Hell & Back || TYLER SBG

Chapter 7: epiphany

Most of the boys on the baseball team ran cross-country during the offseason just so that they had something to do. That of course, included Tyler.

Danica crossed her arms over herself as she walked to the bleachers where Taylor sat. The lower the sun sat in the sky, the colder it got, and the darker it got, the more she began to dread the extra seven torturous hours that were added to her day.

It was a relief seeing the brunette girl sitting in the front row. It had only been a few days since everything went down, but Taylor felt like safety. It felt wrong to even think, but Danica felt more like herself than she even did around her friends when she was with Taylor.

"Hey Dani!" Taylor lit up when she saw her, handing her a drink. "One of the seniors in engineering club took us to get coffee afterwards, so I thought I'd pick you up some too since Ty told me you'd be here."

"Oh my god, thank you," Danica took it, slightly shocked at the gesture. What was it with the Hernandez twins and being weirdly helpful the past few days?

She sat down on the bleachers which were cold from the autumn air. In hindsight, wearing an outfit just to see an ex for two minutes wasn't really the brightest idea, especially when it was definitely not summer weather anymore.

"I don't know how you take your coffee, so I got a little bit of sweetener and oat milk just to be safe," she said as Danica stirred the ice around and took a sip. "But if you want you can have mine. It's a caramel macchiato."

She offered it, extending her arm slightly. Danica declined though. It was nice enough for her to be buying her a coffee to begin with.

"So..." Danica said, hesitant to ask the question. "How've you been holding up?"

Taylor paused, looking ahead at the track in consideration.

"Okay, I guess," she said with a shrug. "I have Tyler after the seven hours are up, so it's probably easier for me than it is for you, Logan and Ashlyn."

Danica nodded in consideration. Now that she thought about it, Aiden and Ben had each other too. It was really just her and the other two that were alone anxiously waiting to get sucked into the phantom realm, and absolutely petrified after they got out.

The two girls sat on the bleachers, making conversation a bit. They tried to talk about anything else. Danica had talked to Taylor before, but it was only ever about the classes they shared. Now that they had a shared experience, it was different. They weren't just school friends anymore.

Eventually, practice ended and Tyler walked over. They were so wrapped up in talking that he had to speak up for them to notice.

"Why the hell are you still wearing that?"

Danica looked up at the boy who was standing in front of them, taking a sip from his water. His hair was a complete mess from running, and it was clear that he made an effort to be the first out of practice so that he could avoid talking to the other boys on the team.

"Oh, hey Ty!" Taylor greeted him. "You look like hell."

It was obviously just sibling banter. Danica had to stop herself from laughing when Tyler shot her a look. Then she remembered that she had to respond to the very pointed question.

"Didn't have time to go home and change," she shrugged.

The boy mumbled something under his breath. Something including 'idiot', but she couldn't make the rest out.

Taylor looked over at her, clearly thinking something over for a moment before she spoke up.

"You've got a jacket in your bag, don't you Ty?"