Disclaimer: I don't own anything 'In A Heartbeat' related whatsoever. I only own the story, and the characters that I made up. Any products or location or other stuff that are familiar to you are not mine as well. You get the point : )

West Side Story

The Case of the Ex

Until now, Val had never thought of having to deal with such a scenario. She knew that Tyler had relationships in the past. Even she had a few, but none of them ever really came up. He didn't have any serious relationships with anyone at the school, so the possibility of such a scene happening was slim to none. After Hank confirmed her worst fear, she wasn't sure what to do or how to deal with it.

"Ex-girlfriend?" Val said to make sure that she heard him right.

"Unfortunately," Hank said. "But don't worry. It wasn't serious or anything."

Tyler continued to talk to Tonya while the rest of them simply became a distraught audience. The fact that he totally forgot about them made Val upset, and the fact that he seemed to be enjoying the conversation made her uneasy. When she couldn't take it anymore, Val ran back to the beach house.

"I better follow her," Caitie said. "I'll see you guys later."

"I feel bad," Marianne said as they watched Caitie leave. "If I was in the same position, I would rip her eyes out."

"You have nothing to worry about, Marianne," Jamie said with a smirk. "We're talking about Hank here."

"Very funny," Hank said.

"So was Tyler like totally in love with her or something?"

"It's more like a big crush," Hank said. "He thought he was in love, and maybe he was, but I would say that it was just a big obsession. An infatuation of some sort."

"I can't argue with that," Jamie said. "I mean, just look at her."

"Don't you even dare," Marianne told Hank as he proceeded to turn his head.

"I wasn't going to look," Hank said. "I was just going to peek."

"Yeah right," Jamie said.

"She's not my type anyway," Hank said. "I mean, yeah, she's really hot and all."

"Just stop talking, alright?" Marianne said. "I'm going to catch up with the girls. I'll see you later."

"Bye

"And Jamie…"

"Yeah?"

"Watch him," she said, referring to Hank, "and stop drooling, or Caitie will never hear the end of this."

"I get your point," Jamie said.

When Marianne was out of sight, they both looked at Tonya and Tyler.

"So, when should we get his attention?" asked Jamie.

"Now?" Hank said.

"Tyler!" Jamie yelled. "When are you going to let us meet your friend?"

Tyler looked around, as though startled that they had company. After a few words with Tonya, he brought her to meet them… at least two of them.

"Hey guys, this is Tonya Miller. She's an old friend of mine. Tonya, you know Hank, right?"

"I vaguely remember, but he looks familiar."

"I hardly remember you as well," Hank faked a smile.

Tonya frowned for a moment and turned her attention to Jamie.

"And who is this guy over here?"

"That guy over there is Jamie," Tyler continued, "and…wait, where did the girls go?"

"They all went after your girlfriend," Jamie said. "She wasn't feeling very well."

"Girlfriend?" said Tonya. "I thought you were only here with your friends."

"Well, yeah, I said that, but just because she's my girlfriend doesn't mean that she's not my friend as well."

"I see," she said. "So what happened? She didn't want to meet me?"

"Who would?" Hank murmured.

Tonya glared at him for a moment.

"I better go," Tonya said. "I suddenly feel unwanted here."

"Well, if you must go, then go," Hank told her. "We're really going to miss you."

"I'm sure you will," Tonya said. "I'll see you around, Tyler."

"See you around."

After Tonya was out of sight, a rather annoyed Tyler turned to Hank.

"What was that all about?"

"I should ask you the same thing," Hank said.

"What are you talking about? You were the one being rude and sarcastic. Why? Do you have a problem with her or something?"

"If you must know, yes, I do have a problem with her. The question is, why are you talking to her?"

"She's an old friend."

"After what she pulled on you, you still call her your friend?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"You know, this isn't just about me. When you saw her again, you totally forgot about us, especially Val. As I recall, you didn't even care to mention her to Tonya."

"It didn't come up."

"She was all over you, dude," Jamie said with a stereotypical California surfer accent. "She was like totally all over you."

"No, she wasn't," Tyler said. "We were just talking."

"Fine, but seriously, if you just talking, I don't care," Jamie said. "One thing's for sure, you have got to do major explaining to Val. I think what just happened scared her a bit."

"She looked upset, too," added Hank.

"She had nothing to worry," Tyler said. "I'm not going to leave her over Tonya."

"Well, it was intimidating," Jamie said. "Tonya looked like she just stepped out from a Victoria Secret catalog."

"Where did she go?" Tyler asked.

"Probably back to the house," Hank said.

"I guess I better go and talk to her."

"Give her a little time," Hank said.

"Yeah, or else she'll tear your eyes out," Jamie followed.

"Val wouldn't do that," Tyler said.

"If a woman is irrational, then there's no way to tell what she would do. They're unpredictable."

"This is Val were talking about," Tyler said. "She's not exactly the type who would physically attack somebody."

"You have a point," Jamie said. "The worst thing she could do is either not talk to you or yell at you for eternity. Heck, she could dump you right now."

"Thanks Jamie," Tyler said. "That's very comforting to know. Getting beat up by her is actually sounding better than emotional torture."

"Great," Hank said. "Let's go back to the house."

"Now?" Tyler said. "I thought you told me to give her time."

"Well, I know, but you have to deal with this now. The sooner the better."

"Why is sooner better?"

"If you take longer to approach her, she might get all these ideas in her head, and it'll be harder to convince her that she's being delusional," Jamie said.

"I guess you're right."

"Am I ever wrong?"

"Really Jamie," Hank said, "do you really want us to answer that?"

"Point taken. Let's go"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caitie and Marianne were talking in the living room when the door opened.

"Look who's here," Caitie said. "How did you guys manage to get Tyler away from that…"

"Caitie," Marianne warned her. "Don't say it. You'll just make things worse."

"Fine."

"Where's Val?" asked Tyler.

"Oh, I'm surprised you remember her name," Caitie said.

"Caitie, would you just back off," Tyler said. "I'm not in the mood for this."

"She's in the deck," Caitie told him, "but if you're just going to upset her, then just leave her alone. You…"

"Caitie, would you chill out for a sec," Jamie interrupted "You're acting like he cheated on her or something."

"Any time now," Caitie said.

"Okay, everybody, just calm down," Hank said. "Nothing happened. We shouldn't let out own emotions get in the way of things. I mean, this is supposed to be our vacation. Let's not make things worse."

"Caitie, I would never do anything to hurt Val," Tyler said. "I was just talking to…"

"You don't need to explain yourself to me," Caitie said. "Just go."

"Okay. I will."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Val looked toward the horizon. The breeze was getting colder as the sky slowly turned darker. The sun, not so far ahead in the distance, was just about to set. Looking at it, Val wished that her relationship with Tyler would not end like it. The thought made her shiver more so than the chill of the wind. She heard the door open a few minutes earlier. She supposed that it was the guys. Any moment now, Tyler would probably be looking for her.

"Don't bother coming," she thought out loud. "You're the last person I need to see right now."

Tyler stopped on his tracks. How she knew he was behind her was beyond him. He was quite sure that he didn't make a single sound that she would have possibly heard. Ignoring her request, he slowly continued on his course and settled himself next to her.

"Nice view."

Val was surprised, although she showed no hint of it whatsoever. She didn't even hear him approach her. She continued to ignore him.

"What are you doing out here?" Tyler asked. "It's cold."

Val didn't answer him.

"I know you're mad at me."

"No kidding."

"Oh, you're actually talking. We're making progress here."

"We would be if you'd just go away."

"Val, come on, don't do this."

"Tyler, just leave me alone. Better yet, why don't you go visit your ex-girlfriend? You'd rather spend time with her."

"Where is all this coming from?"

"You tell me."

"Val, she's just a friend."

"Whom you were so excited to see that I suddenly became yesterday's news."

"That's not true."

"Tyler, when I saw you with her, you seemed so elated. It was like you were in love with her. After hearing what Hank said and finding out who she was, I got scared. Things like this happen all the time."

"What things?"

"Guys leaving their girlfriend for somebody in the past."

"Val, I would never do that to you."

"That's exactly what someone who would do that would say."

"Now you're being paranoid."

"Am I?"

"Yes, you are. How can you think of such a thing?"

"How come you never told me about her?"

"It didn't come up. Besides, it's over."

"How did it end?"

"What do you mean?"

"How did you break up?"

"Why does it matter?"

"It matters a lot."

"I dumped her, okay?"

"You dumped her?"

"That's what I said. I dumped her. End of story."

Val turned silent and faced the horizon once again.

"Are you sure there's nothing going on?" she asked.

"Val, there is nothing going on between me and Tonya," he said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Trust me."

Val looked him straight in the eye. She could tell that he was sincere. Now, she regretted even having the conversation. She never struck herself as the jealous type.

"I'm sorry for acting jealous and all," Val said. "It seemed like I don't trust you, which I do."

"And I'm sorry for acting the way I did a while ago," Tyler said. "I didn't know what got over me. It's just that we haven't seen each other for a long time."

"Did you love her?" she asked.

"What?"

"You know what, never mind. I don't think I'd want to know."

"If you say so," Tyler said. "but you know that I love you, right?"

"I know," Val smiled at him. "I love you, too."

"So you're not mad at me anymore?"

"Not at the moment."

Tyler slowly put his arm around her as Val leaned on his shoulder. They looked on as the sun continued to set. Tyler glanced down at Val as she looked up at him. As the sun disappeared in the background, Tyler, in the spur of the moment, bent his head to kiss her.

"The hills are alive… With the sound of music…" Jamie sang out loud as he opened the door.

Simultaneous sighs escaped from Val and Tyler as they separated.

"Don't you just love that song?" Jamie said.

"When Julie Andrews sings it," Tyler said.

"I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

"No/Yes," answered both Val and Tyler, respectively.

"I see you two still have some things to work out," Jamie smiled.

"What do you want?" Tyler said.

"Well, the rest of us are going to watch a movie."

"And you wanted to know if we would like to watch it," Val finished.

"Exactomento!" Jamie said.

"Is that Spanish?" Tyler asked.

"Don't look at me," Val said. "I'm not an expert."

"We'll be right out," Tyler said.

"Okay," Jamie said. "We'll start in five minutes."

"We're okay, then?" Tyler asked as Jamie left.

Before he knew it, Val reached for him and pulled him into a kiss.

"Now we are," she smiled at him. "I'll see you inside."

Tyler looked on as he touched his lips with his fingers.

"I didn't see that coming," he said. "Hank was right after all. They really are unpredictable."

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I'm sorry for the delay. I wasn't really in a writing mood for awhile. I hope you liked it. I'll be back! ~ Scarlet182