Breaking The Bad Boy (Completed)

Chapter 9: Starting Over

[A/N: Song for the chapter:
- Paramore // Last Hope
- Gabrielle Aplin // Start Again]

The next cooking lesson we had started off far better than I had expected. For once, Tyler didn't ignore me or sit around doing nothing, which was good, at least for a while.

We met up at the nearest grocery store to Riverdale High and we - by we, I mean Tyler trailed behind me with his hands in his pockets the whole time - searched every aisle for extra ingredients we could add to the recipe. I decided that it would be better to start off with the most simplistic recipes, build everything up from there and then somehow implement our own twist by adding bizarre flavours to see if we could spice the recipe up.

At the checkout, Tyler hovered over me like an uncomfortable presence. The tip of his sneakers rubbed against the heels of my battered chucks and I felt the sudden urge to remind him to stay out of my personal bubble. All I had to do was take a step back and I was sure to crash into his chest. I could even feel the heat riveting off his body, crackling my insides like humming, buzzing electricity, making remarkably hard not to indulge in the lavishing scent of his aftershave.

When I added bananas to the shopping bags it was as if his dull mood was suddenly lifted.

"Are we making a banana cake?"

There was a soft, almost longing edge to his voice that made me chuckle quietly to myself. I tucked a loose curl behind my ear and spared him a glance.

"Yes, I figured it would be nice to make your favourite."

It sounded odd voicing my plan and I felt even more uncomfortable at the soft look in Tyler's eyes. It wasn't exactly a smile, but it was something.

"You still remember that?" His voice was merely a whisper and that's when I realised I wasn't even supposed to hear his mumble.

His eyes met mine with surprise when I smiled.

"How could I forget? We used to eat it everyday after school in fifth grade."

Smiling at the memory, I handed Tyler the shopping bags and paid for the items quickly before we retreated back to his car.

"Your responsibility is to take the ingredients to school. Think you can manage that?" I asked him.

With an eye roll, he slipped into his car whilst I unlocked my bike and wheeled it until I was standing by his door. He rolled the window down and stared at my bike with a thoughtful expression before looking up at me. I raised my eyebrows with a questioning look as he opened and closed his mouth several times. I wanted to laugh at how much he reminded me of a goldfish but somehow held it together, suppressing the bubble until my throat felt tight.

"Yes?" I prompted him, waving a hand in front of his face before running it through my windswept curls.

Instead of replying he shook his head and began to peel out of the parking lot without so much as a second glance. Weird, I thought to myself as I pushed myself off and cycled after his fast retreating car.

**

Ms Smith's eyebrows shot up high enough to merge with her greying hairline when Tyler and I sauntered into the classroom with our own batch of ingredients: ginger, buttermilk, bananas, cinnamon and brown sugar.

Of course I made Tyler hold all the bags as a form of punishment for yesterday and he didn't protest at all. I guess he was still feeling guilty. In a lazy amble, he headed straight for our work station at the far back of the room. I quickly scanned the classroom and almost giggled at the amount of people who gawked at him as he unloaded our ingredients.