Queens

4.3: Tyler and Marina

(#mayler)

The grand door clicks shut. Tyler blinks his eyes open, and without even thinking about it, senses that Josh is gone. He rolls off the bed he's sleeping on, his legs heavy from sleep, and crashes to the floor. Tyler rubs his temples, his vision temporarily blurry as he stands. His eyes dart from each mound of blankets to the next, seeing all the covers disturbed and no people underneath. The only occupied spot is Marina's, where she lays in deep sleep. At the moment, she's dreaming of she and her new boyfriend on a date, but for some reason her boyfriend was a mirror and she looked nothing like herself. Just as she was remarking to her mirror/boyfriend how fucking ugly she looked, she is jolted awake by Tyler's anxious shakes.

"Mar," he gives her shoulder a shake.  "Marina," he tries again, and from the sleeping body comes a guttural groan.

"Tyler, what the fuck do you want," she turns over in her bed, pulling the covers over her head.

"Marina, everyone's gone," Tyler tells her worriedly.

"Who cares?" Marina moans. "It's like one in the morning or something. Go away."

"Everyone's gone, Mar," Tyler reiterates.

"I don't care, go away, Ty."

In desperation, Tyler claps in her face and shouts her name.  Normally, Tyler wouldn't want to disturb anyone like this, but he feels lost without Josh there and doesn't know how to act.

"What?" Mar shouts.

"Marina, everyone is gone. We have to figure out what's going on," Tyler repeats for the third time.

"Yeah, I know. Ashley's going to this underground party or something. The others are fine. I don't get why you worry so much." Marina is finally sitting up, exhausted body slouching against the pillows.

She sees Ty's face and finally understands how upset he is, and motions for him to sit down, softening a bit. Usually, anyone that wakes her up is dead to her, but she makes a tiny exception for Tyler. "Do you really want to go?" she asks, seeing that Tyler's hand-wringing has gotten to a level unusual for even him, the most nervous person she knows. Marina puts her arm loosely around his shoulders. "I'm sure your lover is fine."

"He's not my lover," Tyler mumbles.

"Whatever you say, Ty." She rolls her eyes, even though he can't see.

With Tyler's emotional state deteriorating, and Marina feeling some sense of responsibility for the first time in her life, they get up and drag themselves to the informal dining room. Two people man the kitchen, as they know that the royals don't exactly have normal sleeping schedules. Once tea is placed in front of their seats at the table, the duo begins to discuss their next move.

"I know that Ashley is at the party," Marina puts forth tentatively.

"That's one person down," Tyler notes. "Three to go," he adds in despair.

"Tyler, just think for a moment. You know that Ash is going to get back, Ella never does anything wilder than taking a few night walks, and Josh and Melanie are the most responsible of the group. What's the worst that could happen?"

Tyler immediately thinks of a dozen worst-case scenarios. Attacked by a bear. Attacked by fans. Someone comes back drunk and breaks his ukelele, again. Attacked by another meteor that wipes out the human race, or even worse, bad publicity. At the very least, he thinks, Ashley is going to get caught partying again and Abie's going to berate them all. "I just don't like the feeling of this. Josh never goes out, Ella is usually back by this hour, and Melanie would hate to be photographed leaving the castle too late in fear of a twisted tabloid story."