Don't Give Up On Me ✔

Chapter 38 ~ Happy Thanksgiving

Tyler's POV

I take a step in and my eyes widen as I see what I had feared. Well, fuck. I knew I should have just driven to somewhere else.

Standing in front of me in all their glory is Lucas, Killian, Nick and Hayden. Of course, they live with her. Killian and Lucas are glaring at me. If looks could kill I would be six feet under. I gulp, "So you all live here?"

"Yep." Sofia says as she comes bouncing into the room. That girl has way too much pep.

Hayden smiles at me warily, "Do you need help with your stuff? You'll be sharing my room."

I'm glad to be sharing a room with Hayden instead of Lucas and Killian. They would probably kill me in my sleep. At least Hayden is trying to be friendly. "Thanks, I just have this duffle bag and my suitcase."

"Follow me," Hayden says as he leads me upstairs to his room, "I will get the air mattress for you, but Isla wants all of us to talk downstairs first." Hayden walks out of the room leaving me alone for a few minutes. I place my bags against his wall and take in a deep breath before going downstairs.

Everyone is staring at me when I enter the living room. I take a seat next to Nick feeling very uncomfortable.

"Tyler, this is my sister, Isabelle, and brother, Isaac." She says as she points to two kids. She then points to a little girl who is sitting on Killian's lap, "That is Emma. She's Killian and Sofia's younger sister. Isabelle, Emma and Isaac, this is Tyler. He's going to be staying with us for a little bit."

"Is he going to be living here too?" Isaac asks.

"No. He's just here while his parents are out of town," Isla responds, "okay kiddos time for bed. We will come and check on y'all when we are finished with our talk." Isaac gives Isla and Sofia a hug before telling all the guys good night, including me. Emma and Isabelle both hug Sofia and Isla before giving each one of the guys a kiss on the cheek. The two girls tell me good night. It's really sweet how all four guys act like big brothers to the two girls. It's amazing to see the bond that everyone has with each other here. It's something I wish I had. They're more than just friends, they're a family. No wonder they all stick together at school and don't let Chelsea break their friendship apart. Their friendship is real, unlike my friendship with my so-called ex friends at school who dumped me the moment Chelsea told them to.

Once the kids have gone up to their room, I decide I should explain myself. "Umm... I want to apologize to y'all, especially to you Isla," I start, "I was- "

"-Tyler," Isla cuts me off, "we do need to discuss what happened, but we aren't doing it tonight." She looks at everyone. "We all have a lot we need to talk about, but we aren't going to do it until after Saturday. This is our first Thanksgiving together as our makeshift family and we are going to enjoy and not let anything ruin it. We will all act civil and friendly to each other. This is going to be a hard-enough Thanksgiving for several of us for personal reasons, so let's try to make it as nice as we possibly can. Please."

Sofia nudges Isla playfully. "It will be the first time for some of us to celebrate Thanksgiving in years, so I agree. We can all get along for the next couple of days without bringing up anything about what has happened at school. Everyone else agree?" Sofia asks. Everyone nods their heads. "Good! We're going to bed. Us girls need our beauty sleep," she says before grabbing Isla's hand and pulling her off the couch. Sofia and Isla are girls that don't need beauty sleep. They're already drop dead gorgeous and neither one of them wear makeup.

It becomes awkward once the girls leave us guys alone. Hayden stands up to stretch. "I have to be up early to start cooking. I'm going to go get the air mattress and then head off to bed myself," he yawns. "Feel free to stay up if you want," he says to me.