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pt. 21 Only Fools Fall For You

In the morning after Tyler and I were up and ready to start the day, we got a call from Josh asking if we'd like to come to his house for dinner so I would have the opportunity to meet his family as well.

"Okay," I heard Tyler reply as I brushed my teeth across the hall from where he was sitting on his bed talking to Josh. "Yeah we'll see you then. Okay dude, stay street." He hung up the phone, "Is it cool if we go to Josh's tonight?"

Assuming he was talking to me, I nodded through the toothpaste foam that filled my mouth. Once I spit I added, "Are you still going to show me around Columbus today?"

Tyler sauntered toward where I was standing and put his arms around my thin waist, "Of course, sweets."

I smiled and turned to kiss him, "Sweets?"

"Yeah," he kissed me again, "Because more than your heart is sweet."

My entire face flushed at his compliment and possible innuendo as we made our way down stairs to tell Mrs. Joseph we were leaving.

"Be safe okay?" Tyler's mom gave him a worried look as she straightened his sweater.

"Mom we'll come home before we go to Josh's. Don't worry."

She smiled a sad smirk and let us leave the house without anymore worried glances. "You're really good to your mom," I observed to Tyler as we made our way to his high school car of gold-ish pink color.

"Nah, I'm really not. I've always wanted to be a better brother," as an after thought he adds, "a better son."

I walked around the car to the passenger's side, "What do you mean Ty? How could you be any better than you are? You're too hard on yourself my love."

He shrugged and I took it as my cue to shut up. Tyler started the car and drove to a remote and very wooded area when he finally parked and asked me to get out.

"What is this place?" I asked as I searched my surroundings for any clue of where we were. There was a small gravel parking lot where Tyler left his car but aside from it there was nothing but dense forest and an overcast sky.

Tyler grabbed my hand and led me down a small dirt path that was nearly hidden from sight, "I used to come here a lot, it was my favorite place to write and think." The trail took us to a semi-clearing that was surrounded by trees and small wildflowers throughout, like it belonged in Twilight.

I stood beside him in the clearing and Tyler's breath grew heavy. Worry formed in my heart as I wondered what he was doing. When I was about to ask he interrupted me by singing, "I know where you stand, silent in the trees and that's where I am. Standing cowardly."

"Ty-"

"I want to know you," his singing grew louder, "I want to see. I want to say," At this point he was screaming into the empty sky, staring up at it with fists clenched and veins popping out of his neck as he demanded an answer of some sort from someone. "Hello?"

All at once Tyler turned pale and began to shake.

"Are you okay?" He looked up at me slowly and purposefully, a strange new glimmer in his eye and smiled sheepishly.

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I-what was that?"

"Sometimes my brain just explodes with a new idea or phrase and I have to produce it or else my head just pounds. I get a migraine if I don't let my thoughts flow freely."

We spent another hour in the field, Tyler writing down ideas in the small leather notebook he carried with him and me talking about how lucky I felt to be alive and sharing that moment with him. Every now and then, Tyler would look up from what he was writing and gaze at me with a look I can only describe as longing. What he longed for I couldn't say but something told me it had to do with the piece of a song he had just written.