"Tyler?" I was shocked to see the man standing on the other side of the door, in the same outfit he'd been wearing at dinner, smelling strongly of liquor and a pungent cologne.
He was obviously drunk; his demeanour and expression made that much clear. It was also the only reason he'd be here standing at my door.
"Allyyy babyyy," he confirmed my theory with his uncontrolled slur. "Can I come innn?"
Considering his current level of consciousness, and not even wanting to know how he'd found his way here in the first place, I decided to do the responsible thing and let Tyler inside for a bit. There was no way I'd be letting him stay over, but kicking him out to roam the streets drunk was certainly not the most responsible move either.
"In you come," I moved to the side, letti
*RING RING .. RING RING*I was rudely awoken by the sound of my phone ringing somewhere in the room. I forced my eyes open, groaning when I saw that it was still pitch black outside, the glow from the streets the only thing enabling me to find my phone on my bedside table."Hi mum," I croaked out, my throat still dry as a result of my deep sleep."Hi honey," she chirped on the other end, way too enthusiastic for me at such an early hour. "How's my baby going.""Good," I responded rather generically. "You know it's 4am here right?""Really? Oh well what are you doing awake?""Answering your call," I replied bluntly. "What time is it for you?""9pm.""I thought I told you not to call me after noon, Mum," I yawned rather loudly. "Did something happen?"
"Is there anything else you need me to do before I head off?" I asked Tyler, hoping that the answer would be a resounding 'no'."It's five o'clock already?" He seemed surprised as he checked his Rolex for the time. "Gosh this afternoon's flown by.""It has," I nodded along, although I certainly couldn't relate. I hadn't been able to focus on anything work related since arriving back from lunch.Instead of helping me make my mind up on Tyler, spending time with Zoey had made the whole situation a hell of a lot more confusing. I'd hoped that she would tell me how mentally unstable he was, or that he'd never be able to settle down, but instead she'd talked about how good he'd be as a dad, and as a husband too it seemed. And although it was a sister's job to say that about her brother, I couldn't help but to see him in a bit of a different
"Ally," a soft voice called as I was gently shaken from my sleep. "Al, you've gotta wake up.""What time is it?" I yawned out, stretching my arms as I turned over on the couch.As my eyes began to adjust to the light in the room, I could start to make out a still shirtless Tyler sitting on the coffee table across from me."Let's just say your alarm went off a while ago," he answered my question rather vaguely, causing me to groan. I really didn't like being late. "You looked way too comfortable for me to disturb you."Once I'd gained enough strength to get up, I headed into the bathroom to wash my face, the cold water shocking me to life and further boosting my energy. I had just thirty minutes to get myself in a fit state for work, and although I highly doubted that we'd both be ready in such a short amount of time, I wanted to make sure we were was a
"I know you didn't want me to do anything fancy when I asked you, but here we are," he chuckled nervously. "So Ally Carson, will you be my girlfriend?"I stood speechless, staring at the beautiful little ring as I tried to come up with a suitable reply. Truth be told, I had no clue what to say in a moment such as this."I- ah-," I mentally kicked myself as I stumbled over my words. "I'm really flattered that you would ask me, and put this effort in-""You're saying no?" He jumped to the conclusion, and rather rightly so, which both caught me off guard and relieved me at the same time. "I can't believe that after all this time, you're actually rejecting me right now.""I'm not rejecting you," I placed my hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "I just don't know if I'm quite ready to take that next step yet. I have a lot going on right now, and I don't see
"You really don't need more than one suit," I insisted to a rather persistent Tyler. "The wedding is literally the only formal thing we're doing.""Fine," he spoke from the other end of the phone. "But I'm packing two shirts just in case.""Oh, and it's winter over there so it'll be like.. fifty degrees most of the time," I attempted to convert my units into Fahrenheit, something which was much more difficult than was necessary. "Make sure you pack some warm clothes.""I think you're forgetting that I live in New York, Al," he chuckled through the line. "You haven't seen winter here yet, but it hardly gets above thirty.""Oh man I'm so not ready for the new year," I groaned at the thought of below-zero weather. Sure, the snow was something I was excited for, but the frosty cold air that came along with it was not my cup of tea."You'll be right," he l
"Hey, Al," Jake came over to give me a hug as we arrived at the racetrack."Yo bro," I grinned back."What's up man!" My brother turned his attention to Tyler who was stood beside me, giving him a passionate bro-hug which was majorly reciprocated."That's a sick car you've got there," Tyler commented, gesturing towards the white Subaru parked behind him. "Impreza STI?""Yep," Jake confirmed the car's make. "2006 model, so it's classic."It may have been 'classic', but it certainly wasn't stock off the assembly line. The amount of money he must have spent on modifications over the years was more than he'd care to admit. But, the end result was something that even I could admit looked pretty cool."God, I bet it flies round the track too," Tyler continued, appearing to know a thing or two
When morning finally rolled around, the winter sun streamed through the window and onto the bed, waking me up in the most natural way. I yawned softly as I got my bearings, and realised that Tyler was still holding me as he was when we'd fallen asleep. We must have both slept real well given that neither of us had moved about."Good morning baby," his deep morning voice vibrated through me as he spoke from just behind my ear. "And happy Birthday.""How did you know that it was today?" I turned so that I was now facing him, his arm still draped over my waist and holding me close. I couldn't help but to run my fingers over his perfect features, intoxicated by the way the sun bounced off his bare skin."I pay more attention than you think," he chuckled lowly, placing a kiss to my forehead. "Plus Becca told me last night."
Just as we were about to head off to the next shop, a voice called my name from somewhere behind me, causing me to turn around instinctively."Shit," I cursed under my breath as I saw the voice's owner approaching where I stood beside Tyler. "How's it going, Mason?""Oh it's going just fine with me," he had a sly expression on his face that I couldn't quite read as he inspected the situation in front of him."I'm glad," I replied stiffly. "Um, Tyler, this is Mason - my ex," he gave a small nod in Mason's direction. "And Mason, this is-""Don't act like I don't already know who the fuck this is, Ally," Mason cut me off rather aggressively, planting a pretty distinct seed of terror in my mind."Woah woah," Tyler now spoke up, taking a step closer to Mason a