Deal With It

thirty six

Chapter 36

My eyes landed on a collapsed body on the ground as soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs. I gasped and ran towards it, kneeling down to get a better look. "Tyler!" I shrieked, panic instantly rushing through me when I saw his face. I shook his body and he began to move, pushing my hands away.

Everyone raced down to see why I was creating such a racket. By then, Tyler was on his feet, finding it difficult to maintain his balance. Was he drunk? I was unable to get a wink of sleep all night whilst he was out drinking? Probably with J.

Whoever this was, I had a serious problem with them right now. And Tyler didn't even have the decency to ring or answer a single one of my calls?

He tightly gripped onto the banistor and shut his eyes as he pressed on the bridge of his nose. Questions started flying around the room and I quickly lost my cool, shouting for everyone to be quiet.

They complied, stunned by my unusual outburst.

"I'm taking him up," I announced, holding his hand as I literally dragged him along with me.

I dropped him down on the bed and he stayed put for a few minutes before sitting up, his bloodshot eyes not moving from me. He groaned as I pushed him back down and removed his black boots.

I left the room and came back with an aspirin and some water, handing it to him. He took it without arguing and finished gulping down the water in seconds.

"Go away," he said after a minute or so. When I ignored him, he repeated himself several more times.

"I'm not going anywhere," I finally told him.

"I don't want you here."

I sucked in a deep breath and stared at him intensely. "Well, I don't care what you do or don't want. You stay out all night, drinking with some girl most likely and come home in this state, then expect me to listen to you?"

His eyes narrowed to slits and he sat up again, his breathing heavy and ragged. "Some girl?" he repeated, sounding a lot more sober just after hearing what I had said. "What the hell are you talking about?"

I looked down before answering him. "I saw your phone yesterday—"

"That wasn't some girl!"

"Then who was it?"

His eyes flashed with something I couldn't recognise and he gulped, "just a friend."

I scoffed and shook my head. Unbelievable. I started walking away from him, towards the exit of the room because I didn't want to hear his lies.

"You should trust me," he said.

I paused and looked over my shoulder. "You don't make it easy."

He stood up from the bed and lost his balance, holding his hand out to inform me that he didn't want my help. He finally secured himself on the ground, his expression a far cry from how he looked at me just two days ago. "Don't be such a hypocrite, Arissa," he folded his arms over his chest as he spoke.

"I'm not." I spun around to look at him once I reached the end of the room.

"You are. You accused me of being with a girl overnight without any reasonable proof, and then expect me to listen to you justifying what I saw with my own two eyes?"

I tilted my head down and stared at my feet, too humiliated to make eye contact with him. I didn't want to argue. I didn't want to blame him. I wanted him to just give me a chance to speak, so we would actually be happy on Christmas Day. Our first Christmas together.