With You

Chapter 7

I put my phone back on the table and turn my attention back to Tyler. He finishes up his text to his friends and put his phone down.

"So, you fell asleep through most of the movie," he smiles. He has that type of smile that'll make someone want to instantly smile even if they're in a bad mood.

"Why didn't you wake me?" I ask.

He grabs me and pulls me closer to him and looks down at me.

"Because you looked so tired and it seemed like you didn't get that much rest. You looked cute, too."

"Thanks. Yeah I really didn't. Josh and Madison came in my room earlier and woke me up. My cousin was kind of shocked when he seen Cooper asleep in my bed," I say nonchalantly. When I say the last part of my sentence, Tyler is looking at me confusingly.

"You two are really close, huh?"

"Who me and Cooper or me and Josh?" He nods his head at me.

"Yeah, you and Cooper."

"Yeah, he's always been around and looked over me. He's a nice guy, when he wants to be," I laugh at my own comment.

"Yeah," he says sounding unsure. "You sure there's nothing there between the two of you? Because of it is, I'll back off."

I wave him off. "Oh, I'm sure. We're just friends."

"He cares about you, a lot. I can tell."

I snuggle against his chest and look at him. "Yeah, he does. He's just flirtatious."

"Very," he murmurs.

I know Tyler believes what I'm saying, but like I thought before, I see how me and Cooper's friendship can easily look like something more to a stranger.

"Besides, Cooper likes Ava and she likes him, so," I trail off.

He bends down and kisses my forehead. "That's cool. They'll actually make a nice couple."

"I know, right."

"I really like you, Adalyn. That's why I asked you about Cooper."

I give him a half smile, but deep inside I am dancing and doing backflips. "You have nothing to worry about and I like you too."

He smiles at me and it is a full on cheesy smile. "That's good to know, because all of this," he wave his arms around the room, "is kind of foreign to me. I used to not be the 'Netflix and actually chill' kind of guy. I was more of the 'Netflix but not really watch the movie and more so watch the girl" guy if you catch my drift."

I purse my lips at him. Yeah I catch his drift alright.

He sees the my reaction to what he is saying is far from appealing so he quickly finishes up.

"What I'm saying is that I like this. It's really nice. I wish I would've done this more often. Getting to know the girl first thing." He grins and shrugs.

I lean off of him and sit up straight. "Uh, what was so hard about that," I ask confused.

"Well, if you grew up the way I did you would understand." He's hesitant at first, but when he sees that I'm urging him to continue, he does. "Although I lived in a nice house and all of that, it wasn't what it seemed. I was lonely. My parents were never there, so I used to drink heavily and sleep around. No one was there to look after me."

I relax my posture a bit and cover his hand with mine and briefly glance up at him. I know how it feels to not have parents there but I still had people to look after and care for me, so I do feel for Tyler.

"That's sucks. So that was how you blew off steam."

"Yeah, for a while it would help me, but when I would sober up, reality came back so I used to drink myself into oblivion. When I was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning the doctors told me I was severely dehydrated and I could've died. I had no one to go to in my family, so I called the coach of the football team."

I study him and put the pieces together. I remember during junior year of high school I overheard Josh tell his dad about a teammate that was basically living alone and getting into trouble. Josh wanted my aunt and uncle to take him in but they refused, explaining that it wasn't enough room in the house. The teammate ended up living with the coach and his wife and kids. One of their kids is Cooper. But why is Cooper so standoffish towards Tyler if his family took him in? Almost reading my mind, Tyler answers my question.

"I didn't really live with Cooper and his family. They would just come check on me everyday and invite me over for dinner every night. Sometimes I would stay the night, but that's it. Me and Cooper have an okay relationship. It was a little better but when he seen me staring at you one day when you guys were out getting yogurt he told me to stay away. As you can see I don't take orders very well," he gives me a lazy grin.

I laugh and think back on that day.

Me and Cooper always get frozen yogurt, like twice a week. I remember him talking to me about some girl and he stopped in mid sentence and told me he would be right back. I turned to see where he was going and seen him talking to some guy. And that guy was Tyler. When he returned he looked very irritated but I brushed it off.

Tyler brings me back to reality when he finishes his story.

"He's just looking out for you and is worried that I might go back to that guy again and hurt you but I can respect that. I do like your cousin a little more than Coop though, he's more chill." I laugh and nod my head and agree with him.

I reach up and give him a soft kiss. "Thanks for sharing that with me. I appreciate it. I think I like you even more."

Before I can say anything else he kisses me. He grabs me by the waist and pushes me back on the bed. He takes off my sweatshirt and I do the same to him. He lowers his head and gives me a chaste kiss.

"I guess we eventually ended up Netflixing and not watching the movie after all," I say as I take the rest of his beanie off.

He laughs at my remark. "We did it the right way for most of the day," he shrugs, "so why not have a little fun for behaving ourselves for a while."

I grab a fistful of his shirt and pull him lower to my lips and kiss for the rest of the night.