Tyed

chapter twenty four

Tyler wakes up to a feeling not unlike his cells being filled with radio static instead of DNA, his stomach acid being replaced with normal acid, and his brain being replaced with a hammer. He lays completely still so that that hammer doesn't rattle around.

Yep- didn't learn his lesson about not getting hangovers. He is very comfortable, though. And warm. Although sleeping in jeans has ruined that a bit.

He's in Colby's room. He only has a vague guess as to how he got to Colby's house from the Maribyrnong, but he remembers bits and pieces of the conversation they had, specifically that he'd tell Colby the truth within a month.

He groans.

"Morning, doll."

Tyler jumps, and it jostles his stomach, making bile rise in his throat. "Colby?"

"There's some water on your bedside table," Colby says, his voice coming from somewhere Tyler can't see. Tyler realises how parched he is when he hears that, finding the water and fumbling to down it all as fast as possible. He still feels sick.

"I'm sorry," Tyler calls out immediately, in the direction he heard Colby's voice from- he's either in the ensuite or the walk-in.

"What are you sorry for?" Colby responds, decidedly from the ensuite.

"Being a nuisance," Tyler calls back, touching his forehead like that'll make the pain go away. "You didn't ask for that."

"I don't care," Colby calls back. "I'm sorry for waking you up, probably."

"I dunno if you did," Tyler calls back. He watches the door as Colby comes back into the room with hair wet from a shower, naked. Tyler bites his lip. "Damn. If I didn't feel like fucking hell, I'd..."

Colby smiles way too softly at him. Tyler doesn't like how his heart melts- he can't get too close or too involved. "What would you do, Tyler?"

He might've said something, but he feels a turmoil in his stomach. "I gotta vomit," he says instead, stumbling to his feet; it aggravates everything, and Colby jumps out of the way as Tyler runs into the bathroom. He spots the sink first, and so he throws up into it.

"That bad?" Colby calls from the other room. Tyler turns on the tap- god, he hates vomiting- and cleans up the mess he made, as well as washing his face.

"I was one of the least fucked people there," Tyler answers through the wall.

"Where were you?"

It's a question asked innocently, and Tyler procrastinates going back into the room so that it's easier to hide his lie. Well, it's not a lie. It just feels like one. "Some of my friends." He'd consider them friends as of last night, even if barely.

"Nancy?"

Tyler won't trap himself in a lie. "No. I only met these people kind of recently." He has no reason to be worried, right? If Colby finds out who they are, that doesn't mean he'll discover his secret. It being kind of about Darkfilly Copse would be enough to get Colby not to worry about him.

Shit. Trey.

Tyler runs back into the room, searching Colby's sheets for his phone. "What time is it?"

Colby walks over to his bedside table and pulls out a watch. "It's only a bit before nine."

Tyler finally finds his phone; he has some text messages, but none from his mother or brother, or his stepfather. "Shit, alright. I'll be fine, then."

"Where are you going? And when?"

"I have to be at a place in Gem Varily by ten," Tyler tells him, coming over to his side. "And I probably should get Trey something small first. He said he had something for me, so."