Diary/Journal/Whatever is Manly

Chapter 22

"Come to the frat house with me."

"Why?"

"Because Dennis is busy doing a workshop and I'm in desperate need of company." Tyler exaggerated, placing his hand on his forehead as though he were faint.

"Don't frat houses come with boys, as in multiple?"

"I don't feel like hanging out with them. They'll probably be talking scores and all the useless trash they think makes them sound cool." Misty understood where Tyler was coming from. She had learnt a lot about the male behaviour from eavesdropping on various conversations, to know that 'scores' were usually not tallied from traditional games.

"If you don't want to hang out with them, what makes you think I'd be happy surrounded by them in their space?"

"Fair point, but they'll be in the den. I want to go and waste my afternoon in our hammock." Tyler explained.

"Is it a comfy hammock?"

"The comfiest ever to exist."

---

Tyler was right, the hammock was quite comfy. They had trudged their way over to Tyler's frat house, neither one of them too keen to accidentally run into Tyler's frat brothers. They hoped that they would be able to sneak in undetected, but when has hoping for something ever made it come true. Thus, they suffered through the awkward interaction and insufferable innuendos, until Tyler had grabbed Misty's hand and marched off.

Now they were enjoying the peace and quiet. Tyler's frat had the most amazing backyard. A true testament to the fact that landscaping was an artform. It had a deck to die for, an outside kitchen to kill for, a swimming pool that might as well have been a lake, fairy lights and more. But, the true piece of resistance was the ginormous oak tree that lived in the corner of the yard. It had to be centuries old, yet it stood tall and proud, healthier than most of the saplings around campus. There, attached to one of its limbs, the hammock swayed. Misty never understood why frats and sororities always had the best facilities. At most they housed about 15% of the student population. But alas, she figured that's how society worked.

"Do you read?" They had been laying in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. With Misty half on top of Tyler, who had spent most of the time playing with her hair.

"I'm a university student, of course I read."

Misty giggled, before reaching her hand over her shoulder to give Tyler a good smack on the chest. "No, I mean, do you read for pleasure? You know, for fun?"

Tyler left his newfound playground that was Misty's hair, in favour of capturing her hand. Intertwining their fingers, he answered, "I love reading."

"Do you read romance?" Misty asked, as she turned around, forcing Tyler to let go of her hand. Tyler chased her hand with his eyes for a moment, before looking down at her eyes which were now peering up at him, eagerly awaiting his answer.

"Yes Misty, I read romances."

"Do you like them?" Misty asked, placing her arms on his chest for her head to rest on.

"There's some good one's out there."

"Which one is your favourite?" Tyler closed his eyes, and took a deep breath at the question. He had never really thought about it, and now he was busy racking his mind for all the romance titles he had read.

"Let me think." He said, moving his arms to wrap around Misty.

"You shouldn't have to think about your favourite. There's a reason it's your favourite, it jumps out at you." Misty told Tyler matter-of-factly.

"Well sorry, I've never thought about it before. What's your favourite?"

"At the moment it's 'The Last Summer' by Karen Swan." Misty answered without hesitation.

"Yeah well, I have to think about mine. I've read quite a few books, you know?"

"That's weird–"

"Excuse me?" Tyler exclaimed with mock offense, before moving to tickle Misty.

"As in different," Misty laughed.

"Then next time say 'different'." Tyler chuckled, before relenting, and stopping his assault.

"It's just I come up with my favourite as soon as I finish my book. Like as soon as I read the last word, there's one of three things running through my mind: eh, it was alright, yeah, I like it and, oh my goodness that's now my favourite book." Misty went on to further explain, her arms lifting off Tyler's chest to add more emphasis to her words.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"My favourite book... is gonna be the one that you write."