Tyed

chapter fifty one

Tyler kisses Colby at least once before responding. "I'll tell you," he promises. "On one condition."

"So many conditions," Colby says, and it's hard to tell if he's joking. He better be, because Tyler's condition isn't hard. Or maybe it is?

"Not like that," Tyler laughs. "I was gonna say, on the condition you fuck me first so I don't have to think for a while."

Colby tilts his head. "Your friends are still here."

"Oh, god damnit. Fuck, alright." Tyler raises a finger. "I'll go talk to them, figure out how to get them home or some shit, and then we're- and then we're good and then after I'll tell you about Kevin. Okay? Okay."

Colby brushes Tyler's hair behind his ear. "Just don't blow your friends off," he says. "Be a good friend before all else."

Tyler finds himself laughing a little. "Of course," he mutters, pressing a kiss to Colby's cheek. "I won't be long."

Before he left today, he wanted to forget he loved Colby. He hasn't forgotten at all; more than anything, what he's done is forget why he cared.

"Alright," Colby says. "I'll meet you outside, and we can go home."

Home. Said like it's theirs. There's a lot of ways to say what Colby meant, and it's not so much that Colby was trying to say what Tyler heard; it's that Tyler was trying to hear that. Fuck's sake.

Tyler's almost annoyed as he goes to find the others. There's nothing to be annoyed at but his own existence, something he's commonly annoyed at. He'll do the right thing, of course; make sure his friends get home safe and sound, or else that they're totally fine on their own, as long as that's something Tyler legitimately believes.

Nancy's not so hard to find; she hasn't moved, but someone Tyler doesn't recognise is trying to talk to her and she looks uncomfortable. Tyler essentially makes a beeline for her, sliding next to her at the table and leaning into her shoulder. "Hey, baby," he says, an old tactic to send away weirdos. He can feel palpable relief from her at those words.

The dude raises an eyebrow. "You don't look like a girlfriend."

Tyler silently curses Nancy's mistake of a lie, and Tyler considers one of two approaches, deciding not to say he's a girl in favour of grinning and telling this dude, "we've got a girlfriend, yeah, but I think two partners is enough. Fuck off." He doesn't expect to get so argumentative with it, nor does he expect to flip this dude off, but hey, it's not his fault that this dude ignored this club's code for being left alone.

The dude mutters something insulting as he turns around and leaves, likely too surprised by Tyler's aggression to have a good counter. At least it worked well.

"Thanks," Nancy mutters, leaning her head down on the table. "I wanna go home."

"Not a vibe, that's fine, that's fine," Tyler mutters. "It's all cool. Let's grab Tee and leave. Colby says he wants to take me home, but if he wants to do that he's going to have to take y'all home too."

"Has he not been drinking?" Nancy looks up at Tyler for a moment, and Tyler realises it's not a joke.

"He's thirty-four," Tyler laughs. "He's on his full license. He can drink a little and still drive."

"You know, in my head, I thought, he's older, he must have his green Ps so he can drive all of us. I'm fucking tired, man."

Tyler pats her gently on the head. "Come on. Let's go find Tee. Where'd you see him last?"

Nancy looks up at the roof and sighs. "I think that way," she says, pointing without looking. When Tyler's eyes follow her finger his gaze connects to some half-naked people making out, the not-naked part of them made of latex. Cool.