Running From You

Chapter 25

NORA

"Your dad said that in front of Tyler?" Olive shrieks, and I have to hush her to lower her voice. "Sorry," she winces, looking around if anyone heard.

We're sitting outside the cafeteria eating our lunch in the sunny spring day and we're not the only ones. The lawn is filled with students chatting and laughing.

"Yeah," I take a bite of my chicken. "He has no shame whatsoever."

"I'd say," she crunches up her nose in disgust.

"And the way Tyler froze when dad said those things about him..." I feel a pang in my stomach just thinking about how he tensed up.

"Wait," she lifts up her fork, "you don't think that he... that he believed anything your dad said, do you?"

"Honestly?" I stare across the lawn at a cutesy couple sitting snugly and laughing about something. They seem so happy. "I don't know. I guess it's a possibility. I mean, he said one or two truths, as well. They weren't all lies."

Olive waits for me to clarify.

"I was a bit self-centered at the time, wasn't I?" I say wryly. "Years ago. I mean, I often put my needs above everybody else's. I didn't see it then, but I do now. And I especially hurt Tyler a lot, putting Caleb before him. I was so infatuated with him," I sigh, thinking back to it all. And Tyler always put me first, always. He was such a good friend, and I basically spat on his face.

"Well," Olive gives me a small smile. "Caleb was your first real boyfriend. It's pretty normal to lose sight of everything else when you're experiencing your first crush."

"But it's still stupid and wrong," I press my lips into a tight line. "It's important to find that balance, you know, between your boyfriend and friends. And we were so young that friends should've definitely come first. What's the saying? Crushes come and go, but friends are for life," I smile at her, thankful she's kept by my side through the good and the bad. At least with Zane I managed to keep all my friends, having learned my lesson the first time. "Those two sure seem to have it figured out," I nod toward the happy couple, who have just been joined by their friends.

"Yeah, well," Olive says with her mouth full and pauses to swallow, "we can't all be as smart."

"Yeah," I sigh loudly, "I guess so."

"Has he said anything to you today?"

"Tyler?" I ask and she nods. "Nah. I've kind of been avoiding him."

She scowls. "Why?"

I throw out my hands. "Because I have no idea where we stand after yesterday."

"You know that you're making a big deal out of assuming Tyler even cared what your dad said, right? I mean, he might not have taken it to heart at all."

"Maybe." She has a good point, but something about the way his hands dropped from my shoulders and the tone of his voice after bothers me.

"You're talking about Tyler Chambers?" an unfamiliar girl's voice speaks from behind me and I turn around to see who just obtruded our lunch.

A pretty brunette is looking down at me with her delicate hands fiddling with a box of salad. I think I've seen her before, but I don't really know her. I'm pretty sure we don't have any classes together.

"Yeah?" I raise a brow, wondering why it would concern her. "And?"

"I couldn't help but overhear..." she starts, looking at me with the biggest scowl on her face.