The Race Car that was Tyler Scott

Chapter Eight

Apologies in advance for the super long chapter. I couldn't split it. But enjoy! Tell me what you think in the comments :))

When I woke it was light outside, blindingly bright - the curtains hadn't been shut. Toni's bed had been slept in but she wasn't there, strange, Toni always slept in late. Perhaps she had to be somewhere I thought. I wandered over to the sink in her ensuite bathroom. I washed my face thoroughly and dried it with a hand towel. I stumbled back to my mattress and changed into some trackies. I put a hoodie on and walked back to the bathroom. I drew on some eyeliner that contrasted against the whites of my eyes to make them stand out. Then I laced my eyelashes with mascara. My skin was clear, it had gotten really bad when I was about sixteen, now I was almost eighteen the phase of bad skin had passed and hence I no longer wore a concealer.
I walked downstairs slowly. Sliding my hand down the curving wooden banister as I went. I could smell someone cooking breakfast at the end of the hallway in the kitchen. I could also hear Bea and Toni arguing, Bea was back. I walked into the kitchen silently. "Morning Mimi", Toni had seen me creep in in the reflection of the window in front of her. "Hey", I said back but directed it more at Bea than Toni. I was happy to see her, she ran up to me and hugged me, I hugged her back tightly. Her hugging set me off again. I sniffed on her shoulder. Toni turned around. "Heyy...Meem, what's up?" she said softly and walked towards me, Bea stepped back still holding my arms, rubbing them up and down. We sat down around the breakfast table and talked about what happened the day before. Bea and Toni were very understanding, I figured most people would be confused as to why I was so down about something they might perceive as exciting. They weren't hung up on the fact that Tyler was famous, but they approached the situation with logistic solutions, nearly always ending in Tyler giving up his fame or both of us running away. I say logistic it was more fantastical, we laughed about how I could ride off into the sunset with him. "The thing is I've only known him for less than a week", I said trying to show my confusion, "Mimi, it doesn't matter how long you have known him, it's how you feel that matters. I think this is good news, really good - you should see him again", said Bea. She was wise and always treated other people's accomplishments and losses like her own so that she could share their happiness, excitement or grieve with them. It was nice. She shared your emotions with you and she made you see a clear way out of a problem. Perhaps not a crystal clear solution but a path towards light. This is what she did for me here. She told me my next step and how to move forward. They obviously couldn't do anything for how I felt about my family. Toni asked again that maybe I should go check out my background but I didn't want to know. Not knowing anything about my parents was better than knowing they were dead and that I'd never be able to see them. I guess it was a bit like giving myself false hope but I didn't care - I didn't need another reason to be cold and shut off to everyone else.
I had Tyler's phone number on my recents as he'd phoned me the day before, somehow he'd managed to find my number. I sat in their living room, looking down at my phone, wondering whether I really wanted to phone him, whether I wanted to see where this 'thing' went. I had no idea where it would go. It was one of the amazing things about Tyler; everything was unpredictable, I had no idea what to expect. And I couldn't deny how I felt about him. How he made me feel alive, how I felt hot and cold at the same time, how everything else was blurry but he was clear and in colour. I felt like I was in the passenger seat of a race car, that I had no control over the breaks or the steering wheel. The choice of phoning him even, wasn't my choice it was the sense inside me that was driving me. I didn't even realise that I'd phoned him until he was speaking to me. "Hey Amelia", I hesitated until my heart started beating again inside my head, "What are you doing today?" I asked, now smiling and twirling my fingers inside a locket of hair in front of my ear. "I am taking you out - it's a surprise", I could tell by the slowness of his speech, he was multitasking. "Oh? And what makes you think I'll come?, I asked, teasing him, "Because I'm already here", he said, "What...?", a car pulled up outside, I could hear an engine rolling across the gravel in front of the house. I walked towards the door, at the other end of the hallway. A singular car door opened and shut before footsteps crunched the pebbles of the driveway up to the steps opening to the door. One car door, one set of feet - where was his bodyguard and the driver and whoever else Tyler usually travels with. I reached out to the brass door knob at waist height, and turned it slowly to reveal him and the light that came flooding in behind him
I smiled. He made me smile, just his being there comforted me. He stood by himself on the doorstep, his hands in his front pockets of his jeans and a smile in his eyes as he looked at me face towards the floor. "You found me", I said to myself, quietened and surprised. "How could I not?", he said, still smiling. I walked over the threshold of the door frame and stretched out my arms to hug him. He stepped up quickly to hug me back. His embrace was firm and warm. His hands glided up and down my back, pulling me closer, holding me tighter. He was strong. His chin rested just beyond my shoulder clamping my shoulder blade to him, so that I couldn't escape. I didn't want to escape - I could have stayed there for hours. His embrace was like no other, it was passionate and meaningful, I wanted to be there.
"I missed you", he said finally, "When you got onto that train, I felt as though I'd never see you again, I had to find you", "When I left the station, I thought I'd never see you again", I said back - and I meant it. It felt as though we had been reunited after years of separation. "Never leave me again, Tyler", I said, drawing back from him slowly, with my hands still at his sides. "I'll never leave you Amelia, not ever", he replied. Coming over the door frame, I led him by his hand through the hall. Holding his hand wasn't weird like I thought it would be; it was instinct and it felt so natural. He gripped my hand unlike others who would limply and pathetically place their hand in yours. "I notice you haven't brought your little gang with you", I said, he laughed, "No, not today. I hired a car and drove here in secret, I'm not really supposed to go anywhere by myself - which I hate, I don't get any liberty but today I wanna take you on a surprise trip somewhere, just the two of us", he said, excitedly. "I'm excited. Can you give a slight clue though, of where we're going so I know how to dress appropriately?", I asked, "Hmm black tie", he couldn't keep a straight face for long enough, He smiled and his cheeks went pink. We both laughed. "Have you got some walking boots and a warm something?", he enquired, still smiling, but I could see he was now being serious. I had basically grown up walking on mountains and down valleys in Wales, as we lived so close to the border. "I do indeed have both", I answered him.
He waited for me downstairs as I got dressed in some jeggings, a t-shirt and an old hoodie, I found my old pair of hiking boots in the Holt family's famous boot basket. With a faded 'Amelia Tompkinson' written in permanent marker on the fabric inside the ankle. I'd imagine most girls would take a while getting ready and preparing what they would wear, perhaps not even the most practical outfits. I just didn't care. I wanted to be comfortable, and if we were going walking what did it matter: only sheep and Tyler were going to see me and my clothes and I don't think Tyler really cared what I wore.
I walked back down the stairs and saw Tyler leaning against one of the two pillars at the bottom of the stairs. He stood up, his face happy, "Ready?", he said, "Ready". The car Tyler had hired was an old Daihatsu. God knows where he'd hired it from. It was already muddy, I could tell Tyler had borrowed the car from someone. I loved old cars. Despite living in a castle Toni's family owned a dairy farm on their estate and had collected old tractors and old cars for years. They had a couple of classics from the 1930s and then some old Toyota pickups and a Mitsubishi that was thirty years old. They had a working Daihatsu too. One of my favorite cars in fact. Tyler didn't even have to ask, he could see from my face I adored his ride. "I love Daihatsus", I said, in shock that Tyler Scott was driving one. He laughed "Me too, I was scared you were gonna be hoping for a Ferrari or something", he said and I laughed "My um, my Dad used to have one when my sister and I were younger. He taught me how to drive in it when I was eleven. We still have it but it doesn't run anymore - my Dad couldn't bring himself to get rid of it. It was his first car before he...", he drifted off a little. I knew there was something I didn't know, something that maybe everyone else on the planet did about Tyler's father. I smiled at him and he gave me a smile back.
I was glad that Tyler made decisions like this, he did things for himself to make himself happy. It meant he wasn't a pushover, that he didn't let other people's preferences take control over him.
We both laughed about how dangerous Tyler's driving was, he kept turning at junctions onto the wrong side of the road at which point I'd start swearing and shouting at him to which he'd just laugh and then make me laugh. We got there though, our mysterious destination. Shark Tooth Rock or Shark Tooth Trail, a public footpath through the Welsh hills all the way from Llandovery in South Wales to Llangollen in Northern Wales
We had arrived at Llidiart-y-parc car park, the final checkpoint of the trail before Llangollen. We were walking to Llangollen. It was a really lovely walk. At some points it was challenging, it was an international competition route; used as the 'Seven Day Challenge' by expert hikers so rock climbing and tricky ledges were a package deal. I knew this because we had come here many times before as a Sunday walk with the Holts and the Johnsons. Coming here again made me remember these memories and made me happy. I was drugged up to the hilt on painkillers so that I could do the day's activity in peace.
"My Dad used to talk about this trail when I was younger, he said he used to compete every year in some kind of race they had here. It was where they met, my mother and father, on this very trail. She dropped her hat in the wind and he ran along to pick it up", I wasn't usually one for romance and cringey stories, but the way Tyler spoke about this made me feel warmth inside.
I hadn't really heard that much of the name Tyler Scott until Clara had bought me a ticket to go and see him with Anna, it was an early birthday present from the two of them, honestly I would have been happy with a pen - birthdays aren't really my thing. So when we got to the concert I didn't actually know anything about him. Of course Anna and Clara would know pretty much every little detail from his childhood, but I didn't. It was Tyler's life and his business, in my opinion. Unfortunately fame made all this public - I found it weird how people would stalk their favourite celebrities on the internet. It was no different from stalking an ordinary person - it was creepy.
I picked up on Tyler's use of the past tense when talking about his father, but I didn't want to query him about it - I wouldn't want someone asking me If I was in his position. I did wonder though, his dad was perhaps dead or maybe he had left them and had remarried, perhaps he was in prison. I would never know. My wonderings were killing me though and it was tiring to keep the questions back, thankfully Tyler saved me, "He died, my father, he was caught...in the crossfire between two crack-heads...I was with him, he died...right in front of me", his story this time sent shivers down me, it was horrid - I couldn't imagine the situation, how could I? I was lucky, I wasn't exposed to all of this hate between people in different gangs and groups and religions. But Tyler told this story softly and with happiness, he wasn't about to burst into tears and he smiled to break the silence. "I'm so sorry, that must have been very hard", I said, "Well, yes, it was hard - for a time. It got better though. It's the strength of the love we had in our family that kept us from falling apart. My mother's heart belonged to my father and she vowed never to give it to another man", it was inspiring, "Wow", I said softly. We had been walking along the trail for at least twenty minutes now, at a fast-ish pace...but not at one I disagreed with - it was a 'my kind of pace' pace.
We spoke about each of our childhoods. He had a sister who was two years younger than him, a year younger than I was. He spoke of her fondly, I had no siblings so I didn't know what it was like but I imagined there would be many arguments and fights. Toni hardly spoke to her siblings and Billy was so dissimilar to his brothers that he spent almost no time at home. But I could imagine Tyler being a good brother, he told me how he and his sister had mini squabbles but always laughed about it afterwards. He spoke of his mother with the greatest respect. Her strength, determination and fairness made her sound like a Goddess. I didn't know her but she had inspired me.
I had always believed that no one was truly good or pure or innocent. That everyone had at least a single shred of evil within them, perhaps buried deep down. When I was younger I had read books, books full of poems and fairy tales, classics like C.S. Lewis, William Wordsworth or Shakespeare had all written such brilliant pieces of work. In each piece there was a 'goodie' and a 'baddie', but really if you read a little harder, a little deeper...they're all evil. Reading Narnia when I was little made me question each character. Lewis even wrote that on their first glimpse of Aslan it sent shivers down the children and they began to question their own individual goodness. As for Aslan, he was an enchanted animal and superficial. But listening to Tyler speak about his mother made me question my view.
Tyler was interested in the life of an orphan, he questioned me about it: the care home and the people there, the other kids and my room, my friends and my school. He was genuinely interested. "So they sent you away from everyone, all your friends?", he asked with concern in his voice, "Yep... they sent me away. It's not so bad though, boarding school, I quite like it. I miss being away from everyone here but it's a good school down there", he nodded.
We laughed a lot, on our walk. We learned a lot from each other. He was a good cook, or at least he claimed to be. He had a taste for classy food, I found out when he whipped out two foot long baguettes with Duck Paté smeared thickly on the inside and several pieces of parma ham and rocket too. It was delicious. The Holts had introduced me to food like this when I was younger, combinations like Tyler's always made me nostalgic.
We were sitting underneath a tree overhanging a cliff, about twenty minutes before the end of the trail. It was an impressive spot, we had the whole of North Wales below us...or at least it felt like it. We were just talking and laughing about anything, "Here, watch this", I had always been spontaneous, but I lacked confidence, to be honest I don't know what had gotten into me in that moment. I stood up and walked to the cliff edge, I cried over the edge with my hands cupped to the sides of my mouth so that the noise would travel, "Woooh!", my shout reached out to the trees below and touch the chimneys of houses miles away, I felt it ricoshade through the clouds and caress the tips of an aeroplane, tens of thousands of feet up in the air. It was incredible. We used to do it many times before when we were just kids standing so eagerly on that ledge, so close to the edge, screaming and yelling to walkers a hundred metres below. I turned around smiling to see Tyler, he was laughing...he was happy, "Come on, try it", he stood up and walked to the edge next to me "Wooohooo!", he shouted, "Woooh!", I shouted again. We laughed and fooled around on top of the world as if we had no time left, as if we had no tomorrow. It was an amazing feeling. He kissed me there, where we stood. He touched my face and traced my cheekbone with his thumb and with his other thumb my jaw. He kept his eyes open. The world went quiet. His head tilted ever so slightly and moved closer to mine, moving down a bit, to reach my level. His eyes pierced mine and then moved down my face to my lips as they touched. His eyes closed, as mine did. It was passionate. His hand held my head close, it was firm. His other hand stretched out on my back, he didn't move his touch downwards as most guys would, he was a gentleman. He kissed me again and again. He pivoted his forehead against mine like before. He looked at me, at my eyes. I spoke this time, "What are you doing to me Tyler Scott", to myself gently. He opened his mouth to speak, "Don't...don't, just stay with me here...now", I interrupted him, "Why?", he asked back whispering now, I whispered back, "Because...", I paused, "...because, Tyler, I think I'm falling". It had taken me this long to admit it to myself, but I knew it as the truth now, plain and clear - I was falling for him. I smiled, he smiled back chuckling softly with relief. He kissed me again. There was laughing in my head.