On Friday night I park my car outside Jackson's place, music pouring out through the open windows of the house, as Syd and I get out of the car. We slowly make our way to the front door, the night breeze blowing on my hair as I turn to Syd. "Have you...Talked to Ty in the past few days at all?"
"Yeap," she replies, pursing her lips and avoiding eye contact.
"Did he tell you about...?"
"Yeap," she nods.
"Fuck, this is so messed up." I push my hair back in frustration.
I feel guilty about not telling Noah about my kiss with Tyler, but I'm justifying it by telling myself that it was a one-time thing, and it'll never happen again. We still haven't defined the boundaries of our maybe relationship so I'm thinking that confessing about the kiss will only make him worry about my relationship with Tyler and cause a mess that I'm not sure I can deal with. I just have to sort this out with Tyler in private and everything will be alright.
"Just give him time Mads," Syd offers with a hand on my shoulder.
"Everything happened so fast, it just came out of left field for me," I say knocking on the front door loudly enough to be heard over the blasting music.
"Did it really, though?" she questions, and I look at her confused, trying to figure out what that's supposed to mean. We hear shuffling coming from inside and a few seconds later, the door swings open and there stands Noah, looking dreamy as ever.
He's dressed in all black, from his sneakers, to his joggers, to his shirt. I'm not gonna lie, with his tall, broad frame, and dressed like this he looks pretty intimidating. It's kind of hot though.
"Hey guys, come on in," He says, gesturing for us to go inside with a dashing smile on his face.
"You really are always playing host," I tease.
He laughs, " Come on, everyone is chilling in the living room so make yourselves at home."
After closing the door behind us, Noah leads the way through the corridor into a lounging area where all the guys are. There's a big couch where Logan, Jackson, and Mason are sitting, and Noah goes over to join them. They're all facing a giant flat-screen TV and playing a video game. The coffee table in front of them is filled with cups containing mysterious liquids, chip crumbs, and cigarette buds. To the side, there are two empty, individual armchairs next to a window. A wave of relief washes over me as I see Tyler sitting on one of them, legs spread lazily and eyes focused on the screen.
He turns at the sound of our footsteps approaching, his eyes widening at the sight of Syd and me. He practically jumps out of his seat, rushing over to us, "What are you guys doing here?" he asks alarmed, trying to keep his voice down.
"Ty, please, you can't keep avoiding me forever," I whisper. "We really need to talk-"
"We're not doing this, Maddie," He says firmly, "Not here." Before I can argue he walks away towards the kitchen to pour himself a drink.
"That went well," Syd says sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood.
I glare at her, "Not the time."
"Yup, yeah, got it," she says, nodding her head awkwardly and biting down on her bottom lip.
As I take in this sight and the trap music pierces my eardrums, I'm thinking I probably shouldn't be here, but Syd grabs me by the hand and drags me farther into the room. We greet everybody, heading for the now empty armchairs, while Tyler joins the boys on the large couch and grabs himself a playstation controller to join their game. As soon as I sit, I can feel both Noah's and Mason's eyes drilling holes into me.
Between my conflict with those two and Tyler being clearly upset by my presence, the tension in this room is palpable. Trying to spare us all from that, I pull out my phone and text Syd, even though she's sitting right next to me. "One hour, then I'm leaving whether you come with me or not."
Her phone buzzes in her pocket and she checks the message, turning to me and nodding her head, making me feel relieved at the fact that she won't fight me on this. That will end our suffering sooner than later.
Suddenly all the guys put their controllers down, getting up and I see them go gather round in the kitchen. Syd and I glance over to see their tall, dark figures, and we look at each other confused.
"Why do I feel like we just walked into a brothel and like they are about to become our pimps?" Syd whispers to me.
I punch her in the arm, "Why would you even say that?"
"They're acting sketch! Maybe we shouldn't be here," she says.
"You're the one that made me come!" I say, my jaw clenched tightly.
"I needed a wing woman, I'm sorry!" she defends herself, "And don't pretend you came for me. I know you're only here because of him," she nods her head towards Noah. "So if you think about it, we're both being each other's wing woman and therefore, we're mutually responsible for being here. Bulletproof logic, you can't get mad at me," she says before rushing away from our argument and heading to the bathroom. I'm not even surprised at this point. I know she's always ten steps ahead of me. I love her and hate her for it.
While Syd's gone, the guys come back to the sitting area, and I'm suddenly aware of the spare seat next to me. I look at Tyler, begging him with my eyes to occupy it, but before he can even consider it, Mason jumps up from behind the small couch and sits beside me. "Hey princess," he says with a shit-eating grin.
You have got to be kidding me.
Every time this guy speaks he makes me want to put my finger through my eye, into my brain, and swirl it around. He's like a walking, talking, smug-looking migraine, that just won't go away no matter how hard I try. He keeps crawling his way back into my life like a roach, and I'm done playing nice with him, so I decide to ignore him instead.
"Don't be like that Maddie," He says putting his arm around me.
"Mason, read the fucking room dude. If you talk to me, and I don't respond, that's not an open invitation to touch me, okay?" I say grabbing him and removing his arm from my shoulders.
From the corner of my eye I can see Jackson trying to hold in his laughter, covering his mouth with his hand, and I look at him with a defiant raised eyebrow. He looks back at me and puts his hands up in surrender.
"I need a smoke," Ty announces standing up.
"I'll join you." Noah replies and they both head in my direction, confusing me. Tyler steps outside through the window that's next to me and Noah follows him, but stops halfway, leaving him with one leg outside and the other one inside. He leans over to me and whispers something in my ear, lightly brushing his lips against it and making a chill run down my spine.
I can't make out a single word he says, but before I can ask him, he flashes a smile and disappears through the window, into the darkness of the backyard.
Sydney comes back, sitting beside Jackson and getting lost in conversation. From what I know, which isn't much, Jackson seems like a good guy. I just hope he can keep up with her before she eats him alive.
I think Mason got my message because he moves over to the big couch sulking, joining Logan in a game of FIFA. I feel myself relaxing now that he's farther away from me.
An eternity later, and after a lot of boredom, I take my phone out of my pocket and check the time. I'm sorry Syd, but time's up. I feel bad for interrupting her conversation, but I let her know we're leaving shortly and I head to the backyard looking for Ty. When I get there I see Noah sitting on a table smoking a cigarette, but there's no sign of Tyler.
"Fun night, huh?" I ask, approaching him.
"Tell me about it," he replies, letting out a soft chuckle. "You leaving already?"
"Yeah, I came to say goodbye," I say, awkwardly leaning in to place a kiss on his cheek.
As I turn to walk away, he stands up and grabs my hand, spinning me around. I end up inches away from him, with a hand on his chest and staring into his bright eyes, speechless.
"I can think of a better way to do that," he says with a smirk and I smile as he leans down to connect his soft lips with mine. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer for a moment, before getting off my tiptoes and letting him go.
"Better?" I ask.
"Perfect." he replies, tucking my hair behind my ear.
"Goodnight Reed." I say heading for the side door.
"Night, Mads." He calls after me and a smile is permanently plastered on my face as I get into my car where Syd is already waiting for me.
Once we're home we drag ourselves upstairs and I head to the bathroom to take a much needed shower. Once I'm done I go lay in my bed, letting my eyes drift closed as my exhaustion and lack of sleep finally catch up to me. As I fall into a profound sleep my dreams are plagued by green eyes and thick dark lashes.