The New Normal

Chapter Forty Two

Tyler and I sat on the porch as he lit his cigarette. Once he did, he took a deep inhale followed by an exhale. "I think that went well."

"I think so too," I said with a smile. "I'm glad you and my father got along. Not going to lie, I thought tonight was going to be disastrous."

Tyler threw a hand around my shoulders as he chuckled. "You don't have much faith in me, Sweetness. That hurts."

I leaned to him. "I do. But I totally think that carrot cake is what won him over."

Tyler flicked the ash of his cigarette and shook his head. "I think he likes sweets almost as much as you."

"Who doesn't like sweets?" I countered with an eyeroll. Pausing for a moment, I cocked my head to the right. "Why didn't you tell me you applied to ICE?"

Tyler took another drag of his cigarette and sighed as he exhaled. "I didn't want to say anything until I knew whether or not I got in. I didn't want to get your hopes up."

I scrunched my brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Sweetness," he began, again flicking more ash from his smoke. "Do you know where ICE is?"

I shook my head, unsure as to what he was getting at.

Despite only being halfway done his cigarette, he flicked the whole thing away, it landing in the snow on our lawn. Tyler looked at me, nervous. "It's in New York."

"L-Like the same New York I'd be going to if I get into NYU?" I stuttered, completely unaware of how to respond.

"Yes," Tyler chuckled, bringing me closer so he could kiss my temple. "The very one."

I sat for a moment, processing the information Tyler had given me. He applied to a culinary school. In New York. If we both got in, we'd be together, well, in the same state. I turned to him and asked, "What made you want to apply?"

Tyler shrugged. "Well, you see, there's this girl. She's about your height, has brown hair and beautiful brown eyes with a smile that can make any man fall to his knees. And I thought, there's no way I'm letting her get away from me, not unless she didn't want me, but as luck would have it, she did. So I knew I just had to follow her."

"But," I said, a grin spreading across my face. "Applications began in October, we weren't together then."

"I know," he replied with a cocky grin. "But I knew we'd be together eventually."

I fought back a blush and instead cocked my eyebrow. "Oh really? What made you so sure?"

"Because," Tyler said, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear, his emerald eyes shining bright. "I knew no one could make me feel the way you do. So I made it my mission to get you to be mine before Homecoming, but clearly that didn't work out, so I'll settle for the Winter Formal."

"I-" I began, the words were on the tip of my tongue and I almost let them fly freely. But I knew it was too soon, way too soon to feel the way I was feeling. My boyfriend stared at me quizzically, clearly wanting to know what was on my mind. Instead of letting the words escape me, I kept them locked inside. I shook my head with a smile. "I'm just so lucky to have you."

Tyler cupped my cheeks with both his hands and I could smell the faint smell of tobacco. His eyes studied mine intently. "I'm so lucky to have you too, Sweetness. So damn lucky."

I could tell by the way he had looked at me that neither of us said what we really wanted to.