One Road

Chapter 7

I wait quietly for Tyler after school, my arms wrapped around my binder as I hold it to my chest. Everyone from the school has slowly gone away until I'm left alone just waiting. Tyler finally appears.

"Hey. Sorry I'm so late, Mrs. Donovan wouldn't stop lecturing me about catching up with the rest of the class." He says, walking towards me with his hands in his pockets.

I smile at him. "It's fine, I'm glad to see you're still alive. I'd hate to have to fill out a missing report."

Tyler laughs, running a hand through his hair and messing it up even more than usual. "Why, because you would hate to have me missing?"

Rolling my eyes as we start walking towards Tyler's car at the end of the parking lot, I bump my shoulder against his playfully.

"Nah, just too much paper work." I say as he bumps his shoulder against mine back.

"Aren't you sweet?" He mutters sarcastically. I bump my shoulder against his again and grin at him until his mouth finally breaks into a smile.

"Yeah, I'm too sweet."

"Aha, right." Tyler says, laughing and rolling his eyes.

We reach his car, which turns out to be a red pick up truck. I hold one of my hands out to him and raise an eyebrow expectantly.

"What?" He asks.

"Keys. You said I could drive."

Tyler laughs. "I've changed my mind, it's my car and I'm driving."

I pout before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. But I'll make sure to remember this next time."

He grins and opens the passenger door for me. I climb in, briefly sticking my tongue out at him before closing the door after myself. Tyler clambers in on his side, putting the keys in the ignition and starting the car up.

I roll my window down as he pulls out of the parking space, drumming my fingers on the part of the door beneath the window.

"Where do you keep your CDs?" I ask.

Tyler glances over at me. "In the glove compartment. There's a few Paramore, I think."

"Ooh," I say, pulling out the Brand New Eyes CD and putting it into the car's CD player.

Tyler turns the volume up until it's almost at its highest and I burst into happy laughter, winding the windows down and singing as we drive to who-knows-where.

I take some sunglasses out of my bag and put them on as I look out of the window, at the sunny fields outside. Tyler starts singing along quietly to Ignorance and I look over at him, smiling easily. He rolls his eyes and stops singing. I reach over and put my hand over his as it rests on the steering wheel.

"Don't stop singing, it's fun."

Tyler grins again, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly. "Fine, fine."

We both sing loudly as we drive through the streets towards Tyler's unknown place, the windows rolled down in the sunny day. Finally, we pull up in front of a white washed block of big flats.

"We're here." Tyler declares, climbing out of the car and pulling the keys out of the ignition. I copy him and clamber out as well, taking my binder and bag and joining Tyler.

He goes through the doors and into the hall, to the stairs leading up to the next floor. We go up them until we reach the 6th level, stopping outside a door marked F15.

"Don't tell me that there's actually a chocolate factory behind this door." I say.

Tyler rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'm secretly Willy Wonka."

"I knew I recognised you from somewhere." I say, grinning, which causes him to roll his eyes at me again.

He takes a key from his pocket and unlocks the door, pushing it open and allowing me into the flat. I walk through the small hallway, kicking my shoes off and leaving them at the end of the short entrance.

I'm now standing in a living room. It's nice and open, has a green sofa, a white carpet and a large coffee table. The room is kind of dusty, as though it hasn't been used in a while. A door leads to the kitchen on the left of the living room. Three other doors lead out of the room, one in between the other two which is open to reveal a bathroom.

A glass sliding door stands on the right wall, leading to a cute balcony.

"Wow. This place is really cool." I say, turning to Tyler who stands behind me. "How come you have it?"

He runs a hand through his hair and shrugs. "I'm supposed to live here."

I raise an eyebrow as he drops his keys on the coffee table. "'Supposed' to?"

Tyler sighs. "Well, it's kinda complicated. I've been staying with my cousin lately, but I'll be back in here in a while."

"Right." I say. "Where do you want to try out the art project idea?"

He takes my bag and binder from me politely, making his way over to the closed door on the right of the back wall. I follow him and he lets us into a massive empty white room, going over to the window in the room and opening the blinds. He hands me back my bag and binder.

"This room is perfect. There's loads of space for us to work on everything." I say, looking around. Tyler nods and drops his bag on to the ground by the door, crouching down and opening it.

I sit with my legs crossed and open my own bag to take out my paint and other art supplies. Tyler sets out the cans of spray paint from his bag and looks up at me, crossing his legs and sitting down as well.

I smile and open my binder, flicking through some pages to find the notes and designs of the ideas I had for this project.

"This is one of my favourite parts of working on art;" I say without looking up from my ideas.

"The start when you have an empty canvas and you can just do anything you want. You can just imagine anything and then create it from your own mind and with your own hands. I find that amazing."

Finally I look up and find Tyler's eyes fixed on me. He smiles slightly sheepishly and I laugh.

"Sorry about that." I say. "It's just me being weird."

Tyler shakes his head. "No, I get exactly what you mean. It's awesome."

I meet his eyes and smile. We stay smiling at each other for a moment before I finally break the silence and grin.

"Let's get started then."