Saving Tyler

TWENTY-ONE

Tyler

I nibble on my fingernails as I started to get worried about Alec. He had been gone for nearly six hours, and he hadn't checked up on me. I look at my phone for the time. 5:53 in the afternoon. I sigh and started to tap my foot against the floor.

Quinn and Alec's friends, whose names are Harris, Jake, Drew, and Kyle, had left an hour ago for some drinking. Too bad I'm still a year underage for drinking.

I look around the gym, and it was still packed. There were a few kids with their parents while they work out. Which is a safety hazard-- bad parenting I must say. A few were around the area I'm at, and they're running around screaming and chasing each other. I watch the kids with envy.

I've never been that close with Josh. Close to the point where we wouldn't care what older adults would say to us and just doing whatever to keep us up and running. We kept our behavior because of our father.

Why hadn't Josh called me yet?

He sent a message to me from his phone, Tyler.

Brianna's words repeated to me in my head.

Something must've happened to him. And I have a gut feeling it's not pretty. I should check up on him. Check up on my mother as well while I'm at it.

I remember seeing my father on my porch last night. He was drunk and was talking to himself. He always did that when I was younger. And then he would beat me to a pulp. I shivered at the memory. I can't believe I have a father like him. I wish I had someone better to help me through my life. To show me what love is and to make me feel beautiful.

I wanted a father like that.

But instead, I got a father whose life's a joke.

I sigh and looked at the ground. I've come all the way where I'm at by myself, no help whatsoever, and I should be damned proud about that. I didn't need a mentor, a motivator; I needed a hero. A Superman.

I heard someone call my name, so I lift my head up to look for who was calling me. Alec was standing a few feet away from me, his hands in his pockets, sweaty, but a huge grin on his face. He looked so handsome.

I couldn't help but smile back, feeling happy now that I'm seeing him again. I got up from where I'm sitting and walked towards him.

"Ready to go?" he asks, his smile not disappearing.

I nod my head. "Let's get out of here."

We walk out of the gym side by side, not leaving each other. We had gotten into the car, and he sighed loudly.

"I'm dead beat," he says, putting in the keys to his car.

I chuckle. "Well, then, let's go back to your place and enjoy the rest of the night with each other."

I felt my phone vibrate. I narrow my brows and took a look at it. Alec backs the car up, looking behind himself. I answered the call and put my phone against my cheek.

"Hello?"

"Tyler, Dean might be going somewhere with the computer." Brianna says, and I can hear the smile in her voice.

Alec turns the wheel and starts driving. "Who's that?"

"Brianna, what are you talking about?" I say, answering his answer at the same time.

"Dean has a familiar friend working on the computer. And he says that they might be able to fix it!" she repeats herself, more enthusiastically.

I frown. A familiar friend? Like I'm friends who's friend is Dean. Did I say that to myself right...?