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Chapter 11: One Way Or Another?

            It turned out Tyler hid in the library – a place Brooklynn wouldn’t even think to look – after he ditched rehearsal, and it was my mistake for parting ways with Marriah and venturing into the same place to catch up on yesterday’s schoolwork. I didn’t even notice him at first because he was so causally hidden behind this gigantic encyclopaedia that matched the rest of the library’s atmosphere, and when he finally peeked out from behind the book, I was already sitting across and 3 seats down from him – a bit too late to change my mind.

            At first, neither of us acknowledged the other. I kept my eyes fixated on my calculus homework, and Tyler hid his head back inside the pages of his encyclopaedia. Sometimes, I feel like the both of us are like moths to a flame. It doesn’t matter how badly we want to stay away from each other – the moth doesn’t want to burn in the flame, and similarly, the last thing the flame wants to do is hurt the moth – and yet, for some reason, the two are still irrevocably drawn to each other, the way Tyler and I are.

            When he finally decided to speak, the words were unnatural, and I had to wonder if he had been thinking of the most casual thing to say to me during the last 10 minutes we’ve been sitting in silence. “So what part did you end up getting in the play?”

            “The part you oh-so-badly wanted,” I muttered.

            “You’re a dwarf?”

            I looked up and narrowed my eyes at him, a bit more playfully than I intended. “I’m a tree.”

            The corner of Tyler’s lips tilted upward and he had to nibble down on his lower lip to muffle a laugh. “Bummer.”

            I smiled and for a split second, it was like everything was still the way it was supposed to be, that it could go back to being exactly the way it was before, but secretly, I knew that wasn’t the case. It was nowhere near.

            Our smiles both settled into something more solemn – more realistic – before Tyler spoke again. “It doesn’t have to be like this Mila. We don’t have to be like this.”

            I swallowed the lump in my throat and tapped the end of my pencil against my textbook twice before returning to my homework. “Maybe not,” I said, “but it’s too late for us to have this conversation.”

            “Yesterday,” he continued, and when the topic came up, I thought he was going to ask me everything I had no intentions of answering, but instead of picking a fight with me, instead of asking me why I didn’t heed to his warning, he left it untouched and asked me about something else that’s been on his mind. “The one who shield you on stage – it was Marshall wasn’t it?”

            I shrugged. “Does it matter?”

            “It does. To me, it does.” I didn’t say anything, and when he realized I wasn’t ever planning to, Tyler heaved a sigh. “He’s not a good person Mila. I don’t know why you would want to get close to a person like that. Everything he’s told you, it’s probably a lie. Everything he does for you, it comes with a price attached. That’s the kind of person he is.”

            “So?” I let my pencil fall from my hands and roll into the crease of my textbook before crossing my arms. “What of it? You think I don’t know?”

            Tyler’s jaw grew taut. “So then you know he’s got girls lining up from here to South America?” He snapped.

            “In fact, I met some of them today,” I retorted, and then bit my lip when I realized our conversation had taken a childish turn. “I take it you don’t like him much.”

            Tyler sat back on his chair. “He’s a little off. Have you ever tried asking him a question about himself? Nothing vague, but something more structural, more personal – he’ll laugh it off and change the topic.”

            I thought about it, but since I didn’t know the first thing about Marshall – personal or public – I honestly didn’t care whether he kept things from me or not. “It doesn’t matter,” I said with a note of finality.

            For the next couple of minutes, Tyler allowed me to return to my homework, and I even solved 2 problems before he suddenly asked me the most ridiculous question a person could ever ask. “Is it because you’re old enough to date now? Do you want a boyfriend? Is that why?”

            I raised my head to give him a dark look, but found that he was absolutely serious, his green eyes wavering just slightly, anxious of my reply. “Why would you even think that?”

            “Because it would make sense. You’re a girl, and it’s normal for a girl in high school to want to experience a bit of romance – for someone to hold them, for someone to kiss them – it’s normal.”

            I laughed since I thought he would know me better to group me into the norm. “How about you?” I asked, a bit mockingly. “Do you ever get the urge to hold a girl? To kiss her?”

            Tyler lowered his eyes. “Always,” he said, “but not any girl. Just one specific girl that always seems a bit out of reach – that’s all.”

            I slammed my textbook shut. “I’m leaving,” I mumbled and quickly continued to pack up the rest of my stuff.

            “Wait Mila. Just listen to me this once.” He grabbed a hold of my wrist before I could pull away. “Just this once. If you want to date then I’ll set you up – not someone frivolous and unpredictable like Marshall, but someone that’s loyal, someone that’ll treat you right.”

            I shook his hand away from me, but stood still and tried to stare him down as I comprehended the situation. Tyler seemed sincere enough, and if he was willing to find me a guinea pig to fall in love with, it wasn’t that bad of an idea. First, there were no guarantees that I would fall for Marshall – it has, from the beginning, been nothing more than a high stake poker game – and second, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a backup plan in case said operation does prove to be futile.

            “Are you being completely serious here?” I asked. “Do you have someone in mind?”

            Tyler backed up in surprise, momentarily astonished by my eager reaction. “Yeah... Yeah! Of course! His name is Austin, a friend of my cousin’s that I’ve known for a few years. He’s a really nice guy, comes from a good family, goes to university, has a big heart, there’s no secrets. Even his past relationships have clean breaks – a complete gentleman.”

            “Hmm...” I tapped a finger to my chin and carefully made up my mind. “Fine. I’ll meet him and give it a chance.”

            “And–”

            “And if I like him,” I interrupted, finishing his thoughts, “I’ll give up on Marshall. We’ll end all contact and become strangers once more.”

            Tyler smiled, a bit uneasily, but still, it was a smile of relief. “Then I’ll set up a date with Austin. For the first time, we’ll just make it a double date. That way, if it turns out that he’s not your type, it won’t be so awkward. I’ll go so I can introduce you guys, and you can bring a friend so you’ll be more comfortable. How does that sound?”

            I shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. We’ll just go ahead with what you said.”

            “Sounds good. Give me your cellphone number so I can text you with the time and the place after I make sure with him.”

            I hesitated, but then exchanged numbers with him before leaving the library. It took him a few hours, but by dinnertime that night, I received his text.

            Tyler: Friday at 5. I can pick you and your friend up. It’s easier that way.

          Tyler: Does that work for you guys?

            My fingers tapped on the touch screen quickly, ‘sure,’ but after typing down the word, I didn’t press send. Instead, I pressed backspace 4 times. Wasn’t ‘sure’ a bit too normal and fine sounding? It almost seemed like I was looking forward to it – which I most definitely wasn’t and I wanted to make a point of him knowing.

            Groaning, I decided to try ‘ok’ next, but ended up deleting that too because it was too short and just didn’t look right. I thought about making it longer and decided to type in ‘ok, see you later’ but that was stupid especially since I had a billion classes with him where we tried to avoid each other to the best of our abilities.

            “Why does this even matter?!” I screamed. “This is so stupid!”

            I quickly texted him back the first thing in my head.

            Camila: Whatever.

          It wasn’t until after though, when I was tucked neatly under my blankets to rest for the night that I finally realized I agreed to bring a friend to the double date. Who in the world was I going to bring? There was Todd and then... yeah that was about it.

            I rolled over on my stomach and buried my face into the pillow. I couldn’t possibly bring Todd as Tyler’s date could I? No, I couldn’t do that. Well actually, I could. I mean I shouldn’t, but I definitely could. No one was going to stop me if I decided on it, and it wasn’t like Tyler wanted to be hooked up so it didn’t matter anyway. For all I care, I can just borrow a wig and a dress and stuff Todd into it.

            I sighed and rolled back upright. But then, how was I going to explain to Todd that I knew Tyler and that I knew him well enough for him to set me up with a friend? Our relationship wasn’t a secret, but it wasn’t something I liked to talk about and I’d rather not go through the trouble of reliving the past just to get Todd to come.

            For the next hour, I twisted and turned in my bed until I finally came into a conclusion. There was no other way. There really was only one person I could ask to come, and no matter how useless I think it’s to ask her, I was still going to try.

            “No.”

            I groaned at Marriah’s response when she gave me the exact answer Wednesday morning at school as I had imagined the night before. “You didn’t even hear me out!”

            “I know,” she groaned. “But you always get that look on your face when you ask for favours. Too bad, I’m all out.”

            “I helped you yesterday when you wanted me to go to rehearsal with you. The least you could do is hear me out.”

            Marriah finished typing the last few words to her article before turning away from the computer. “Fine. Talk.”

            “I need a friend so I can go on a double date.”

            “No.” She returned to her typing.

            “Marriah!”

            “I’m not going anywhere near the Creature of Light. I’d rather cut off my own limbs and eat them before going on a double date with him.”

            Sighing, I took a seat beside her. “It’s not Marshall.” I looked around the empty computer room before continuing. “It’s Tyler.”

            Marriah stopped everything she was doing previous to the name. “Lavenchy?” I nodded, and she smirked since it was always unsaid between us that she knew everything about my past. “Oh this is good. How did you get yourself in that predicament? Which brain-dead zombie would be my date then?”

            “That’s what I mean,” I grumbled. “Tyler will be your date. He’s setting me up with a friend of his.”

            “Does that even make sense?” She muttered. “A vampire tanning on the beach makes more sense.”

            I tapped my heel impatiently against the linoleum floor. “Are you helping me or not?”

            “Depends. What’s in it for me?”

            “Well... there’s probably free food.”

            “Done,” she said. “I’m an easy person to bribe. When is it?”

            “Friday at five. Does that work?”

            She nodded. “You better look forward to this,” she snickered. “I’m going to go all out.”

            And then all of a sudden, I had a really bad premonition about all of this.