Frustration -SERIES- [Part 2] Headphones & Reveries [boyxboy]

Chapter Seventeen

Twenty minutes after I ended the call a town car pulled to a stop in front of me. I lifted my head from where it had been resting in my arms; I was still sitting on the pavement beside a pool of my own vomit.

The back door on my side opened and Chloe jumped out, looking around in a panic before she spotted me and hurried over.

'Tyler,' she whispered, lifting a hand to her mouth.

I heaved myself to my feet with some effort. All the raw panic and energy from before had seeped out my body as I sat on the cool concrete and I was left just feeling... Empty.

'Here,' she said, handing me a small travel-sized bottle of mouthwash, and I took it, gargling three mouthfuls of it and spitting it out beside the vomit. 'Come on,' she said quietly when I had finished, ushering me into the car. She put a hand on my back as I was climbing inside and I started; she jumped back guiltily.

'Sorry,' I said. 'Sorry. I'm just jumpy. It's okay. I didn't mean to do that.'

She nodded, chewing the inside of her mouth nervously, and got in after me.

'Do you want me to take you back to your hotel?' she asked gently.

I stared straight ahead of me for a minute, trying to figure that out. I didn't think I could bare to face Conor right now, but I didn't have anywhere else to go.

'Can we just... Drive, for a while?'

Chloe looked at me for a second but then nodded, and leaned forward to pass along the instructions to the driver.

'You knew, didn't you,' I said unquestioningly after a few minutes, and turned to look at her.

Chloe bit her lip again and looked like she was about to cry.

'That's why you kept asking what day and time, that's why you wanted me to take Josh, and why you wanted to make sure it happened through Piaf.'

'I'm so sorry, Tyler,' she whispered.

I shrugged and turned to look out my window. 'You tried to make sure I didn't go at night, you tried to make sure I didn't go alone, you tried to make sure I had representation. You did everything you could. I fucked up.'

'I should have just told you not to go. But I didn't know for sure, it's just stuff I've heard from other models, friends of friends. I didn't want you to turn it down when it could have been fine and could have been such a huge deal for your career. I thought it would be okay if you went with Josh. I'm so stupid Tyler, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. I could have stopped this and I didn't.'

I shook my head. 'Stop. It's not your fault. I can't... I can't deal with you blaming yourself for this on top of everything else so please just don't, okay?' I turned back to look at her again, and she nodded.

'Tell me what to do,' she said. 'What do you need?'

'I don't know,' I said. 'I'm just... Tired.'

'What are you going to do about...' she trailed off and bit her lip again, obviously deciding that asking me questions was too taxing for me right now.

'About what?' I asked wearily.

'Telling Conor.'

I shook my head. 'Not happening.'

She couldn't mask her expression of shock. 'Tyler, no,' she said gently. 'You have to tell him.'

'I don't have to do anything I don't want to,' I told her firmly, and she clamped her mouth shut. I wasn't about to be forced to do anything else tonight.