Him and Me.

Him and Me- Thirty Six.

Tyler Simmons had always been a goof. He turned every bit of situation into a comedic one. He was theatrical and dramatic. He was a little bit crazy at times. He was never the serious one, and when he was, that was as rare as an owl waking up at daylight.

To say that I was surprised by what Tyler did was an understatement. Sure, he had pulled off pranks before, and maybe he had his drama king moments one too many times. Never would have I thought, though, that Tyler would pull off something like this.

Drugging Colby and tying him up in the car seat, luring me over to his car and then locking Colby and I in?

It was pretty ridiculous.

Until I saw his sign.

As I sat there, gawking at Tyler while trying to fight away tears, I couldn’t help but feel touched, bewildered, and petrified all at the same time. Most of all, I felt an incredible bout of gratefulness and then I realized, Tyler was truly a wonderful guy. Amidst all of his goofy antics, he really cared for his friends. The fact that he was the one who made the first move to get me and Colby talking again cemented that.

Tyler set his sign down on the hood of his car and raised an eyebrow, directed to Colby first, then to me. His face immediately softened as his eyes met mine, and he gave me a small smile. I swallowed hard, feeling overwhelmed, but I managed to curve my lips upward. Grabbing his sign, he winked at me before turning his back and walking to the beach.

I slumped back in my seat, putting a hand over my mouth as my shoulders sagged. Bending over, my other hand rested against my forehead, with my elbow perched up on my knee. There was a rush of tiredness that came over me. I figured it was all from the emotional roller coasters that I seemed to have ridden almost non-stop the pass couple of weeks. Now that I was here, trapped inside a car with the boy I had not talked to for what seemed like so long, I realized how emotionally tiring everything had been.

Colby remained quiet beside me, and all I could hear was his shallow breathing combined with mine. I remained in that position, eyes closed, until I felt more grounded. Leaning back against the seat, my head rolled to the side to gently bump against the window of Ty’s car. The sky outside was turning to a pretty purplish color, and from a distance I could see the sun. The setting was so much like that last time Colby and I had went to this beach, sans the fact that we were seated on the sand and not locked inside a car.

Allowing my mind to flutter back to that moment, I closed my eyes once again. Suddenly I longed to feel the sand in between my toes and listen to the crash of the waves while watching the sun disappear into the ocean. Such a sight was so relaxing, and it would definitely calm my nerves.

I didn’t notice that a few minutes had passed until I opened my eyes. None of us had talked yet. Even now, nobody seemed to want to make the first move. I almost chuckled at the thought.

“You okay?”

At the abrupt sound of Colby’s voice, my back straightened and my hand clutched at my seat, as if he shouted at me. Truth was, he spoke in the gentlest voice I’ve heard in a while. The concern in that tone triggered that feeling of wanting to cry again, and I mentally rolled my eyes at myself. It was startling how much I was affected by Colby’s voice. Maybe because I had not heard it for so long. At least, it felt like that to me.

I nodded, refusing to look at him. “Y-yeah,” I croaked out, my voice all raspy. Clearing my throat, a string of colorful words danced around my brain.

His gaze was so intense, I could feel it directed at me. It made goose bumps rise all over my arms. As discreetly as possible, I tried to rub them away.