In a Heartbeat

|Chapter Twenty-Five|

My happy little pill, take me away,

Dry my eyes, bring color to my skies,

Sherwin stared at the ceiling, phone in hand. He was listening to music on shuffle, tapping on his messages and tapping out. Haylee was still in her room with Joey.

His phone felt heavy. Tinley's number was in it. He could text her, right now, if he wanted. Granted, she could have changed her number, but still.

The song changed, and Troye's sweet voice filled Sherwin's ears.

Scared, my love, you'll go,

Tinley's number. It was right there.

Right there.

sherwin: hey

sherwin: its sherwin

tinley is typing..

tinley: hi

tinley: whats up?

sherwin is typing..

sherwin: are you busy??

tinely: no

sherwin is typing..

sherwin: wanna come over?

tinley: sure

He smiled.

He faintly heard footsteps, and then the front door slamming shut. He took one earbud out and stood up, softly walking to Haylee's room.

Too good to be good for me, too bad that that's all I need,

Sherwin leaned against the doorway. 

"Okay?" He asked.

Haylee smiled at him.

"Of course. We're good now."

Sherwin sat next to her on the bed. They were both quite tall and lanky, but Haylee was a little bit taller. Her hair was long and red and more wavy, while Sherwin's was ginger, and curlier. She was pretty. She just didn't see that.

"I invited Tinley over,"

Haylee smiled wider, and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Perfect."

---

Sherwin was sat on the couch in the living room, absentmindedly scrolling Tumblr and stroking Arabella. The doorbell rang, and Arabella jumped off his lap immediately.

Sherwin went to open the door, but Haylee was already there, lightly shoving him out of the way.

"Tinley, hi! I've missed you sooo much!"

A giggle, and then,

"Oh, I've missed you too! Ugh, my new town is boring."

Tinley walked inside, slipping off her shoes and smiling brightly. Her dimples carved her cheeks, and she was wearing a Panic! at the Disco hoodie with burgundy leggings.

Atticus scampered towards her, throwing his tiny body at her legs. She merely laughed and picked him up. This was okay. This was Tinley, the one that Sherwin knew. The Tinley that laughed loudly and told stupid jokes and listened to music all the time, probably knowing more song lyrics than actual knowledge. The Tinley that dyed her hair every other week, and hugged people, and talked about what she loved.

That was his Tinley.

The tips of her light brown hair were teal today.

---

Haylee dragged them both up to her room, something about the wrong 'house aesthetic.' It was all fine. They played games and talked and laughed and everything was fine.

Fine.

Sherwin watched Tinley, but she seemed happy. Especially around Haylee. Sometimes he forgot, but Haylee was Tinley's best friend, too. He wasn't usually a jealous person, but there was something about the way Tinley's eyes brightened when Haylee spoke to her. Sherwin didn't like it.

But after a while, he realized nothing was really wrong. Perhaps it was that he was paranoid. After all, he hadn't expected to see Tinley in a while. Everyone had bad days sometimes. It was all okay though, because Tinley was here, and she was happy, as were he and Haylee.

So he smiled, and enjoyed it.

"You guys wanna order Domino's?"

Haylee groaned out a 'yes!' and Tinley excitedly nodded her head.

"Is that even a question?" She said smiling.

And so they did.

||a/n: hey this is v short but im literally leaving for my trip in like 11 hours sO!! i'll b gone for a week oof!! also do y'all,,, want smut,,, speak now or forever hold your peace uwu no updates until after the 22nd unfortunately,,, but thank u all for one wonderful year of writing this!! its been v fun and i dont plan on stopping anytime soon. ((also MIGHT rewrite some earlier chapters oof)) bye bye loves xx||