Picture Perfect

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Tyler

Hi all!

Cannot believe we're coming to an end on this book soon. Just nine chapters left :O

CW: Tyler has a panic attack in this chapter, stay safe if that's difficult for you <3

Love, Cam

♡

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tyler

When Sorcha returned from Ireland, she looked both incredibly pleased with herself and incredibly nervous, so it was no surprise when she announced that she had something to share with me.

"You're making me nervous now," I told her, as she dramatically told me to sit down.

"Just do it," she said, and I sat down. Taking a deep breath, she flung her arms wide and said, "Tyler, I'm dating your sister."

There came a silence so deep and intense I was pretty sure I could hear the crickets in the next county. I blinked rapidly, trying to actually process the five words she had just said, but none of them were actually absorbing into my brain.

"I..." I trailed off, and then waved my hand. "Repeat, please?"

"I'm dating your sister," she cheerfully supplied. It did not help that she missed a word off this time, as 'Tyler' had been the only word that had really gotten through the thick 'what the fuck' barrier in my head.

"I have absolutely no idea how to respond to this," I told her.

"Yeah, I figured that was probably the case," she mused, and then tapped her lips thoughtfully with her index finger. "One sec."

She fiddled about with her phone for a moment, and then showed me a photo of her with Siobhan, them grinning like fools at the camera while they sipped iced lattes. I recognised the coffee shop as the local place Siobhan liked to go after work.

"Okay, it's starting to settle into my brain, keep going," I told her.

Sorcha shrugged. "We talked a lot, that day of the party we threw for Sask. Awny was stressed out, mostly because she'd been doing that thing where she dedicates herself to helping everyone else manage their own emotions and shoving hers deep down somewhere inside her."

Yep, that sounded about right. "Okay..." I said. I had been distracted at that party, having just yelled at Colin in a sleep-deprived state of mind.

"We just talked out the whole thing, and then she just sort of asked what stuff I was going to include of mine in the gallery," Sorcha said, and took the seat opposite me, smiling. "So we went through my sculptures and she helped me move the phoenix, which was nice of her. And we just kept chatting. It was... easy. Surprisingly easy. I don't ever remember it being easy with Siobhan before."

"You used to get on each other's last nerves," I said distantly, letting the information sink in. Sorcha was dating my sister. They were seeing each other. They were chatting. They were doing things together. They were going for coffee.

"Anyway, we went for a cuppa the day after," Sorcha shrugged. "I asked her, and she said yes. We didn't really mean it to be a date, but we had a good time. We talked a bunch about her work, and my travels, and we didn't spend the time thinking about the old times, we just... got to know each other. As new people."

I nodded, thinking about it. In a way, I'd been thinking of them both as the Sorcha and Siobhan of the past, the two stubborn individuals who wouldn't bend an inch to compromise with the other. I had linked the two of them together with that time period, and had forgotten to look at them as the people they were now.