Together We Fall

Chapter 66 | Far Apart In Distance, Yet Very Close In Heart

While waiting for Tyler to come out of his house, I leaned back in my seat and just stared at my phone screen with Luke's phone number displayed in it, asking myself whether I should call him or not. It'd been three days now since the last time we talked — well, more like argued — and I didn't see him at all in school or maybe he was avoiding me. Honestly, I didn't know what was wrong with me but I'd never felt this bored in my life without him around.

I did look at him through the window in my room. I woke up early at six just to see him stepping out of his house to walk Lenny in the morning as usual, wondering if he was still mad at me. I wanted to talk to him and hug him, telling him that I was sorry for a million times. But it was the what-ifs that held me back. What if he didn't accept my apology? What if he didn't want to open up the door when I knocked?

He was just driving me crazy, from the beginning and up until now.

"I promise you, mom. I'll get back home later!" My eyes shifted from my phone screen to the sight of Tyler walking out of his house.

"You better be, young man!" His mom's voice could be heard from the inside before he shut the front door behind him.

I thrust my phone into one of the pockets on my jacket just as soon as he got into car and seated himself down on the passenger seat next to me. He blew out a sigh before he cast his eyes down at the black leather jacket I wore that Luke bought for me.

"Somehow, that jacket annoys the fuck out of me," Tyler rolled his eyes as he set his feet up on the dashboard.

"Just get used to it. I'll be wearing it forever," I fastened up my seatbelt then turned on the ignition. "Buckle up and feet off the dashboard."

"You're starting to sound like mom and I'm seriously tired of that," he groaned.

"Don't tell me she's the reason why you didn't show up at school or anywhere at all," I pulled out and drove to our destination.

Tyler folded his arms, "She locked me up in the basement and made me listen to her advices through her old boom box for the whole day and night. On repeat."

"Damn. That was like...the worst punishment ever."

"You tell me," he scoffed. "I'd rather be grounded for years than sitting in that filthy basement and listening to her stupid advices."

Then, he turned on the radio and instantly sang his heart out the moment he heard Shawn Mendes's song, Stitches being played. He lowered down the window and screamed out the lyrics. I was going to scold him but I decided not to do it because I knew that he'd enough of it. His mom had chided him severely. So, I didn't want to stress him out and just let him do whatever he wanted to do. Even if I had to sacrifice my ears to hear him singing horribly.

After fifteen torturous minutes of listening to Tyler singing out of tune, we finally made it to our destination which was the pizza parlour where Max and Cece were waiting for us inside. Max was the one who came up with the idea of this 'friendship reunion' thing since all of us were okay with each other now. I didn't think this was necessary actually but they forced me to come anyway.

Tyler felt good now after releasing all of his irritations that he'd been holding back from his mom. He skipped his way cheerfully into the parlour and still singing the lyrics to the song playing inside his head. Frankly, rather than looking happy, he looked completely crazy to me.

We both approached the table where both of our friends were sitting around at. Then, he twirled Cece around in his arms when she hugged him, ignoring the attentions they'd drawn from the other customers while I simply sat myself across from Max and watched them acting very silly.