CHAPTER 2
She closes the door behind her and locks it. The last thing she wanted was Bart or some other drunk idiot coming in while she was sleeping and trying something. She throws the empty beer bottle across the room and plops down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She shifts her weight and lies on her side, closing her eyes.
A few seconds later, she heard a shuffle and then felt the comforter move beneath her legs. Then a familiar gruff groan. Her eyes opened wide. She thought she was alone. After her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed two sleepy eyes staring back at her. No, it couldn't be. She could not possibly be that unlucky.
"Hey." says a familiar voice with a half yawn.
She sits up and turns on the light next to her side of the bed. Tim was lying on the bed next to her. "Tim! What the hell are you doing in here? Get out!"
Tim gives her a short, blank stare and runs both of his hands through his long hair. Several beats passed before he even bothered to respond. "It's not like I snuck in here, T. I was in here and you showed up."
She rolls her eyes, almost falling back onto the bed. Tim holds one of his arms out and steadies her right shoulder. Almost as if it was second nature. She quickly stands up on her own, taking a few steps back. "I didn't- you know what? I'm not even going to do this with you. It's not worth it. I don't know why everyone keeps messing with me tonight. Everytime I turn around-" She throws her hands up. "First Bart's all over me. Now you're in here bugging the crap out of me. Damn."
He couldn't help but smile at her drunken rant. But he didn't dare open his mouth to comment. He knew better than to try and argue with her when she was in this state. What had she meant when she said Bart was all over her? No. They were broken up now. It was none of his business. He wasn't in the mood (drunk) to get into anything with anyone tonight anyway.
Tyra looks down at her shirt seeing that the beer stain had gotten worse in the few minutes since it happend in the hallway. "Son of a bitch. Drunk...mama's boy...son of a whore.." She stumbles over to the mirror taking a closer look.
Tim turns his head towards the mirror. "Good old Bart?"
Tyra couldn't help but laugh. "Shutup! I love this shirt. You know I don't even know why I'm here. I really hate these things."
"I know you do," He starts playing with a piece of fabric on the comforter. "Why'd you come then?"
Shrugging, "Nothing else to do I guess." She looks down, not wanting to meet his stare. "All of this over you. It's so dumb. It shouldn't be this hard for me."
He looks at her curiously, trying to figure out if this was her or the boose talking. "What are you talking about, Tyra?"
"I'm talking about us, Tim. This messed up thing with Lyla and Jason. I don't know.." She feels the tears welling up but inside is willing herself not to let them fall. He'd never seen her cry and he was never going to. Not over him.
He watched her closely in the dim light and couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Tyra Collette was crying. He had only seen her cry twice before. Once when they were in the sixth grade. They hadn't started dating yet but were always flirting with eachother and getting called on it by teachers. Someone had stolen her favorite bracelet from the girls lockerroom during gym class and she was heartbroken. He saw her crying outside by the flagpole and said he'd find the bracelet for her and would pound whoever had taken it. He sat with her on the bench and let her cry into his chest and all over his black t-shirt.
The second time was in the ninth grade after they'd been together for almost two years. That was their first big fight and breakup. He'd said alot of things and so had she. Her words had barely had any effect on him. He was used to being called names as a child and general and had become immune to it in a way. But his words had hurt her. He knew this because he went after her when she drove off in her truck in anger. He found her parked on the side of the road crying her eyes out. His words had hit close to home and at that moment he felt worse about hurting her that deeply than he did about anything in his whole life. Up to that point anyway. His heart still ached when he thought back to that night. Which he did often.
Tim was taken out of his thoughts when he notices her sitting on the end of the bed, turned away from him. He sits up and moves closer to her, placing a hand on her back. When she tenses at his touch he removes his hand. "I'm sorry. I- T, I did what I did. I can't change it. I lo-" He could barely get the words out. She had brought it up in the hallway at school and he hadn't been able to answer her. He was ready to answer her now.
She looks up from the ground, staring ahead. "You're in love with Garrity."
He looks down at the bed sheets. He honestly didn't know. He knew he felt something for Lyla but didn't know if it was love. It was something he'd never felt before and was different than what he felt for Tyra. He knew that. Maybe he wasn't capable of loving someone like that. "I don't know anymore. All I know is that I feel like shit. Ok? And I'm sorry. For what I did to you and to Jay. To the both of you. I can't take it back and I don't know if I would if I had the chance."
Tyra lies down on her back next to an upright Tim. She runs her hands over her face trying to think of some kind of an angry comeback to what he'd just said. But she couldn't think of one. She was just too tired and too sad. Jason was probably feeling ten times worse than both of them. Jason. She felt so badly for Jason. He'd lost the use of his legs, his best friend, and his girlfriend. What had she lost? "I'm so tired." She looks up at him, "Are you tired?"
He looks down at her and runs a hand through her blonde hair. "I didn't want to hurt you. As hard as that is to believe, that's not what I wanted."
"You know what I wish?" Tyra asks, guiding his hand into her own. "That the past few months would just dissapear and everything would go back to how it was. Simple and normal. Everything feels messed up now. Like there's nothing left to hope for."
He enlaces his fingers with hers, "Nothing gets better, Tyra. Everything is always messed up. That's just how it is. We just have to deal with it. Deal with life as it comes."
"When did you get so smart?" She is half-laughing now.
He shurgs, "Let's just say I've had alot of time to think these past couple of weeks. And the no drinking thing's cleared my head.. I guess." He lies down next to her. "I'm tired too."
She moans and closes her eyes, holding his hand tighter. "I don't want to do anything, ok? I just want to sleep."
Tim grips her hand tighter as well and closes his eyes. "Sounds good to me."
THE END
