Blue Plaid

Sychronization

In which Stella and Tyson are strangely in sync. 

//

My room was a disaster; even more than usual. This always happened on laundry days. I usually figured that if I was going to clean my clothes, I might as well get rid of the pieces that I didn't wear anymore, and in the process, I ended up making my bedroom look like it had just been hit by a tornado.

In the midst of separating my clothes into piles of things I would keep and things I would give away, Tyson called my name from the living room.

"Stella, you got to see this!"

I dropped a skirt I couldn't decide if I wanted on the bed and walked into the common area to find Tyson sitting on a barstool at the kitchen counter, staring at his laptop. Cooper sat in his high chair, happily shoving fistfuls of Cheerios into his mouth.

"What's going on?" I asked, raising and eyebrow as I stood beside him and reached around to ruffle Cooper's soft hair.

"Check this out," Tyson replied, turning his laptop so I could see it better and grinning widely.

Skeptical as to what could possibly have him so excited, I glanced at the screen and burst out laughing at the headline.

Stella steps out with a hunky mystery man. Is love in the air?

I didn't bother reading the article because I could guess what it said, so I scrolled down the page to see a picture of Tyson, Cooper, and I taken through the window of the grocery store. It wasn't as though we were getting cozy, but we were smiling, so I guess I could see how they inferred something more was going on.

Shrugging, I laughed as I looked at Tyson. "I told you this would happen."

"I figured," he chuckled. "I just didn't know it would be so soon."

"Soak it in, Kingsley," I smirked as I turned to walk back to my bedroom. "You're about to become an internet sensation."

"What do you mean?" he furrowed his brow and pursed his lips.

I wiggled my eyebrows at him as I spoke. "The cheekbones and the soulful dark eyes. Girls are gonna have pictures of you up on their walls in no time."

"You can't be serious." His voice came out in an almost whisper and I realized his face had gone pale. Apparently the thought of being a sex symbol was terrifying.

"Chill, Ty," I reassured him, pausing in my doorway. "Seeing as they're referring to you as a 'mystery man', they don't even know your name and it'll take them ages to figure it out as long as no one leaks it to the press."

"And once they figure it out?" he quirked an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't worry about it," I shrugged.

He seemed surprised by my nonchalance towards the entire situation. "Why not?"

"I was just stroking your ego before," I replied, entering my bedroom and speaking over my shoulder, "No one actually thinks you're attractive."

The fact that he absolutely knew that was a lie caused him to laugh and I could tell he was a little more relaxed when he shouted, "You do."

I didn't bother responding because there wasn't any point. He would know I was lying if I denied it and I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of saying he was right.

So instead, I checked the messages on my phone and noticed one from Mia, asking me to call her when I had the chance. Odds were that she'd seen the article about me and Tyson online and wanted to discuss damage control.