One Year Ago

"WOOHOO!" The entire crowd screamed out loud simultaneously. "Go Dragons!"

God, it was painfully cliche but high school football games were some of the best experiences ever. Central High always had our games scheduled for after-sundown, so it was usually pretty chilly out.

This just made it better, because everyone in the stands was decked out in scarlet and gold merch; hoodies, sweatpants, jackets, and anything else they could find in the school's famous colours.

I am a total ambivert; I'm super shy until I get to know someone, and then I'm really outgoing when I'm comfortable with that person. So before I moved to Philly and started at Central High, I would never find myself at a football game, purely because no one had ever asked me to come with them- and who goes to a football game alone?

But this time, I actually had a friend who wanted me to watch the game in the bleachers, and a boyfriend I could cheer for on the field.

"Kinny, Tyler just scored a touchdown! Kinny, are you even paying attention to the game?" My best friend Jayden shouted at me.

I looked over at her and shook my head to clear my thoughts, "Sorry, I was honestly just thinking about how happy I am right now. I mean I've never been to a football game before, and now I'm here with my bestie and my boyfriend."

I nudged her shoulder playfully as I spoke and she linked her arm in mine.

"Damn straight," she replied with a wink. "It sucks that you're going over to Tyler's after the game though, I wanted you to come over to my house. I invited a couple people and even I made a ton of jell-o shots last night and I still have some leftover beer from the other weekend."

Tyler is really finicky with plans, so when he makes a plan he wants to stick to it. He might be a little pissed off if I ask him to come with me to Jayden's place for a little after-party, but I haven't hung out with Jay in so long and I needed this.

"Okay, that actually sounds really fun. I feel like getting wasted tonight and as long as Tyler can bring Liam and some of the other guys on the team, he should be down to come as well."

"Yayyy! Thanks bitch," squealed Jayden so loudly that few people on the bleachers below us turned around and stared. "Maybe I'll even meet a cute girl to makeout with," she said with a cocky smirk, completely ignoring all the eyes peering at us.

I laughed out loud and leaned in closer to Jayden. I am so fucking lucky to have her as my best friend.

I clinked my red plastic shot glass against Tyler's, tapped it on the tabletop in sync with his, and threw my head back as we knocked the bitter taste of rum down our throats.

"Ugh gross," I said as I puckered my lips in an attempt to get the god-awful taste off my tongue, "Straight rum will literally never taste even remotely good, will it," I asked as I looked at him, still sweaty from the game earlier.

"Not really, but babe, I don't want you to drink too much of it tonight anyways. Okay? Please, for me, just limit yourself," Tyler said as he looked down at me with his brow suddenly furrowed in something that looked like concern.

"Oh yeah, sure. I mean, I was originally planning on getting drunk cause I'm sleeping here at Jay's tonight and don't have to drive home," I responded, a little unsure of the reason he seemed concerned that I wanted to drink, when he'd seen me drunk before.

"Okay that's fine just stick with me then. You know how the team gets when they've been drinking." I nodded up at him and put my empty shot glass back onto the table.

Central High is known for our football team. We've won the High School Football National Championship two years in a row now, and this season we've gone completely undefeated. Everyone at Central, and honestly even in Philly, has this weird unspoken respect for the team, which means they end up ignoring a ton of the crappy shit they do.

They have a pretty big reputation for getting really handsy with girls after games, even when the girls aren't interested which never ends well.

Tyler's not like that though. He's probably one of, if not the nicest guy on the team, and he doesn't act like he can have anything he wants from girls, just because he plays varsity at Central.

Ever since Tyler asked me out 5 months ago and we started dating, I thought he would've wanted something more than long makeout sessions, but so far he hasn't. I mean it's not like he hasn't asked me before, but he knows I don't feel ready yet, and he respects that.

I had told him that I had only just turned 16, and even though he was a year older, I still wanted to wait a bit. When he agreed, I was initially surprised, because all of his teammates were sleeping with random girls every weekend, and I had just expected him to want the same thing. I still feel bad for assuming that.

Speaking of, I was startled out of my thoughts as I felt someone push against my hip, and turned to see Liam, deeply engrossed in a makeout session with his on-again, off-again, girlfriend Amy.

Before I could say anything Tyler leaned over me and punched Liam in the shoulder. "Hey asshole, get a room, and stop grinding your ass all over my girlfriend's hip." My cheeks instantly flushed bright red at this.

Liam and Amy pulled apart, and it became quite obvious they were completely wasted by the way they were stumbling all over each other.

"Oh sorry I forgot, that's your job, isn't it," Liam slurred, with a cheeky smirk on his face in response to Tyler's comment.

In that moment, two things happened in what felt like a no more than a second. My face grew even hotter as both Liam and Amys' eyes turned to look at me, and Tyler lunged even farther over the table until his fist was colliding with Liam's jaw.

My mouth dropped open at the impact, and Amy screamed over the music that was blaring so loudly, that only a couple people heard the commotion and turned around to look.

"Watch your fucking mouth, you absolute fucking dick. That's my girlfriend you're spewing shit about," Tyler growled at Liam.

"Don't be jealous that everyone is getting some except you Ty, it looks pretty desperate," Liam replied straight to Tyler's face without showing a hint of any pain he was possibly in from the punch, "C'mon Amy, lets go finish what we were in the middle of."

At this, he grabbed the small blond's hand and led her towards one of the secluded corners in the crowded basement, making sure to turn and wink at me as he walked away.

Tyler started to follow them but I put my arm in front of his body to stop him, "It's not worth it babe, just leave them alone. He's your best friend and you don't want this to be a thing tomorrow when everyone's sober again, do you?" I asked, hoping that Tyler would leave Liam be.

He looked at me and slowly shook his head, "No, you're right. But I'm gonna need a couple more shots if I have to put up with shit like this all night."

Tyler wiped his fist on his white jersey, and that's when I noticed his hand was bleeding. It must've been from when he decked Liam. "Oh shit," I muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, just that your hand is bleeding. Want me to get you some ice? It looks like it'll bruise in the morning," I said pointing to his hand.

"Nah, it's just a bit of blood," he said while pouring about four shots worth of the rum into a random solo cup that looked like it still had something in it, "He's not allowed to make comments about you and our relationship like that. I couldn't care less that he's my best friend, only I can say stuff like that about you." As he said this he threw his head back and poured the contents of the cup down his throat.

What the actual fuck? He thinks he can make comments about me like that just because he's my boyfriend? And I was literally trying to help him heal his hand less than two seconds ago.

First he was trying to control how much I was drinking, then he punched Liam twice, and now he says that? What the fuck was with him tonight?

"Uh, Tyler, that was kind of a dick thing to say, and just because you're my boyfriend doesn't mean you have the right to talk to me like that. So I'm gonna go find Jay. I haven't hung out with her at all yet tonight and she's the main reason I wanted to come in the first place."

As I started to walk away from the table, he threw his empty cup to the floor and looked me dead in the eye,

"No you're not."

Author's Note

sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger but i didn't want to make the chapter too long ;)

next one is pretty graphic and content-heavy, just to warn you