•sand• |RH|

{6}

Tyler and I held hands on the way home, but we didn't talk to each other.  "I'm sorry. You told me that you didn't like me messing with Brody because you don't want me to get kicked out and I still did it anyways." Tyler says as Lizzie gets off. Gina had headphones in, and Eric was reading a book in front of us. "It's okay. I shouldn't control what you do." I say. "You were just trying to protect me." Tyler says before leaning his head on my shoulder. He had to scoot down, but he still managed.

His thumb caressed my hand and we held hands. Gina and Eric hopped off the bus and walked home. "Taking a different route! Angel's getting dropped off first!" Vooch says. "Why?" Tyler asks. "I hear his voice but where is he?" Vooch laughs. Tyler raises his free hand. "Oh! The road is closed off for construction." Vooch says before turning onto my road. I start collecting my things. "Text me when you get home!" Tyler softly says as he lifts his head off my shoulder and lets go of my hand. "Will do!" I said before leaning in and kissing his lips briefly.

Tyler pulls away as we stop. He moves his legs so they were out of the way but stayed in the seat. I scooted past him and got off the bus. I waved before the bus drove away. My short legs took my to my house and into my room. "Dinner!" My mom shouts. I realized I left my jacket with Tyler. Grabbing Tyler's jacket, slipping it on, I smiled and took a whiff of the familiar cologne. Quickly texting Tyler that I was home, I threw my phone on my bed after texting him.

Smiling to my self, I walked into the dining room. My mom set my plate in front of me. "Who's jacket is that?" My dad asked as he sat down at the head of the table.

"My boyfriend's." I smiled. My mom gasped. "Finally!" My mom exclaimed. I laughed and used my fork to scoop some potatoes into my mouth. My red uniform shined beneath the blue jacket.

"You look like you're playing Connect Four." My brother said, gesturing to the colors. "That's yellow and red you idiot!" I laughed. Reed looked down at laughed at himself. My mom laughed at the two of us, but my dad stared at my jacket. "When will we meet him?" My mom asks, trying to help my dad. "Family day this Friday. I was thinking of letting our parents meet as we show you guys around, but I haven't ran it past Ty yet." I said. My dad nodded and ate his steak.

"Tell me about him. Is he sweet?" My mom asks. "You saw him at the crucible, he acts like that out of the public eye too. He's the guy I rode with on the ATV." I laughed as I ate my steak. "What does he look like, I was too far away?" My mom said. "He has beautiful green eyes, it's like they light up when he sees me. He has muscles, he's very tall. I'll show you a picture later." I giggled as I ate.

"What's his name?" My brother asked. "Tyler." I nodded before stuffing my face with potatoes. Reed nodded and ate.

"Let's talk about how everyone's day was. Reed, how was your day at work?" My dad asked Reed. "It was really good. I met a cute girl that goes to my school." Reed said while nodding. "That's great. How was your day, honey?" My dad asked my mom. "It was very good. I drove by the beach and saw Callie here chasing a cart." My mom laughed. "You saw that?" I loudly laughed. "Yep! Who was driving?" My mom laughed. "Tyler. He was originally going to prank this guy that's bothering us, but then I talked him out of it. Brody some how still made it in the trap on accident so we had to save him. Safe to say he won't be messing with us anymore." I giggled. My dad laughed at my story.

"Seems like Tyler is a fun guy to be around." My dad approves with a smile on his face. "I'm glad he makes you happy, sweetheart." My dad says, then tells us about his day.

•••

The next morning, Tyler was already on the bus when I got on with earbuds in. I pulled one out and plugged it into my ear as I sat down.

"Are you listening to Justin Bieber?" I asked as I heard the familiar beat to 'First Dance'. "Don't judge me." Tyler pouted. I chuckled before kissing his bottom lip that was stuck out. He laughs and kissed me. We pulled away when the truck stopped to pick up Gina and Eric. They jumped onto the truck and started cracking jokes.

I plugged it back into my ear and relaxed into Tyler's touch. His large hand landed on my thigh. "Choose a song." Tyler said, handing me his phone with his free hand. I scrolled through his song library and found one of my favorite songs. 'Drops of Jupiter' by Train. I clicked on it and handed Tyler his phone back.

"Hey, for family day, should our families walk together or should we stay apart? My dad wants to meet you." I asked. "Maybe we should just meet up at the tower for lunch and hang out for the rest of the day?" He said. I nodded and laid my head on his shoulder. He laid his head against mine and watched the road go by.

•••

Eric and I were meeting up with everyone else in the tower after we were told we got a bad review when Gina hit both of us in the stomach. "Ow!" I exclaimed at the same time as Eric. Tyler quickly turned to me and went to help me. "You okay?" He asked as he placed his hand on my back, pulling me close to him.

"They both got stomach aches, I can take care of them." Gina says. I furrow my eyebrows but agree.

"Are you sure?" Tyler asked. "I'm fine." I smiled up to him. He nodded, kissed my cheek, and took his arms away from around me. He followed Dylan and Lizzie outside.

"What was that for!" I exclaimed as they were far away. "You guys are the two nicest people on the pod, I need help being nicer to people." Gina explains. "Well you didn't have to elbow us in the stomach!" Eric exclaimed. "Let's just get to the storage room." I shrugged.