Heart as hard as a rock. (A Tanner and Cora love story)

Chapter Eighteen

Tanner's POV
"I love you."

I was glued to where I was at the moment when I heard three unexpected words come out of her mouth. I turned around checking to see if she was playing around.

She's at the ground, sobbing. Seeing her like this, I think she meant it. I'm not sure what I should be feeling.

"Hey, cmon. Let's take you home." I said.

"I said I love you! Isn't this the moment where you're supposed to tell me you love me too?!" She pushed me away.

"You... you... oh come on you know how I take that word seriously so if you're just playing, this shit's gotta stop." I helped her get up.

"Does it look like I'm fucking playing?! I... I was too scared to tell you because I would rather you think of me as a bitch rather than tell you that I love you. Yes, we could've been together but what if one day you decide to leave me? C'mon you don't think it's possible? We could be in love with one another today and not even know each other anymore the next day. I didn't want that to happen so I tried distracting myself with bad habits."

I was speechless. Usually, whenever this happens, people end up being together. I've wanted this moment in my life but why does it not feel right?

She composed herself and wiped her tears. When she turned around and faced me, she gave me a fake smile.

"I understand if you don't feel the same way anymore. I mean, how dare I talk about this now, right?" She started walking while still wiping her tears.

"Wait, let me take you to your place." That's the least thing I could do for being a dick to her.

"Nah, I got it."

"Call you tonight?" I asked.

"I've had a long day, maybe tomorrow."

I opened the car's door for her. She never looked at me again.

Tyler's POV
Tanner came home looking disappointed. He took the soda I was just about to drink and chugged it. He was staring blankly at the table for at least 5 minutes.

"Hey Tanner what the fuck!" I playfully threw the tissue box at him.

He came back to his senses but then never hit me back.

"She wants me." He replied, still staring blankly.

"What do you mean?" I asked

"She told me that she has always loved me since the beginning but was too scared that the relationship might not work so she distracted herself with other guys." He said.

"But why now? Now that you've moved on." I asked.

Maria might be our childhood bestfriend but that doesn't change the fact that she hurted my brother for a long time. Being Tanner's buddy, I would say it did hurt me a little bit seeing him like that.

"I don't know either. All of a sudden she confessed and it fucked all my brain cells that I didn't even know what to say." He sighed.

"Well why don't you call her right now?"

"Nah. She said she needed space. Bruh, I fucked up. What do I do?"

I don't really know what to say either.

"Do you still love her?" I asked.

He looked at me.

"I don't... I don't know." He sighed again. "Anyways, did you drop off Cora?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "Wait a second, seriously?! You and Cora skipping school? What the fuck bruh!"

He laughed. "What? She needed a break from everyone at school. And besides, we're just friends. Don't worry brother, she's all yours. She just needed to have fun and so we did."

"What's fun without Tyler Mata?"

"Shut up you're just jealous because I was with her and you weren't." He joked. "But on a serious note, I don't wanna focus on girls right now. *fake coughs* So you don't have any competition right now." He winked.

I snorted. "HAH! You really are my brother. " I said.

*next day*

"Tyler! My man! You gotta check this new chic out." Will, smiling from ear to ear, pushed me into the crowd.

"Move aside people, we're coming through!" Will shooing people who was getting in our way.

Tall, petite girl with an ombre hair. Wait, did I just say ombre? Where tf did I just get that? Well that was weird.

"Hey what's up I'm Wil and this is my friend ---"

"Oh hey Tyler!"

Wil was in awe when he realized the 'chic' he was talking about knew me. Surprisingly, it was Maria.

"Maria! Uhm what a.... surprise! Wha- what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I go to school here now. Haven't you heard?" She winked as she walked away.

Wil's eyes, still in awe, followed where Maria was going.

"You... you... you know her?" He asked.

"Sadly yes. I'll fill you in later." I said.

I saw Tanner trying to see who the new chic in the campus was. He squinted his eyes and later on widened when he realized who it was. He started walking towards our direction.

"Dude what the hell is she doing here?"

I shrugged.

We're already having a lunch right now and Tanner still hasn't said any word. It's probably best to not piss him off more since he already is, I think all of our friends were already aware of it too. All he's doing is stare at his food. He looked up and looked at the whole cafeteria as if he was looing for someone. He must be hiding from Maria. Either I'm being delusional or this is for real, but whenever he saw Cora at the lunch line he came to her and started talking to her. And he started laughing actually. What the actual fuck is he doing. Does he like her? I shook my head. Nah, probably not. I'm probably just being delusional. They're just friends, I think.