"She's cool, I like her," Tyler decided that afternoon, using her boyfriend as a sparring partner. Thom raised his eyebrows, a little concerned.
"You…like her? You never like anyone, ever," he reminded her. Tyler shrugged and gave one final punch, creating the force against her boyfriend's palm, causing him to whistle, impressed once again at her strength.
"I like you," she smirked, smashing her gloves together and whipping them off. Thom rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
"That was horrendous," he tutted. "Never make that joke again." Tyler bit her lip, holding back a giggle as Thom put down the pads and followed her to one of the benches.
"No seriously, I like her," Tyler continued, taking a swig of her water and passing it to him, who did the same. "Something's good about her, I like it."
"Jaden doesn't seem to like her," Thom pointed out. Tyler laughed lightly then.
"Even more reason for me to like her," she nudged him, before fanning herself out and tying her dark hair up. He just grinned and his eyes glanced over to where Alex sat, alone. Then Thom remembered what he had to do.
"I'll be back in a second," he mumbled, taking the back of Tyler's hand and kissing it softly, somewhat undercover.
"Where are you going?" she frowned, her dark eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
"I need to go and speak to Michael real quick," Thom whispered. Tyler gave him a small tight lipped smile and watched him leave the training hall. Then she took it upon herself to go and walk over to Alex, who glanced up at her presence and looked down onto the shiny floor, not bearing to make eye contact.
"Alex," Tyler began quietly, even though she knew that many other people were listening in. Alex couldn't figure out why she was respected so highly – what was it about her that just wasn't registering. But she knew that she was respected for some reason, so decided to drop the whole 'tough girl' act and just talk to her. She could be useful after all. "What's up?"
"Nothing much," Alex hummed, finally maintaining eye contact with her. Tyler nodded slowly.
"Has Jaden laid off you a little?" she folded her arms, leaning against the wall.
"I don't think Jaden will ever lay off me," Alex spat. "What is her problem?"
"I don't know, I've ignored her for all this time, I'm not gonna start paying attention to her now," Tyler rolled her eyes. Alex let out a little smile, quite happy with this answer.
"Makes sense," she sighed. "So…are you telling me there's no way outta this place?"
"None," Tyler shook her head. "None at all." Alex fiddled with the hem of her white tank top, racking her brain for suitable questions and Tyler stood there patiently.
"How long you been here?" she finally asked.
"Oh…I don't know for sure. Over 10 years I can tell ya that much," Tyler shrugged.
"And it doesn't bother you?"
"Nothing bothers me, Alex, not anymore," Tyler smiled slightly, causing Alex to let out a small nod of appreciation and admiration. From the corner of her eye, Tyler caught Thom and Michael conversing quietly and knew that something was up. She just had to go and gatecrash the conversation. "I'll catch you later – there's something I gotta do," Tyler nodded to Alex, who by the polite nod back, didn't mind. As Tyler skipped up the sleek black steps away from the training room and into the slightly raised balcony, she saw that the conversation had somewhat changed from being serious to light hearted in a matter of seconds.
"Tyler! Everything okay?" Michael smiled, giving a hugely false welcome. Thom crossed his arms and gave Tyler a look that screamed 'I'll tell you later'.
"Yeah, all good. Uh…what were you two in such deep conversation about?"
"I was just explaining why you guys should stay away from each other," Michael shrugged simply. Tyler glanced at Thom and he didn't bother meeting her eye contact. "I know you guys like each other but love doesn't work in this sick world."
"Gotcha," Tyler beamed. "You won't even catch us talking together again. Well ya know what Michael it's been fun but it's time to disappear, you kinda stole by training partner."
"Right, uh, back to work then I guess," Michael dismissed them, staring straight at his little sister who carefully avoiding his gaze as she pulled Thom back into the centre of the room.
"Okay, I'm just gonna throw punches cos he's still watching," Tyler hissed, slipping the red gloves back on and not even waiting for Thom to get the pads.
"Ouch!" he swore, after the first punch was delivered. "Ty! Gloves! Not on yet! Hello!"
"What were you talking to Michael about?" Tyler cut to the chase, slamming the gloves together again which rushed Thom to get the pads ready this time.
"Operation Black Arrow," Thom mumbled. "I had to find out why we were targeting a man that wanted peace." Tyler rolled her eyes and threw more punches.
"And he said…?"
"The usual. Forget peace, it's all about business – then he did the whole 'avoid why cos you're not ready' thing." As soon as the words left Thom's lips, Tyler gave one final punch that sent him flying and crashing into the crash mat. Everyone else turned around and stared, eyes wide and mouths open. Some of them came recently so didn't know how strong Tyler could be, the others had seen her like this all the time and they still weren't used to her strength. She wasn't a typically strong built girl, she was slim and very pretty in quite an exotic way. In fact she was surprised no one picked up on the fact that she and Michael were related – they looked remarkably alike sometimes.
"Ty," Thom groaned from the ground, where she winded him. "You gotta stop doing that."
"Sorry," Tyler panted. "I just hate that excuse that he gives. You can't avoid why forever." She reached out her hand and pulled her boyfriend up.
"Yeah," Thom muttered. "I know."
A/N: Tell me what you think, I love love love Tyler! Thank you for reading, I'll update again next Friday.
- J x
