"You know, he's actually really sweet," Lucy was saying from the other side of Maverick, the huge stallion we were grooming at her parents' stables. It was pouring with rain outside, and the sound resonated on the roof of the stables, although maverick wasn't bothered, Lucy and I had to shout to be heard over the pounding rain.
"He came from the depths of hell itself," I grinned and leant down and brushed down his leg with my hand, trying to rub out the dirt in his light coat. Ever since last week when Tyler first walked into the school corridors, Lucy had been obsessed, to say the least. She followed him around, wore low-cut tops and shorts, despite it being the middle of autumn, and had suddenly been hanging out at mine more.
"His eyes are gorgeous," She shouted over Mavericks back, causing him to take a nervous step forward.
"Woah boy," I murmured and placed a hand on his flank, steadying him as I rubbed small circles into his side until he calmed down. Lucy blushed and glanced down.
"Sorry," Although she was grinning, I could tell she felt embarrassed. Maverick was her horse, but since we were 14, and she'd discovered push-up bras and boys, I'd ridden him more than she had, and I think he'd forgotten who his real owner was.
"Did you know he plays the guitar? He hangs out with the music guys." She stated, perking up again.
I rolled my eyes and grinned, "So that's what that sound I hear every night through the walls is! I never knew. I thought it was his sacrificial ritual to Satan."
"I keep forgetting you live with him, chica con Suerte" She murmured, slipping into her native tongue. She did this sometimes without even noticing, but I knew enough Spanish to know that she'd called me lucky. I was not lucky.
Not even close.
This morning, Tyler had used all the hot water, which meant that I enjoyed a lovely, cold shower.
Two nights ago, he left the toilet seat up, and if you're a girl who has ever sat on the toilet without the seat down, you'll understand the five seconds of terror I experienced.
He drinks straight from the bottle, leaves food on the bench, and plays guitar 24/7. He doesn't turn the lights off and constantly 'forgets' to wear a shirt.
He talks on the phone at all hours of the morning, and doesn't even bother to be quiet when he comes in from his morning run.
Some of us, myself included, don't like getting up until 7:45am, not 7am.
It's like living with a monster.
"He's terrible," I scoffed and picked up the brushes before leading Maverick back to his stall and placing a light kiss on his sandy coloured nose. He whinnied when I shut the stall door and went to meet Lucy at the doors, making my heart ache to go back to him.
"Does Aidan know that you two share a bathroom?" She asked, her eyes shining dangerously. My head snapped up and I turned to face her.
"No, and he won't find out." I sighed, but didn't break eye contact with her. She lifted her hands in fake surrender and laughed.
"Okay, okay. I won't say a word," She linked her arm through mine and we walked back towards her house, hurrying through the rain, in a rush to get inside to watch the latest episode of Orange Is The New Black, we'd never skipped an episode, and we'd never watched a new episode without each other, tonight was no different.
❦
When I walked into the house that night, I could hear music coming from the kitchen, followed by laughter, one was deep, and the other was a high-pitched gurgle. I followed the noise to find Gabby and Tyler in the kitchen, Gabby was perched on the edge of the bench, with flour on her nose and chocolate around her mouth, and Tyler was standing in front of the sink, with flour all through his hair and all over his black shirt.
"Briar!" She squealed and wriggled to get down from the bench, she slid down the cupboard and came rushing over to me, throwing herself into my arms, no doubt getting flour all over me, but I didn't mind. I wrapped my arms around her small frame and lifted her up onto my hip.
"What's going on here?" I grinned and wiped some flour from her cheek, her eyes lit up and she pointed to Tyler, who was turned around and facing me now, with his arms crossed over his chest, his biceps were bulging and stretching the sleeves of his top. I forced my eyes to stay on his face as he grinned and grabbed a dishtowel, shrugging.
"She wanted cookies," He stated because that was the perfect explanation as to why they were making cookies at 8 o'clock on a Friday night. I nodded and glanced at the oven.
"Where's Mum?" I questioned, gently placing Gabby on the ground and going to put my bag on the table.
"She's gone to meet a client, she said not to wait up."
I nodded, even though he had his back to me.
"Okay, save me some cookies, I'll be right back."
I rushed upstairs and got changed in record time. Throwing on my favourite pair of pyjamas, which sported little waffles all over them, and a black sweatshirt. I threw my hair into a loose ponytail and slipped into some slippers before rushing back downstairs.
When I got back down to the kitchen, the cookies were on a platter in the middle of the table, and Gabby was squealing from the adjoining living room. Tyler was still at the sink, scrubbing at the bowls and tray they'd used, even though we had a dishwasher. The movement made the muscles on his back ripple under his t-shirt, and he was singing to some song that I'd heard him singing before. He turned when he heard Gabby come back in, and a look of surprise crossed his features when he saw me standing in the doorway.
"What the heck are those?" He grinned and nodded towards my pants, a mischievous glint shining in his dark eyes.
"They're my waffle pants," I defended, causing him to shake his head and laugh.
"I'll never understand you British folk," He murmured and pulled the plug before turning and picking up the platter of cookies.
"Are you going to watch Nemo with us?" He asked, laughing when I groaned at the word, if I had a pound for every time I'd watched Nemo in the last two weeks, I'd have enough money to buy an unlimited supply of waffle pants.
"Please?" Gabby whined, dragging out the word and widening her eyes, giving me the look she knew I couldn't say no to.
"Of course," I beamed, catching Tyler's eye when he walked past us and into the lounge.
We settled in on the couch, with Gabby lying between us, her head resting on my lap and her feet splayed across Tyler's lap, he had his feet up on the table and I was sitting cross-legged with a blanket over my knees. The room was dark except for the light from the TV, and about 20 minutes into the movie I felt myself nodding off, although I kept waking myself back up and glancing in Tyler's direction, his eyes were glued to the TV as if it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen, and some time in the 20 minutes, he'd spread his arm out across the back of the couch, his hand now resting just above my shoulder. I heard my phone vibrate from its place charging in the kitchen and thought about getting up to check it, but changed my mind when I looked down at Gabby, who was fast asleep on my lap. I shrugged to myself and went back to watching the movie, getting engrossed in the journey to find Nemo.
The quiet click of the front door jolted me awake, and I opened my eyes to find my head nestled into Tyler's shoulder, his arm wrapped around my own shoulder, and Gabby curled up fully in his lap. His eyes were closed and his head was lying back on the couch. Gabby was sleeping peacefully, so I carefully lifted my head and stood, wrapping Gabby in a blanket and carrying her like a baby up the stairs into her room, stopping slightly outside Mum's office to hear her shuffling papers and clicking on the keyboard.
After tucking Gabby into her bed and making sure she was still asleep, I checked the time and was shocked to see that it was 1 o'clock in the morning. I don't know where Mum had gone in that time because no way her meeting went that late, but I didn't really care, she'd come home, and that was enough. I crept back down the stairs and back into the lounge to wake Tyler up, tiptoeing past her office.
I stood and watched Tyler from the doorway for a moment, thinking about how peaceful he looked when he slept. It was like when you watch a very violent animal sleep, you can forget that they're terrible.
"Rose, I'm so sorry... I miss you... My fault... I know..." He was mumbling incoherently, repeating the same thing over and over again. Maybe Rose was an ex-girlfriend of his that he'd left in New York, he sounded like it wasn't a good dream though, so I reached out and shook his shoulder lightly, but he didn't budge. He just kept mumbling in his sleep.
I shook his shoulder again, harder this time.
"Ty, wake up."
He groaned but didn't open his eyes. Instead just turning his head away from me.
"Ty..." I started but got cut off when he sat up and looked at me.
"Rose?" He asked and reached out to touch my face. He squinted and dropped his hand suddenly, clearly realising I wasn't Rose. He shook his head and looked at his hands.
"I'm so sorry, goodnight." He murmured and got up, walking past me and leaving me alone in the lounge with Nemo playing on repeat in the background.
An hour later, I was lying in my bed still trying to process the events of the night.
Images of Aidan flashed through my mind, him interacting with Gabby, with Mum, with Tyler. Whenever he talked to Gabby, it just felt like he was trying too hard, but with Tyler, he did it perfectly, he made her laugh at the right times, and I knew for a fact that she went and slept with him when she had nightmares. Aidan and Mum never really talked, and if they did, it was tight and awkward, but Tyler made mum laugh and made her happy, something I couldn't even seem to do. He'd been here less than two weeks, and yet he felt like part of the family, more than anyone else had since Dad left.
I hated to admit it, but maybe I could learn to like him.
---
Eeeek! I love Tyler so much. I hope you guys do too! If not, keep reading and i hope I can change your mind.
What do you think of Lucy?
I don't really know what to write down here so yeah, oops.
- K