His Number One : The Sequel to Chemistry

Chapter 34: The End

It was nearing 6 pm. Kaylin knew this because she was in the middle of texting all of her friends whom she neglected to speak to since the shooting, and she constantly checked the time  to see how long it'd take for them to text back.

Jacob wasn't replying but he was probably at work. She had to remind herself that Jordan had been grounded for life and Tyler...Tyler shouldn't have an excuse. She looked down at her phone once more and studied over the last conversation they'd had. It was two days ago and it had been extremely dry, but that was only because of Kaylin's disinterest. Not necessarily in Tyler, and she had to repeatedly remind herself of that, but in her disinterest in any type of social relationship outside of her family. It took her three weeks, but she soon realized that this type of treatment wasn't fair to her friends, and especially not fair to Tyler.

"Hey," she texted him. Once the message was confirmed as "sent", she squeezed her phone in the palm of her hand in hopes for an instant text back. Or any text back at all.

She sat at the back of the activity bus that night with her duffle bag sitting in the seat beside her. She knew none of her friends would be at the first game of the playoffs, and she was okay with that. But she was afraid that her family wouldn't be able to make it either. Her dad still worked late and her mother and Tiara might still be at home looking after Anthony. Normally, she would be ecstatic for this game, but because of her current position, she viewed this as nothing more than another regular basketball game.

She grimaced almost the entire bus ride; not because of her situation but because every crack and bump in the road could be felt for the whole 30 minute ride. She looked down at her phone. Still no text back.

She couldn't wait until this night was over.

* * *

It'd been a long ride from JHH to West Lake. They were still on the road with only a few miles to go when Daniel decided to ask what he'd been wondering for a while now.

"So," he started, removing his eyes from the road for a second to look at his younger brother with a smirk. "When were you planning on telling us?"

"Telling you what?" Tyler asked in response. "Kaylin?"

"How long has it been?"

Tyler smiled. Just saying her name gave him this type of high that he always hated to come down from. "I've like this girl since I was 12," he said. His tone was low and light and he kept his head lifted upward against the truck's seat as he spoke. Almost as if he were recalling how it felt to be in her presence. "I knew it, but I didn't know it. You know?"

"No," Daniel laughed. "I don't know."

"I mean," Tyler commenced as he sat up in the truck. "I mean, I dated Lauren for all these years. I didn't even like her. And I only liked hanging out with her because her and Kaylin used to hang out all the time. I was bored whenever it was just me and her. But then Kaylin and I got close and so Lauren became irreverent."

"You mean irrelevant?" Daniel corrected.

"Whatever, she just didn't matter anymore. But I kept dating her and I don't know why. And then I made the dumb choice of dating Riah, Jay's little sister. But that was only because Kaylin never made a move, even after I was single, so I didn't think she was interested. I didn't realize how she felt until after me and Riah started dating. I knew because she would get upset over little things. Things she didn't used to get upset over. And that's what made me realize how much I care about her." Tyler didn't mean to get this deep, but he found that once he started talking about Kaylin, he couldn't stop. "Kaylin is literally the female version of me. I've never had anyone get me so much until I met her. I knew she was the one the day I stepped into her house and saw her playing Black Ops," he laughed. "You know what's crazy?"