Standing in front of the restaurant, I took a deep breath, trying to suppress my nausea
“It’s going to be fine, he’ll understand,” Carmen said, trying to comfort me. “Take your time.”
Watching her head into the restaurant, I tried to reassure myself a few more times. When I was somewhat ready, I scrambled in and searched for Tyler. Sitting at his regular stool at the bar, he hung over his drink, tracing the rim with his fingers.
“Hey,” I said, sliding onto the stool next to him.
“Hey,” he said, slightly surprised to see me. “How . . . um are you?”
“I’m better,” I said, reviewing my unstable mentality of last night. “How are you doing?”
“Not so well. Since last night, I’ve felt incredibly guilty. And today’s fight with Chase didn’t help much either,” he said, staring into his glass.
“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that…and everything. It was my fault, and you shouldn’t take the blame for any of it. Actually, I should thank you, because you were the one who stopped it, and helped me realize what I was doing was wrong.”
“Well, I’m glad I could help,” he said, with a gloomy melancholy tone.
“Tyler, you’re a great guy, but unfortunately I don’t think we can be friends,” I whispered, my voice quivering. “Believe me, I want to be, but after last night, Chase doesn’t trust me. The only way I can imagine earning his trust back is by ending all connections with you . . . at least for the time being, until things blow over.”
Tyler looked up from his glass, and widens his eyes at me, in utter shock.
“That’s the only way?”
Nodding, I bit down on my lip and tried to fight the tears that were welling in my eyes.
“I’m sorry it has to come to this, because I really like being friends with you, but I see no other options, and I can’t bear to lose Chase.”
Tyler paused before saying, “I understand.”
Those two words were enough for me to lose it. “Are you mad? Please don’t be mad! God, I hate this! Because I do care about you - just not in the romantic way. And I wish I could have it both ways; I could keep Chase as my boyfriend and keep you as my guy friend! But I can’t, so I feel like I’m bearing torn into two parts, being forced to choose!”
By this point, the tears had overcome my attempts and started streaming down my face. Why this made my so emotional, I’ll never know, but something told me that this situation meant something to me. Just because I wasn’t interested Tyler, didn’t mean he wasn’t important in my life.
“Hey, hey,” Tyler said, jumping up from his seat. He pulled me up to my feet and clasped my hands. “You don’t have to choose.”
“I don’t?” I looked up at him, puzzled.
He wiped my tear-stained cheek. “No, this may be the only option, but there are ways around it. Like, we could keep our friendship a secret.”
Taking a few minutes, I considered this. If we kept our friendship on the down low, I could lie to Chase and say I cut off all connection with Tyler.
“No way . . . no, no,” I shook my head, suddenly rejecting the idea. “I couldn’t do that to Chase. I can’t lie or betray him again.”
“Okay, okay, I know. It was just a thought.”
“I know, it was a good suggestion,” I replied. “But I don’t think I could ever do that. It wouldn’t be right . . . hey, aren’t you the guy whose supposed to help me do the right thing?”
“Well yeah,” Tyler said, letting out a small chuckle. “That was one time. Remember, I’m not exactly the face of good decision making.”
“Why not make it a second time? A third time! You’re a good guy Tyler, just a little misguided.” Seeing how well the upbeat the conversation was turning out to be, I decided to take it in a new direction. “I think so, and so does Carmen?”
His eyes sparkled a little. “She does? What did she say?”
“Something along those lines. I’d say she’s actually pretty interested in you,” I said, toying with him a little bit.
“Really? How do you know? I kind of got that vibe from her, but I also got the vibe that she thought I was a player.”
“Well, you are a player. And she did think that, but she knows that when you want to be, you’re a really sweet and caring guy.”
“Well, if I don’t have a chance with you, I might as well give it a shot with her,” Tyler shrugged. “Maybe she’s the key to getting over you.”
Smiling at his openness, I said, “Absolutely brilliant. And you know, if you’re not a threat anymore, Chase will most likely let us be friends.”
“I really hope so,” Tyler said, revealing a smile.
Now that things were settled between us, I headed home. It’s kind of bizarre how problems always solve themselves. Things just always end up working out, which was a reassuring and comforting fact of life.
Walking through the front door, I hear The Vampire Diaries playing from the living room. Leaving the door open and tip toeing over, I leaned over the back of the couch, and surprised Chase with an upside down kiss, Spiderman style.
“Hey beautiful,” he said, lifting his head up to look at me. Rotating, I slipped my arms around his neck and flopped down on top of him. “What put you in such a good mood?”
“I have the best news,” I said, giddy. “I think you’ll be really happy to hear it.”
“Go on,” he said, with an eager smile.
“I just got back from the Sandy Shell. And . . . I just broke off all connection with Tyler. I told him straight up that we couldn’t be friends anymore.”
“You did that . . . for me?” Chase said, with his eyebrows raised.
Nodding, I said, “Yes, in hopes to prove my love and loyalty.”
Chase tilted my chin and kissed me gently and tenderly. “Just because you were willing to sacrifice a friendship for me, indicates that I can trust you again.”
A huge smile spread across my face, and I gave him a huge kiss. “Thank you!”
“No, thank you,” Chase said, between the kisses. I wrapped my arms tighter around his neck, and he held onto my waist.
After we finished making out, I said, “Even though it was only one day without your trust, it was the longest day of my life! I have no idea how you lasted a whole week!”
“Neither do I!” Shrugging, Chase smiled a big white grin. His blue eyes sparkled at me as he said, “So shall we continue the Vamp D's marathon?”
“Vamp D's?” I snorted. “Cute nickname.”
“Isn’t it? I’m hoping if I say it enough, it will catch on. All phrases start out small,” Chase remarked, jokingly.
“Good luck with that,” I teased, playfully smiling.
After a few episodes, we felt a sharp jolt. Suddenly, everything in the house started uncontrollably shaking. Alert, Chase and I jumped up.
Rebecca, my mother and father ran inside from the porch. “GET OUT FAST! EARTH QUAKE.”
Running, we all exited the front door.
“Let’s all take my car,” Rebecca instructed.
“Where are we going?” I asked, feeling completely out of the loop.
“Shelter,” Rebecca informed.
“Why do we have to go? Can’t we just stay outside until the earth quake is over?”
Everyone headed towards the car, so I followed, hoping someone would eventually answer my question. Awkwardly, my father joined Chase and I in the back seat.
“We’re in a really badly affected area. There’s a good chance that the foundation might be destructed, so it’s not safe. And sometimes, after the big earthquake, smaller eruptions tend to follow. It’s just much safer if we spend the night at the shelter,” Chase explained. Of course, being the Connecticuter, I was blissfully unaware of the dangers of earthquakes.
To my surprise, much of the town was at the shelter. Rebecca told us we could go wander around, meet up with friends and perhaps share a room with them.
To our luck, we quickly found Tyler and Carmen, who were huddled together, flirting and chatting away.
“Oh,” I whispered, as we approached them. “I forgot to tell you, Carmen is into Tyler . . . and from the looks of it, Tyler is into her.”
Chase stopped in his tracks. “Does this mean he doesn’t like you anymore?”
“I guess not,” I said, shrugging.
“I think I owe someone an apology,” Chase muttered. My lips curled into a small smile, even though I pretended as if I didn’t hear him.
“Hey guys,” I said, greeting the two of them. Startled from their lovey-dovey la la land, they bolted up.
“What’s up?” Chase said, clasping Tyler’s hand in a very bro way. “Can we talk for a bit?”
Before breaking into a massive conversation, Carmen and I waited for the boys to be out of hearing distance. When they were, we squealed in excitement.
“Tell me everything!” I demanded. Carmen gestured for me to sit on the plastic blue chair up against the bland, white, concrete wall.
“Okay, so after you left, Tyler came up to me. We started talking and he admitted how he always liked my edge style and personality. I told him how I always thought his bad ass appeal was really sexy and we just hit it off. We’re going out tomorrow night!”
Pulling her into a bouncing embrace, we celebrated the good outcome. Things were flawlessly falling into place. At this rate, everything would be solved in no time.
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feeedback please. please don't think that this is the end, because it's not. there is so much more to come, more surprises, more twists, more shockers! so keep reading, and keep giving me feedback! don't forget to vote cause a vote is just as important and valuable as a comment! LOVE YOU GUYS [: and i wont be able to post this weekend, cause its my birthday! so its gonna be pretty packed, so i'll probably post sometime mid next week, cause i also have to study for my driving test! thanks everyone! [: