Head Over Heels

(Updated) Chapter 10- Dairy Barn

I'm not really sure how this happened, but right now I'm walking out of the football stadium with the most attractive guy I've ever laid eyes on. It's just me and Tyler. Alone. Together. Seriously, how is this real life?! Even if he's only being nice to his little sister's friend or he's taking pity on me because I'm the new girl, I still can't believe it's happening. I need to chill out before my head explodes.

"So...." I nervously climb into the passenger side of Tyler's Jeep. "I'm sure you've heard it plenty tonight, but I'll go ahead and say it again anyways. You guys had a really good game. You all played really well together. Your breakaway touchdown in the fourth quarter was really impressive."

"Thanks." Tyler looks a bit surprised. "I'm impressed you noticed. Most girls I talk to don't know anything about football, let alone actually watch me play. I thought all girls only came to the games to socialize."

"Oh..."

I hesitate for a second. Once again I'm proving myself to be totally different then the kind of girl Tyler would normally go after. But I already knew he put me in the friend zone so I guess it doesn't matter too much.

"It's not a bad thing Lila, I just meant you keep on surprising me. That's all." Tyler says, noticing my disappointed look.

"Gotcha. I guess my brothers have rubbed off on me more than I'd like to admit." I try to laugh off my insecurity. "They all played growing up. I was forced to watch a lot of their games over the years. Plus I've played my fair share of flag football in the yard with them so I guess I picked up the basics."

"Really? That explains why you can hit like a linebacker then." Tyler looks at me, a giant laugh bursts from his lips. I try to hold in my laughter at his teasing but can't.

"Are you ever going to let me live that down?

"Not likely."

"Didn't think so." I reply with an exaggerated eye roll.

"...So how many brothers do you have? Did they move to Romeo too?"

"No, they didn't." I say sadly. " I've got three older brothers. All of them live out of state right now. Charlie is my oldest brother and he's in Florida finishing up an internship. Lucas is in the middle. He's in California at art school and then Tuck is closest to my age. He just graduated last year and now he's in North Carolina at trade school."

"Wow. Three older brothers. That must have been intense." Tyler sounds surprised.

"You have no idea." I laugh. "But honestly, I don't think I would want it any other way."

"I hear ya. I feel the same way about me and Payton. We bicker with each other all the time about stupid stuff but in the end, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have her. I know she's my little sister but she's also one of my best friends. Since we're so close in age we've always done most everything together. She's the one person I know will always have my back through everything, ya know?"

"Yeah I get that. Charlie and I are the same way. I get how special it is." I say genuinely."...Do you think that' why it's so hard to let Payton go out with Jake?"

Tyler thinks for a minute before speaking. I can tell he feels conflicted, unsure how to answer me.

"I guess part of me feels like no guy will ever be good enough for her, ya know? Jake is a really good guy, and he's got a lot of great qualities, but it's still hard for me to wrap my head around them being together. Even someone as great as Jake who I've been friends with for a long time still doesn't seem good enough. I mean it's my job to protect Payton, so if he ever hurt her...I don't know what I would do to him!" Tyler's protective instincts bubble up to the surface. I see the gears in his head turning to all the worst case scenarios. After a moment he continues. "We definitely couldn't be friends anymore, I'll just say that. Maybe you think that sounds a bit extreme but it's the honest truth. I don't know, if this is making any sense. It's hard to explain—"