And they were. Although they ended too quickly in his opinion. They barely got to do everything they’d pnned. After the initial awkwardness and adjustment period, it was as if nothing had happened at all, even if they never got the chance to go to the beach.

  Turns out the shit weather was not a once off thing and it proceeded to storm the rest of the week, so the pns had to be changed. Of course, his parents jumped onto the opportunity to talk to Tori straight away. He’d asked her about it and she’d agreed, but it wasn’t at the forefront of either of their minds.

  They had spent the better part of the holidays just catching up and pying board games at Lia’s house. It would have been boring but as it turns out her parents were home and theyrecognisedher straightaway. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Mrs Stevens cry, but she had done just that while clinging onto Tori.

  Like mother like daughter, he supposed. It was a little embarrassing that they’d recognised her right away and they’d went months without doing so.

  So he couldn’t even object when they stole her away and she spent the majority of the first few days just talking to them. And Zach. Nina too. People who weren’t him, he felt like. It brought back memories.

  Tyler pulled on his shoes, slinging his bag over his shoulders. They’d decided to meet up before school, so he couldn’t afford to linger longer than necessary. His parents had cornered him yesterday, so that was another thing he’d have to talk to her about.

  It was easier when her attention was mostly on him. He’d freely admit he was a selfish and jealous person, so the ck of it was bugging him. He sighs, locking the door on his way out. She always had brought that out in him.

  Only difference being that he was too young torecogniseit for what it was. Not that he wanted to admit it now, but the absence of her had made it harder to ignore. Tyler had to admit he’d always had a crush on her.

  If he were asked when it started, he wouldn’t be able to say. Maybe it was when she pulled him out from his own mind to py on the slides. Or when she surprised him with a brand new controller after accidentally dropping the first.

  It could even be the time she’d diverted attention to herself when he’d accidentally broken a vase and then dragged him our while everyone was distracted so he wouldn’t be in trouble. When she helped him repce it before it was noticed to be missing, with cy and colour matching. Or the multiple times after before she’d been taken away.

  So many memories flickered at the thought that it felt ridiculous he’d ever thought otherwise. To his own defense, he was admittedly a more oblivious kid before life had made him notice things. Right now though, he was running te to their meeting.

  He only needs to take one step into school before a shiny blonde head catches his eyes. She’s leaning against a pilr all dramatic, book in hand and barely paying attention to anything. Tyler’s heart skips a beat as she looks up and smiles.

  Has it really only been two days since he saw her? It feels like a lot more. Feels like it’s been years. Her eyes practically sparkle under the early morning sun, a blue brighter than the sky behind them.

  She waves back and because he’s not entirely pathetic, he walks forward with a small wave. Jesus. He really needs to get this feelings thing under control. He is not going to turn into a full blown protagonist from one of Nina’s novels. Tori has already made fun of him enough for the cliche they did py into.

  “Hey,” she says as he gets closer, putting the book in her bag. “What took you so long?’

  Tyler gives her a bnk look, “It’s 7 am, if anything you’re here early.”

  “Yeah well,” she shrugs a shoulder, a pyful smile tugging at her lips, “I was already awake, so I thought I’d get here early.”

  “Already awake?” Why the hell would she be awake early enough to get here before 7? School didn’t start for another two hours or so.

  “Raine,” she says as if it’s obvious. Which…fair. Tyler supposes it would be hard to sleep in with a baby under six months.

  “Okay,” he says over a cough, feeling heat rush to his ears. “The others won’t be here anytime soon though.”

  Torigrins, “I’m aware.” She sounds so amused that he doesn’t really know what to say. There’s fucking butterflies in his stomach, and he’s embarrassed to note he feels tongue-tied for a response.

  When the fuck had that happened?

  A hand presses to his forehead, blue eyes furrowed in concern. “You alright? You’re being very quiet here.”

  “Fine,” he manages to get out. Then coughs. “Just feeling a little sleepy, that’s all.”

  “Okay,” she says slowly, but doesn’t make any moves to step back. He half-wishes she would step back. It would really be helpful right now. “If you’re sure. What did you want to do while we wait?’

  What did he want to do? He wanted to run. For the first time in his life, he wanted to run and never look back. To escape from this moment of the emotions creating a drum in his ears, he didn’t know. How did people live like this?

  Did they just have more willpower than he did? He couldn’t think. The entirety of his mind was focused on the gentle press of her hand over his forehead, feeling it like a brand that he knew would linger even when she drew away. It was excruciating.

  Yet, despite it all, he stayed in pce. He was many things but a coward was not one of them. That and he had css with her first up, so it would be pointless. Oh. God. He had css with her first up.

  This was terrible. How was he supposed to focus on anything with her right there? Shit. Fuck. Shit. No. Breathe. Calm down. Or she’s going to look at you weird and know you’re going crazy. What was she saying? He couldn’t focus on it.

  Too close. She was far too close. And he…

  “Tyler!” Her forehead pressed against his, hands pulling his face down so they could meet. His head bnked. “Are you sure you’re okay? You haven’t heard a word I’ve said the past five minutes. Do you need to go home?”

  “No,” he says decidedly. He doesn’t want to go home. “I’m fine.” He was decidedly not fine. It felt very hot for a cloudy day.

  “Okay,”Torisays like she doesn’t believe him. She shouldn’t. “But, I still think you should sit down. Come on.”

  Her grabbing his hand does not make it any better, but he is not going to tell her to let go. Instead he focuses on getting his shit under control. This was his friend, he should be able to act normal around her. He needed to act normal around her.

  Why was this only hitting him now? Why not two days ago or the multiple times before? His head had weird timing for doing this to him.

  Tyler barely noticed where they were going, letting her guide him through the corridors to a sitting pce. His eyes narrowed. There was a reason they were here, wasn’t there? Blink. The meeting. Right.

  He took a settling breath as they sat down, willing the nerves to vanish. Willing his head to go back to normal and not whatever this was. After another two, it did. He could finally think again, but he wasn’t about toanalysewhatever that was.

  “Feeling better?” She asks him, attention solely on him. It makes his chest feel warm.

  “Yeah, I’m-”

  “Oh my god! Are you guys dating now?” Brooke excitedly bound up to them, Ally not far behind.

  “Er,” Tori starts, only to be interrupted by Ally.

  “It’s about time! You two have been circling each other since the start.”

  “Ally-”

  “Oh, I’m so happy,” she squeals with delight, rushing forward to wrap them in a hug. “I was rooting for you two!”

  Torigives him a helpless smile over her shoulders, patting her on the back indulgently. “Yeah, we’re dating,” she says with a pyful smile. “But that’s not all.”

  Ally pulls back, confused but still smiling. “What do you mean?”

  Tyler looks at her, wondering the same. A tilt of her head has him standing up,realisingshe wants to fill them in on the whole situation as well. “I’ll give you some space.”

  “What?” Brooke looks at him with furrowed brows, “What’s going on?”

  “It’s nothing bad,” he tells her soothingly, “Torijust wants to tell you something.”

  They both give him confused looks, but he’s already moving farther away. “Tori,” he hears them question, followed by her voice. She’s probably not going to be happy about it, but it’s a good a overture into that conversation as any.

  Tyler leans against the wall, mind reeling.Torihad told them they were dating, jokingly, but she’d said it just the same. Logically he knew it was just a spur of the moment response since they’d only had one date that didn’t count as a date (Tori had said a bet date didn’t count). But it didn’t stop his stupid heart from focusing on it.

  He ran a hand through his hair, rubbing at his eyes. Maybe it was too early in the morning for this. He wished someone was here for him to talk about this with. It would be very helpful right now. Maybe then he wouldn’t be acting like awishy-washyidiot.

  As if summoned by his thought, Nina walked into the corridor, dragging a still half asleep Lia behind her. They both took one look at him, gnced to the right to Tori and dragged him further back. A surprised yell rang out behind them, which he dutifully ignored.

  “What are you doing!?” Tyler didn’t know how to feel about being manhandled like this.

  “Taking you further back soTorican’t hear us,” Nina tells him. “Alright, I think this is far enough. Now,” she turns to give him a stern look, “what are you going to do about it?”

  “Do about what?” Even after knowing her for over a decade, he had no clue what she’s talking about.

  “Typical boys,” she sighs under her boys. “About your crush onTori? What are you pnning to do?”

  “You know!?”

  “Oh please,” Lia says, rolling her eyes and drinking from her coffee cup. “Even the blind would know you have a crush. You haven’t been able to go more than a day without seeing or messaging her for months. And,” she tilts her head, a grin spreading. “It’s always been obvious. You used to follow her around a lot as a kid too.”

  “Yeah,” Nina nods along, “I’m pretty sure our parents thought it was cute.” Jesus christ. His parents knew about this? “So,” she goes on to say, “Are you going to confess?”

  “I don’t know.” He was still stuck on the absolute nightmare of his parents knowing. “Seems a little too cliche.”

  “So was the whole bet thing,” Lia points out like he isn’t already aware of that.

  “Yes. And she’s had a lot of fun making fun of us for that.”

  “To be fair,” Nina says, sitting down on a nearby bench, “She’s been making more fun of Zach for that than you. And she pyed along with it, so she couldn’t have minded all that much.” That she had. Tyler still didn’t know why. He hadn’t had a chance to ask.

  “I still don’t know,” he tells them both. “And I’d rather not continue this conversation, so drop it.” He settles them with a gre when they go to protest. “I mean it. No more talk of crushes or whatever.”

  Neither of them looks too pleased by that, but they both still nod. Tyler has a feeling this isn’t the st time he’s going to hear about this. Even so, he’d rather it not be today.

  “Alright fine,” Nina says on a huff, “but I expect to be told first should you change your mind.”

  Tyler huffs a ugh, “fine. But don’t hold your breath.”

  “We’ll see,”Lia adds.

  They walk back to the first spot just in time to see the girls surroundToriin a crushing hug, talking fast. Tyler is going to bet they’ve learned about the car crash and brought up to current events. Someone calls their names, but they don’t immediately pull away.

  Another call of their names has them pulling back reluctantly. Even from as far back as they are, he can tell they’ve been crying. He watches as they say something to Tori, squeezing her for a quick hug before moving away.

  “What’s going on?” Zach announces his presence by throwing his arm over Tyler’s shoulders and almost knocking him over. Of course, that gets him a gre.

  “Nothing,” Tori says walking up to them, “I was just catching Brooke and Ally up. Gd you’re finally here. I thought it would take another hour before you got here.”

  Lia flips her off for the comment. “Fuck you and your morning person personality. I can’t believe I let you convince me to go for a before school catch-up and not after.” Yikes. He’d forgotten how cranky she was in the mornings.

  “I’m going to meet Tyler’s parents after school,” Tori says offhandedly with a shrug. Which is decidedly not the right attitude for the statement that almost has him getting whipsh as he turns towards her. What?

  “When did we establish that?”

  She gives him a funny look, a small smile on her lips. “This morning, right before. I was telling you I’m free to come over today for that talk you’ve been badgering me about. You not reacting…”

  “Right,” he says quickly. He doesn’t want her finishing that sentence. Nina would never leave him alone if she did.Torimay not have picked up on the obvious sign of internal panic it was, but their friends definitely would. “That sounds great, I’ll let them know.”

  “Great,” Zach says around a yawn, “Now can we go py whatever game we decided on? Preferably before I fall asleep.”

  “None of you are morning people,” Tori says mock sadly.

  “Hey,” Tyler says, pointing to himself, “I resent that.”

  “You don’t count,” she replies teasingly.

  “I don’t count!?” He gives her a bewildered stare, “What do you mean I don’t count? I’m a lot more awake than these three.” He follows it up by gncing towards them. “No offense.”

  “All of the offense,” Nina says, but can’t commit to it with the smile already spreading over her lips. The other two just shrug, accepting it easily.

  “Yeah well, it could be a once off.” Tori shrugs, eyes wide in mock innocence. “I mean there was that time-” She ughs as he lunges towards her and misses. A pyful, challenging smile on her face as he tries again.

  Whatever fluttering or nerves he had are absent as he chases her around the oval, following the sound of her ughter. He finds himself ughing as well through his breathlessness as he finally catches her. They get dog-piled immediately, but it doesn’t take away from the lightness in his chest.

  He might just stay here for a little longer before they go to the library for a card game or something. Just like old times. He doesn’t feel so flustered anymore. The feelings in his chest no longer so overwhelming or unsettling.

  Maybe everything will be fine after all.