Hold On Tight

[Thirteen] You Make Me Nervous

What the fuck was she supposed to say to that?

She didn't know what to expect when she agreed to dinner with Tyler. Had tried to picture how the evening would happen. She thought that they would make awkward small talk, he would say what he needed to in order to appease whatever guilt he was feeling, and then they would go their separate ways.

Her stomach twisted with the lie. At least that's what she kept telling her on the cab ride to the restaurant. She didn't want to allow herself to hope, because the last time she let herself she ended up crying in the back of a yellow cab as all her dreams came crashing around her.

She couldn't help herself as she shook her head at him. No. No, no, no, no.

A warm hand grabbed hers. "That's the first mistake I'm correcting, Haley. I didn't tell you before, but I am now. And I know, I know you're unsure and hesitant about us. I know you only agreed to be friends and I respect that. We're friends, for as long as you need us to be, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to correct what I did wrong before in hopes for something more."

"What do you want from me?" She whispered, her hand still gripped in his.

His lips tipped up in a small smile that made her heart skip a beat. "You. I just want you."

She didn't have a chance to respond before a plate of food was in front of her. Her hand felt cold when he let her go in order to make room for their plates. He didn't say anything more, his attention on the dish of tortellini in front of him. How could he eat right now when she felt as if she could throw up?

They didn't talk for the rest of the meal, the only sound coming from their forks as they scraped against the ceramic. The only interaction they had was through their eyes, which would meet every couple of seconds before skittering away. Haley tried to rack her brain for something to say to him – anything to say to him. Hell, she would even settle for small talk about the weather, if she could just freaking remember how it was outside before she entered the restaurant.

It wasn't until they got to the curb in front of the building that she knew she had to say something before he took her silence as a harsh rejection.

"Tyler, I-"

"Look Hal-"

Her cheeks burned as she looked down at her feet. Great, be even more awkward why don't you. She sighed, not believing just how horrible she was at this.

She pushed her shoulders back and steeled herself before looking up at Tyler, who was just staring at her with a soft look on his face, almost as if he could tell what she was thinking. "Tonight was-"

"Would you take a walk with me?"

Haley wasn't expecting the interruption. "I'm sorry?"

"Usually when the girl starts with 'tonight was' it's the end of the date." She resisted the urge to remind him they weren't on a date as she watched him shrug with a small smile playing on his lips. "I don't want it to be the end of the date. Walk with me?"