twisted // tyler seguin

fifty eight

(TYLER'S POV)

A loud, attention seeking gasp could be heard from beneath of me. Savannah's huge head was lying on my lap, the rest of her body sprawled out across the couch. From the floor, Cash raised his head and cocked it, showing that he was interested in the issue that was causing her so much grief.

"What's bothering you now?" I asked as I threw a handful of popcorn into my mouth. On the TV screen in front of me, analysts from NHL Tonight were discussing last night's games.

"Take a wild guess." Savannah groaned out as she shifted around on my lap. Her long hair cascaded off her shoulder and fell on my arm.

"Julia?"

"You got it." She chimed out.

It was my turn to sigh as I shifted my eyes towards her. I couldn't see her face since her back was facing me, but I could only imagine the typical face of irritation she constantly wore.

Despite her constant complaints over her sister's wedding and "all of the work" she has combined, Savannah still managed to carry out Julia's wishes. I couldn't come up with any explanation as to why she would put herself through so much trouble to do it. I never bothered to ask either, since she may not even have an answer herself.

It concerned me more and more daily how she was handling her work and responsibilities. After having brain damage for so long and not doing anything, it's obvious her body would have limitations to the amount of pressure she can handle. And it seem to me, that she was breaking those limitations. By a landslide. Her mood swings were still intact, but not as much as the occasional headache she'd get.

While her long-term physical effects were few and far in between, something wasn't sticking right with her emotionally. Savannah would have episodes of quietness and refuse to engage into any type of deep conversation. The next day, she wouldn't be able to stay away from me for more than 15 minutes. I'm sure it couldn't be anything severe that would need a diagnosis, but nonetheless, it still worried me.

Especially since I've been on the road recently with hockey starting, I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing home alone. She never told me she had issues with me being away, but that definitely doesn't mean that she actually meant it. I didn't want to worry too much to where I seemed overbearing; and I hoped that wouldn't lead to a mistake one day.

"What's the issue now?" I asked, rubbing my hand down her bare arms.

"I'm telling her about this bachelorette party and I'm saying that for what she wants, she doesn't need a place to book it at. It can be a get together, not at a club or whatever." Savannah rubbed her eyes before slamming her arm back down. "It's annoying."

I shrugged. "And what did she say?"

"She's typing back now." Savannah mumbled. She lifted her phone closer to her face before sighing again.

"You keep sighing like that and you're gonna lose all the air in your body." I joked.

"Yeah, I hope I do." She deadpanned.

"Don't say that, Savannah." My voice was a little more stern than it usually was. Little chides like those bothered me, especially when they came from her.

She turned to face me, keeping her spot on my lap intact. "Julia asked if we can have the party here." Savannah looked up at me with hesitant eyes that made me question what she expected me to say.

"Yeah that's fine. The house is big enough, so why not?" I anxiously swallowed down another handful of popcorn, averting my gaze back to the TV.

Savannah's phone rang suddenly, causing me to jump slightly. "Why is she calling me," she mumbled before pressing the green button. "Hello?"

I looked at her as she started tracing the tattoos on my arms, a weird but cute habit she recently formed. "He said you could. You don't believe me?" A pause occurred. "You've been here plenty of times, you know how big this place is. How many people are you planning on inviting?"

NHL Tonight returned from commercial break and presented our game that was scheduled for tomorrow night. It was against the Oilers, which is a game that should definitely give us an easy two points, especially with the way we've been playing. "Okay, well I'm just saying. I never hang out with your friends, so of course I wouldn't know them. Okay, if you say so. Alright. Bye."

Savannah ended the phone call and rubbed her face before looking towards me. "I've been annoying lately, haven't I?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "No? What made you ask that?"

She looked away with eyes that were visibly full with some type of pain. "I don't know, I feel like me stressing about this wedding is taking a toll on you. With me constantly complaining and all of that, I feel like it's getting annoying."

"I wouldn't necessarily say it's annoying," I said. "I just think you're psyching yourself out about the whole thing. It worries me that you're under all of this stress and I just feel like the 'stress' you're feeling is your body being pushed to the limit. You still have brain damage, Sav. I know you're trying to disregard that, but you can't. You're making up for all of this lost time and trying to handle responsibility after responsibility, and you can't. You need to allow yourself some leeway to relax."

"Yeah, but you said you wanted me to go to college." Savannah defended. She sat up, which signaled me that she was getting upset. "How are you gonna say that you want-"

"I know what I said Sav." I interrupted her. "And I do want you to go to college. I want you to go so you can figure out more about yourself and figure out what you want to do. Do you not like college?"

She looked away while messing with the ties on her sweatpants. "No, I like it."

"So then why bring it up like you don't want to go?" I asked. I couldn't help but smile at her.

"I do want to go, I wanna make you happy."

My smile was replaced with a face of confusion. "That's the only reason you agreed to go? To make me happy?" I said cynically.

"No, Tyler, I like college, but I know that it'll make you happy if I go. That's not the only reason. I just-" She paused. "I just want to make you feel like I'm doing something right." Her face fell into the palms of her hands, her blonde hair falling over her body. A quick sob came from her body.

"Sav, Sav, come here." I said, reaching over towards her. My body was heavy with sympathy as I pulled her towards me, lying her head on my shoulder. "Why in the world are you crying?" I asked, rubbing her head.

"I feel like everyone always does shit for me, especially you, and I know that I can't pay you back in any way. It just sucks." Her cries were full of frustration; the tone of her voice quivered with every word she said. "I feel like if I don't do anything then I'm just a vegetable living in a world that's given to her. I need to do something. Anything." She peeked her head up, and all I could see was bloodshot eyes.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Savannah, stop. I understand where you're coming from, but you need to relax. I don't mind. We have this conversation so often, I'm surprised that you still feel this way. I'm taking responsibility for everything I've done, and that's giving you a brain injury. The consequences of that are dealing with you and your silly outbursts- like this one. It's a blessing to be able to take care of a girl like you, honestly. Stop crying," I said as I wiped away her tears. "It's really okay. I just don't want you over working yourself."

Savannah gave me a hard blink before wiping her red face. "I'm so in love with you, Tyler. I hate you." She chuckled out a laugh. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing!" I cried out, causing her to laugh again. "You're gonna drive me nuts."

She sniffled while wiping her nose. "Yeah well, that will make two of us, now won't it?"