Listen to the heart

Chapter 22

I sat up. This was not a story I could tell lying down comfortably on Tyler's chest. Even after 3 years it hurt, it was still hard to replay memories of the past. The memories which I had locked up deep within my heart. The memories associated with a person who had changed who I am today, changed my perceptive on things and ironically had no clue of all that he had done. It was time to let out the demons of the past.

Tyler sensed we were going to have a serious conversation and he sat up from his lazy position as well.

"If it's too hard you don't have to tell me now. I can wait." He said softly placing a hand on mine.

"No it's time I let it out, it's time I told someone, they say talking helps with the burden don't they?" I said with a half hearted smile.

Tyler just looked at me waiting patiently not saying anything.

"You know how I spent 7th and 8th grade in New York because my parents had moved there." I started my story.

Tyler nodded in response.

"I met a guy in the school I attended. He was good looking charming and arrogant. Girls flocked around him fawning over his every move. No he wasn't a player. I know he suits the description of a player but he wasn't. He wasn't interested in dating or even flirting. The few relationships he had with girls were purely platonic. He was more of a guy's guy sticking with the jocks most of the time." I paused letting Tyler absorb it all.

He was looking at me with curiosity in his eyes but there was also something else a hint of concern. That encouraged me to tell him more. I somehow knew that he could be trusted and he would provide me just the right amount of comfort. I didn't want pity, I wanted someone to understand that's all I wanted. I wished for empathy not sympathy.

"Obviously being the girl that I am I wasn't oblivious to his looks. There was something interesting about him, there was the way he laughed which made me want to hear the laughter more. I wanted to know him and eventually I did. He started off teasing me and being a complete ass to me. He would tease me relentlessly not in any harmful way but sometimes to the point of me wanting to whack him. Little did I realize that all his teasing was making me fall for him. Despite his relentless teasing I wanted to spend time with him. I wanted to know the person beneath all that teasing. We grew closer the day he protected me from the bad boy of the school." I paused because Tyler's expression had changed. Under the moonlight I could see his eyes had darkened and he looked angry.

"It's not what you think. The so called bad boy didn't try to rape or me even molest me." My words calmed Tyler visibly and he relaxed. It was sweet how concerned he could be.

"The bad boy was your average narcissistic pig with an ego the size of planet Mars. His puny brain was unable to comprehend that I wasn't interested in him and would never be. He repulsed me. He took up stalking me as his favorite past time. I had tried being rude, being firm, being a bitch but nothing got the message across to him to leave me alone till Alex stepped in. Alex is the guy who used to tease me by the way. He managed to get rid of my over obsessed over attached stalker." I scrunched up my nose in disgust thinking about that crazy stalker.

So far I had just been setting up the scene and explaining the details of my life in NewYork. I hadn't reached the main part. The part which had left me broken. Tyler squeezed my hand to comfort me. He had held onto my hand the entire while.

"So Alex and me started to get closer. We would spend endless hours together at the library. Yes the library I was a nerd there. No I kid. I needed good grades and the library was the one place where I could spend quality time with Alex who was a nerd in disguise. A totally hot nerd." I paused once again.