Lifting my gaze to the glowing orange sky, I frowned at the tide of pale pink clouds that were running away from the rapidly darkening sky. The horizon was dotted with the skyline of the town as we strolled in that direction, admiring the beauty of the blood-orange sun as it sunk behind the three largest skyscrapers that our town had.
There were points when we had to shield our eyes from the sun's glare and those were the moments when I stole glances at the brooding young man beside me.
Tyler hadn't said a word to me since I cleverly insulted him, leaving his rooted to the porch as I stormed down the winding, cobbled path that eventually led me to the grand exit to the Miller mansion. After swallowing his pride, he trudged after me, sulking because I wounded his bad boy ego but I was certain he'd live to the see the morning.
My eyes raked over his muscular glory, taking in his black skinny jeans and leather jacket and I couldn't help but admire just how snug and fitted his clothes were. He must have felt the weight of my gaze because he turned his head to the side.
"Is there a reason why you keep staring at me?"
Scalding heat rushed to my cheeks as I shook my head and stared at the pavement, concentrating on the towering shadow that followed after me. It was incredibly hard when every step was followed by the soft graze of Tyler's arm brushing mine but I don't think he noticed how close we were or maybe he just didn't care.
The skin under my sweater tingled like a light tickle every time his arm brushed past mine so I rubbed the area, drawing attention to myself as Tyler glanced down at me. A gust of wind sent my hair billowing backwards and I closed my eyes until it passed, relishing the way it chased the warmth away from my cheeks.
When I stole another glance at him, I did a double take because Tyler was in the process of shrugging his leather jacket off. Watching me with an uncertain glint in his eyes, he pursed his lips and before I knew it, his jacket was hanging off my shoulder, emanating a comforting heat that only made the previous tingles on my arms travel all over my body.
"I'm not cold," I protested but he only raised his eyebrows at me when I shivered lightly.
"Of course you're not," He drawled, picking up the pace.
How was I supposed to explain that I wasn't shivering because of the cold?
I frowned deeply. Nonetheless, I zipped up the jacket that seemed to swallow me and welcomed the powering scent that overwhelmed my nerves, setting my nose alight as inhaled deeply. Tyler smelt good; really, really good. I felt slightly guilty because he was left with a skin tight, long sleeved shirt that was definitely not enough to fend off the wind. Being halfway through autumn meant that even though the real cold hadn't arrived yet, it still got quite chilly at nighttime.
"Aren't you cold?"
Tyler shrugged his shoulders and spared me a glance.
"Why? Are you gonna be a gentleman and offer me my own jacket?" He teased and I rolled my eyes but didn't bother gracing him with a snarky comeback.
As the late September breeze continued to steal away with my body warmth, I folded my arms over my chest and pressed Tyler's leather jacket closer to my body. Cursing his tree trunk limbs, I tried to keep up with his fast pace. It was kind of hard considering the fact that his legs branched out far longer than mine so I had to take two steps for every one he took.
When I was certain he was lost in his thoughts, I stole my hundredth glance at Tyler. My eyes danced over his body, drinking in another dosage of his golden blond hair, visualising a shorter and slender version of him with waist-length hair that was also spun from real gold.
It was truly remarkable how alike the twins were: the smooth curve of their nose, the soft skin that could tan even in the slightest sunlight, the light dusting of freckles on their nose and those full pink lips that the female population a Riverdale High fantasised over. Well, all the guys probably fantasised about Taylor's full lips but Tyler would have pummelled them if they so much as glanced in her direction.
Their likeness didn't just end with physical aspects, it dragged on all the way through to the similar quirks they shared in their personality: the way they both wrinkled their nose in confusion, the attentive look in their eyes when they were listening and how they both used to chew with their mouth open.
"You're staring again."
I jumped when sea green eyes met mine, startled that I hadn't even noticed he was looking back at me until he spoke. His voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I forced myself to stare at the sidewalk.
"Sorry, it's just..." I trailed off, biting my lip whilst his eyes scanned my side profile. "...nothing. Just forget it."
"What it is?" He asked with curiosity.
Registering the questioning gaze that skirted his features, I peered back at him and sighed when a stubborn glint flashed in his eyes. He wasn't going to let this slide.
"It's just that you look so much like her."
Looking down at my feet as one moved in front of the other, I didn't realise he had stopped still until a good ten seconds later when all I could were my lonesome footsteps and gentle, whistling wind. Swivelling around, I glimpsed Tyler staring at the sidewalk as if he was trapped in a trance. His arms hung loosely by his side, sea green eyes boring a hole into the pavement before a sudden booming laugh erupted from him lips making me jump in surprise.
"What the hell?"
His echoing laugh cut me off as he threw his head back and let a deafening hoot.
"You're...absolutely...hilarious..." Tyler managed to choke between his laughter as I gaped at him.
My mouth remained ajar, even after he pulled himself together. A long minute passed, his laughter subsiding into soft chuckles as he shook his head. Just as I thought he was fine, his eyes met mine and the guffaws began again.
Suddenly it dawned upon me that he was laughing at me. Tyler Miller was laughing. He was laughing - at me. And I didn't like it one bit.
"What?" I snapped and his sea green eyes met my slightly irritated hazel ones.
"Of course we look alike!" His shoulder shook as he threw his back again. "We're twins!"
My cheeks burned in mortification. Finally, he managed to move his feet so that he was standing beside me, chuckling at my grimace.
"I didn't mean it like that!" I muttered hotly under my breath.
He smiled warmly at me. "I know."
The warmth of his smile heated up my insides making me frown slightly. He really was a strange guy, laughing randomly at my expense and then giving me the softest smiles that affected my body in indescribable ways.
Although his laughter caught me off guard, I wasn't really a stranger to his spontaneous actions. Bearing in mind that I had known him for as long as I could remember; there were other times when he made me stop still and stare at him in surprise; usually - okay, almost always - not in a good way.
There was one particular memory that sprung to my mind. We were in seventh grade and everyone was obsessed with wearing stonewashed jeans. Taylor had mentioned that day that during the car ride to school that her brother smelt like really strong chlorine and when she questioned him about the overpowering smell, he just claimed it was a new perfume he was wearing. But she noted that his jeans looked like they were on the verge of crumbling like a brittle piece of old paper.
I just assumed that he just wanted to impress everybody with his new jeans and his new fragrance. Well, That was until I ran into him as he rushed out of the boys toilet later that day.
The overpowering scent of bleach wafted up my nose and made my eyes sting. He froze, still as a statue, stared at me in bewilderment and then he followed my gaze to his jeans. In a nanosecond, he shot back inside the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him.
"Tyler!" I tried to push the door open but it wouldn't budge.
When I heard shuffling on the other side, I realised he pressed against the door. After calling his name numerous times, I heard a muffled voice yell as he told me to go away.
"Shall I fetch a teacher?" I asked, pressing my ear against the door.
The shuffling grew louder before the door cracked open a fraction to reveal narrowed sea green orbs that searched my face. I pushed the door open and had the fling a hand over my mouth to hold back my laughter.
"Don't laugh!" He snapped, wringing his hands together as nervousness graced his cute face.
I bit hard on my lip, almost drawing blood before I managed to nod but I kept my hand plastered to my face or I knew I wouldn't be responsible for my hysterical laughter.
"W-what the hell happened?" I managed I choke, raking my eyes over his distressed jeans before meeting his mortified eyes.
"I didn't think they would fall apart," He mumbled and shifted from one leg to the other making stonewashed pieces rain down to the floor like confetti.
My eyes trailed down to his jeans and this time I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. There were dried cracks that split his jeans into numerous sections like the parched skin of a wrinkly old person. Any movement from the embarrassed boy caused tiny, pale blue diamonds to flutter onto the floor revealing patches of his tanned legs under.
"You can't tell Taylor!"
The sharp tang of copper filled my mouth as I sucked on my bloodied lip.
"What did you d-do?" I breathed, clasping the hand on my mouth more tightly.
It was getting harder and harder not to laugh.
In a series of mumbles and grunts, he explained why his jeans were disintegrating like a piece of ancient parchment.
"You can't tell her. She'll never let me live this one down. You can't mention this to anybody!" His puppy-dog eyes pleaded me and for a moment I felt bad for him.
"I won't but I'm gonna go get help," I replied, retreating out of the bathroom.
He made no attempts to stop me and I raced hurriedly down the corridor, only removing the hand from my face when he was out of earshot. Only then did I let out an echoing hoot.
"Why are you laughing to yourself?" A deep voice interjected my thoughts as I brought a hand over my mouth to muffle my giggles.
Snapping out my vivid visualisation of that memory, I met Tyler's eyes and a hand flew to my mouth to muffle my laughter.
"N-No reason!"
"Ash- Ashley?" His lips tugged into a frown as he raised his eyebrows expectantly.
My entire chest lurched when he called me my nickname and I felt dejected when he recovered and called me by my full name.
"You told me not to mention this to anybody ever again."
I couldn't help but eye his jeans and he followed my gaze. Tyler frowned deepened, wondering what on earth I could possibly be talking about before they froze.
His eyes bulged with horror.
I let out another muffled giggle when his cheeks grew pink. Sea-green eyes darted to the ground with embarrassment as he tugged at his long hair above his nape.
"You said you wouldn't tell anybody!"
I pulled my mouth away to answer him, letting loose another series of giggles.
"And I didn't tell anybody..." I trailed off, mumbling the final part to myself. " ...except Taylor obviously."
Tyler's ears pricked up suddenly and his head snapped in my direction me so fast that I expected his neck to crack.
"What?"
This time the giggles morphed into echoing hoots of hysterical laughter. Throwing my head back, I clutched my stomach and tried to control the waves of laughter that rocked through me but it wasn't until a hand clasped my shoulder that I managed to reign myself in.
"You said you wouldn't!" He hissed accusingly, eyes filling with embarrassment, mortification as well as a dash of amusement.
"This is Taylor we're talking about," I rolled my eyes at him. "As soon as she found out you were sent home she bugged me until I told her."
He groaned and rubbed a hand over his face.
"I was such a stupid kid. What made me think that soaking my jeans in bleach would make me cool?"
My abs were beginning to ache from laughing so hard so I stopped still and breathed deeply before continuing with my physically painful laughter. We crawled passed the mall and took a shortcut down a small alleyway. Tyler's lips twitched as he began to reminisce over that day too.
"I was such a dumbass. I asked my mom for new jeans and she got me black ones instead of the stonewashed ones that I asked for so I stole a gallon of Rosemary's bleach and decided to take matters into my own hands."
Running a hand through my hair, I glanced at the purple sky and laughed at the image he was describing.
"I laid my jeans out on the porch and poured the entire bottle of bleach on them and then left them to dry over night. The next morning they were perfect! Of course they had that really strong chlorine smell but I thought no one would notice although it did make my eyes water a lot."
My shoulders were shaking, making him look at me with a concerned expression until he realised that I was desperately trying to hold my composure. Chuckling to himself, he continued, rubbing his hands together before sliding them into his back pockets.
"By the end of first period no one could bear to sit beside me and by the time it was the lesson before lunch the jeans started to disintegrate just like a brittle piece of old paper. I ran to the toilet, panicking and that was when you found me."
He slid his eyes to meet mine again and I almost choked on my own laughter. My chest was on fire as I spluttered and his eyes just continued to glitter with amusement.
"After you left, my mom was called to pick me up. The jeans had fallen apart so badly she had to bring me pants to wear to the car."
He glanced at me and like a ticker on a bomb, I was set off. Howling at his recollection, I gasped and doubled over. His echoing, deep laughter mingled with mine as he clutched my shoulder for support. We had to pause for a good minute to get our act together but one eye contact and we were off again.
"I c-can't believe Taylor let that one slide!" I spluttered, shocked that his sister didn't tease him over it.
Standing up to his full height, he took his hand off my shoulder and ran it through his floppy hair.
"She must've felt sorry for me, it was beyond humiliating," He chuckled, eyes glazed with tears.
"I'd say." I agreed with another breathless laugh, pulling his jacket's collar up so I could inhale its fresh citrusy aroma.
**
The sky was a navy blanket dotted with stars when we finally turned the final street corner that led to my house. We walked the remainder in a comforting silence until Tyler slowed down when we reached my porch.
Coming to a halt outside my door, he turned to me and just stared at me as if he was waiting for me to speak. Running my hands through my tangled curls, I rocked back and forth on my heels and pursed my lips when his gaze slid to them. Suddenly I remembered that I was still wearing his jacket so I began to shrug it off when he held his hand up, making me look at him with a slightly alarmed look.
"Keep it, looks better on you."
"I look like a toddler wearing her dad's jacket," I ran a hand over the leather, arching an eyebrow because we both knew that I looked awful.
"Yeah you're right," He laughed, sizing me up with his sea green eyes. "But it's not your fault there's isn't much of you to fill all that space. You are an amoeba after all."
"Tyler," I lifted a fist to sock him. "I am not made up of one cell."
"Well your brain is," Tyler smirked before his face contorted with agony. "Shit! That hurt!"
He jumped away from my fist as it came down again and I flashed him a sweet smile when he glowered at me.
"Once a wuss. Always a wuss."
I laughed when his scowl soured and shrugged off his jacket. Frowning deeply at how the wind made his shirt ripple over his body and cling to his muscles, I forced it into his hand.
"Take it Tyler," I growled when he tried to protest. "Now's not to the time to be a gentleman."
After bickering for another minute, I won the argument and he zipped up his jacket and took a couple of steps back.
"I'll see you on Monday in class," His voice echoed as he walked down the cobbled path.
"Ty?" I called out when he was almost out of earshot.
Spinning around with his hands in his pockets, I could feel the burn of his gaze, heavy and unnerving, forcing me to keep my own eyes glued to my hands as they fiddled with the end of my curls.
"Thanks for walking me home."
Looking up, the corners of his full lips were stretched into a floppy smile and as he nodded, golden hair fell into his eyes.
"Any time."
With a lazy smile sporting his usually solemn face, he turned around and began his long walk home.