Musically in Love

Chapter 15

McKinley's POV

Mom and Uncle Mark took about an hour to come back home. The whole time I was waiting for them, I contemplated texting Tyler. I knew I probably should listen to my mother's advice, but I honestly didn't know what to say to him.

I was also actively avoiding Steph today. She did come to apologize to me, but I needed to dedicate a long enough amount of time for being mad before I could forgive her. It was only fair.

Thankfully, Mom didn't bring up Tyler again when she got home. She was probably just giving me space or she was too preoccupied by other things to think about my current boy problems.

It was when I was packing up my bag after lunch to head back up to my apartment (since I couldn't take two days off of work in a row) when Mom entered my room. She looked at me with that look that said she knew I hadn't talked to him yet. I didn't want to hear whatever she had to say about it, but I knew I was about to anyway.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Fine, I guess."

"How's Tyler doing?"

I sighed, sitting down on my bed. "I didn't talk to him." She went to say something, but I cut her off. "This is my choice; let me make it, please. I'll talk to him in person this week, probably, and explain things the way I can't do over text." 

I've always found it easier to explain myself verbally rather than texting. Sure, I rambled a lot and probably say a ton of nonsense, but it all ends up working together to form a solid explanation. Doing that over text just gets confusing and difficult, and calling Tyler didn't seem like the best option, considering I didn't know if he could even hear over the phone.

She sat down next to me. "As long as that's what you want."

I nodded. "It is." I think, although I didn't say that part out loud. Everything was so confusing and I think that scared me the most of all.

"Okay," she said with a sigh. "But the next guy that comes around, don't be scared, okay? You are a good person and you can be a wonderful boyfriend, once you stop fearing something bad will happen."

"Yeah." 

It was weird how much my mom knew without me having to say anything. Then again, it was probably that motherly instinct she has. I'll never understand it.

She kissed my forehead like I was a little kid. "I'll always love you, McKinley."

I rolled my eyes but smiled anyway. "I love you too." I stood up. "Now let me finish packing," I said jokingly. I really only had a couple things to grab before I was done. "I got places to be."

"Places, you say?"

I scoffed. "Yeah, no. I'll honestly probably just hang out with Ben tonight if he's not out with his girlfriend."

"Maybe if you had talked to Tyler, the four of you could have had a double date tonight."

"Mom..."

"I know, I know. I won't bring him up again. I'm sorry."

She smiled at me before leaving me alone. I felt like she was right, but at the same time, I knew I had to make this decision, for both of our sakes. Tyler was better off not getting involved with all my craziness. I'd eventually find someone who was right for me, that just wasn't going to happen right now.

A few minutes later, I was all packed and bringing my bag downstairs to leave by the door for now. I ran into Steph on the stairs, who stopped me.

"Micky, please. I'm sorry I said that this morning."

I sighed. "I know. And honestly, you could have said a lot worse, so overall it wasn't so bad. Just never do it again."

She hugged me tightly. "I won't. As long as you never wake me up by tickling me ever again. I have way too much blackmail on you."

I think my face paled at the threat. I raised my left hand (since I was still holding my bag in my right) in surrender. "Nope. I good."

She kissed my cheek lightly before letting me continue down the rest of the stairs. I felt relieved that we weren't fighting anymore. I've never liked being mad at her.

Uncle Mark was lounging on the couch with the TV playing softly. He smiled at me when I got to the bottom of the steps and dumped my bag on the ground.

"Hey, Mick," he said. "Heading out?"

I nodded. "Yeah, in a little bit." I sat on the arm rest of the couch. "You doing okay?"

Mark chuckled. "Don't worry about me, McKinley. I'm absolutely fine. Besides, I have our girls here taking care of me. I'm sure they're not going to let me do anything strenuous for the next couple weeks anyway."

"True," I agreed with a laugh. I wouldn't doubt their ability to take over everything that needed to be done in the house for the next month just to prevent Uncle Mark from having to get up. I wish I could have stayed to help out too, though.

"Your mom told me about that boy," he said, changing the subject. "Go get him, Mick. You deserve someone like him."

I shook my head. "I don't know. We'll see what happens." I knew exactly what I was going to do, but I didn't want to disappoint Mark right now. I'll tell him eventually that Tyler and I didn't work out. Simple as that.

He gave me a small smile. I had a feeling he already knew my decision, even if neither of us were saying it out loud. "Good luck. With whatever you choose to do."

"Thanks."

It wasn't too much longer before I was back in my car and heading back to my apartment. I had my music blasting through my speakers, drowning out all the thoughts in my head as I drove.

Music always made me feel better when I felt like crap. Maybe I'll practice one of my instruments when I get back. That worked even better than blasting music like this.