Price Check On Monogamy

“You know you’re glad I did it!”

It was ten in the morning, and I was freaking out. Again.

And Tawny was being of no assistance. Again.

“You could have at least warned me!” I whined, falling back on my bed and cradling my phone to my ear. After the high of the fact that he’d asked me to hang out had worn off, I realized that there were some serious complications to overcome.

Example A: Tandem. If he had gone totally fucking nuts last night just for me talking to Tyler, what the hell was he going to do when he realized that I was going to spend the day alone with him?

God, now even I was starting to think in terms of myself being anything mildly resembling Tandem’s girlfriend.

“You’re not his girlfriend,” Tawny pointed out, once again proving the fact that she could probably read minds. She was just too sadistic to own up to it and save us all the heartache. “Tandem’s an ass, and he’s an ass who isn’t really your problem. I still don’t see why he was so pissy last night; is he PMSing or something?”

I laughed, standing up and pulling out a pair of black cargo shorts. Tossing them on my bed, I shrugged and said nonchalantly, “Probably. Sick bastard really did bruise my arm,” I scowled at my reflection, rolling my shoulder. The bruise hadn’t actually formed, but it hurt to move my arms certain ways; something I was extremely upset about. Pulling out a belt and tossing it on the shorts, I rummaged through my closet a little more. A white camisole, a black and white plaid over shirt, then finally some socks and my worn combat boots fell on top of my bed. “Tawny, you’re entirely too lucky that I love you, or I would kill you for this.”

Tawny laughed and said sweetly, “Aww, just go get ready, you crazy kid. Remember, protection!”

She hung up before I could scream at her, making me laugh as I got into the shower and tried to look forward to the afternoon and not what was probably going to happen.

- - -

“You look great, Tiger.”

I jumped, tugging at my necklace compulsively as I turned to smile bashfully at Tyler. He’d come up behind me like the tricky bastard he was and caught me off guard. “Thanks. You look pretty good yourself, too.”

Tyler laughed, shrugging. “I guess, if you’re into the lazy look.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. Somehow, I didn’t think that his worn black jeans, white loafers, grey t-shirt, or black leather jacket equaled lazy, but maybe that was just me. “Whatever you say, vanity queen.”

“Hey!” Tyler laughed, giving me a bear hug suddenly. “Don’t go there, little miss vampire.” When I scowled, he winked at me, still laughing, and not letting up.

“Hard to breath!” I complained, struggling against him. The smile dropped off his face suddenly as he loosened the grip; he still didn’t let me go, though, instead opting to hold on loosely and smile down at me.

It was incredibly adorable.

“You’re cute when you blush,” Tyler said, breaking the moment and making my blush deepen. Letting me go, but keeping his arm around my shoulder, Tyler added, “Let’s go get a bite to eat or something, alright?”

I smiled, still a little embarrassed, and followed him to a sushi shop.

“I’m guessing you like this sort of food?” He asked, laughing. I nodded, sticking my tongue out at him.

“What, you don’t like sushi, hot shot?” I teased.

Tyler shook his head fast. “Nah, not my style. I do like fish, though…” Letting go of me and stepping up to the counter, I raised my eyebrow as he pulled out his wallet and nodded to the cashier. “Hey, mate,” he started pleasantly, looking back at me for a second, then up at the menu, then back to the cashier. “Can I have an order of te… tekka…”

“Tekkamaki?” The cashier helped, suppressing a grin. He looked over Tyler’s shoulder at me and winked; I winked back. The owner of the sushi place here, Mr. Tanigawa, had been a friend of mine for years. He was at least in his late sixties, though he was probably more protective of his age than most women, and he had the soul and mind of a sixteen year old.

Tyler grinned, embarrassed. “Yeah, that. Thanks, mate.”

Mr. Tanigawa laughed quietly and rung it up, going to grab the order from the back. Once he had his food, Tyler walked back over to me, wrapping his arm around me and shaking me playfully.

“You could have helped me!”

I laughed, pushing him back. “That wouldn’t have been as much fun, huh?”

Tyler laughed, shaking his head. “You’re so sadistic.” Handing me the food, he walked over to another shop, leaving me puzzled holding it.

“Wait, this is mine?” I asked dumbly, catching up with him.

Tyler laughed at me. “Of course. I’m sure all your sadism makes you hungry.”

Sticking my tongue out at him, I blushed. “Thanks, I guess. How did you…?”

“You were mouthing the orders,” He answered before I finished. Shrugging and going to the front of the store to order, he said, “Hey, miss, can I have an order of chowder and chips? Thanks.”

“Is that all, mister?” The cashier was a young, pretty blonde girl, and by the way she was curling her hair and eyeing Tyler, she knew that she was young and pretty and she knew exactly what she wanted.

It made me want to punch her in her smirking little face.

“Nah, that’s it, thanks,” Tyler said easily. The girl pouted slightly before going to call in his order.

Handing the food to him once it was ready, she winked and said, “Hope you have a good day, mister; come back any time.”

Tyler nodded gratefully and came back over to me, wrapping his arm around me once again and walking away. The smirk of triumph on my face must have had me glowing, especially when I heard her indignant, Ugh! as we walked out.

“That was weird,” I mumbled as we sat down. Tyler just laughed and took out his food, dipping the fries into the chowder.

“Where are you from?” I asked suddenly. “You’ve got the most killer accent, but I can’t really pin it. And you’re the first person I’ve seen order from that store.”

Tyler laughed, swallowing his food quickly. Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he shrugged. “Technically, I’m from England. I was born there, and lived there until I was seven. Long enough for some stuff to sink in, not long enough for me to properly miss everything that I had. Then my family moved to Louisiana. We lived there until I was fourteen, then we moved here.”

I smiled, admiration in my eyes. “Wow. A lot of traveling, huh? Or, at least, a lot of far jumps.”

He shrugged, picking up another fry. “Ehh. It was fun while it lasted, I guess. Things here haven’t been so smooth. What about you?”

“Born and raised here. My parents travel, not me.”

Apparently, he sensed that it was a topic I didn’t really want to go into, because he took another bite of food. We ate quietly for a little bit before he stood up suddenly. “You want to go see a movie?” He asked, smiling down at me. Checking his watch, he added. “We’ve got about ten minutes to run there. Up for it?”

Grinning, I stood, trashing the empty sushi container. “Sounds good to me.”

Taking my hand, Tyler nearly sprinted to the theater, grinning back at me as I laughed and scrambled to keep up.

A girl could definitely get used to this.

- - -

The movie was good enough; not that I was really paying attention.

After a mini-wrestling match over who was going to buy the tickets, I ended up buying because he’d bought me lunch. Then after a scramble to get to the theater before the movie started, we’d collapsed into two chairs in the almost-absolute front, meaning we had to stare up to see the movie. After a while, though, it didn’t even matter; we spent the entire movie playing hand games and whispering immature side comments about the people sitting around us. Evidentially, the only people who actually choose to sit in the front are the make-out couples.

Something that made it incredibly awkward, by the way.

By the time the movie was over, I only had about an hour more to go before I had to get home; I wasn’t about to spend the night getting bitched at by Tandem and Caleb over where I’d been all day. Walking into the mall, I sighed and smiled with melancholy down at my boots.

Amazing day. Amazing guy.

Big, big problem.

“Are you alright?”

I looked up to see Tyler staring at me worriedly, brow furrowed and lips drawn into a distressed line. I smiled reassuringly-- or, at least, I hope I did. “I’m fine,” I lied. “Just kind of tired and irritated that I have to go home so soon.”

Tyler’s brow and mouth eased a bit, though went right back into place when he looked away and mumbled awkwardly, “Yeah, there was something I wanted to ask you.”

My heart rate must have tripled. “Yeah?”

“Um, who was that guy? The one at the formal?”

And then I’m pretty sure that my heart stopped beating and the only thing keeping me alive was how much fate hated me. “Oh,” I mumbled, deflated. “My brother’s idiot friend Tandem. I’m so sorry he was such a jerk.”

“Oh, no,” Tyler said hurriedly, shaking his head and laughing that same nervous laugh. Rubbing the back of his neck, he continued, “Are you two…?”

“No!” I almost shouted, turning bright red. “I mean, well… it’s kind of complicated. But trust me, we are not dating. In about four and a half more months, I’m never speaking to him again.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow, still smiling faintly. “That many more months?”

I sighed, frustrated. “It’s complicated. I promise I’ll explain when it’s over, but for now--“

“I get it,” he laughed, holding up his hands. “I can wait, alright?” Glancing at his watch, he added, “We should probably start walking you home.”

“Okay,” I said quietly. Never before in my life have I wanted so much to just stand there and scream as loudly as I could, throw a tantrum, and, most of all, kill my siblings.

Instead, though, I walked back to my house in awkward conversation, gave Tyler an awkward hug goodbye, and went awkwardly to my awkward den of awkwardness feeling like the most awkward girl in the entire freaking galaxy and punched my bedroom wall so hard that I sprained my pinky finger.

Sometimes, I just hate my life.