Queen II Barzal

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Tyler

"So you're not playing today?" Zack asked.

"Nope, we're just taking the night off," I said. "We're gonna play in the next game, though,"

"We gotta win the cup for Taylor," Finn smiled.

"I know you can do it," Zack patted Finn's back as Finn went to talk to Max.

"How are you dealing with it?" Zack asked me. "It's so sudden, you know,"

"It's hard for me, really," I said. "I just take all of my anger out on the ice,"

"It's always the best coping mechanism," Zack agreed.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"You know, talking works too," Zack said. "You were kinda quiet the other night at Max's,"

"It's just a lot to handle," I said.

"You can talk to me, you know," He told me. "Keeping everything bottled up inside can't be good for you,"

"I don't really know how to talk about feelings, especially with people," I said.

"I'm not people, Ty, I'm your best friend," Zack looked me in the eyes as I started to tear up.

"I've just gotten my heart broken so many times, I can't talk to anyone without the fear that they're gonna walk away," I managed.

"Ty, I'm not going anywhere," He hugged me. "What happened?"

"When I'm on the ice, playing hockey, everything's okay," I started. "But once I come out of the locker room, it's back to reality. Back to the nightmares, back to the aches in my heart, back to the pain of Taylor being gone,"

Zack led me outside where we would be completely alone. He wiped the tears from my face.

"You still get nightmares? About him?" He asked.

"About Alex, Nick, and even Fuller," I said. "Plus now Taylor,"

"I thought you and Fuller were cool," Zack said. "Wait, who is Nick?"

"I didn't really want to tell anyone, but there's really no point in hiding this from you," I said. "We were on the Thunderbirds together and we were kinda together,"

"Wow," Was the only thing that he managed to say.

"He cheated on me when I was in Buffalo," I said. "Fuller knew about it the whole time and I'm scared that he would leak it if I ever got on his bad side,"

"But he didn't leak it, right?" Zack asked.

"Nope," I said. "But I still think about Alex all the time, he's out of jail now,"

"Seriously?" He asked.

"I mean, yeah, he wasn't gonna be there forever," I said.

"Damn," He said.

"I know," I sniffled..

He gave me a hug and kissed my forehead. He rubbed my back.

"Do you feel better, even a little?" He asked.

"Yeah," Tears kept coming from my face.

He wiped them off with his thumb.

"What?" He asked with a giggle, noticing that I was staring at him.

"I feel like such an idiot," I looked down at the floor.

"Why would you think that?" He asked, lifting my head up.

"One of your best friends just died, and I'm here ranting about my problems," I said.

"Ty, he's just as much your friend as he is mine," He said. "And don't feel bad for having problems, I'm here for you,"

I smiled looking at him. He hugged me again.

"Thanks, Zack," I said.

"Anytime," He said.

We went inside the funeral home. We were able to get it on such short notice, thank goodness. It was hard saying goodbye to him, especially because I was missing him for the past couple of years. Max had a whole speech written out about Taylor. He was nervous to go up to perform it, and I saw that he was crying a little bit. Lauren came up to him and hugged him then fixed his black tie. When Max was ready, he went up next to a picture of Taylor. He grabbed a microphone and said:

"Taylor Bossy. He was more than a friend; he was a brother. I remember my very first hockey practice, I sucked. Taylor had already been playing for a season before me and he helped me out a lot. Of course, my dad was the coach, but I wouldn't listen to him, I listened to Taylor. He became my best friend since that day. Even though I'm still not a good hockey player, I thank him for convincing me that I could be. Taylor was a great friend when I needed it and he would always be there for me. When our group of friends split up, Taylor stayed back with me for our senior year of high school. After that, we did go our different ways, but we kept in touch. One of the things that I loved about the guy was that he wrote to me and wanted to hear from me. In middle school, hell, I was such a bully to the kid. He was a hockey player, a tough one for that matter, and he found a way to retort something back. We would chirp at each other, but at the end of the day, we were best friends. We always have been and always will be. To my man, my brother, rest in peace Taylor Bossy."