I've Been Waiting All Along (Book 2 - Rock Canyon Series)

Chapter 1 - Tyrell (He/Him/His)

Chapter 1 – Tyrell (He/Him/His)

"Tyrell Abraham Taylor! Did you leave this towel here on the floor?"

I mean of course I was in the middle of a serious round of Valorant when Reece started harassing me. As usual my sister had impeccable timing because right about now I'd stumbled onto a server with Pokimane. You know that sexy streamer? Well, I couldn't see her name of course, but everybody on my team kept talking about how she was on the opposing squad. I kind of stan for Pokimane so it would have been my absolute pleasure to bring her rounds to nice, quick endings.

And look, just in case you're wondering, I'm not using a tracker so I don't know what player she is. And I'm not going to stream snipe, either. Give a dude more credit than that. But also give a dude credit for what is going to happen–Imma find her, get that stealth drop, waste her ass, take that screenshot, and flex all over TikTok.

Bruh–it's locked.

Why am I telling you all this? So you can understand why I didn't have time for a stupid little towel.

"My bad, my bad. I'll get it as soon as I'm done this round. Just a few more minutes, alright?"

A normal person? They would be cool with this. My sister? Nah, she was having none of it, her shrill voice already echoing in my ears as she barreled into my room.

"Don't make me ask twice, Ty. I'm going to smack you upside your head if you don't get out of that chair in five seconds."

I groaned, my attention wavering between holding my angle in the game around a tight corner and dealing with Reece. "Man, I can't pause right now, okay? I said I'd get it. This round is almost over."

I muttered a few curses under my breath and returned my attention to the game. I saw the blur of an enemy player as I darted back and forth around the corner, trying to anticipate the shot. In the split second I was about to spam left-click on the mouse the screen went black. I looked down at the mouse and keyboard, frowning at the disappearance of the red, green, and blue lighting. I heard chuckling behind me and turned around.

Reece was swinging the power cord to my computer like a lasso. I threw my headphones off. "Man, what the hell is your problem? Why are you acting like this?"

She tossed the cord at me and I caught it just before the metal part smacked me in the nose. "I told you to come get your towel and you backtalked. You got what you got."

It had been less than two months since she moved back in after graduating from college. I love my sister, but I was ready for her to be gone again. She thought she owned me, being six years older. Thought that there was this hierarchy that I should buy into, that I should respect her for being my elder.

Nah, we weren't gonna be playing that. Be assured that's not how it was going down.

"Reece, I need you to get out of my face right now. I'm about to lose it."

She folded her arms across her chest, almost bouncing up and down, her stare taunting. "Oh yeah? Whatcha gonna do about it, huh?"

Sometimes I swore she enjoyed nothing more than getting underneath my skin. And here I was playing right into her hands. I glanced at my phone, trying to distract myself, trying to grab a deep breath and reset, when I remembered I needed to pick up Kellan five minutes ago. I shot up, the normal creaking sounds of the desk chair giving way to a loud whine from the explosive movement. I gave my sister a small peck on the cheek before blowing past her.

"You know what? I should thank you," I said over my shoulder as she followed me with a surprised look. "You did me a favor. I would have been late to meet Kellan. Aw, you're always looking out for me, you know that?" I flashed her a shit-eating grin as I grabbed my keys off the credenza next to the staircase. I flew down the stairs two at a time.