Promises to Keep

stone cold confession

"Okay Tyler, you're clearly hiding something" Cassidy told Tyler. "What's up with you acting so weird? And why was Jason being so weird?" she had so many questions, her mind was racing. What text messages did he mean? By the look on Tyler's face, he did know exactly what he meant about the messages; why lie?

"I- okay" Tyler sighed, not being able to contain it any longer. "But I need you to promise me you won't hate me" he added softly. 

"You're my brother- I'll always hate you" she grinned, adding "I promise, I won't hate you" when she realized he was in no joking mood. "Okay, what did you do?" 

"It's not what I did, it's, kind of what I've been doing" Tyler confessed, biting his lip. He had come this far, he could no longer turn back. "I told you when we were younger, Tayla and I made a promise that if we were single still by the time we were 35 we'd get married?"

"Yeah. I've heard that" Cassidy affirmed, still wondering where this was going. 

"Well...." Tyler trailed off, sighing heavily. "I'm not proud of this, but; I've had a crush on Tayla for years now" he began, ready to launch himself in his story. 

"Which is something to not be proud of why...?" Cassidy asked when he paused for a moment. 

"And I knew that I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life since I was, like 17" he told his sister, who was still failing to see why this was in any way negative. 

"Yeah....?" Cassidy had to keep urging him to continue. 

"Well... I've kind of have been interfering with her love life since then" he blurted out quickly. 

"You've- what?" Cassidy asked, shocked. 

"I've been purposely breaking up Tayla with every guy she's ever been with" Tyler confessed, looking down. 

"YOU WHAT!?" Cassidy damn near exploded. "TYLER! You've been breaking her heart for all these years!?" she almost shouted, still confused but feeling very angry. "What the hell? What the fuck?" so many questions flew through her mind. 

"Jason never wanted to break up with her" Tyler told Cassidy, whose jaw had still not been picked up from the floor. "I broke them up"

"Okay, back up" Cassidy interrupted him. "You broke her and Jason up?" she asked, and Tyler nodded. "And Jake?" another nod. "Derek?" nod. "Alex?" he nodded solemnly. "Trevor?"

"All of them" Tyler whispered after Cassidy listed the relationships Tayla had left broken hearted, making her wonder what she kept doing wrong. 

"She thought she was un-dateable" Cassidy reminded him. 

"I know"

"She cried for weeks after Jason" Cassidy reminded him also.

"I know"

"No, Tyler, I don't think you fucking do" Cassidy was raging. "Tay and I hung out all the time when you moved to Boston, then Dallas. We talked; a lot. Anytime she was dumped it was extremely hard on her, and her self esteem. I know you know she went through a lot, but you were never here." Cassidy added. "Which, begs the question, how the hell did you break them up from Dallas?" 

"It wasn't easy" Tyler was speaking softly. For the first time, he was beginning to realize the error of his ways. He justified his actions by reminding himself he was doing it because he loved her. 

"Elaborate" Cassidy stated firmly. 

"He left nothing but a note, right?" Tyler reminded Cassidy, who nodded. "Well, he went on a business trip- I made sure it was extended. I left the note, which was fake- and had all his stuff moved out. Within two weeks she moved to Dallas" 

"Okay, there's a lot of holes in that" Cassidy pointed out. 

"To make sure they didn't talk, I changed her number in his phone to a burner phone I had- and just ignored any messages or texts he sent. Then, eventually, I broke up with him over text as if I was Tayla. Left the note, got all his stuff gone... and yeah" he rambled on. "I told you it's not something I'm proud of-"

"I would hope not!" Cassidy exploded, still in complete shock. "Did you just listen to yourself? You went through all that effort to break them up and break Tayla's heart" 

"I didn't do it to hurt her-"

"But you weren't thinking of her and her well being when you did it" Cassidy snapped. "The only person you thought about is yourself. And do you know who Tayla thinks about first always? You." 

"I'm sorry, okay?" Tyler finally said, exasperated. "If I could go back and change what I did, I would- but I love her, okay? It hurt me anytime I saw her with someone else. I knew I wanted to be the one to hold her, to kiss her, to love her; not some random guy" he contested, feeling tears drip down his cheek. "I don't think you understand how much I need her, Cass. She is the only person in my life who doesn't judge me, who is always there for me, and helps keep me in check. The love I have for her is indescribable; I just-" he paused, wiping the tears away rapidly. "I lost sight of right and wrong in my journey to keeping her in my life the way I wanted to" he whispered. 

Cassidy's face fell from anger, to sadness; she felt bad for her brother. She knew he cared for and loved Tayla; there was never a question about that. It was obvious for years that he had feelings for her, but nothing was ever said. She respected never asking why he never told her, and was over the moon when they finally got together. But how would Tayla react to all of this?

"I know Tayla shared a lot of those feelings too, you know" Cassidy spoke up after some thought. "She's always had feelings for you too. Since she was like, 18 or something" Cassidy could remember the moment Tayla told her she had a thing for her brother. Of course she thought it was gross, but the older she became, the more she understood. "You could have just told her. She was hurt by all your one night stands, and all the girls you use to hang around throughout school. That's the only reason I knew she liked you; she never would have told me otherwise" Cassidy laughed, remembering the conversation very vividly. 

"I was always too much of a coward" Tyler spoke the obvious. "I would chicken out. By the time I would think I would get up the nerve, she'd end up dating someone else, and I would find myself trying to find a way to get rid of him" Tyler shrugged.

"How did it all start?" Cassidy wondered, genuinely curious. "Obviously with Jake- since he was her first real long relationship" 

"Actually, he was an accident" Tyler confessed. "He was always jealous of our friendship, so one day when we were talking, I just sort of let it slip about how we shared a bed on a trip a few weeks prior, and he lost his shit. It was totally innocent, but I kind of played it off like it wasn't. He got pissed, told her he didn't want her to see e anymore, and when she refused, he dumped her" he told her softly. "It sort of gave me the idea I guess, so with Derek when the opportunity knocked, I kicked down the damn door" he sighed, happy to have finally admitted to someone what had been eating at him for so many years. 

"Jesus, Ty..." Cassidy trailed off, still trying to process everything her brother had just told her. It was a lot to take in; she couldn't believe her brother was capable of something like this. 

"Do you hate me?" Tyler asked, genuinely concerned. 

"I told you before, I'll always hate you" she replied with a grin. "But obviously Jason knows, and actually does hate you; so, how are you going to tell Tay?"

"There's no way I can do that" Tyler answered with wide eyes. "She would never talk to me again!" he said frantically. 

"Would you rather tell her? Or have Jason do it for you?" she asked, with an eyebrow raised. Tyler looked straight ahead, letting her words sink in; he had a big choice to make.