I actually have to pry her hands off my shoulders. “Shhh, I will not.” My attempt at not drawing attention to us fails miserably and the cute guy actually starts laughing at us.
And, yes he is cute. Light blond hair, soft green eyes, and an athletic build – yeah, he’s pretty easy on the eyes. But still, I’m not ready to strike up a conversation with some random guy. The only time I’ve ever done that was when I first met Bryan, and well, though this guy may be cute, he’s not Bryan.
“Melanie, just go talk to him. Look, he’s staring at you!” Maddy’s voice is getting louder as we get closer to the door. He catches my name and as he steps away from the line, he walks toward us. “Melanie? I thought that was you.” He jams his hands in his front pockets nervously and Maddy looks at me inquisitively.
I still have no freaking clue who the heck he is. I’m sure my face conveys those thoughts, because he laughs as he says, “You don’t remember me, do you?” He tilts his head to the side and I really can’t place him.
“No, I’m sorry.” I try to walk past him, but he gently places his hand on my arm; there’s no force in the move, but he clearly wants me to remember. “We met at Lindsey’s party, back in December. I’m Tyler. Tyler Cole. You really don’t remember me? We, umm …” As his words trail off, my stomach drops to the floor.
It’s him.
Maddy sees the look of fear and sickness -that passes across my face. “Are you okay, Melanie? Do you want to get out of here?” She loops her arm through mine so that we’re locked at the elbow.
I can’t really get any words out of my mouth, but I know that I need to get away from here. I want to run. I need to move my feet, but they’re super-glued to the floor. As my stomach returns to where it belongs and my brain starts to function again, my desire to run fades. Swiftly, I realize that I do want to talk with him. I have to know exactly what happened that night. I feel like it’s the only way I’ll ever be able to move past it.
Pulling my arm from hers, I finally get my mouth to work. “I’m good; I promise. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” She just nods and waddles out to a bench that is set up in between two kiosks.
“Can I get you anything?” Tyler asks as he walks me over to the table that Maddy and I just vacated.
I shake my head and opt for bluntness. “That night fucked-up my life pretty good, you know.” Tyler recoils from my words and his brows knit together. My anger, though outwardly directed at him, is inwardly focused on my own stupidity and shame.
A puzzled and hurt look washes across his face before he says anything. “Okay,” he draws out the word, clearly shocked by my anger. “I don’t really know how, though.” He folds his arms across his broad chest and leans back in his chair.
The nothingness of the last six weeks flashes before me and anger boils like lava in my veins. With a strangely even and calm voice, I manage to speak rather than yell. “You don’t know how sleeping with you when I had a boyfriend screwed things up for me?”
“Whoa! Wait a second,” he blurts out loudly enough to catch the attention of a few people standing on line. Realizing his little outburst, he leans across the table and adjusts his volume. “We did not sleep together.”
No one could mistake the look in Tyler’s eyes for anything but honesty and sincerity.
“What did you just say?” I demand, instantly needing him to clarify his statement.
His eyes scan my face, searching for any sign of me playing around with him. When all he finds is uncertainty, he takes a deep breath and rakes his hand through his platinum hair. “I said, ‘we did not sleep together’. We met at the party and started talking. We were actually having a great time, until you got some text or call. Then you got plastered.” Pieces of that night start to fall in place. He’s right. We were legitimately just talking until Courtney texted me. I still can’t place the rest of the night, so I silently prompt him to continue.
“Well, when you could no longer stand on your own, I helped you over to a couch and that’s when you started talking about your ex-boyfriend,” he admits sheepishly.
“I’m sorry, but did you just say, ex?” I’m sure that my face is twisted in confusion.
“Yeah, at least that’s what you told me. Look, I wouldn’t have kissed you if you said you had a boyfriend. I’m not a douche like that.” Tyler holds his hands up in front of his chest in a sign of mock-surrender. His eyes convey his honesty yet again and I can’t not believe him.
Holy shit! I can’t believe this. Could this whole fuck-up with Bryan really have been avoided?
“So, you’re telling me the truth? We never …” I motion my hand between the two of us as if that somehow clarifies what I mean to say.
Tyler laughs sympathetically and shakes his head. “No, we didn’t. Believe me, I wanted to. We started fooling around and you were talking about finding another room, but you couldn’t even stand up. You clearly weren’t with it and like I said, I’m not a dick like that, so I wasn’t going to take advantage of you.”
I gasp and my hand flies to cover my mouth as I realize that he’s right, we didn’t sleep together.
“Do you believe me now?” he questions apprehensively.
Speaking through the fingers that are still covering my mouth, I nod and say, “Yes. Oh my God! I can’t believe that I thought …”
Recalling visions of that night, the line of events becomes crystal clear. I was drunk. He was kind. We made out. Maybe we fooled around a little. I passed out. And then he drove me home. That’s it. No sex. No cheating. Just me stumbling through my front door in the middle of the night and Reid helping me to bed before I woke anyone else up.
Holy mother of freaking shit!
Remembering one piece of information, I whisper, “But then how did I end up in a guy’s shirt and bra-less?” Honestly, when I woke up the next morning in someone else’s shirt and my bra was missing I just figured everything not nothing had happened.
“As I was driving you home, you pulled it off and threw it out the window.” He laughs, and adds, “You were actually trying to take off your shirt too, but I managed to stop you before you got to that point. All of the moving around must have made you sick because you threw up. I had my gym bag in the back and I helped you change out of your shirt.” Tyler smiles sympathetically at me and then quickly sobers when he realizes the sad look on my face. “Are you okay? You don’t look so hot.” Tyler’s friendly tone brings me back to the here-and-now.
Quickly recovering, I stammer, “Yeah, I’m fine.” Numbly standing from my chair, I vaguely catch a glimpse of Maddy through the window. “I just have to go now.”
Tyler stands and walks me to the door. As Maddy walks over to us, he seems like he wants to say something more, but honestly, at this point, I just need him to go. So I dismiss him before he can say anything else. “I guess I’ll see you around, Tyler.”
Awkwardly shoving his hands in his pockets again, he says, “Um, yeah sure. See ya.” And then he turns and walks away.
Maddy wastes no time in her interrogating. “What the hell was that about? What happened?”
Because no amount of explaining will clear the air, and because one small word can answer both of her questions, I simply say, “Nothing.”
The rest of spring break goes by too quickly. And before I know it, I’m heading back to Ithaca for the final month of school. I was quick to take Mom and Evan up on their offer to drive me back. Evan came over a few nights during the week and it was a little weird having a man in the house, but seeing how happy Mom is when he’s around, it was pretty easy to get used to.