aftermath

CHAPTER FOUR - Awkward (PART TWO)

"Oh. My. God." I gasped, shocked at who was standing in front of me. I couldn't believe he was still in New York.

"Tyler? What are you still doing here? Did my mom leave you here or something?" Delilah's mouth was open wide, just as shocked as I was.

He turned around so quickly I thought he was going to break his neck.

"So this is the ex?" Delilah pondered. She looked at him as if he were some creature from space. I could instantly tell she thought he was ugly. And he lowkey was though.

"Oh, I didn't expect to see you here," he answered shyly.

"So you were just expecting her?" Delilah snapped back. I didn't know why she was acting so aggressively towards him.

"Okay, let's all chill out," I say, trying to relieve the situation.

"Well you see, your mom and I decided to stay an extra night just in case you wanted to come back home," he started. Before he could finish his explanation, I interjected.

"Wait, what? Why would I want to- I'm so confused."

"Trust me, I told her the same thing. I tried telling her but she just worries too much about you. But I mean, that's a good thing right?" he continued. "Anyway, our flight leaves in a few hours and I just wanted to get something to eat," he shrugged.

Delilah still stared at him with the same glaring look as he tried to explain himself. We could both tell that he felt intimidated by her, and didn't know how to progress with the conversation.

"So uh.. what's your name?" he asked, turning slightly towards Delilah.

"It's Delilah."

"Oh, that's cool."

At this point, the conversation was so awkward that other people started looking at us. The tension was still there, but it wasn't as horrible as it was in the beginning. The line for Sonic kept getting shorter and shorter until it was finally his turn to get food.

"I'm just gonna uh, go sit down with Delilah. You can sit down with us if you want," I told him.

He nodded, and Delilah and I went to sit down at an empty table. People were still having conversations among us, and the atmosphere wasn't as awkward when I was just with Delilah.

"You know, you could've done so much better Lilli," Delilah started. She was fidgeting with the zipper on her jacket.

"Trust me, I know. But I mean, I did love him at one point and you can't not feel that way you know? I mean, I'm sure you felt that way about your tutor boyfriend right?" I explained.

"I guess I can't really say anything then, sorry," she replied remorsefully.

"No, no, I get it, it's okay," I reassured her. The atmosphere was suddenly way more calm and content, until Tyler showed up with his food.

"Wow, you got it that quick?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. I guess they were serving super quick today," he replied. Scooting over towards Delilah, I gave him enough room to sit down at our table without him feeling uncomfortable. With that, he started eating his hamburger in peace.

—

At this point, we were all talking about how my mom was too concerned about me and whatnot.

"Yeah, I can tell she totally cares for you, but college I guess isn't a huge deal. It's not like you're one flight away," Delilah spoke. I agreed with her.

"Sometimes money can be an issue too though," Tyler interjected, taking a sip of his drink.

"Yeah, that's a factor too I guess."

Some time had passed yet again before the lunch area started to become less and less populous for the day. Lines had become shorter, and people went back to shopping.

"Well, I guess I better start heading back, flight leaves in like.. 45 minutes," Tyler spoke, getting up out of his chair. When he went to scoot it back though, a figure stopped him. The figure was.. Lucas?

"Woah, hey bud, how's it goin'?" Lucas asked, beaming a bright smile towards Tyler. Tyler immediately scooted his chair back into the table due to shock.

"Sorry, do I know you?" Tyler responded, looking back. I was just as shocked as Tyler, but when I turned to look at Delilah..

"What the fuck are you doing here Lucas?" Delilah screamed. Her voice was so loud that it actually caused Tyler to jump a bit.

"Hmm," Lucas sighed. "Well, I'm Lucas, Lilli's current boyfriend-"

"WHAT?" Delilah screeched. "What are you actually talking about right now? We couldn't do this ONE thing-"

"Uh, what?" I said, cutting Delilah off. "First of all, you are NOT ANYWHERE CLOSE to being my boyfriend, not after the shit you pulled last night-"

"Hm, you really want to talk about last night Lilli?" Lucas interrupted, smirking. In the midst of it all, Tyler was quite literally, shaking in his boots. Lucas towered over Tyler, so it was kind of ironic.

"So I kind of have a flight to catch in.. 42 minutes. Can I just go?" Tyler said, once again trying to scoot his chair away from the table.

"Lucas," Delilah giggled, "Are you just jealous?"

"Me? Jealous? Oh please, Delilah, I could have anyone I wanted to and you think I'm jealous over this scrawny little high schooler?" Lucas snapped.

"Uh, I'm in college too," Tyler said, trying to defend himself. I didn't know what to say in this situation, so I just didn't say anything at all.

"Whatever, my whole point is.. why are you even still here? I mean, you guys broke up for a good reason, so why are you here?"

"You don't know the situation at all!" Tyler put his hands up in defeat.

"How did you even know we were here?" Delilah asked.

"Ally told me. She heard you two making plans to come to the mall. I decided to come and surprise you, or at least get you something to show that I cared but– whatever, that's not important," Lucas explained. I knew he was a softie at heart, but wow.

Suddenly, something not as nice came out of Tyler's mouth.

"Sorry? For what? Did you really move on that fast Lilli? I mean, wow. I'm not surprised but holy shit, you're just like everyone said you would be after high school." He ended up getting up and forcefully pushing his chair back, making Lucas have to move.

"It was so nice meeting the two of you," Tyler said, one last time before leaving the food court entirely. Delilah gave him the finger as the doors shut behind him. I really didn't know what to say; I couldn't process any of it.

"So what'd you get at Spencer's, Lilli?"