Rebuilding Valley View (Valley View Book #4)

Chapter 20

“Well shit, I should have probably gone with a dare, huh?” Tiff played me like a fiddle and now I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to get myself out of this mess. I knew playing Truth or Dare with these girls was going to be a mess.

“You have to answer, it is the rule. Otherwise, you have to sleep outside.”

I snort in response, “I don’t think that’s how it goes, Tiff.”

“I’m the oldest, I get to make the rules.”

“That seems unfair,” I continue to deflect.

“Doesn’t matter, are you going to answer, Charlie?”

“I don’t know,” I sigh.

Her voice softens slightly, “You don’t know the answer or you don’t know if you’re going to answer?”

“Both. Listen, I don’t know if this is that fun anymore.” I stand up and stumble into the kitchen with a slight stumble and grab a bottle of beer from the fridge. I turn around and Taryn is standing right behind me. I yelp in surprise and jump back.

“Whoa, just me,” she puts her hands up.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“You sure you want that beer?”

I look over the bottle and back to Taryn, “Do you have anything stronger?”

Taryn walks over to the other side of the kitchen and grabs a bottle of tequila, holding it up for me to look at, “Something like this?”

“Oh sweet.” I grab a red cup and she pours me a shot.

Before she puts the lid back on, Taryn takes a long sniff from the bottle. “Man I miss this stuff.”

“I don’t know how you can give up alcohol.”

“You have to give up a lot of other shit too. Do you know how impossible life is on one cup of coffee? Anyway, Tiff doesn’t mean any harm by her question. She’s pretty wasted too. “

“I know, I just...I don’t know how to answer it and I’m also kind of scared of what my answer might be.”

Taryn pulls out one of the chairs at the kitchen table and takes a seat. I join her at the table after pouring myself a little more than a shot. “Are you scared to be in love with Tyler?”

“Tyler? He’s like a puppy dog, couldn’t hurt a fly. Of course, I’m not scared of him.”

“I don’t mean that kind of scared. Are you scared that if you love him you’ll get hurt or something?”

I nod, “A little. I know we talked about this whole long-distance thing and I’m not backing out, I’m totally all in, but what if it doesn’t work?”

“Then you enjoy the moments you have together now and try not to worry about the future. I was in love with Bobby long before I knew that I was. We broke up for a while, well I can’t call it a breakup, we were never dating officially.” She pauses to think of something. “Anyway, when we got back together and we decided to be in an actual relationship and not just hooking up.”

“In Holly’s house?” I giggle.

“Details, details…” I take another sip of my tequila and snort into the cup.

“Anyway!” Taryn continues, “When we got back together I realized that I loved him a long, long time ago and it didn’t click. I don’t know if you love Tyler. Hell, I don’t know if Tyler loves you. All I do know is that worrying about the future doesn’t usually get anybody anywhere.”