The Valentine's Note

Chapter 26

The day after I supposedly friend-zoned Tyler, I was supposed to meet up with him for another one of our study sessions. Five minutes had already passed since I arrived at library.

With a sigh, I continued flipping through my text book to decide on what to work with him today. I stuck sticky notes on the pages that he wasn't the best at and prepared a few questions it. I glanced at the clock once I was done and realised Tyler was officially twenty-five minutes late now.

After waiting for a few minutes, I decided there was no point waiting and packed my things up. Saying a quick goodbye to the librarian, I made my way to the front door and pushed it open just as someone pulled it from the other.

My eyes connected with Tyler and we stood there staring at each other.

"Hey," I breathed when the silence became unbearable. "You made it."

"Yeah," he said, avoiding eye contact as he walked in. "Sorry I'm late."

"That's alright," I began saying but he was already walking towards an empty table.

I followed Tyler and seated myself opposite to him. I watched him as he silently pulled out his books while being extra careful so as to not look at me by any chance. I continued observing and found myself growing more and more frustrated by the minute.

"So this is how it's going to be now?" I asked, causing him to stop what he was doing.

"What do you mean?" he questioned, still not looking at me.

"You're just going to be this cold person towards me?" I inquired, "Pretend we barely know each other?"

"I'd rather not talk about this," he clarified. "Besides, we're just wasting our time from doing some productive work."

"Tyler, I'm sorry," I whispered.

He finally looked up to meet my eyes. His eyes no longer held the distant emotion they did when he first came in; they held something vulnerable in them now.

He cleared his throat. "You don't have to be."

"But I am," I insisted. "Is there anything I can do to make things better?"

He shrugged. "There's nothing to say or do. We've established that I like you and you don't like me."

That's the first time he's ever outright admitted that he likes me. I blinked and licked my lips, not sure what to say.

"I'm sorry," I repeated, feeling helpless.

"Why did you kiss me back?" he asked suddenly, his voice filled with curiosity.

"What?" I said, taken aback.

"You heard me," he responded, his eyebrows rising slightly. "Why did you kiss me back?"

I was at a loss for words. "I guess it was just so sudden and I didn't really know how to respond."

"Were you with Seth then?" he asked.

"No!" I exclaimed. "No, I wasn't."

He nodded.

"Right," he said, opening his book up and pointing at something on the page. "This bit here: I don't really understand it."

I stared at him for a beat longer than usual. What was with these sudden mood swings?

Hesitantly, I reached for the book and looked through it. After that, we continued with our study session. The only difference was that it was much more professional than our usual ones. It was strictly business.