nineteen

Tyler Anderson

I haven't eaten all day. It feels like my stomach is turning. I'm so nervous. It's prom night. I finally want to confess my feelings to Alice today. Like officially.

I hope she feels the same, the night she came over was different than the last times. Really different.

We both felt that. For sure.

"Anderson, eat. God dammit." Daniel slides some Cookies over to me. "You're pale. Eat some sugar." Everyone in this room could probably feel how nervous I am. I sigh, taking one of the cookies and shoving it into my mouth.

Noah isn't here. It's just Daniel and me. Noah left this morning for Dublin. He's finally visiting his dad. My parents will be there tonight too. Alice will meet my parents... Cole will be there...

It's been so long. Too long. "Everything will be fine. You have a nice suit, a pretty girl to go with and your family will be there." Daniels voice echoed through my head, he knew I was nervous and tried to calm me.

I sigh, "You're right. What could go wrong..."

I just have to get prom over, I already got my diploma. After that I'm done. No more school. "Do you have a date for tonight?" I ask Daniel, pouring myself some water.

I never really saw him with girls, he's alone most of the time but it never really bothered him. I wonder if he- "Yeah, I asked a girl in my math class. She's pretty nice." He confessed, biting his lip and nervously rubbing his neck.

"Cool, we're all having a date then." I smiled, my mind wandering back to later...

______________________

I took a deep breath, getting off my motorcycle. Yes, I just rode my bike in a suit. Weird, I know. "Oh Tyler!" I heard my mothers soft voice as she walked into my direction, I smiled, setting my helmet aside.

"Hey mom." She cupped my face in her hands, I missed her soft and warm embrace, which is why I leaned in, savoring her warmth. I haven't seen her in so long. Her brown eyes scanning me.

"Oh look at you, you look so handsome." She smiles, peppering my face with kisses. "Son, you look good." I heard my father say, patting my shoulder. "Hey dad, thanks." He smiles and gives me a quick wink.

"Look good, junior." I hear my brothers voice. I haven't seen him in so long, he looked different, more mature, his dark hair longer and messy, his brown eyes piercing me before a smile crossed his lips and he pulled me into a hug.

I'd lie if I say I didn't miss this. My family. My home. I'm so happy to see them again. "Where's your date or do you have none?" Cole asks, ruffling my hair as he keeps a arm around my shoulder.

I opened my mouth to say something when I hear a familiar voice. "Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you." I turn around, it's Alice.

Her hair is pinned up in a bun, small butterfly clips as decoration in the bun and two loose strands are curled at the front. She wears a silver necklace with a tiny butterfly pendant and a beautiful blue dress.

It is in a light blue tulle, nothing big though, the upper part is decorated with small darker blue rhinestones which become less and less towards the middle. She also has a small handbag and of course matching high heels. I have never found her as beautiful as I do right now.

"Hey, gorgeous." I smile, holding my hand out to her which she takes and steps closer to me. "Mum, dad, Cole, this is Alice, my date." My mother's eyes soften as she takes in Alice and my dad nods his head while Cole is just stunned, saying nothing.

"Hello, Alice, it's nice to meet you. I'm Tyler's mother." My mother takes Alice's hand and shakes it while Alice smiles. "It's really nice to meet you, Mrs. Anderson." She smiles at my mother.

"Hey, Anderson, never thought I'd see you again." My brother turns around, Brian standing in front of him, he starts laughing, hugging his old friend. Susen stands next to them, smiling.

Of course, they're here too, they're Alice's family. My mother catches Susen out of the corner of her eye. "Susen! I haven't seen you in so long." She smiles, hugging her. "Juliana, nice to see you again." Susen says, nodding at my father as a hello.

"How come you're here?" My brother asks Brian. "This pretty girl here is going to prom here with your brother." He points a thumb at Alice. "She's my cousin." My brother's eyes widen.

"Your cousin?" Brian nods, smiling proudly. Seems like they all met again after some time. I had no idea my parents are this close with Susen and Brian.

"You look beautiful." I whisper into her ear and she smiles up at me. "You look pretty handsome yourself, Anderson." She runs a hand through my hair, fixing it a little. "Should we go look for our friends?" She nods, I take her hand again and guide her away from our families.

"Oh, you look beautiful!" Cassie greets us, clapping a hand in front of her mouth as she gasps, Alice leans in to hug her. Cassie is wearing a red dress with some lace accents. Her hair long and curly as always.

"Stop eyeing my girl, Anderson." Chris hands Cassie a glass, glaring at me. "Shut up, I have my own girl."

The urge to grab Alice and pull her close to me grew heavier by the second.

"Mine is my girlfriend, yours isn't." No fucking way this motherfucker got a girlfriend before me. "Stevens will kill you." My eyes flicker between Chris and Cassie before setting on Chris again.

"How come?" Chris licks his bottom lip, rubbing his neck. "Don't know to be honest. Just happened. Can't really explain." That puts a smile on my lips. I already enjoy that he stopped talking about Madeline and has a real girlfriend. Finally.

He would've had no chance with her. He knew it all along but didn't want it to be true. I mean I don't blame Madeline. If I would've been a horny and drunk girl on that party, I would consider getting fucked by Chris too. He's handsome after all.

I feel someone tucking on my arm. It's Alice. I give her a smile, tilting my head slightly as I look at her, silently asking what she wants.

"Should we get something to drink?" Translation : should we get some time alone?

"Sure, let's go." She wraps her hand around my arm and we make our way towards the bar.

I order myself a beer and her a strawberry daiquiri.

"I didn't know our families are this close." She says, sipping on her drink, chuckling. "Me neither. Pretty cool, huh?" I nudge her softly and she nods.

I take my time to roam my eyes over her once again. God, this dress, the way it huges her curves in every right way, it makes her look like a princess.

"You look so beautiful, Ali. God, I can't get enough of looking at you." A soft red blush creeps up her cheeks.

"Thank you. You look pretty good in your suit yourself." She bites her cherry lips, fixing my tie a little bit. "Would've never thought that I'd see Tyler Anderson in a suit. You look like a rich business man." I laugh softly at her comment, pulling her closer to me.

"Do I now?" She nods, her eyes sparkling with something I haven't seen in her eyes before. She looked at me multiple times but not with this look in her eyes and I can't quite explain what that look is.

After some time she noticed that I started to study her and her gaze which is why she looked away.

Daniel interrupted our conversation a second later anyway.

"Did you know my sister and Caddle are dating?" He seemed angry, furious, I've never seen such a fire in his dark eyes. "Chris just told me." I shrug.

His jaw clenched and unclenched. "I'll kill him someday. If he hurts her he'll never, ever get to see me as his friend again. I'll be his biggest enemy. If this is just something to satisfy his lust, I swear-" I pat his shoulder, trying to calm him a little.

"Chill, bro. I don't think he wants to hurt her. Maybe they really got a thing for each other." Daniel takes a deep breath, calming himself. A girl with black hair appears behind him. "Oh, this is Camilla. She's my date for tonight." Camilla gave me a smile.

She's wearing an emerald green dress, matching the color of her eyes, she's definitely smaller than Daniel, her face has sharp features. I return her smile. "Nice to meet you, I'm Tyler." She nods, pulling Daniel away with her. Not pretty talkative.

The night goes on pretty calmly, chatting with some classmates, dancing and having fun. Who would've thought that I'm the one standing here today. At the beginning of the school year I didn't really think I'd pass. But now I'm here.

I'm here with the girl of my dreams who also helped me pass through the year. We're both standing outside of the school building right now, catching some fresh air.

And I think this is the moment. This is moment I want to tell her what I feel. Maybe even ask her to be my girlfriend. This feels right.

"I need to tell you something." We suddenly both say at the same time and my heart suddenly start boxing against my chest.

I gesture a hand at her. "You should start. I'm all ears." I smile and she nods, taking a deep breath.

"So... As you maybe know... The first time we met I wasn't pretty nice. I thought you're arrogant, mean and a total player. You seemed to not care about school but about partying and other stuff. I ignored you, was mean and all those stuff I don't want to replay right now." She said, staring at the floor and fumbling with her hands.

"But over the months I gave you tutoring and realized you're completely different from how I thought you were. I enjoyed your company and missed your presence when you were gone." She takes another deep breath.

"Tyler, I think I catched feelings for you." I open my mouth, I'm hearing my heartbeat in my ears. I open my mouth to tell her I feel the same, I want her as much as she wants me, that I missed her and longed for her presence as much as she did.

But I get interrupted, someone claps and laughs, a figure walks out of the corner he was standing in. Adam.

"This is perfect. As if it's scripted. You did perfect, Anderson." He claps a hand onto my shoulder and shoves some money into my hand. My body goes hot and cold, hot and cold, Alice's eyes go wide.

A lump formed in my throat, I suddenly couldn't speak, I wanted to tell her that I didn't know about all this, that this isn't my fault, that I don't know what's going on.

"The bet worked pretty well. Didn't think you'd make it till the end." Adam's voice was already muffled in my head as he talked. God, Anderson, say something, you have to talk. But I can't, the words won't come out. Why now?

I want to tell her that Adam was the one making a bet about her, not me. She knows me, she knows I wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Right?

"Why do you think he fucked you? Because he likes you? Because he felt something?" A laugh escaped Adam's throat. "No, Alice. He did it for our bet." He knows we hooked up and it's just perfect to make her believe everything.

"He took you to prom, made you feel special, made you doll yourself up and now... He's destroying everything, isn't he, Alice?" But she doesn't say anything either, tear floating down her cheeks, she holds a hand in front of her mouth to quiet her sobs.

And then she runs, runs away, runs until I can't see her anymore. That's when it all crashes over me, I grab Adam by his shirt and press him against the cold brick wall. Slamming him into the wall as he let's out a gasp in pain.

"I'll ask you this once. What is your fucking problem, Parker? Why do you want to make mine and the life of my friends so miserable? What did we ever do to you?" I slam him against the wall once again.

"You guys are just some fuckers who think they have a chance with everyone just because you're good looking." He spits out, his brown eyes flickering between pain and disgust.

"Just because you're rich and can't live with the fact that someone as rich as you still gets no girls doesn't mean you have to live it out on us." I didn't notice the hot tears streaming down my face until the salty liquid made it into my mouth. I was so full of rage I didn't care if I was crying right now.

I push Adam to the ground, towering over him, wrapping a hand around his throat. "You fucking bastard! You're just a jealous motherfucker who can't live with the fact that I want to be happy!" I'm probably yelling right now but I don't care.

"You wanted to fuck an innocent girl who never had any bad intentions with anyone. I should've beaten you to death when I heard you talking about that fucking bet back at that party." And that's when I start punching him, sobbing as the hot tears run down my cheeks.

My knuckles start hurting, sharp gasps from Adam under me ringing through my ears. I feel someone pulling me away with all their strength. Shouting and yelling at me to stop.

And then I feel a stinging sensation on my cheek. I raise my hand to my cheek as my vision fixes on the person in front of me. I'm met with brown eyes and dark hair. "Hey, Anderson. You hear me?" My brother speaks, studying me.

I nod, my eyes fixing on Adams body behind me, his nose is bleeding and his lip is too. I could've done better but I just focus on my brother again.

"Don't ever do that again, you hear me? God, I didn't even recognize you." He looks at my bloody knuckles, sighing. "Where's your girl?" My heart stops at his question.

"Gone." I breathe out, I can feel the tears building in my eyes again, no, I'm not afraid to cry. My brother pulls me into a tight embrace as I start crying into his shoulder. This is what I need right now.