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Three Cheers for Five Years
Chapter Six
Sing me to sleep
I'll
see you in my dreams
Waiting to say:
"I
miss you. I'm so sorry."
“What did you get yourself into this time, Ty?” She asked, handing him some of their favorite Arizona Iced Tea. “Invite someone over and then realize…” She went quiet when she saw the look on her friend’s face. Although his hair was frizzy and his face had a slight sheen of sweat from being outside, she couldn’t bring herself to laugh at his comical state. “You didn’t. Tyler James Madi—“
“Shelby, sweetie, you want to help me?” Tyler flashed her a typical heart melting grin. “I think you’ll like who’s going to come over this time.” She felt herself narrow her eyes and cross her arms. Tyler’s habit of doing this was becoming extremely annoying. Tyler, though, knew exactly how to press her buttons and knew exactly how to get her to melt. “Aw, baby, don’t glare like that at me. I’m sorry. It’s not my fault Cammie decided to bring home another one of his girlfriends for the day. Had he not done that, I wouldn’t be asking you for this favor.”
“You’re using me, Ty.” She stated. “But Cammie brought another girl home? I almost feel sorry for you, honest.” She only received a death glare from Tyler. She shook her head and held out her hand. “But, I guess it would be all right this once…as long as you don’t go and screw them in my house…” Tyler grabbed her hand and leaped up. What she hadn’t expected was Tyler giving her arm a sharp yank and pulling her into a tight, slightly bony hug. “Ty…!”
“Oh, Shelby,” Tyler purred, into her shoulder. “You are just a doll.” She couldn’t help but twitch a bit. This could have been because Tyler was nearly molesting her shoulder and, as if that wasn’t awkward enough, the way he was angled almost had his face in her chest. When she realized this, she pushed the smaller boy off of her and pointed him back towards the couch. “What was that for, Shel?”
“I could call the cops and charge you with molestation.” She stated. Tyler merely took another sip of his Raspberry tea. “But, Ty, you want to tell me who’s coming over?” Tyler shook his head and pointed at her with a cheeky smile on his lips. “What?”
“You’ll kill me. But then again, after you kill me, you’ll resurrect me out of thankfulness.” Tyler winked and then leaned back against the couch. “Trust me Shelby and, hey, do you think that you could make your really good homemade pizza stuff? I love it. I’m sure my guest will love it too.”
She couldn’t say no. Of course not! Stupid Tyler…he was taking her ex-best friend’s place with such practiced ease. It was easy to believe the rumors and label of “boyfriend stealer” plastered to Tyler’s small frame. Right now, it was easy for her to plaster “best friend stealer” to his chest, but what good would that do? After all, it wasn’t like she had a best friend. It was the fact that he had her wrapped around his pinky finger. It made her mad because he wouldn’t allow her to wrap him around hers.
Control. Control. Control. She craved control.
“All right, Ty, I’ll do it. When’s your ‘guest’ coming over?” She attempted to give him a bored stare, but she could feel that he wasn’t affected by it much, if at all.
“Uhm. Tomorrow night? Six?” She nodded and then pointed towards her door. “What?”
“Get out of here. I have to cook and clean, thanks to you. Out!” She exclaimed. Tyler gave her a wary look, however, for once in the time that they had known each other, he got up and left without a complaint. It was nice to have her apartment sitting in silence. No Tyler, no work…
Oh wait, that’s a lie. She trudged to the bathroom and took some cleaning supplies out of a cabinet. She really did not want to do this; if Tyler was insisting, why, he should get his scrawny butt up here and do it! Nonetheless, she cleaned and then she shopped and finally, by ten, she was in bed and on the internet, poking around forums and e-mail like she always did. By the time she was ready for sleep, her annoyance that had been directed at Tyler had shrunk by quite a bit.
---
Naturally, she was up at the crack of dawn the next morning. When she got up and felt the unnaturally thick, wet air, she realized that any hopes of having pin straight hair would fail. So, she showered and yanked her hair up into a bun that would very easily be classified as messy. She didn’t care.
She had to bake.
By the time six rolled around, everything was ready. Her house was clean, her food smelled great, hell, she even felt as though she looked great. She heard a rap at the door and with a simple wipe of her hands on a towel, she went to answer the door. Her hand went to the door knob and she easily twisted it open to see Tyler and Chaucer.
Wait. Tyler AND Chaucer?
She felt her breath hitch and her heart drop and her stomach knot up in a million knots. Her lips pressed together, her nails dug into her palm, she couldn’t speak. How she wanted to though! “Ch-chauce?” She stammered, feeling everything come back. The crush, the hug, the hope…she didn’t care anymore. Despite the heat, she threw her arms around him in a tight hug. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening.
Why in the hell was Tyler talking to him anyways? She pushed back and stepped aside, feeling her teeth attempting to pierce her lip and her tongue wet them when her teeth let up. “What are you doing here? I thought…?”
Chaucer sighed and looked at Tyler, who merely shrugged and drifted into the kitchen. “I…Well, hi, Shelby.” His smile was weak, half hearted and he sent a deadly glare Tyler’s way. “I…”
“What? You what?” She asked, hoping more than anything that he would take everything back. He was here! Why was he here? Oh, Lord, why was it that she started feeling like she had five years before now that he was standing here? She had done her best to guard herself from something like this happening.
“I’m back.” His words were simple, brief, laconic. She squealed. Screw being angry. As unnatural as that sounded, she had been so in love, so hopelessly in love. He was hers again, right? Was that what he was saying?
As they sat down to dinner, she listened quietly as Tyler explained his side of the story. Chaucer took his turn and explained everything to her. She didn’t get much out of it, no, what she did get was that he was free of all ties. He could be hers; oh, she knew he did like girls. She wasn’t stupid. He had gotten involved with the wrong sort of person. As long as he was clean…
It was later that evening when she finally allowed herself to stand with him, eyes shut and ears listening to the rhythmic inhale-exhale pattern of his breathing. They didn’t say anything. Then again, when had they ever? She was nervous; this felt too much like the scene at the air port five years before. Tyler wasn’t even here to offer some of his snarky advice or even to separate them. He’d gone down to the store for something…she couldn’t remember what.
Chaucer spoke first, his voice low and soft against the crisp air of her apartment. “I’m sorry.” An apology. So simple, so innocent…
She pulled him into a hug, wishing for it to be Christmas and to have a little bit of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. “It’s ok.” She stated. She could be angry and kill Tyler in the morning. “Honest. God.”
For now, she was happy, just standing here with the one person who knew her better than anyone else.
Chaucer was back.
