Fire Whiskey in the Moonlight (Remus Lupin)

Chapter Eight: Tyler

The next two days went by in a blur, the events of my last detention leaving me feeling numb. Remus and I had gone back to avoiding eye contact and ignoring one another's existence. And I had been floating around the castle trying to break down everything that had happened, everything that had been said, not just this past week but during the summer as well. I had gone through every conversation that we had had with a fine-tooth comb, replaying them over and over again in my head.

I couldn't believe that there was someone else, not just that but that I was the other woman. Truly just a distraction for him before coming to Hogwarts. But then why had he said otherwise the other day? Why kiss me like that?

After dinner on Friday, I finally began to snap back to reality as my eyes met Tyler's over a bowl of chips.

"Hey, Ty?" I said, interrupting whatever conversation he had been in the middle of with Eric. "Do you want to go on a walk with me when you're finished eating?"

My three friends all stared at me in disbelief, Tyler blinking heavily before responding, "Uh, yeah, yeah, of course, I'm done now if you want to go now?" He stammered out.

"Let's go," I said standing up, "We'll meet you guys in the common room later." I smiled at Katie and Eric who both just nodded at me curtly.

Tyler and I walked out of the great hall together. I had to force myself not to look back at Remus as we left. We exited out of the large front doors and began making our way to the lake.

"What's up, babe?"

"You loved me right? I mean, you told me plenty of times that you did, but did you actually mean it?"

Tyler's eyes grew wide and he shoved his hands in his pockets, obviously uncomfortable with the sudden conversation topic.

"Of course I did, Vivian. I loved you so much."

"Then why did you cheat on me?"

Tyler looked at the ground, saying nothing. I gave him some time to answer as this was the first time that we had really talked about it, besides for when we broke up in a screaming match.

After a few minutes of walking, Tyler finally spoke, "People cheat for all kinds of reasons. Anger, lust, drunkenness, feeling neglected, a ton of reasons."

"But why did you, Ty?"

"I thought you were going to break up with me. So I guess I wanted to hurt you before you could hurt me. I know it's messed up."

"Ya it is." I paused, "Why did you think I was going to break up with you?"

"I just always felt like I was more into you than you were into me. I knew you only agreed to date me because you needed to blow off steam after what happened with Trish. And summer was coming up, you'd be hundreds of miles away, the odds just weren't in my favor."

"You did help me a lot after Trish, but that wasn't why I dated you. I dated you because I liked you, when you cheated on me I was still in love with you."

"We were just so hot and heavy and... drug-fueled. I got scared that I was the only one with real feelings, that I was just part of your rebellious phase. I really am sorry, I never should have done what I did."

I breathed in deeply, "Thanks for being honest."

"You were better in bed anyway."

I groaned at his comment but continued walking with him.

"So are we good?" He asked after a few minutes.

"Not quite, you need to seriously back off. Stop with the flirting, stop calling me babe, stop asking me out. Let's just try to be friends again, ok?"