His Name Was Tate

i get why

Once lunch was over I walked Becks back to her class. She ranted on and on about how distressed she was at the boys and I let her. I decided not to ask her about her aunt, mostly cause it did feel like the right time. I'll wait when everything has cooled down. I texted her through out the rest of the day to make sure she was alright. She said she was ok and that she was gonna hang out with Kyle today to make up to him.

I stood at the front of the school staring down at my phone.

"Hey there, little owl?" Tate said in a whisper. I jumped away from him and brought my hands of to the ear where his lip lightly grazed it. I could feel my heart in my throat. I turned away from him moving my hand to my heart trying to steady my breathing.

"You ok?" He asked wearily. I rolled my eyes at him as I got my breathing back to normal.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just don't handle jump scares too well. So in the future, let's not do that again." He nodded.

"Noted." He said. He looked at me as if he wanted to ask something, but quickly covered that look with a smirk.

"So, why you standing in front of the school starring at your phone like an idiot?" He asked.

"Waiting for my dad to pick me up." I said short but sweet.

"I think he's still at the house." Tate said nonchalantly.

My eyes shot to his. I sometimes forget that my dad worked for him. He never really talks about my dad working there after the last time I threatened him. And dad doesn't really talk about work at all.

"Did you want to just head straight over to my house? We can take my car." He asked.

I hesitated at first. The thought of being alone in a car with him terrified me, but in a good way. I sheepishly nodded my head in agreement.

"Follow me." He said. We began making our way to the students parking lot. There I saw Mike leaning on a black vintage Mustang. I chuckled to myself. It suited him perfectly.

"Mike. Backseat." Tate said as he pulled the keys from his pocket. Not gonna lie, a tinge if disappointment set in once I realized that Mike would be riding with us. Especially, after the way he acted today. He wasn't necessarily on the top of my list of besties at the moment. Usually, I would try to defend him to Becks, but now I get why she keeps him at an arms length now.

"Really, dude?" He protested. Tate shot him a look and he quickly jumped in the backseat.

I slowly slid myself into the passenger at the same time Tate got in the drivers. We shut the doors behind us and he began to start the car.

"Where's Tim?" I asked.

"Practice." They said in unison. I nodded. And an awkward silence fell over us and suddenly the events of today flooded my head once more. There bruised bodies and cut skin caught my attention again. I couldn't help but look at Tate.

The bandaid that was on his eye was gone and all I could see now was the cut. It was pretty deep, but if treated correctly it wouldn't leave a scar. The bruise on his cheek was now a purple-ish color, and the cut on his lips looked like it was starting to slowly scab over.

"You stare any harder your gonna drill wholes in my head." He said as a wide grin pulled across his face. I quickly averted my eyes out the window.

"How cute!" Mike said in a mocking tone from the back seat. I rolled my eyes at him, even though he couldn't see it. I refused to turn away from the windows, my cheeks felt like they were on fire. And they probably look like it too.

"If you two lovebirds are done, I would like to play some tunes to cover up the frustrating silence. Mel, be a dear and pass me the aux cord." He said in a sarcastically friendly tone.

I grab the cord and slowly turn toward Mike making sure I held eye contact. "Only my friends and family call me Mel. And you sir are neither. So it's Meloni to you." I said coldly still gripping the cord in my hand.

He seemed shocked by my sudden change in mood. But after the way he was acting to day and how he made Becks feel, I could care less. He clearly knows nothing about her, and he keeps doing shit that makes her uncomfortable. Then the way he spoke to me after I was just trying to give them advice, hell yeah I was gonna give him a piece of my fuvking mind.

A sudden smile appeared on his face, making his features twist in a mischievous way.

"What? You mad about earlier? What cant handle truth?" He said cockily. "Like I said, Meloni, you know nothing about her. You consider yourself her best friend, but you didn't even know about her aunt? You aren't even-" Mike was cut off by an annoyed Tate.

"Mike, stop. Your-" I cut Tate off before he could finish.

"Is that all you know about her? And I mean Is that all you know about Rebecca? What's her new fav color? What's a hobby she's recently picked up? Who's her crush and why does she like him? Can you answer any of those?" When the car went silent I took it as a sign to keep going. "Exactly, just like me, you have a lot to learn about her too. I know more about her in the few weeks that spent with her verses the years you've had. She's not the same person you knew before, and the quicker you realize that. The quicker you'll have her back in your life, and that goes for the both of you." I said i took a glance Tate, and brought my eyes back to Mike and reached out the chord for him to grab.

"She's not Robby, she's Rebecca. An entirely different human being. You need to start from square one and get to know her. Stop wishing for the shadow of the person you knew to show back up." I said before I let go of the chord, staring at him more intently.

His eyes were filled with an emotion I couldn't place but he quickly covered it as he grabbed the chord from my hands. The same smirk that Tate put on his face was now on Mikes. That Mancini smirk, even on Mike, it could bring a girl to her knees.

"And here I thought, you were some quiet wide eyed girl with staring problems. Who knew you had such a temper? Now I know why you call her owl." He said as he leaned back into the seat nonchalantly. I looked between the two of them confused.

"Just cause I'm quiet, doesn't mean I'm shy. Maybe I just don't wanna talk to you. Your ever think of that, Mike?"

"Whatever you say, Meloni. Whatever you say." Mike said with a grin.

A low chuckle came from beside me and I look up to see a cute smile on Tates face. It was a genuine smile and it made my heart scream. "Little owl, please sit properly in your seat, or do you prefer you body that close to me?" I looked at him questioningly. I saw his eyes glance to his arm, and I had realized my boob was pressed against him.

I quickly sat back in my seat and kept my my body angled from him so that I was looking out the window. Why does this car have to be so small?
Kill. Me. Now.