Lessons On Love

13: Naive Or Stupid

Chapter 13: Naive Or Stupid?

            There used to be a time when people used to think Tyler and I were connected at the head. He was the quiet one, the level-headed and the reasonable one, and I was the bossy one, the fearless, uncontrollable one – the one who always tried to get him into trouble. I don’t know how it worked, but it just did, and there were rarely any days you would find one of us without the other.

            Things were a lot easier back then and everyone you played with on the playground for more than a second was your friend, but even then, when friends were so replaceable and easy to come by, Tyler and I knew how important we were to each other. We planned everything together, from the jobs we’d have – I was going to become a famous Broadway actress and Tyler was going to become a famous ice cream truck driver – to the type of houses we’d live in, but thinking back, not once did we say we’ll always stay in each other’s life. Back then, it must have been unsaid – something that was so obvious that we didn’t need to plan it – but sometimes, I wonder if it was because of our lack of arrangement that made everything fall apart in the end.

            It’s been years since then and I’m sure Tyler has gotten used to the empty space beside him where I should be, the way I’ve gotten used to his, but it amused me to see that after all this time some things never seem to change. Back then, Tyler used to follow me around everywhere I went, telling me everything was a bad idea, begging me not to do things that the adults would get mad at us for, and me, still doing them.

            Almost as soon as I stepped out of Wal-Mart, that pestering, annoying side of him came out in the form of a text message.

            Tyler: Don’t do anything stupid Mila!

          Tyler: He doesn’t even have protection now!

            And whose fault is that I wonder? I let my eyebrows crease sullenly on my face before letting my gaze rest on Marshall pushing the grocery cart down the parking lot toward my car, and for the first time, I pitied him. Poor Marshall. He was going to get some poor unsuspecting drunk girl pregnant this weekend all because Tyler refused to sell him a box of condoms.

            “Hm?” He turned around and looked at me just as the thought crossed my mind. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

            “Just wondering what you’re going to do now that you don’t have your jumbo pack.”

            He laughed and slowed down so that I could catch up to him. “That’s odd – for someone like you to worry about my sexual needs.”

            “Not worry. Just curious.”

            “Well it’s nothing to fuss over. I mean, if I really, really, really wanted to get it on, nothing is going to stop me.” He smirked at me and then slipped some car keys into the trunk of my car when we stopped in front of it before lifting the cover up. My heart instantly missed a couple of beats and my hands darted to the pocket of my pants, but they were gone – my car keys were gone. But how did he... When did he... “You should hold tightly onto the things you don’t want to lose,” he said. “I’m a natural born thief you know. If you let me get close enough to you, I’ll end up stealing everything.”

            He laughed after, showing me a toothy grin to let me know he was only kidding. “Nah, I’m just pulling your leg. I’m totally harmless.”

            But it was already too late. By then, my brain had already sent numerous brain impulses down my nerves and before it could send another set of instructions to intercept them, my arm already threw a punch at his face.