Bitter Treats (BxB Romance, In Progress)

36: Sweet Escape

Muffled voices from beyond the veil of the dreams woke Tyler from his slumber. Robin and... Des, perhaps? It was an undeniably female and quite bossy voice at least. There was an urgency to their conversation that reached Tyler even in the soft abyss of Robin's bed, which smelled like cookie-dough ice cream after their date last night. Tyler may have spilled some when Robin's cuteness distracted him from the sweet dessert.

When he heard his name mentioned from the land of the awake, Tyler shed layers of blanket to peek outside. The first thing he saw was a chocolate brown rabbit, chewing on a chair leg like a beaver about to build a dam. Then, his eyes fell on Robin by the door, chatting in hushed tones with his red-headed best friend. "What's-what's happening?" Tyler enquired, squinting as the harch morning lights assaulted his retinas. "Des? Why are you here?"

"My mom's coming!" Robin couldn't hide the stressed vibrato underneath the fake calm cadence."Des was walking Pax outside and saw her pull up just now. I'll explain more later, but I haven't told her about you. And I don't want her to find out like this."

"You have to hide, Tyler," Des insisted, her voice not faltering."Now! Liza will be here any second."

Ty glanced across the room for hiding spots and his eyes fell on the window. "I can climb out!" he declared, confident in his abilities. Just a jump and then a light roll once he got outside. Luckily, Robin lived on the bottom floor.

As if part of a synchronized routine, Robin and Des both lifted their eyebrows and shook their heads. Apparently, they didn't have as much faith in Tyler as he had himself.

That's when Tyler remembered he was down a leg. It was difficult to keep track of such things with a morning-foggy brain. But that complication would definitely impede his climbing plan. And he was a bit concerned about fracturing his remaining leg. Then he would be back in a wheelchair again, just like he had been for the first few months after leaving the hospital.

"Under the bed!" Des ordered Tyler. She was apparently the only one capable of useful ideas, or any ideas, at this early hour since Tyler was still half-asleep and Robin was full-on in panic mode. "Now!" She rushed toward the bed--scaring poor Pax in the process--pulled the covers off Tyler and pulled on his arm to spark him into action.

Before Tyler could enter the suggested hideaway, a cannonade of knocks echoed through the room, making the three people within its walls freeze in fear. "Robin, are you there?" a voice tinged with a frosty bite called out.

Freeing himself from decision paralysis, Tyler quickly threw himself on the floor. The woman who was on the other side of the door may be related to the boy who held his heart, but it was clear she wasn't as gentle as her son. While Robin's urge was always to protect, hers was to control. Tyler felt no urge to meet her just yet. Or ever, really.

Crawling like he was in army boot camp, Tyler soon found himself hidden underneath worn-out bed springs. Des artfully draped the sheets across the side of the bed to cover all tracks of his whereabouts.

Just when Tyler thought he was in the clear, Robin whispered "Crutches" between gritted teeth. The next moment, the blankets lifted and a crutch handle hit his nose.

"Ouch," he complained. While he understood that his walking aids needed to be hidden, since Robin probably didn't want to fake an injury on the spot, Des could have taken a bit more care with placing them.

"Be quiet," Miss Bossy-Pants ordered him from outside the darkness.

Tyler obeyed while rubbing his assaulted nose. He would raise a complaint about crutch management later.

From his hiding position, he heard Robin and his mom bicker in the doorway. Tyler couldn't make out the exact words but he could sense tension filling the room from raised and rapid voices. It even sounded like Des chimed in at some point, seemingly pretending that Robin spent the night with her instead of Tyler, which was perhaps more palatable for a judgemental mother.