From Mine to Ours

7: Expect the Unexpected

"How- I blocked your number, Tyler," I stand up from my seat, not wanting to bring a downer to the table, but Jas grabs my hand before I can walk away. I look around the table and they all give me looks that say 'stay here', if I were to interpret it. At least, they're comforting enough for me to sit back down and take in the support they're trying to give me.

"I- I'm not calling from my phone..."

"I blocked Lucas' number too," I respond curtly, rolling my eyes innately as the others all furrow their brows.

"This isn't his phone either..."

"Okay, you know what?" I sigh, not really in the mood to be dealing with this and I'm also more than a little shocked to be hearing his voice through my phone right now. "Whatever, doesn't matter who's phone you're using, why are you calling me?"

"I-" he pauses and it's taking everything in me to not hang up right now, "we miss you..."

"Don't you dare." My snappy tone sounds foreign even to my own ears. A hand being placed on top of my own calms me down enough to stop me from raising my voice, "do not even dare say 'we', there was never any 'us', so there's no 'we' here either,"

"Please..." His voice sounds shaky, and I will even admit that I nearly break at the sound. But Lucas' sweetened voice coming from the background strengthens my wall once again. "Tyler, Baby, let's try again some other time, I'm sure he'll-" I hang up, tapping the red button without another thought.

Dropping my head to the table, I squeeze my eyes shut to stop myself from crying. Not now, not in front of everyone like this. I take a deep breath, the hand on top of mine tightening ever so slightly and I look up, following the hand and arm up to the face of the dark haired beauty and I almost gasp as soon as I notice it's his hand that's been squeezing mine this entire time.

This is his warmth on my hand right now. His security that he's giving me. I look over to see Julian and Asher just as worried as everyone else in the room; they're not even sparing a glance at our interlocked hands on the wooden surface between us all.

"Are... you okay?" Asher asks, his voice wavering with hesitancy. I take a moment to think if I'm really alright.

Images of myself from the middle of this very same year start flashing through my consciousness, the way I would curl under my bedsheets whenever I hear my exes having their own fun in the room right across from me. Their subtle glances and soft touches underneath the dinner table that they thought I never noticed.

My lungs fill with a large influx of air, my free hand tightening into a ball on my knee. I need to calm down. I may be a bit sad now, but I won't let this get me down for long, that's just not me and I won't start weeping over it now. Especially not in public like this; I need to keep myself together, at least until I get home.

"I will be," I force a smile on my face, keeping my hand under his larger one for a little while longer, well aware of the silent questions filling all of their heads. "Honestly, I'm just taken aback to be hearing from him again after nearly half a year passed," I look back over to my phone briefly and let my head fall on my arm again.

"Was that one of your exes?" Jasmine eventually fills the tense silence and I nod in the crook of my elbow resting on the table.

Silence again. 

"Come on, let's go eat, I'm starving," Asher's upbeat voice makes me raise my head again to look at him and he shoots me one of the brightest smiles I've seen from him so far.

"Yeah, same here," Julian follows him out the door while the others take my hands to pull me up from the table.

"You heard the man," she giggles and shuts off the lights. We all put on our coats following the two in front of us. I suddenly realize how quickly the mood shifted, and I start to feel my own smile tugging on my lip. All saddening thoughts nowhere to be found as I'm surrounded by my friends and their laughter.