and I watch as a smile forms on his perfectly full lips.
"Do you want to watch a movie to pass time?" he asks, and I turn to look at him for the first time since I fell back on his bed, and I feel my whole body electrify just by meeting his eyes. He has that kind of affect.
"That uh.. sounds good." I tell him, and he smiles briefly before hopping up off the bed and going to the tv that's on the opposite side of the room. I didn't even see it before I walked in.
"The only movies I have are Fast and Furious and a whole bunch of comedies with Will Ferrell."
"I like comedy."
"You like to laugh?" he says with a small grin and my chest sinks.
"No, I just haven't in awhile." I watch as his smile fades rather quickly and he puts in the movie without another word.
I lift myself back up so my back is against the headboard, and Tyler does the same when he comes to sit next to me after he's done turning off the lights. The movie starts and it lights up the dark room making everything appear to have a blue tint.
"You let your scars show tonight." he comments as he takes my arm in his hands, making tingles run down my spine.
"Yeah, it was hard to keep them hidden." I say as I look at them. I haven't cut since I met Tyler a couple days ago. It's funny to me how fast we got along.
I look at him, hesitant to say the growing thought in my mind.
"You know you never told me why you care about people like me." I say to him, and I watch as his jaw tightens. I remember our talk at the bowling alley. He shut down when I asked him about why he cared so much about what happens to me. It's been on my mind ever since then.
He looks at me and gives me a weak smile just like he did at the bowling alley. I want so desperately to figure this guy out. There's more to him than what people say. I can see that. I can see it every time he makes me smile when I thought there was nothing to smile about.
"I don't know if you want to hear about it." he says looking back at my scars. I can tell he's trying to distract himself
"I do."
He takes a deep, shaky breath and I want nothing more than to hold him right now, making all of his worries go away, but me holding him would just make it weird, so I refrain from touching him at all.
"My sister.. she used to cut." he says quietly, and I look at his hurt expression as his jaw becomes tight again. He's holding it in, but I wish he wouldn't. He doesn't have to act tough around me like he does with the rest of the school.
"I didn't know you had a sister." I say to him and his eyes shut tight.
"She killed herself." My stomach drops. I had no idea. Now everything makes sense. That's why he wouldn't leave me alone when we first met. That's why he made it his business to be my friend. He doesn't want what happened to his sister to happen to anyone else.
I grab his hand and hold it tight. He looks up at me, and there's obvious tears in his eyes. He tries hard to blink them away, and it pains me to see him like this.
"You don't have to fake it with me." I say to him and he takes another deep breath. "You can cry, Tyler. It's ok to cry." And with that being said tears fall down his cheeks and now I don't care. I don't care how weird it may be. I'm going to hold this guy. I'm going to hold him until his broken pieces fall back together.
I wrap my arms around his shoulders and he falls into me as we lay back on the bed.
"I just wish she had someone to be there for her, but instead she felt so alone. She had nobody. I should have been there. I should have done something." he says and I feel myself breaking for him.
"Tyler, look at me." I say and pull my arms off of him and he lifts his head up. His eyes are now puffy and red. I've never seen him like this, and I don't think anyone else has either.
I place my hands on his cheeks, wet with tears, and look right into those broken eyes of his. It occurs to me now, that this is probably why he's so angry all the time. He's angry at himself. He's angry at himself for something he had no control over.
"You are honoring her by going out of your way to help me. Tyler, if she was going through what I'm going through, then there was no way of telling if she was ok. She probably hid it, so she wasn't a bother to you. That's how you feel when there's no one else to care. That's at least how I felt. Her death is not your fault. Not at all." I say to him and his tears have stopped by now.
"It's not your fault." I tell him again and this time he nods.
"Grace, I know I'm supposed to be helping you, but damn. You're really helping me." he says in a hushed voice and his words send me to a place where my whole body ignites, and suddenly, I don't feel so sucky anymore.
~*~
The movie finishes and by now I have laughed so many times that there are actual tears streaming down my face.
Tyler walks up to the tv table and turns off the movie that's just streaming through credits by now. He goes to turn on his light, and I wince at the sudden brightness in the room.
"I had fun tonight." he says with a small smile as he looks me in the eyes. It makes me squirm a bit.
"Me too, but it's really late right? I can't even hear people downstairs anymore." I say. He opens his door just a bit to check, and sure enough, complete silence.
"Looks like the party left." he says as he shuts the door again. "Who was your ride home?"
"Actually, my ride dropped me off." I say, now remembering what my purpose of coming upstairs was for.
"Do you have a ride?"
"No, actually I don't. It's fine. I'll call a cab or something."
"No. Why call a cab and pay when you could get a free ride from me?" he says leaning up against his door.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Are you sure you're ok with driving this late?" I ask him and he nods as he goes to grab his keys from the desk.
"Come on Grace. I'm taking you home." I smile a little before getting off of his bed and following him downstairs, out the door, and to the driveway.
I get into his car on the passengers side as he gets in on the drivers. The car is dark as well as the roads, only lit by a few street lights and building lights.
After a short drive, we arrive at my house and he walks me to the door in silence. I turn around just as I'm about to walk in.
"Are you sure about driving home this late?" I ask him feeling a little worried.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Are you sure, Tyler? It's really late, and the roads are dark, and you could-"
"Grace," he says with his head tilted just a little, " are you worried about me?" I feel my face heat up, and I know I'm blushing. I'm thankful it's too dark for him to notice.
"Will it make you feel better if I call you when I get home?" he asks me and I slowly nod.
"Do you even have my number?" I ask and he laughs a little. I love the way the corners of his eyes form small lines as he laughs. His laugh is so deep, but cheerful. It makes me want to listen to it all day. He has such a beautiful smile. He has gorgeous teeth that seem to light up the night..
Snap out of it Grace!
"I asked your friend Lindsey." he says as he looks down at his feet, but he a not hide the smile that is growing on his face.
"Why in the hell did you do that? It's only going to encourage her." I groan, and he looks up at me with a confused look on his face.
"Encourage her?"
"Never mind." I say as I shake my head.
"I'll call you when I get home." he says and he heads towards his car. Before I know it, he's off driving back down the road.
~*~
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! Make sure to keep reading<3