1957 - Milo Greene
"Would it be much better if I knew nothing about you?"
ISABELLA
We were laughing. The sound filtered throughout the apartment. His light hearted laugh taking over my own. I laid across the couch with my feet laid across his lap. Ty's thumb traced over the skin of my ankle absentmindedly as we sat in contentment. I had forgotten what it felt like to be with him. How he made me feel comfortable and at ease. There was this air about Ty that I couldn't describe. He had this ability to take me out of my bothersome situations.
We continue to sit together in an easy silence. My head resting on a pillow with my arm tucked underneath. I watched him as he looked around the apartment. Taking in his new surroundings. It was almost surreal that he was here with me. The timing was impeccable and almost unbelievable. I needed his advice and guidance. I needed him to calm me down the way he knew best, and open my eyes to another side of my situation I may have been too stubborn (or blinded) to see.
Ty always had a way of doing that back home. Whenever I'd get into a disagreement with my parents, he helped me see their side of the problem. With school and the stress that came with it, he helped me calm down. De-stress. Granted, he'd use his body for that. That that I'd complain.
"You've got quite the place here Iz." He comments. His eyes still roaming over the living room as he talks to me. "Jaz treating you well?"
He shifts his body on the couch so that he faces me. With one swift motion, he pulls my legs towards him. His arm bringing me into his side. My body now curled up against him. A position that we often found ourselves falling into back home whenever we'd get into conversation.
"She is." I smile at the mention of my bubbly roommate. "I'm glad you introduced us. I don't think I'd been able to survive the first few months of London if I was on my own. It honestly helped the transition a lot. Thank you." I run my fingers through his hair casually. His thick dark hair not feeling the same against my fingers like Harry's do.
"That's good." He smiles at me softly. I can feel his thumb rub against my arm, while I lay my head against him. "Now tell me. How's that guy of yours?"
"He's fine." I answer quickly. I bite the inside of my cheek. The beat of my heart accelerating.
"Will I get to meet the infamous boyfriend anytime soon?"
"Probably not." Shaking my head, my shoulders grow tense, I quickly answer him. "He's been really busy with work." I lie. I knew that Harry wasn't busy with work. But I didn't want to tell Ty the truth. That we were currently in the biggest fight in our relationship.
Ty gives me a skeptical look. He knew me too well to know when I was lying. I had this nervous twitch in my left eye whenever I tried to lie. Something that I had struggled with since childhood. My mother always knew when I had snuck behind her back, take cookies from the maid, and eat them before dinner. She'd confront me. Cookie crumbs scattered over my expensive dress, guilt written all over my face. I'd try my best to hide my disobedience but she'd catch me. All because of my nervous twitch.
I look away from him. Shutting my eyes in hopes that he'd not notice my worry.
"What's going on with you two?" He asks.
"Nothing."
"I know you're lying. You're a shitty liar." He laughs, pushing my hair out of my eyes. "What's going on?"
I sigh. There was no point in hiding it. He was going to get it out of me eventually. "We're fighting." I grumble; my fingers fiddling with the long sleeves of my sweater.
"Ah." I feel him shift beside me. His strong arms pulling me onto his lap. I keep my face down, my hair becoming a curtain in front of my face. His warm hand moves my hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear. "Tell me what happened."
I shift in his lap. My head falling to his chest, I wrap my arms around his torso. "I'm an idiot."
"You have your moments when you're not the brightest bulb in the pack, but you're not an idiot." He laughs, a hand gently rubbing circles against my back.
I gasp feigning offense. I smack his shoulder lightly, but nudge my head into his shoulder. "Trust me. I'm an idiot. An idiot who fell in love with a guy who is completely closed off."
"Tell me about it?" He asks. His voice gentle. I snuggle my head closer into his chest. My eyes shutting as the slow rhythm of his breathing calming my nerves.
"Harry has a past. He's gone through a lot of stuff that I don't think it's my place to tell you. Anyways, his past has caused him to become absolutely closed off with me, and that sucks! I'm his girlfriend, but that doesn't change anything. He still has a hard time trusting me with telling me things. Am I crazy for feeling this way?" I feebly ask Ty.
"No," he answers. "You're not crazy."
"We went to his mom's place last weekend. I should have already realized that this was going to be hard for him but of course, I'm an inconsiderate bitch. We ran into an old friend of his. He asked us to go to this party he was throwing later that night. Harry was against it but I thought it'd be a good thing for him to do. We went and he was even more on edge with me. He fucking left me alone and I had a panic attack. I managed to get out of the situation and went into this room upstairs," I paused to take a breath. Ty's fingers ran through my hair in a soothing matter. He urges me to continue.
"When I realized that we were in the house of someone that meant a lot to him, I went to find him as quick as I could." I bite my lip to hold back the tears that were beginning to form. Memories of Harry dancing that night resurfacing to my mind. "He was all over this girl on the dance floor. She was grinding her body all over him and he wasn't stopping her."
"What did you do when you saw him?" Ty presses on.
"I pushed the bitch out of the way."
"That's my girl!" Ty gives me a proud smirk.
"Yeah well, that didn't do much." I sigh, "He didn't tell her he was taken. So I ran out of there. He followed me but - I couldn't be there. Not after what he did. He said all of these things to me that hurt. He was drunk; oh God, he was so drunk."
"That's not an excuse Iz," Ty interrupts.
"I'm not saying it is." I slump my shoulders down; my body exhausted from reliving that night.
"Have you talked since?"
"No."
"Bastard. He hasn't even tried to talk to you?" He asks.
"Yeah, he has."
Ty sighs, his hand rubbing my bare arm. He sits up straighter while bringing my body up with him. His hand moves down from my arm to my hip. I can feel his thumb rubbing against the exposed skin of my hipbone. "You need to talk to him."
"I can't." I whisper. My heart feeling defeated.
"You can't hold on to this though. Neither of you can. You have a lot of shit built up between you two and it's not going to get better if you hold it in." He suggests with a trace of pity in his voice.
"What he did hurt, Ty. I'm not going to get over it with the snap of a finger." I point out.
"I'm sure what you did hurt him too," he responds carefully. "Listen, from what you're telling me, it sounds like you're both at fault."
I push myself off of him, moving to the other side of the couch. "How am I at fault?" I demand shortly after. "I didn't do anything wrong." I cross my arms over my chest stubbornly.
"You forced him to go somewhere he didn't want to do. You also pestered him about his life when he clearly didn't want to tell you. I'm not saying that you shouldn't ask him about his personal life - you're dating, he should be open. But, it's not okay to push him for information when he's not ready yet." Ty chuckles, pulling me back to him.
I move back before he could get a hold of me. Using my legs, I push myself to the other side of the couch. I knew he was right and that I was partially at fault in this argument, but I didn't want to admit to that. My stubborn nature and pride belligerent.
"Stop being a baby," he laughs, lunging across the couch, and trapping me under his frame.
"Move!" I squeal, my body moving to get out of his grasp.
"Would you listen to me for a moment?" Ty struggles to grab my waist, holding me down against the couch.
I give him a questioning glare, not wanting to hear his opinion, but knowing that what he had to say was most likely right. "What?" I exhale defeatedly.
"If you love each other, you will forgive each other. Simple as that. You're not fucking teenagers. This isn't some high school romance. You're adults for crying out loud. Yeah what he did was fucked up and when I see him, I will probably beat him up." I let out a small giggle, earning a small smile on his lips. "Regardless of how fucked up this situation is, you need to be adults and talk this out. Stop being stubborn and talk to the guy. He probably feels like shit anyways."
I screw my eyes shut, hating that he was right. He was always right. Fuck.
"Fine," I answer respond begrudgingly. "God, I hate how you know me so well."
Ty laughs loudly, shaking his head. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." He sits up, pulling me up with him. "Now that that's settled, let's go get something to eat. I'm starving."
-
"Mmm," Jaz hums in delight as she takes another bite from her dinner. "Ty, this is amazing. Since when did you cook?" She takes another bite from the pasta dish in front of her.
"I take that it's good?" Ty laughs, taking a bite from his own plate.
"Mate, this is fantastic." Ben agrees with his girlfriend. His mouth full of creamy pasta.
I smile, nodding along with both of them. "You should stay and become our personal cook." I compliment.
"Fully noted," Ty chuckles. His eyes dancing with amusement while we all continue to eat our meal.
Ty had decided to cook dinner for all of us. A thank you for letting him stay while he was here the past few days. Jaz and I were quick to accept his offer, since we had planned to order in anyways.
"How much longer are you in town for?" Jaz asks, wiping her lips with a napkin.
Ty takes a sip from his glass of wine. "Two more days left until I have to fly out."
"Are the meetings going well?" She continues to ask.
"So far so good." Ty nodded. "I met with the CEO of this major museum here in London. I'm trying to partner up the museum that I work for back in New York with the one here. The end goal is to create a strong foundation for local artists to get their work showcased in major museums in both cities. I have a good feeling about it. He seemed to be interested in joining our companies together." He explains with much excitement. I smiled at my friend, his excitement urging my own.
"That sounds amazing!" Jaz squeals.
"It'd be a great opportunity for artists to get their name and work out," he nods, taking another sip from his wine glass.
"Hopefully it works out," I chime in, nodding along with him.
"I hope so too," he smiles. "You know, the company that I work for also does business with local publishing companies. I can see if I can pull some strings and score you an interview or something."
I look at him wide-eyed. An interview with an actual publishing company was what I needed to get the ball rolling with my own. "You'd do that?"
"Of course I would," Ty laughs, a smile playing at his lips. "I do anything for you."
I look over at Jaz who has a big smile on her face. However, I catch Ben glare at Ty for a moment. His eyes watching him closely before he looks down at his plate. I brush it off, my excitement growing with each passing second. "You're the best!" I grin back, squeezing his arm, kissing his cheek lightly.
A bang comes from the other side of the table, causing me to jump. Ben shuffles in his seat, cleaning up the spilled wine that has fallen from his glass. "Sorry," he stands up quickly. "I have to go to the loo."
He moves out of his seat, rushing over to our washroom. I look over at Jaz questioningly who only shrugs her shoulders. "Don't look at me. I have no idea what that was all about."
I brush it off once again, taking another bite from my pasta. Moments pass on. Conversation staying light between the three of us. Ben walks back into the room afterwards. His hands in his pockets; his green eyes looking at me, then back to the ground.
He sits back at down at his seat. "You okay?" Jaz asks him.
He shrugs his shoulders, mumbling a quick "Yup."
The atmosphere shifts. An awkward tension clouding over us. I don't say anything, too preoccupied with my dinner. The clinking of glasses and forks are the only sounds that can be heard.
When dinner ends, we make our way out of the dining room and towards the couches. Ty sits beside me on the couch. A decent amount of space in between us. Jaz takes a seat on the couch across from us. However, Ben remains standing.
"I'm going to head out." Ben announces. Jaz turns towards her boyfriend.Confusion written on her features.
"Already?" She asks him.
"Yeah," he scratches his neck, running his hands through his hair. The way he moves reminds me of Harry. I find myself suddenly missing him. Wishing he was here with us too.
"Are you alright?" Jaz presses. Worry flashes behind her eyes.
"Yeah, love. I'm alright." He walks over towards her on the couch, gently leaving a kiss to her forehead. "I'll call you later tonight, alright?"
"Okay." She mutters. Ben kisses her forehead once more before leaving a kiss to her lips. "I love you," she says to him.
"I love you too baby," he whispers in reply.
I smile at their exchange. It was beautiful to watch them. To see how incredibly in love they were. Not once in the time that I have known them have I seen them fight or bicker. They had an open and honest communication. Something that Harry and I lacked in our own relationship. I was almost jealous that she had scored the open brother, whereas I was with the closed off one.
"It was nice meeting you," Ty says. He stands up, stretching his hand out to shake Ben's.
Ben looks at his hand for a second, before shaking it. "You too mate," he gives him a half-smile before walking over, and giving me a hug.
"Bye," he says one last time before heading out the door.
"That was weird." I say once the door is shut behind him.
Jaz looks at the door once more before turning her attention back to us. "I'm sorry, Ty. Ben isn't usually that... off." She shakes her head to herself.
"Don't worry about it Jazzy. It's always hard when the boyfriends meet the ex's." Ty jokes, referring back to their young romance.
"That must have been it." Jaz laughs along with him.
We sit back into a comfortable silence. The awkward tension of before drifting away. We spend the rest of the evening watching movies and eating a copious amount of junk food.
However, I find myself having a hard time getting lost in the mindless activity. My own thoughts and mind getting lost in what Ty and I had spoke about earlier that day. I missed Harry and I knew that my stubborn refusal to talk to him had to ease up. If I wanted us to work out, we needed to talk. I loved him - that was a fact. I knew that regardless of his drunken actions, he loved me too. At least, I hoped that he still did.
I sneak out of the living room and make my way towards my bedroom. I grab my phone from the charging dock, hoping to see a message from Harry.
Nothing.
I stare at the blank screen. There had been no missed calls or texts from him. It was almost unusual to not see anything from him. I had almost grown used to seeing twenty to thirty missed calls in the span of two hours.
I unlock my phone. Tapping the messages box, I scroll through the hundreds of unread messages.
"Call me." Sunday, 1:40 AM
"This is ridiculous, Isabella. Don't fucking ignore me." Sunday, 1:42 AM
I scroll down, my eyes skimming the same messages over and over again. I stop when I see a longer message:
"I know what I did was stupid but you need to listen to me. I fucking messed up, I get that. But I love you. Stop being so fucking stubborn and answer my damn calls. I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."
I bite back the tears that start to from. A battle ensues between my heart and mind. I wanted to listen to what he had to say and forgive him, but I couldn't. I had to, but I didn't want to.
"What? Is that it now? You're done with me? What happen to us being it for one another."
I click out of the messages. My head hurting even more than before. I didn't know what to do or what to say. My heart and mind continuing to battle it out. I lay back on my bed. My fingers wiping away a fallen tear. Shutting off my phone, I plug it back into it's charger, ignoring it for the rest of the night.
A soft knock comes from my door, "Come in," I call out softly. Ty opens the door, shutting it quietly behind him.
"Hey," he greets me.
"Hi," I meekly reply.
His hazel eyes look over me, before he slips off his sweater. He undoes his jean button, pulling down the black jeans from his legs. He stands in front of me in nothing but his boxers. Memories of our sexcapades from back home coming back to mind, causing a blush to kiss my cheeks. I look away from his perfect form. A familiar heat forming down below.
I slip off my jeans and blouse, leaving me in nothing but my panties and bra. I quickly pull over Harry's sweater and a pair of pajama shorts. He watches my every movement once more, before he walks over towards the bed. Without another word, he pulls down the duvet, motioning for me to slip underneath. Once I'm on the bed, I move towards the side, making room for him to lay beside me. He does so, pulling the blanket over us.
I lay on my side to face him. He shifts on the bed, getting comfortable, before he turns to face me. He looks at me, a smile on his lips. "Hey you," he says to me. He brushes a stray hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear.
"Hey," I whisper back. I move closer to his body. His heat radiating off of his toned chest. He wraps his arm around my side, pulling me into his body fully. He moves his leg over me, my own leg sliding in-between his. The familiar scent of his aftershave engulfs me. I feel at home in his arms. A feeling of familiarity. He was the first man to ever touch me and love me. He was Ty. Regardless of our platonic feelings for one another, I trusted him with everything I had, and I knew that he felt the same way.
He leans down, kissing the top of my head. His thumb rubbing my arm softly. He hums quietly in my ear, drowning out all of my thoughts and emotions. "Everything is going to be okay." He tells me quietly. "You and Harry- you're going to be okay."
"I hope you're right," I reply. I draw circles against his chest. "Thank you. For everything. I love you."
"I love you too, Izzy." He holds me closer to his body. I squeeze him closer to me earning a chuckle.
"If you keep moving like that, I will do something I will regret." Ty warns, glancing down on his growing bulge. I blush, looking away from him. "You are beautiful," he whispers.
"Ty," I warn him. "Don't."
He shakes his head. His eyes watching me closely. "I sometimes hate that you are with Harry. I know that we've always said that we were nothing more but friends, but -" he looks away.
"What is it?" I ask, even though I know where this was going.
"Nothing," he lies.
"Tell me," I urge on.
"I really do care about you." He says softly. His fingers playing with the ends of my hair. "Always will." He leans in closer. His eyes looking at my own before looking down at my lips. He kisses my cheek. He moves in closer, leaving a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth. Not close enough for it to be a kiss, but close enough for it to be treading on dangerous waters.
"Ty," my voice comes out meek. My heart beating fast. The warmth growing with each time he kisses my cheek.
"I know. I know," He sighs, letting go of my waist. "Let's go to sleep." He finally says before kissing my forehead once more.
I don't say anything back, only nodding in response. I turn around, moving away so that there is a good amount of space between us. As much as I loved Ty and cared about him, I didn't see him in that way. I loved Harry. Regardless of our fighting, he was the love of my life. I wasn't going to cheat on him or do something that could ruin us.
It was in the moment that I knew I had to talk to Harry and straighten everything out. I only hoped that the space that I had created between us didn't ruin our already unsteady relationship.