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

Chapter 7 - Tyrell (He/Him/His)

Chapter 7 – Tyrell (He/Him/His)

"I don't know what's with Sarah. She's been acting so weird lately. And when she blames on it college stress it's like I want to scream in her face that we all have that! Get over yourself, you're not special! Ugh!"

The waiter returned with our drinks and mercifully Jessica stopped talking long enough to take a sip.

I'd spent the entire morning trying to rev myself up for the date that I'd promised her before I met Charlotte. I even tried to imagine coming back to my currently empty house with Jessica but was firing blanks. A few weeks ago? I'd be smooth talking two nano inches from her ear, wanting to skip dinner and go straight to my bed.

Now? Now was I sipping my Pepsi and thinking about how long I had to hang out with her so it wasn't weird when I left.

"Oh, I meant to tell you," she said, her umpteen bracelets jangling as she tapped my hand. "My older brother Jason is in town this weekend and wants to meet you. He's a senior at USC. Said he'd be happy to show you around when you get out there." She smiled like she'd just told me some big secret that would change my life.

Unfortunately for her, I didn't care to meet this Jason. My enthusiasm for USC had plummeted to zero because according to Google, USC was 392 miles away. According to Google, that was 6 hours and 43 minutes by car. According to Tyrell, that was way too far from Charlotte.

I scanned the menu and tried to get excited about something but even the idea of beef brasato wasn't enough to lift the funk. And I loved me some beef brasato. My mom had taken me to this very restaurant every single year for my birthday since I was 8. And every year I got the same dish.

"...and have you seen Hale lately? He's shaved his head into a mohawk and dyed it red. It has to be seen to be believed. Here let me show you on Insta."

I don't how much of the conversation I was missing, but as long as she was happy I didn't really care. My mind kept coming back to Charlotte, as if that was the new default setting. I wondered what she was doing. We hadn't texted since the morning quote. Kinda gutted me, to be honest.

"Earth to Ty. Look at my phone."

I uttered a sigh of recognition when she showed me the picture. "Isn't that awful?" she said gleefully.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad," I agreed.

"Right? I don't get that guy. But, then again, he was weird before the hair change. What's a 22-year-old dude doing hanging around a bunch of high school people anyway?"

"Mmm," I said, already checked out again. I hadn't been a part of that world for the last two weeks. Two weeks might not seem like a long time, but it really is. If you go two weeks without doing something, it's hard to start again.

In this case, I was never really involved in the larger friend group. I was more of a circle around, fly over kinda guy. I'd dip in when the dipping was good, and GTFO when the drama got to be too much. I liked it that way. I didn't really know anybody and yet I always had something to do. Now that I was gone, I didn't miss it, and I certainly didn't care what some dude did with his hair.

I felt Jessica's hand touch mine and jumped, yanked back to the booth we were sitting in.

"Ty, you haven't been present since you picked me up. Where are you right now?"

I don't know but I'd like to be with her, dancing through memories we'll never have.

Jessica's eyes betrayed the fear tucked beneath the surface. The guilt wave was light-switch instant.