Trust me
"Cole, stay with Allochka while we're gone. After her detention this past week, I don't want her home alone."
I rolled my eyes, annoyed, at my mom's order to my cousin, wanting to tell her it wasn't my fault. I mean, I thought it wasn't, but the more it swirled in my mind, the more I realized it might've been.
I was the one to flirt with Connor to get back at Tyler, I was the one to get so distracted to let Oliver try and kiss me and I was the one to fuck things up with Tyler. Truth be told, I was extremely lucky to be even staying home this weekend, as my parents were going out of town for a small trip.
"Alright Aunt Anastasia," Cole sighed, and we watched them walk out the door, leaving the house minutes later.
My cousin turned to me once their car was out of sight and shook his head. "Mercedes, there is no way I'm staying here with your sorry ass for the whole weekend."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I glared at him, hugging my knees against my chest as I sat on the couch.
"Trav, you remember him yeah? My friend from high school, asked me if I wanted to hang out for the weekend. I said yeah, so be lucky I still trust you to be alone," he replied, grabbing his car keys from the shelf near the front door.
"Wait you're leaving me, like right now?"
"Yup. Don't burn the house down and don't do anything stupid. But I heard there's a real bad storm coming tonight, so if you need anything, like if the power goes out, call me. I'll stay on the phone with you."
I gave him a soft smile. Even though he would snap at me on purpose, deep down I knew how much he cared. He would drop everything to help in a heartbeat, no matter what he was doing. "Thanks Cole."
He gave me a short nod in return, then waved goodbye. "See ya, squirty. I'll be back Sunday, an hour before they get here."
I watched Cole walk out and shut the door behind him. He got into his car, and drove off, leaving me to a house with ticking clocks. I have tonight, all day tomorrow and half of Sunday, I grinned to myself. What can I do?
Later that night, I was in the middle of watching old Mickey cartoons in my pajamas when the first flash of lightning caught my attention. I frowned, hugging my blanket before focusing back on the TV. It was fine for a while, until a clap of thunder caused me to jump and the rain began pelting down. I snuggled deeper into the couch, cautiously keeping an eye on the lights when a loud knocking interrupted me. I jumped again, my heart beating painfully in my chest and hesitantly creeped to the door. I peeked into the peephole, seeing a familiar figure drenched to the bone in water.
I opened the door, smelling the spray of rain and stared in shock as Tyler looked at me with panic in his eyes.
"I need your help," he choked out, his hair plastered to his forehead. "I lost Dellie. My parents aren't home, and my brother just got back but he's asleep."
"Where have you looked," I asked, slipping on my shoes and setting my phone on the shelf. No matter if we were talking or not, I would always help Tyler in a heartbeat, I realized with a jolt. I cared about him too much to just cut off ties like I had done before in the past.
"I was gonna go up the street next. Don't bother bringing an umbrella if you don't want it to get holes. Mine's already jacked."
I sighed, grabbing my jacket and slipping it on with the hood up. I walked out, pulling it tighter as I closed the door, and we were off. We sloshed through the rain, keeping our heads down against the pellets pounding us.
"Dellie! Dellie, where are you!" Tyler called out, and I joined in seconds later, our voices vaguely carrying across the wind.
We walked up the sidewalk, my pajamas drenched within minutes. We kept calling, turning a corner here and there until we reached the cul-de-sac. I blinked against the rain, shivering even more than I ever thought I could.
"Do you want to look around more," I shouted against the wind.
Tyler shook his head, his eyes shadowed. "You're freezing, I can tell. Let's get back inside and get warm... Maybe she'll show up in the morning."
We returned to my house, hurrying inside. Closing the door, we stood dripping water on the tile and rug.
"I'll get us towels," I said and took off my shoes as I rushed to the downstairs bathroom to grab some. After drying off as much as we could, I hurried upstairs to grab dry clothes for me in addition to some of Cole's for Tyler. My feet almost slipped as I rushed back downstairs, yet I caught myself by the banister and made my way to Tyler.
"Change," I instructed, shoving him into the bathroom. "Give me your wet clothes so I can put them in the dryer."
He closed the door with a small nod and I quickly changed too, in the kitchen, before wiping up the water by the front door with another towel. I grabbed our shoes and threw them into the dryer, along with my pajamas, and waited for Tyler. He was done quicker than I expected, and soon, the sound of the dryer filled the silence.
The TV cast a glow across the dimly lit room. Tyler scuffed his foot on the tile, with one hand on the couch as he leaned against it, keeping his eyes glued to the ground. I lingered near, standing in the doorway that led into the kitchen. There was an awkward silence planted upon us, and as I was about to say something, Tyler beat me to it.
"Sorry," he said, his voice low. He still didn't look up, and he tightened his grip on the couch like his life depended on it.
"Why," I asked softly, stepping forward lightly. "Dellie will come back, I'm sure of it."
"I wasn't talking about Dellie," he said, gritting his teeth as his eyes flashed darkly. "I'm sorry about us."
I sucked in my breath, almost toppling over as my feet froze in place. I opened my mouth to respond, feeling as if a sharp object had pierced through me, but Tyler wasn't finished.
"I just, you know, it sucks," he said vehemently, curling his hand into a fist and banging it against the couch. "Whenever we're not on good terms, it hurts so bad. I'm not myself. I hate it that I miss you Mercedes, because all I want is for you to be happy and if all we do is fight then what's the point? I miss you so much... But I don't know what to do."
"Tyler," I began, hearing my voice crack. "This was my fault. I hate fighting with you. I'm sorry... I let my stubbornness get in the way and it hurt us both. I-I miss you too, but if you think we... we can't do this anymore..."
"Come here," he said abruptly. I stared, taken aback, before hesitantly walking over. Once I was near, his hand reached out and grabbed mine, pulling me into his chest. I let out a squeak as he wrapped his arms around me and rested his forehead on mine.
"I've missed you so much," he murmured, his voice cracking. "I don't want to lose you again. I want to make this work. Please, we can talk through this, see where we both went wrong. I just want you again, Mercedes."
I bit my lip, blinking furiously so he wouldn't notice I was almost crying. I wanted him too, but we had to talk things through. That was the first step.
"Ty, we need to talk about certain things before... So-" I began and he cut me off, finishing my sentence instead.
"Compromise, I know," he hugged me tighter. "Definitely the first thing we need to do."
I nodded, closing my eyes as he slightly rocked us side to side. A minute later however, he broke our comfortable silence.
"I have to pee," he mumbled, kissing my forehead.
I let out an affectionate snort, stepping back and allowing him to head into the bathroom. While he was in there, I checked the dryer to see how much time was the left. Ten minutes and counting, I sighed and returned to the living room where an extra loud clap of thunder rattled the front door. I swallowed, pretending it didn't scare me, when Tyler walked out.
"You okay?" he questioned, coming over to stand beside me. "I know how much you hate thunder."
I pouted slightly, crossing my arms. "It's just rain."
Tyler gave me a look that said otherwise yet shrugged. "If you say so... but I still don't believe you."
I let out a sigh, uncrossing my arms and giving the door a cautious look. "Well... our clothes are almost dry."
"And?"
"Um... could you like, maybe, um," I stammered, not meeting his gaze. "Stay? Since Tyshaeisha is turned in, we won't have to get up in the middle of the night to tend to her."
He grinned, putting his arm around my waist and pulling me close, kissing my forehead. "Of course. My brother will just think I'm sleeping in late tomorrow morning anyway."
I gave him a soft smile, then dragged him to the couch where I plopped down with the remote.
"Oh," he smirked, sitting next to me. "Are we just relaxing before bed or is this you implying you want to sleep next to me?"
I stuck my tongue out at him. "Now where'd you get that idea from, Mr. Dorran?"
He leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Maybe because I want to."
I blushed furiously, snuggling deeper into the couch. "I don't know if it can fit us both. Not with your big head."
"Haha, funny. You're skinnier than me, Mercedes," he smirked, proceeding to pull me onto my side and lay next to me. I laid my head on the cushion, feeling Tyler pull me closer to him and rested his arm over my stomach. He kissed the back of my neck, his breath fluttering across my skin softly.
"This is nice," he murmured. "I don't want to let you go."
"You don't have to," I breathed back, turning myself so I could face him.
"We can talk tomorrow," he let out a small yawn, his eyes droopy. The faint beep of the dryer went off, yet neither of us paid attention to it. Everything was just background noise. Letting out another yawn, Tyler gave me a soft, tired smile, holding me closer.
"One more thing," I whispered before he closed his eyes.
"Hm," he mumbled, his hand lazily drawing circles on my back.
I lifted my head up slightly and leaned forward until our lips touched. His were soft, and I faintly noticed he still used the same strawberry chapstick he always had on when we were younger. I closed my eyes as he deepened the kiss, his cologne overpowering everything else. His hand pressed against my back as I drifted mine to the hem of his shirt. He let out a soft moan as my hand slid underneath his shirt and rested on his stomach. We broke away after a moment, catching our breath, before he kissed me again, this time more urgent as if he never wanted to stop.
Tyler let out another moan as I trailed my hand lightly down his chest. He deepened the kiss once more, causing me to shiver as he also put his hand under my shirt, inching up to my bra. We broke away again, this time resting our foreheads against each other. We smiled at each other, both breathless yet content.
"That's something to end the night on," he whispered. "But I don't know if I'm gonna be able to sleep now, Merc."
"But I think I'll sleep soundly with you next to me," I whispered back, my hand lightly tracing along his stomach. Again, his fingers drew circles on my back, this time lowering down as he withdrew his hand from under my shirt.
"I think we should close our eyes," he said softly. "Sleep well, Mercedes."
I turned over, facing the TV and grabbing the remote, turning it off. The only thing that gave us light was the fan, which had a dim setting. I got up, causing Tyler to make a pouty face, and turned it off, darkness coating the room. I laid back down next to him, snuggling close as the rain showed no signs of stopping. My boyfriend rested his hand across my side, and after more muttered goodnights, we both fell asleep instantly.
--
"I'll try as best as I can to not get overly jealous."
"I won't be as stubborn then, but please try and keep Connor away from me."
"I'll beat his ass."
I sighed, casting Tyler a stern look. "As much as I would pay to see that, not now, babe."
He shrugged, running a hand through his hair. He had just gotten back from his house, where his brother had left for the day, and he had found Dellie. She turned up who knows when, yet was whining by his fence for some time when Tyler had gone outside.
"How's this," he said after a moment. "I won't get jealous with any other guy except Connor."
I rolled my eyes. "Connor's the only one who tries to get me. Another other guy is pretty laidback. Look, how about if Connor tries something, like touching and I can't get him off me, then you can get overly jealous."
Tyler heaved a sigh. "I guess so. I just don't want him to do anything at all."
"Hey, it's Connor," I shrugged. "He never learns."
"You've got a point there," he nodded, kissing my cheek. "Now, one more thing b-"
A ding indicating he had a text went off, interrupting him. Making a face, he pulled out his phone, sighing a moment later.
"You wanna go shopping?" he asked, looking up at me.
"What? Um, why, exactly?" I gave him a weird glance.
"My mom just texted saying family is coming over Monday and she wants my brother and I to get nice polos," he grumbled, crossing his arms like a child.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. "Why now? Don't you already have a nice polo?"
"Yeah, when I was like ten," he sighed. "Tomorrow we'll be setting up and cleaning it looks like, so Saturday shopping it is."
I grinned, jumping up from the couch. "I'll help you pick out the best damn polo ever made. Now let's go, all I need are my shoes on and we're out of here."
Tyler chuckled, lifting himself up and headed to the door where I laid out our shoes this morning. We slipped them on, and I quickly grabbed my house key before walking out the door.
Soon, we were at the mall, walking aimlessly around as Tyler kept scowling.
"I think if you keep scowling like that, it's gonna be glued to your face," I snickered, slightly bumping into him on purpose.
He sighed, quickly glancing around before putting his arm around me. "I hate dressing up for family occasions, plus Hollister's flipping closed because they're remodeling. I don't know where else to go."
"American Eagle?" I suggested, shrugging.
"No, I'm not really feeling them right now," he grumbled, running a hand through his hair. "I guess we could possibly stop by Abercrombie?"
I gave him a surprised look. "Really? I thought you never went there because they were too expensive."
"I'm desperate, Merc," he sighed, squeezing my shoulder softly.
I grinned, putting my arm around his waist. "Alright, let's go."
After walking for a few minutes, we made it to Abercrombie. Tyler still gave it a dubious glance, yet we entered anyway. We had barely stepped foot into the guys' section, when my boyfriend suddenly pushed me into a rack of clothes. I squawked, biting my lip and almost stood up to snap at him when I noticed a pair of Sperry's next to Tyler.
"Hey man," I heard my boyfriend say, his voice sounding panicked. "Thought you weren't working? Didn't you have a model shoot or something?"
Oliver let out a short chuckle. "Yeah but that doesn't mean I can't work at the store either. I just wanted to earn a little more cash this semester. Anyway, why are you here? Need help finding something?"
"Um," Tyler hesitated and I could tell he was looking in my direction. "Just a few polos."
"Cool man, yeah they're over here," Oliver responded and I heard them walk past the rack I was behind and go to the back of the store.
Whew. That was close. I let out a relieved sigh, standing up only to jump into the rack again as an employee startled me.
"Are you okay?" she asked, giving me a once-over. "Do you need help finding anything?"
"Uh, no thanks," I let out a small laugh. "I just uh, I really like your floor."
Seriously Mercedes? I mentally face palmed myself as the girl gave me a weird look.
"I'm just gonna go now," I stumbled out from the rack and backed out of the store quickly, not giving her a chance to reply. I found a bench underneath a tree nearby, pulling out my phone and walking over to it. I sat down, keeping my eyes glued to my phone screen as I texted Tyler telling him I was outside.
I debated on whether or not to write what happened down in the journal. But then again, so what if Oliver wanted a little more cash? There wasn't anything wrong with that. Was there?