With You

Chapter 19

For the next couple of days me and Tyler just hang out in the dorms. We only go out and get food and we spend the rest of the days watching OTH. He doesn't want to admit it, but I kind of got him addicted to it.

"Nathan shouldn't shut Haley out like that," he says. We're watching the first episode of Season five. I pour some sour patches into my hand.

"I know. It's fucked up, but he's depressed."

There's a knock at my door and I give Tyler a weird look.

"I wonder who's here."

"Maybe it's Coop and Josh," he suggest.

I look into the peephole and see a very angry Zayden at the door. I tell Tyler I'll be right back and leave the room.

"What's up, Adalyn," Zayden says. When he's angry his accent gets thicker.

I pull him off to the side, away from my door.

"Hey, Zay. I know we still have to talk. Don't be mad at me."

"Of course I'm mad at you. I've been waiting three days for you to explain why you've been acting so distant towards me."

"Look, we'll talk tomorrow," I whisper.

"Why are you whispering and why are we talking outside of your room?"

Before I answer him my door swings open.

"Babe, you good?" Tyler asks.

I give him a half smile. "Yeah, I'm cool."

Zayden looks at me and I could see the hurt in his eyes. "It all makes sense now. That's why you've been ignoring me." He shakes his head in disbelief. "See you around, friend." The way he says the last word cuts me deep.

I storm past Tyler and lay on the couch. He follows behind me and lifts my feet up to place them on his lap.

"What the fuck was that about, Lynn? Was that they Zayden guy?"

"It's nothing, he just pissed about me not talking to him. Yeah that's him."

He sits up and looks me in the eyes. "That didn't seem like nothing, but I won't ask you about it again. I just want to spend my last night with you and in you," he winks.

I laugh at him. Tyler is the only person besides Cooper that turns a serious conversation into a playful one.

We spend the last night exactly the way Tyler wants to and I forget about everything that happened earlier in the day.

At nine in the morning I walk Tyler to his van and give him a kiss goodbye.

"Text me the minute you make it to the airport and call me the minute you land," I say.

He puts his bag in the backseat and kisses me. "Don't worry, I will. Be good, Addy. I love you."

I pout my lips and hug him tighter. "I will. I love you, too."

I dressed as fast as I can and run across the campus to my cultural anthropology class. When I take my seat, I notice that Zayden isn't in the seat that's next to me. My tea that he usually gets me is sitting on my desk though and that makes me feel even shittier. I search the room for him and see that he's sitting on the other side of the classroom. I send him a text.

Can we talk after class?

I see him read my text. He turns to look at me. "No," he mouths.

Please?