Reckless Youths

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"I'm Lily, Tyler is late, and I said it's a love story baby just yes."

It's Tuesday evening and Tyler isn't here. He dropped Colin and I at home with a piss poor excuse that he had an errand to run and it's past when he said he'd be back and he's not. With no other option I hauled all our camera equipment into my room and shut the door, turned the camera on and am now filming.

I've had a song in my head all day which I'm going to sing in case Tyler decides he is abandoning ship for this evening. I've texted, called, left more voice mails than a worried mother all to no avail.

I look back at the flashing light on our camera and decide to procrastinate, in the hopes that he might just be home soon. Also, it gives me a bit of space to have some fun.

"Since Ty has decided not to show up I'm going to be telling you things he wouldn't want me to until he does."

I start with his love for romantic comedies. Ever since I can remember he's been forcing me to watch them, with the cheesy lines I find pathetic rather than cute. Just the way he looks at the screen convinces me he's a hard core romantic. Among his favourites are 27 Dresses and Sweet Home Alabama. I can't get through that without laughing.

"Even better still, is when he thinks he's home alone," I tell the camera, tears nearly welling in my eyes from laughing so hard. I can barely speak. "He walks around the house belting out Adele or on the odd occasion, High School Musical. I think the last movie is his favourite, but he's got a soft spot for the time when Zac Efron couldn't sing."

I resolve to spit out a few embarrassing moments from his childhood before giving up on him when my door flings open and is slams shut before I can comprehend what's going on. Tyler runs in and jumps on my bed, breathless and red cheeked. He pecks me on the cheek leaving a wet feeling behind, so I scrunch up my nose and scrub it off.

"Every time you do that, Lilith Amalie, my heart breaks a little."

Classic Tyler.

"Why have you got to use my middle name?" I groan, dragging the pillow from behind me to throw in his face. Unfortunately he catches it and simply puts it behind his head, leaving him with two pillows and me with none.

"Because it's cute," he announces and picks up the guitar from beside my bed. He strums it a few times, taking in the camera which has already started filming, the microphone already set up, and the open window letting in the cool winter's breeze.

"Just like the song we're singing today."

"Freestyling again, are we?"

"You've left us no choice." Which is exactly what I'm curious about. I'd go as far to say I'm suspicious; he's never been late to film a video. He's never lied to me about where he's going and what he's doing. But I can push for an answer after the video.

"I'm so sorry, dear," he says, but the smirk on his face says otherwise. "How can I make it up to you?"

At this stage our viewers will be screaming a kiss! A kiss! But I won't sink to that level. Not again. Not unless I have to.

"I'm sure I'll think of something," I say, and then we get on with the video.

It's a romantic song, fit for the movies Tyler loves so much. He mainly plays the guitar and I mainly sing, with his accompaniment in the chorus. Subtle, but perfect.

"If you liked this video you can like, comment and subscribe to our channel below-"

"And if Lily hasn't killed me by Friday, we'll see you then for our weekly Dare Day. Don't forget to submit your dares-"

"And please, no kissing. If we don't get enough actual dares-"

"Lily will cancel the video like she did last Friday."

I glare at him for making me out as the bad guy, but he laughs and holds his hands up in the universal sign of surrender.

"I'm not the one who minds. I actually quite like kissing you."

"Ty!"

"What?" He's got the grin of Lucifer playing with his lips as he turns back to the camera and concludes. He turns off the camera and starts to pack up, all the while I'm shaking my head.

"We don't need any more fangirls for this ship, Tyler."

"I will go down with this ship," he sings, stowing the equipment under my desk only to give me the footage for editing. At least I have peace of mind in the little bit of revenge I will get when he sees the finished product.

"So what was it you needed to do so urgently that you had to miss the start of our video?" I ask as we're eating dinner. We're back upstairs but in his room this time, among the other plates and half empty mugs littering his room. A CD of his is playing softly in the background as we eat leftovers that Colin cooked. He's out somewhere with a girl and won't be back until later. I don't think Drew is home either; not that he ever is.

"I told you, I had errands to run."

He's lying down, propped up on his elbow with his bowl of pasta in one hand and fork in the other. His dark hair is a bit scruffy and his eyes are looking anywhere but at me. He's lying, but he's not going to tell me the truth.

So I let it go.

"Okay. What are we going to do tonight then?"

"Well," he considers, setting his bowl on the bedside table to pull himself into a seated position. "I could always kick your butt in Mario Kart."

He was the one who introduced me to the damned game when we were kids. He'd had years of practice on me; I never stood a chance. Even now I'm yet to beat him, but tonight I don't mind facing defeat.

He turns on the television in his room and gets the controllers, and we play and talk into the night. We have university tomorrow so we stop at a reasonable hour only for Ty to follow me back to my room.

"Your room is so damn cold," he shivers, not bothering to touch the open window. He knows I'd close it as soon as he did. He's in his plain sweats but even despite the cold has no shirt, something he says he can't sleep in. I try not to let my eyes linger because I'm worried what could happen if they do. It's happened before, and its part of what led to my thirteen year old self's crush on him. Tyler is good looking, anyone with two eyes can see that. He loves to run and in turn keeps in good shape, the work of which is crystal clear when he parades around the house half naked. I am positive I'm past having any of those feelings towards him, but I don't want to chance it.

"You know you have a room of your own with a perfectly closed window."

He laughs, flicking the light off to leave us in the dark before crawling into his side of my bed. "But then I don't get to tell people we slept together."

"You're an idiot."

"You love me though."

"Mmh." I make my way across to my desk in the dark, finding our video has successfully been posted. Ty would check over it in the morning and I would watch the horror on his face as he spits out his cereal at the secrets I have revealed. It's the sweet kind of revenge that will be there forever.

I close the laptop lid and take off my jeans, throwing one of Tyler's hoodies over my t-shirt and crawling in beside him. I'm shivering and my nose is frozen, but one move from Ty and it's all long forgotten. He is my hot water bottle, as he self-appointed to himself years ago, and has not failed to fulfill his duty of keeping me warm.

"Your legs are all prickly," he groans into the dark, annoyed at my lack of effort to shave. In winter there is no point, with my legs always covered with jeans or tights so that no one will see my laziness.

"I'm not sorry. Do you know how much effort it is to shave legs?"

He doesn't respond. He just chuckles and shakes his head.

"What should we do for our Week of Dares?" He asks instead, his hands warm around my waist.

"We can talk about it later," I mumble, and within minutes I'm asleep.