Ok so this has taken me a while to write. My mum had a heart attack so my minds been on other things but shes ok now thank god!
I didn't want this to be cheesy but for some reason I found this hard to write and I still keep going over it now trying to see if I can make it better or change anything.
I have just been sat around looking at the computer thinking what the hell shall I write but now this is done I'm going to get back on track with the plot and get some more ass kicking in here!
Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I'm so happy that so many of you keep asking me to update!
I hope you like it and if anyone has any suggestions please let me know xxxx
*Music playing on the radio: Fantasy by Timberland feat. Money.
*Music playing as they skateboard through the tunnels: Still into You by Paramore.
Chapter 12. The Den.
Everything was the same as it was before she left. The posters were still on the walls, old movie classics like The Ghostbusters, Terminator, Rocky etc…
Melted candles were in the same places as they always were. So was the couch, the fridge and the TV although that had been updated to a 32 inch plasma with surround sound! That must sound pretty cool in such a snug little compact place.
The table that she and Mike used to sit at and play board games on was still in the corner and still covered in trinkets that they had collected over the years when they were younger. Little things that they had given to one another for birthdays, Christmas…valentines.
She looked out of the window of the makeshift wall that boarded up the end of the tunnel. She could see the old rusted burnt out 4x4 that they use to lie on at night to look at the stars. They had the best view of the city from here, the type that tourists would kill for but knew nothing about. The only people that knew of this place were her, Mikey and the guys but it was just him and her that had ever really used it. Thinking about it, the New York City council were pretty slack! Almost 10 years had passed and this place had never been disturbed. It just goes to show how often the sewers were checked for health and safety hazards!
Looking round with her flash light she felt like she had never left this place. She had a memory for every little thing that was in there. 'The Den' was where she had planned to tell Mikey how she felt about him a few days before she got news about her mums sickness but with all the commotion and worry she never got round to telling him.
Suddenly something sparked in her head as she remembered something of importance.
She scuffled back over to the table in the corner and felt around underneath it for the small draw that was on one side. She had used this to put bits and bobs like hair clips and bangles and other little things that she didn't want to misplace.
She opened it and rummaged around until she found what she was looking for.
A smile grew on her face. There it was. Discolored but in one piece, a thin and delicate necklace.
It was two necklaces fused together. The clasp and the majority of one necklace then split in half, then attached to a small part of another that had been melted down and then bent, quite well actually, into letters to spell 'Tyler' just like the Carrie necklace that Sarah Jessica Parker had in Sex and the City! Mikey had made this himself and given it to her at April's grandparent's old farm house when they went up there one year for a holiday. No one could have given her a more perfect gift and she was over the moon that she was able to find it again!
She was suddenly pulled away from her memories by a noise coming from the tunnels adjacent to the den.
She hung the necklace up carefully on a nail that was protruding from the wall and turned off her flash light. Quickly she positioned herself behind the door poised ready to attack whoever it was that was about to entre.
She hadn't slept very well that night. She was woken by whining and groaning coming from Raphael's room about 4am. It was nothing she hadn't heard before he always made noises like that when he was having nightmares and that sounded like a bad one!
She decided to get up and make a pot of coffee then she wondered around the lair for a bit looking at the different things the guys had collected and placed around the lair as ornaments to make the place more homely. She stumbled upon a few old photos that had been taken just before she left. There was one that she had taken of Mikey sat in the grass outside the den attempting to BBQ. The BBQ had turned out quite well to be fair and no one died of food poisoning but the photo reminded her of this place so she decided to pay it a visit.
She knew she was the only one up and she hadn't left a note telling anyone where she was going so whoever was about to come through the door was going to get the shock of their life!
A dark figure walked through the door. There was no light apart from one candle that she had lit and in the dark she couldn't make out who or what this was!
She struck the figure hard with the back of her hand. It spun around and grabbed her tightly and the two wrestled for a few seconds before hitting the floor.
The figure was solid and strong put wasn't attacking, just trying to stop her attacking it.
Confused by the fighting technique she straddled the intruder grabbing the first this she could find as a weapon and held it to its throat.
The struggling stopped as the intruder held their hands up to surrender. She reached for the flashlight then shone the light on to her victim.
'MIKE!' she said stunned.
He wiggled his fingers to say 'Hi' still scared to move.
She sat back on to his stomach as he lifted himself up and rested on his arms. He examined the weapon she had used as she pulled it away from his throat.
'A fork?!' he said surprised '…You attacked me with a fork?'
She looked at him then looked at the fork in her hand 'Erm, Yeah?'
He lifted an eyebrow 'So…you attack lots of people with forks?'
'What?!' she said confused '…no I…'
She looked at him as he started to grin and she realized that he was playing with her.
She rolled her eyes feeling silly for falling for his game then held the fork back to his throat and poked him with it as he laughed.
'Ok, ok, carry on Mike…I'll still fork you!' she laughed back at him but then both of them stopped as they realized how that sounded.
'I'm meant… I'll fork you…shit no! I mean…' she shook her head trying to say what she meant the right way but it kept coming out wrong '…I meant poke you with fork not fork you as in fuck you…' she closed her mouth and the two looked at one another un-comfortably.
'I'm just gonna stop talking' she said with a blush as she threw the fork into the corner of the room then placed her hands on to Mikey's plastron to support herself. Then they just looked at one another again.
Mikey quickly remembered that she was on top of him, he hadn't thought about it until now as he was more bothered about what she was trying to stab him with! He tensed up, not through nervousness but through caution. Now he had realized how they were positioned and how she looked in her tight PJ t-shirt and shorts on top of him he didn't want a certain something to 'POP UP' in the heat of the moment, there were some things he couldn't control when he was around her.
He wriggled to get up prompting Tyler to jump off of him. He was thankful that she did even though he would have much preferred to stay down on the floor with her and have her wriggle back.
They dusted themselves off and Mikey wondered round the den lighting the candles to make things a bit brighter.
'What are you doing here at this time dudett? Its early' he said using his lighter to light the last few candles.
'I couldn't sleep...' she said leaning against the wall '...Raph's real loud when he has nightmares!'
'I know right?!' said Mikey rolling his eyes '...He's been doing that a lot over the last few days!' he turned back and smiled at her. It was good but strange seeing her back in the den. She smiled back and he noticed the fluttering in his stomach again.
'What are you doing here at this time?' Tyler asked back.
Mikey panicked he didn't want her to know he had been awake on the couch in the lair while she had been wondering around. She hadn't noticed him laid there watching her and if he told her she would probably think he was a weirdo! And god knows what she would think if she knew he had followed her!
'I was looking for my…' he looked around searching for anything that could pass as a good reason '…my pterodactyl!' he picked up a crappy little toy dinosaur that was on the floor near the couch and showed it to her '...I found it!' he said with a nervous chuckle.
She looked at him with a blank face as he continued to fiddle with the toy.
He felt like an absolute idiot as he thought about how he must look to her playing with this piece of plastic but luckily she giggled at him and just shrugged it off, this was Mikey at the end of the day, nothing about him really surprised her when it came to him doing odd things. She liked it.
He watched her as she moved around the den in her tight PJ's and dressing gown then she turned back to look at him.
'You wanna drink?!' he said realizing he was staring. He dashed to the fridge and looked through the contents 'I got some soda's some beers or water?'
'Waters good, thanks' said Tyler as she walked over to where he was.
He turned around to hand her the bottle and jumped nervously as he realized she was right next to him.
She reached for the water and her fingers grazed his as she took it.
The touch sparked something between them and they stood looking at one another both still holding the bottle.
Tyler's heart started to race as she looked into his eyes. He had the loveliest happiest caring eyes. No matter how shit you were feeling or how much of a bad day you were having you just had to take one look and you would immediately feel on top of the world!
Mikey gulped.
'Would it be so wrong to kiss her?' he thought to himself.
His stomach was doing somersaults again as he fought with his feelings. He tensed his arm and grip on the bottle ready to do it, ready to pull her into him. He traced her lips with his eyes, those beautiful lips, but then the words of Raphael rang in his head reminding him that she could freak out and take off again. He couldn't risk it! He wasn't going to lose her again! He let go of the bottle and broke off his stare.
Disappointed with himself he moved his arm back to his side and gave a little sigh.
He smiled at her sweetly as he put his head down and turned back to the fridge and pulled out another bottle of water. Tyler sighed also. There was a second there when she thought he might have felt the same way as her but she was obviously wrong. She sat on the couch arm and watched as Mikey turned and lent back against the fridge. Silence fell.
Tyler took a swig from her water and then started to tap on the bottle as she looked at the floor trying to think of something to say. Why was this so difficult? She looked up at Mike. He had been looking at her. She caught his glance as his turned his head quickly to look out the window making out that he hadn't been looking at her.
'Idiot!' He thought to himself '…it was so fucking obvious that I was looking at her!' he took a long drink from his water and rolled his eyes with embarrassment '…she probably thinks I'm a weirdo!'
'Bet he thinks I'm a right weirdo!' thought Tyler as she looked in the opposite direction. She saw a radio on a shelf in the corner of the room and hopped up and made her way over to it. Mike took another drink as he watched her wonder over. The necklace she had hung up on the nail caught his eye and he shifted to face it giving it a better look.
'You mind if I put the radio on?' Tyler piped as she examined the box to see if it was still working.
'Go for it dudett' Mike said back as he continued to look at the necklace.
A Timberland song was playing as she set the radio back onto the shelf. It was a good song and she gave a little jig as she turned, happy with the find.
She watched Mike as he nudged the necklace with his finger making it glisten in the early morning sunlight that was starting to filter through the window. He looked at her with a huge smile.
'I forgot all about this! It's pretty good!' he said with a proud smug look as he admired his handy work.
Tyler laughed as she walked over to him, punching him playfully in the arm.
'Ok, Mr cocky turtle! I remembered the draw under the table. I knew it was in there somewhere!'
Mike lifted the necklace off of the nail and undid the clasp gently holding it out to Tyler indicating he would put in on for her. She raised an eyebrow and looked at him. His smile was getting larger by the second and she couldn't resist him. She slipped under his arms placing her hands on his chest to steady herself then she froze. They were practically nose to nose.
He could feel Tyler's breath on his face as she opened her eyes making contact with his again. He noticed that the center of her irises were the lightest blue, white almost and then melted out to a bright blue, so vibrant like a tropical sea then that merged into a dark blue color around the edges. Her pupil shrank as the sunlight from the window poured on to her making her blink and turn around. He'd not seen her eyes that close before. They were beautiful.
He composed his self and lowered the necklace on to her chest fastening it under her hair.
Again he caught a smell of her perfume as it danced through the air from her hair to his nostrils. She turned around gently patting the necklace making sure it was secure.
'Does it look ok?' she said excitedly moving her hair to one side as she felt the clasp to make sure it was definitely fastened. She looked at Mike who expression was blank. He just stared at her.
Tyler eyed him for a moment then moved closer.
'Michelangelo are you ok?'
She said his name. Michelangelo. He closed his eyes. He loved the way she said his name. Not Mike or Mikey but Michelangelo. He sighed deeply.
'I really missed you' he said opening his eyes.
Tyler stopped and looked at him.
'I get why you went dudett...' he continued '...I get it…and I get why you didn't come back, but…' he leant back against the fridge tilting his head back '…why didn't you let me…I mean us,…why didn't you let us help you?'
She knew this was coming and that they would have to discuss this sooner or later.
Tyler's head spun and she slumped down on the couch and put her head in her hands. Mikey quickly moved to sit at her side.
'I didn't expect it to take as long as it did' she said as she lowered her hands and started playing nervously with her fingers.
'It was my family, my burden! It was something that I had to do for me, closure!' she continued. 'I guess I thought of you guys as a prize at the end of it all ya know? My reward for avenging my father I suppose'.
She turned to Mike sharply 'I never meant to hurt you Mikey, never!' her eyes began to well up 'I hope you believe me when I say that because it's the truth!'
She turned away again trying to hide her tears.
'You were my best friend… I'm sorry I left you'.
Mikey had heard enough. He knew her and he knew she meant every word and even though they weren't how he wanted them to be he knew that she was his girl. He loved her, more than he thought he ever could and one day he would tell her that.
He put his hand on hers and squeezed.
'You're still my best friend' he said softly.
She looked at him as he brushed her hair away from her face and smiled. She wiped her tears and smiled back.
He was the Michelangelo she remembered the one she had fallen in love with years ago and she now found herself falling in love with again.
She flung her arms around him and squeezed him tight. Startled he fell against the back of the couch then relaxed and squeezed her back.
'Thank you' she whispered as she sat back and held his hand.
Mikey blushed and rubbed the back of his head.
Tyler glanced behind him and noticed her old skateboard next to his.
'Are the tunnels down here the same as I remember?' she said staring past him.
Mikey followed her stare and saw the skateboards. He spun his head back round to her knowing exactly what she was thinking.
'They sure as hell are babe! You up for it?' He gave her a mischievous grin.
'Hell yeah!' she roared as the two shot up from the couch.
They flew around the den blowing out the candles then grabbed their skateboards and bounded out into the tunnels.
'Just a second babe!' shouted Mikey as he ran back in to turn off the radio.
As he ran back to the door he stopped for a second and remembered how Tyler had hugged him. He took a deep breath and looked around the den. This was their place again. He smiled as he walked out.
He looked around one more time. 'Just like old times' he thought with another smile as he closed the door behind him to join Tyler in the tunnels.
