Best Friends with Benefits

35

Tyler
3 Days Later

I watched movers carry Dad's things out of the house and onto a truck. Mom wasn't home. She couldn't handle all of this. Hunter was on the phone with Angel, like always. I had grown used to his constant phone calls and text messages with Angel. That's probably the only person he ever talked to lately, but I didn't mind. Amari was coming home Today and I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't know if she and Jake had made it official while they were away or if they had grown apart. I wasn't prepared for her, yet.

"I may be coming to the states soon." I heard Angel's voice through Hunter's phone.

"Really?" Hunter asked excitedly. "Where are you going?"

"Arkansas or Indiana." Angel said. "I haven't cleared it up yet."

"Cleared it up?" Hunter asked.

"It's for work related reasons." Angel explained.

Hunter was hanging onto his every word. He looked at his phone the way Amari looked at me when I first started to realize she may have had feelings for me. The way she looked at me right before I broke her heart at that stupid Anniversary party. If this isn't foreshadowing, I don't know what is.

"Boys..." Dad sighed walking into the living room and sitting on the coffee table in front of us. "A word please."

I glanced over at Hunter who was glaring at Dad. I didn't know if he was mad at Dad because of the divorce or because he had interrupted his conversation.

"I'll call you later." Hunter said before hanging up on Angel. "Yes?"

"Listen, just because we aren't going to be living in the same house anymore doesn't mean you have to distance yourselves from me." Dad said.

"Distance ourselves?" I scoffed. "We've never been close."

"You and I haven't, but me and Hunter have." Dad said glancing over at Hunter. "And Tyler, you're still my son even if we do bump heads a lot. There's always space for you at my house."

I rolled my eyes and leaned back. I wouldn't be visiting him anyway.

"Hunter, you know you can come over anytime you'd like." Dad said.

Hunter glanced at me before nodding.

"Okay." He mumbled biting the inside of his cheek.

That was a nervous tick he had when he was younger. It was so bad, Mom had to force him to stop so he'd be able to get braces. I didn't know he still did that.

"I was actually hoping you two would be able to come over next weekend." Dad cleared his throat. "Your grandfather and grandmother are coming to visit and would love to see you two again."

"We start school next week." I said. "No promises."

"Tyler..." I cut him off.

"What? Is our education not important?" I asked.

I was trying to push him. It wasn't something I did intentionally, I just always did it. All my life. I couldn't think of a time where I just blindly agreed with him. It was instinct.